FORTUNES OF THE FOOTFOLK: the Folklore of Football in Childhood

Abstract

Football is probably the most well-known and widespread sport in the world; a hegemony partly reproduced by massive media coverage. Many children (foremost boys?) find their heroes in this context. How is the text of media-representations of global football stars interpreted, performed and retold by children on a local level? And how is this level contrasted with the more regulative and morally focused practices of physically present adults, such as PE teachers and leaders of children's football-clubs? How are football games regulated (ritualized) in different settings, whether such consist of same-sex or cross-sex, same-generational or cross-generational, same-ethnic or cross-ethnic populations? This paper puts on display the co-existence of the macro- and micro-levels in the football context. Children’s notions of body, sex, gender, ethnicity, democracy and equality are, to a still unknown degree, constituted by adult ideals (i.e. those of stars, teachers and leaders) in football. The theoretical framework of the study is inspired by folkloristic studies and moreover will the efficacy of a ritualistic perspective on both football and childhood be considered. The study has an ethnographic approach (observations and interviews) and the empirical material is gathered in and from schools and football-clubs in Malmö, Sweden) among children, ages 7-12.