Abstract
This thesis investigates England football fans’ reflections on their experiences and contact with Muslims, Islam he first to be staged in a non-secular, Islamic society. In particular, it critically evaluates whether and if so, how and why experiencing a short-term sporting event can have symbolic or transformational socio-cultural impacts on the fans. Gordon Allport’s (1979 [1954]) intergroup contact theory underpins this research. It does so by examining how the fans construct and perceive their interactions with Muslims and a variant of Islamic culture within an under-studied context, notably a sport setting, and in particular a temporary sports mega-event in the Arabian Peninsula. Edward Said’s (2003) Orientalism is additionally employed to ground the fans’ encounters within discourses of the ‘Other’ and wider relations of power.A ‘pre-during-post’ methodological approach - underpinned by semi-structured interviews, audio-visual diaries, and field notes - permitted a deeper understanding on how the fans construct and interpret their contact experiences and allowed for a richer analysis to reveal the complexities and contradictions in the fans’ experiences. Consequently, the fans’ encounters with Muslims revealed that an ‘authentic’ Islamic cultural experience was limited by a ‘World Cup bubble’. Further, encounters were tempered by the fans’confusion on who the Other was during the tournament. The dichotomy of the Other was blurred as fans revealed they interacted with service/migrant workers who acted as a proxy for contact with people in the Arabian Peninsula. Consequently, this thesis theoretically contributes to the literature on intergroup contact theory by examining it in a sport setting and advances knowledge by integrating Orientalism into the analysis, as well as developing a new conceptual dimension- the notion of ’proxy’ contact. Practically, this thesis makes several socio-political and management recommendations for future sporting events staged in the Arabian Peninsula, which include the sovereign states of Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
| Date of Award | 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Daniel Burdsey (Supervisor), Thomas Carter (Supervisor) & Nigel Jarvis (Supervisor) |