Since the beginning of the 2000s, Russian football fans have been involved in several actions of a political nature (demonstrations and public gatherings, display of slogans and emblems expressing political ideologies inside the stadiums). The most mediatized event took place in Moscow on December 2010 when a riot initiated by football fans turned into clashes with the police and lynching of by-passers, who appeared to be members of ethnic minorities from the Caucasus region. Despite these facts, the influence of football fandom on the politicization of supporters in Russia has not yet been explored by the scientific literature. This paper will explore the role of Russian football fandom identity in the politicization processes in two ways. We will show how it affects the adherence to specific political ideas, opinions and beliefs on the one hand and how it encourages and redefines collective action on the other hand.
First, we will focus on the links between identification processes specific to football fandom and the appropriation of far right-ideologies by Russian football fans. In particular, we will see how football stakes lead to the construction and the mobilization of ethnic categories in football fan’s discourse. Then, we will explore the links between football fandom identity and the involvement in collective action. Here, we will see to what extend Russian fandom is likely to bring motives to collective mobilizations and will question the function of collective action as a reinsurance mechanism of enhancive identities (Dubar, 1991).
Our methodology is based on an ethnological inquiry with groups of Moscovite football fans via participant observations and semi-structured interviews, completed with an analysis of supporters forums.
