Mini Ethnography

Mini-Ethnography

The chosen group for my mini-ethnography has been on football fans behaviour before, during and after two afternoon Barnsley FC games (one against Blackburn on 26/12/2016 and the other against Birmingham on 31/12/2016) both held at home in Oakwell Stadium. Each observation period was of an approximate 2.75 hour time span and followed the same route. Before and after the game this includes walking down surrounding streets accompanied by a mixture of home and away fans and then - for a large period of the ethnography - during the game surrounded by home supporters both in the stands, toilets (waiting area), smoking area and refreshments area. In addition to noting the behaviour of those within the chosen block, observations
This was fairly uneventful, with quiet conversations being held within groups of 2-4 people walking meters apart. Along this walk the away fans were directed away from us along an alternative route in order to keep interaction between the two sets of supporters to a minimum. When a set of Blackburn fans did walk through us there was a lack of acknowledgement of each other with people looking down as they passed. This could be construed as either an effort to avoid violence/confrontation or a deliberate “cold shoulder” representing the rivalry. Unlike other sports which operate mixed seating – football stadiums for professional teams have away and home ends in order to separate the teams supporters. Black fabric had been placed on the away sides seating to make leaving the allocated section difficult. After the game was complete policing of the exits of these areas was also evident. There were two main roads leaving the stadium in the same direction towards the train station with 2 passes connecting them – for each team the fans were directed along separately by police. The connecting passes were supervised by around three police officers and one mounted police officer at each end, allowing access but monitoring behaviour. Following the route used previously this joined with the away fans for 5 minutes during
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Another key theme was in regards to the audience demographic once seated in the stands. Here there was a definite family atmosphere with over half comprising of, what seemed to be, families (a mixture of both older and younger children). During both games there was predominantly males attending (2/3rds male 1/3rd female approximately)
Once sat down more fans joined and here the audience demographic was shifted. It remained very much a family atmosphere in this stand with over half comprising of what seemed to be families (a mixture of both older and younger children) however there was noticeably more women in the seating area than behind the stand however it became clear that this area was The children congregated in front of the barrier together presumably as it is easier to watch over them and also allows them to be closer to the