Female Sports Fandom in the North East:A Historical Study of Female Fandom & the Critical Intersections Between Sports Spectatorship and Participation

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Sport has played an important part in the lives of British people for centuries and millions of people have been involved in sport as fans. Yet surprising little is known about women's experiences as sports fans historically, so there is an urgent need for research to address this before such memories and experiences are entirely lost to time. Barely any studies have examined the intersections between playing and watching sport and so there is a need for research to examine women's early sporting experiences and how these shape their future involvement in sport and to examine female fans involvement in sport across their lifetimes. Little work has examined the cross sport perceptions of fans of men's football and rugby union in order to consider the extent to which sporting preferences and cross sport perceptions are linked to historical social class differences. This proposed research will make a major contribution towards addressing these areas, making a highly original and important contribution to knowledge.The research will build on Pope's (2010) original study through a comparative study of female fans of men's and women's sports in the North East of England. We draw on four sports' clubs from the county of Tyne and Wear: men's football (Newcastle United FC); men's rugby (Newcastle Falcons); women's football (Sunderland AFC Ladies) and women's netball (Team Northumbria). Arguably, the North East has historically been more male-dominated than other areas of England, thus providing a fascinating landscape to explore women's experiences as sports fans and how women have gained access to the traditionally male domain of sport across the generations. The research aims to examine women's experiences as sports fans in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century. It will also focus upon the critical intersections between sports participation and fandom and will examine how women's early sporting experiences influence their future involvement in sport. The study will focus upon the cross sport perceptions of supporters and the role of historical social class differences in sporting preferences. The research aims to address the following questions:1. What have been the experiences of female fans of men's and women's sports from 1945-2000? What role has sports fandom played in the lives of female fans across their lifetimes?2. To what extent is there a relationship between playing and watching sport for female fans? What is the role of physical education and other early sporting experiences in shaping females' future involvement in sport?3. How do female fans view other sports in the local region? To what extent has sports fandom historically been important for community heritage and local identities?We will achieve these aims by conducting approximately 25 life-history interviews with female fans from our four selected sports clubs, which will mean around 100 respondents in total. Respondents will also be asked if they have any visual images of their involvement in sport and copies will be taken where permission is granted. The research draws on a feminist framework to study sports history and will make a major contribution to the fields of history and sport. As the research draws on an interdisciplinary approach it will also be of interest to researchers working in gender studies, physical education, sociology, popular culture and regional studies. We will publish a research monograph from the research, along with a number of journal papers. Academic conferences will be organised in the UK and with our project partner at the University of British Columbia in Canada to disseminate findings. The research will be beneficial for: charities such as the National Football Museum and Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation; the general public; governing bodies of sport; the selected sports clubs and national government departments. We have planned a series of events to ensure that this wider impact is achieved.