How can we define supportership and how it manifests itself in relation to the simple fact of watching matches?
“Being a supporter means being a supporter of a team. Football is only interesting if you are a fan. Anyone who is not biased will certainly find that there are good actions, a good team building, but that team Supporters are those who express their passion in a visible way through songs, gestures, banners… They are able to divert attention from the field to the stands have succeeded: they have made sure that the stands, where one looks, are seen at the same time, that they are objects of contemplation. »
On your part, you are a pioneer of ethnic studies related to the world of advocacy. Why did you join this movement?
“I specialize in Iran and Provence. I was tired of being interested in the traditional aspects of society that dominated about forty years ago. Going back to the stadium and watching the Ultra Movement go up, I told myself that the stands I have to do something about what is happening in the world. From that moment I started working on football. It was necessary to adapt the ethnology to the framework of the match, that’s what I did for a very long time with the Marseille, Neapolitan and Turin spectators. I was also able to attend the Tehran derby in Iran between Esteghlal FC and Persepolis FC, two teams that share the same city but which do not have the same number of supporters as Turin or Milan. »
“You have to know that the pro is youth, and youth is the moment when you transgress the normal limits”
We talked a lot about the violence in stadiums post Covid…
“During Covid, we watched matches without supporters and we saw that it was somewhat unbearable. It must be remembered that football is a sport that is both practical and spectacular. In the stands, supportership ranges from supporting one’s team through songs, banners, to invading the pitch or fighting with other supporters. In general, it remains within tolerable limits in a society but crimes can certainly happen. You must know that the pro is young, mostly below thirty, and youth is the time when we cross the normal limits. ,
How can we characterize the Saint-Etienne public? Can we talk about counter-power today?
“I don’t know the Saint-Etienne public specifically but it is clear that there is also an opposition between Lens and Lille: Saint-Etienne is the popular city compared to the bourgeois that is Lyon. There is some truth when you see that Where do the Greens come from, i.e. from casinos, manufatures, mines… Supporters’ strikes, although the ticket office is no longer the club’s main source of funds, but also the stands are left empty and the direction in which they can exert pressure, Sometimes things can happen from that.
We saw it on OM, there was an invasion of the training camp where everyone screamed. But the result is this: after this incident iRaud is gone. There is definitely an influence of the 12th person. For me, these groups are a new niche of politics, where a protest against the ownership of financial magnates develops. Apart from the atmosphere, supporters can create something strong: it shows how much divorce there is between supporters and clubs in France, which do not necessarily have a relationship. ,
Reading in the Moon: Meeting with Christian Bromberger and presentation of his book “Passion Football: Anthropology of a Practice and a Spectacle” co-organized by Le Méliès and Lune et l’Otre Bookstore, Thursday 17 November at 7pm Jean in Méliès -Jaures.