‘Didn’t know she could shout that loud’: the performance of fandom among women followers of women’s golf

Kitching, N, Bowes, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5635-106X, Whigham, S and Bairner, A, 2023. ‘Didn’t know she could shout that loud’: the performance of fandom among women followers of women’s golf. Leisure Studies, 42 (2), pp. 203-217. ISSN 0261-4367

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Abstract

While a growing body of evidence exists around women fans of men’s sport, less is known about women fans’ perspectives and identities in relation to women’s sport, and what is known tends to focus on homogenous representations of sports fans, rather than a diversity of fan types and follower styles (Pope 2017). Building on the authors’ previous appraisals of the Solheim Cup – the biggest event in women’s golf – this paper examines fan performances of women at the 2019 event in Scotland. Twenty-five white women from the UK/Europe were recruited via social media before, during and after the Solheim Cup, with online interviews taking place in the following days. Using performative sports fandom as a framework the authors seek to examine women fan performances at a major women’s sporting event. The analysis of the interviews resulted in three themes around (1) friendship, care, and connection, (2) negotiated fan performances and (3) distinctive fan performances. While it must be acknowledged that this is a homogenous group of fans, it is hoped that this research will add to the understanding of the diversity and complexity of fan identities.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Leisure Studies
Creators:	Kitching, N., Bowes, A., Whigham, S. and Bairner, A.
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Date:	March 2023
Volume:	42
Number:	2
ISSN:	0261-4367
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/02614367.2022.2088835 DOI 1642122 Other
Rights:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Leisure Studies on 15 Jun 2022, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2022.2088835
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	05 Jun 2023 10:35
Last Modified:	15 Dec 2023 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49112

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