‘Who are ya?’ The national identities and belongings of British Asian football fans

Abstract

British Asian men and women are known to be passionate followers of football, travelling far and wide to support the England men's team. Yet, despite evidence to support this, it is popularly thought that they cannot be authentic supporters of the nation as their loyalties are divided between England and their ancestral places of ‘home’. The findings of Ratna's research are mainly based on the oral testimonies of British Asian male and female football players/fans. Using their stories about following the game, her paper unpacks notions of national belonging by specifically exploring the interconnections of race, ethnicity, religion and gender. She argues that national inclusiveness is not guaranteed for British Asian fans; the changing articulations of race, ethnicity, religion and gender may lead to contingent, contradictory and complex patterns of national inclusiveness and exclusiveness.

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