Football and Community in the Global Context

A 'crisis of community' has emerged in many areas and many have sought to blame a variety of other 'social issues' on the decline of community. Football clubs now embody many of the collective symbols, identifications and processes of connectivity which have long been associated with the notion of 'community'.

Dr Adam Brown, Professor Tim Crabbe and Dr Gavin Mellor are Directors and founder members of Substance, a UK-based social research company specialising in areas of sport, youth inclusion and community regeneration. www.substance.coop

1 Introduction: football and community - practical and theoretical considerations Adam Brown, Tim Crabbe and Gavin Mellor Politics, theory and practice 2 'The Janus-faced sport': English football, community and the legacy of the 'third way' Gavin Mellor 3 Contemporary community theory and football Tony Blackshaw 4 'Our club, our rules': fan communities at FC United of Manchester Adam Brown Nations and ethnicities 5 Football, komyuniti and the Japanese ideological soccer apparatus John Horne and Wolfram Manzenreiter 6 'The nation and its fragments': football and community in India Kausik Bandyopadhyay 7 Coming in from the margins: ethnicity, community support and the rebranding of Australian soccer James Skinner, Dwight H. Zakus and Allan Edwards Community and the instrumental use of football 8 Anyone for Football for Peace? The challenges of using sport in the service of co-existence in Israel John Sugden 9 Vamos, Vamos Aceirteros: soccer and the Latino community in Richmond, California Ilann S. Messeri Postmodern community and future directions 10 Fishing for community: England fans at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Tim Crabbe