Football Fan Culture as Resistance: The Alternative Hegemony of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks Network

Fans Supporting Foodbanks (FSF) has emerged as a response to the impact of the UK’s economic and social welfare crisis. Started by rival Everton F.C. and Liverpool F.C. football fans in 2015, the movement has spread to other fan groups, who collect food and donations to support emergency food provision. This article analyses the forces behind the growth and spread of the movement and, in doing so, addresses the lack of research into sports fan activism in anti-poverty, along with the ephemeral and fragmented nature of resistance to neoliberal systems of oppression more broadly. To do so, we utilised an involved participatory action research methodology to better understand the movement and grow the potential of social activism among fans. Cognisant of the need to protect and enhance their agency, key stakeholders were involved in every stage of the process, in line with this approach. Evident is that in uniting passions from the terraces around the need for change via networks of solidarity, FSF has become a significant force in the fight against the ravages of poverty. To edify this analysis, we meld Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and the cultural analysis of Stuart Hall. In doing so, we show that rather than tributaries to neoliberal dogma, fan culture can act as an important site of resistance with potential to spread across other codes and contexts in the fight against inequality.