Beasts in the Stands

Abstract

Building on the prior two chapters studying the individual athlete and the institution respectively, this chapter examines the role of the sport spectator. Spectatorship, in this case, includes both the fan, which is the emphasis of the chapter, and the critic who is implicated in making both the athlete and the fan monstrous. That is, the fan is often viewed with the same social suspicion and fear as the athlete. Once again, sf stories and films that engage fandom offer a differing picture of sport fandom and suggest that their monstrosity is the result of the active orchestration of criticism both popular and scholarly. Also as in prior chapters, the dangers of that monstrosity may be equally embodied as examples such as the Hillsborough Disaster demonstrate.