An examination of sport fandom in Australia: Socialization, team identification, and fan behavior

TLDR

A convenience sample of 163 Melbourne university students completed a 25‑item questionnaire comprising the Sport Fandom Questionnaire and Sport Spectator Identification Scale to assess fandom. Results showed that male students identified friends and fathers as key socialization agents, scored higher on all fandom behaviors, 81 % favored AFL teams, and that Australian students displayed greater sport consumption and identification than comparable US, Norwegian, and Greek peers.

Abstract

To examine sport fandom in Australia, a convenience sample of 163 university students (62% males, 38% females, M = 21.3) attending a large, multi-sector institution located in a western suburb of Melbourne voluntarily completed a 25-item questionnaire survey which included the Sport Fandom Questionnaire ( Wann, 2002 ) and the Sport Spectator Identification Scale ( Wann and Branscombe, 1993 ). Descriptive and inferential statistics revealed that males chose ‘friends’ as their most influential sport fan socialization agent while females ranked friends, parents and school about the same. Male socialization agents were very important for both sexes with ‘father’ chosen most influential. Males scored higher on every measure of sport fandom behavior including attending sports events, watching sports on television, listening to sports on the radio, engaging in a sports conversation with others, and accessing sport information via the Internet. Australian Football League teams were chosen ‘favorite team’ by 81 percent of the total sample; selection was unrelated to the respondent’s sex. Compared with similar data obtained from US, Norwegian and Greek university student samples, these Australian students were judged greater sport consumers and more heavily identified with the sport fan role and a favorite team.