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There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The presence of sports fans in the stands is considered a natural and essential element of sporting events. Beyond the atmosphere fans create and the color they add to the game, their presence reflects the idea that the game is more than a competition between two teams —it is a grand battle between...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Tamir, Ilan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9009144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35432137
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.860747
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author Tamir, Ilan
author_facet Tamir, Ilan
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description The presence of sports fans in the stands is considered a natural and essential element of sporting events. Beyond the atmosphere fans create and the color they add to the game, their presence reflects the idea that the game is more than a competition between two teams —it is a grand battle between communities and identities, which is also the reason that fans are willing to sacrifice so much on behalf of their team. As is other areas of life, the COVID-19 pandemic created an unusual situation, in which sporting events were held without spectators in the stadium stands. In many places around the world, professional sporting activities were permitted but spectators were not allowed into the stadiums due to social distancing restrictions. The current study examines this unique situation and through it, gains an understanding of fans’ beliefs concerning the significance of spectators and their presence in the stadium. Through in-depth interviews with football fans who regularly attend games (in the pre-pandemic period), the current study explores football fans’ experiences as they viewed “ghost games” (where teams played to empty stadiums). Findings show that this unique situation, caused by the global pandemic, heightened fans’ deep-rooted connection to sports and to their favorite team, and also exacerbated the social, emotional, and professional implications of viewing football games with no spectators.
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spelling pubmed-90091442022-04-15 There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic Tamir, Ilan Front Psychol Psychology The presence of sports fans in the stands is considered a natural and essential element of sporting events. Beyond the atmosphere fans create and the color they add to the game, their presence reflects the idea that the game is more than a competition between two teams —it is a grand battle between communities and identities, which is also the reason that fans are willing to sacrifice so much on behalf of their team. As is other areas of life, the COVID-19 pandemic created an unusual situation, in which sporting events were held without spectators in the stadium stands. In many places around the world, professional sporting activities were permitted but spectators were not allowed into the stadiums due to social distancing restrictions. The current study examines this unique situation and through it, gains an understanding of fans’ beliefs concerning the significance of spectators and their presence in the stadium. Through in-depth interviews with football fans who regularly attend games (in the pre-pandemic period), the current study explores football fans’ experiences as they viewed “ghost games” (where teams played to empty stadiums). Findings show that this unique situation, caused by the global pandemic, heightened fans’ deep-rooted connection to sports and to their favorite team, and also exacerbated the social, emotional, and professional implications of viewing football games with no spectators. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9009144/ /pubmed/35432137 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.860747 Text en Copyright © 2022 Tamir. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Tamir, Ilan
There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_short There’s No Sport Without Spectators – Viewing Football Games Without Spectators During the COVID-19 Pandemic
title_sort there’s no sport without spectators – viewing football games without spectators during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9009144/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35432137
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.860747
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