Building a Mass Activity: Fandom, Class and Business in Early Spanish Football

Abstract

Between 1910 and 1925, Spanish football grew from a middle‐class amusement into a massive popular activity, a change rooted in the creation of a working‐class fan base that simply had not existed before. This essay will explore how that fan base developed and the changes that made working‐class participation practical. Clubs created clear identities to whip up passion and draw supporters from the local community. This interest was supported by local businesses and new industries, such as railroad companies. Similarly, new stadiums catered to all classes by establishing differentiated seating. All of these changes gradually blended bourgeois and working‐class norms to create an activity with mass appeal. These developments defined what it meant to be a Spanish football fan in its first age and have a substantial legacy within the sport up until today.

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