Speakers
Description
On 18 April 2021, a press release signed by twelve leading European clubs announced an agreement to establish a new mid-week competition; the ‘European Super League (ESL)’. It would be governed by these clubs and financed by the American bank, JP Morgan. It aimed to provide greater economic growth via a long-term commitment to uncapped solidarity payments, which would grow in line with league revenues and be higher than those generated by existing UEFA competitions. The announcement was immediately condemned by UEFA, the English Premier League, and politicians across the political divide, and sparked a new wave of supporter protests and collective action. With support of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) and Football Supporters Europe (FSE), transnational fan groups rejected the ESL, arguing it threated not only the last vestiges of financial solidarity that remained within the elite game, but commonly accepted principles such as competition based on sporting merit, and qualification to European competitions. In this paper, we offer a preliminary analysis of empirical data collected from key fan activists networked across the six English clubs involved, and both the FSA and FSE. As activist life-stories, these interviews were coded across three interdependent themes: the ‘moral’ shock of the ESL rupture, the coordination of networks, and unpacking perceptions of victory and success. From this, we map some important sociological questions on the impact of momentous events as ruptures in English and European football, and the stabilising of changes within the regulation and governance of the game, and supporter engagement.
