PERFORMANS NA TRYBUNACH. O KULTUROWO-DRAMATURGICZNYM ASPEKCIE KIBICOWANIA
The performance on the terraces. About a culturally-dramaturgical aspect of fandom.

Summary/Abstract: The main purpose of the article is to show that in a certain dimension, the activity of football supporters constitutes a kind of performance. The attention is focused on “hardcore” football fans (called “ultras”, responsible for preparing choreographies at matches) in Poland. Performances prepared by fans are not only aesthetic representations, but they represent a particular, cultural content. Presenting technical skills (preparation of match choreography, painting, etc.) intertwines with a cultural background. In the case of football fandom different dimensions – oppositions, chronologies and analogies – comprise culture of the fans. A broadly understood tradition (the history of the club, and the history of the region or of Poland generally) plays a very important role in the fans’ performances. Analyses of performances are placed in the broader context of the changes in modern football, most of all the process of commercialization. The role of the traditional fans is undermined by the meaning of a new group of “consumer-fans”, and for the traditional ones the creation of performances is becoming one of the last bastions of presenting the content of their own culture and common identity.

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