Types of Fans in Sports

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Types of Fans in Sports

Generally, a fan is an individual who expresses enthusiastic devotion towards something. Such things may include bands, entertainers or sports team. Collectively, fans of a specific person or thing comprise the fanbase and may depict their zeal by taking part in conventions, or even endorsing the facets of their attention in order to support them. Nonetheless, fans are different based on the degree of interest they show towards the persons they admire. In relation to sports, different types of fans also exist based on the degree of fanaticism they have for certain athletes, teams, type of sport, or even all sports in general. At one point, the extent of fanaticism may exceed to the point that it morphs into antics of hooliganism. Hooligan acts are usually common in popular sports such as soccer, American football, basketball, and most notably, ice hockey. Based on this, it is credible to assert the different types of fans that exist in the arena of sports, which comprise casual fans, real fans and fanatics.

Casual Fans

In overview, casual fans are regular individuals who simply view sports for pleasure. They occasionally attend sporting events, though they are never familiar with significant aspects such as the members of a particular team. Even though they exude devotion towards certain sports and subsequent sports personalities, most of these individuals are not necessarily about any sporting event. Accordingly, a typical sports fan may be an enthusiast for a certain team, athlete or sport depending on which he or she favors most. In common occasions, sports fans go for sporting events in order to support their athletes or take pleasure in watching the sport from a first-hand point of view. Venues such as stadiums and arenas experience a wide array of persons interested in watching the games as they engage in various practices that focus on supporting their favorite team or discouraging their opponents. In other circumstances involving viewing of a sport, casual fans watch the events on the television when they have the time and at times, usually have the choice of focusing on other matters without experiencing discomfort. Furthermore, typical fans may also go to entertainment venues in order to watch the athlete or team they support in unison. In some instances, these venues comprise places such as bars and clubs. These places usually show sporting events, which are popular among most fans. Such a strategy is beneficial to them since it enables them to have an increased number of customers and simultaneously, provide a good opportunity for enthusiasts to watch their favorite players and teams in action. Moreover, casual fans may attend such venues for purposes of socialization and enjoyment rather being alert towards the sporting event, player or team in play at that specific point. Apart from this, this category of sports fans may engage in watching sports at their own homes. However, such actions are sporadic among them due to the presence of other members of the family that are even less interested in their interests. Because of this, casual fans can choose to entertain themselves by watching other things other than sports. At this point, they also have more freedom, which they can use to satisfy their relatives or close friends without having to feel discontented. Based on these instances, casual fans engage in sports as a means of relaxation and enjoyment. This is because sports watching may act as a form of leisure, especially during weekends and off-days from work. They are able to forgo certain sporting events in order to gratify other demands or wants that the events may restrict them from doing. Moreover, since casual fans watch sports for entertainment, they usually do not possess innate and concrete information concerning the athlete, team or event in question. Most of them only know general information, which is usually available via sporting channels or other informative facets such as newspapers and websites.

Real Fans

Real fans are considerably different from casual fans. Such persons are ardent followers of their objects of interest, which may comprise a certain player or team. Usually, real fans possess significant information concerning their entities of admiration. They are capable of gaining large degrees of data by researching and even, following daily updates regarding the athlete or team. However, these individuals do not necessarily focus on their players’ personal lives or even lifestyles. Such aspects are not important to them. Instead, they only concentrate on their official errands in relation to sports only. Apart from this, real fans are also considerably knowledgeable of their players or teams’ details unlike casual fans. For example, these followers may know the positions that the players occupy on the field, their strengths and weaknesses as well as the work history relating to the sports they support. Additionally, real fans commonly attend sporting events at stadiums or events. At most, they attend the events wearing gear that represents the team or player they support. Such gear may include custom team jerseys, caps, shoes and other accessories such as whistles and wristbands. Furthermore, real fans express themselves vocally in stadiums and arenas. Such places provide them with the freedom to engage in such antics without disturbing the public. They do this by voicing their gratification towards a certain incident, team or athlete by cheering, which comprises acts such as shouting, clapping or fist pumping. Alternately, the same instance may also occur when fans voice their discontentment towards incidents, athletes or teams. They express such discontent by shouting negative proclamations, booing, or even occasionally throwing objects on the field. Additionally, there are settings specifically created for sports viewing for real fans. Such settings, known as sports bars, highlight popular sports among these followers. Sports aficionados gather in these places in order to follow a certain sporting event as a group on television. In addition to this, supporters also watch the events as they consume food and other alcoholic beverages. Sports bars normally appeal to fans of a single team or athlete in order to enhance relationships between them and to prevent destructive and violent acts such as fights. This bears the potential of creating an ideal environment that unites different individuals from disparate backgrounds based on the love or admiration for a single athlete or team. Furthermore, these venues enhancing relationships among real fans by synchronizing the cheers and boos of followers based on the manner each fan express corresponding feelings and emotions towards their objects of admiration. Because of the degree of passion and devotion among real fans towards the preferred player or team, behavior that may be viewed as disruptive is usually generic inside these places. Sports bars also provide aficionados with the freedom to engage in acts such as intense cheering or jeering towards a certain occurrence, team or player. In addition to this, these acts may be more significant in vocal intensity than that of followers within the actual sporting event. Real fans may also view sports within the confines of their homes. However, the only difference between them and casual fans is that these devotees have the freedom to react intensely towards the event, the team or the athlete.  They may scream in anguish or satisfaction without acting as a disruptive element to other families within the neighborhood. Fans may also invite friends or relatives that share a similar predisposition with them to an athlete or team. This may enable them to also express themselves in similar emotions to their personal satisfaction and simultaneously, enhance their bonds.

Fanatics

Fanatics generally constitute persons obsessed with a particular athlete, team or sporting event. These followers are significantly disparate from other types of fans based on the perceptions they exude towards certain athletes or teams. Fanatics are intense and biased. Based on this, they normally exhibit very strong emotion towards a certain incident, player or team. Such emotions may even be negative even when their team secures a victory since fanatics tend to act in a crude manner and the behavior they exhibit is generally out of context from social norms. In addition to this, sports fanatics have a difficult time in adjusting to other events. Most of their attention is imposed on their object of admiration. Based on this, such individuals become engrossed in consistent researching. This research allows them to compile considerable information concerning the official and personal lives of their teams and subsequent players. Furthermore, fanatics are always present at every sporting event regardless of how trivial it is. This is because of their obsession for a particular team or athlete to the point that they are actually unable to engage in other important activities that may assist them in balancing their interests as well as social lives. Accordingly, these supporters may also engage in violent acts especially in stadiums and arenas. As stated, stadiums and arenas provide fans with the opportunity to express themselves vocally without interfering with the comfort of other people. However, with fanatics, it is impossible for other persons to enjoy any sporting event based on the way they act with disregard for the safety and comfort of other individuals. For instance, when real and casual fans exude their displeasure for an athlete or a team, they may engage in vocal acts such as booing or jeering which is considerably harmless. Nonetheless, for extremists, such exhibitions of discontentment provide them with an opportunity to express themselves violently by throwing harmful objects on to the field. Such objects, due to their hazardous nature, prevent the events from continuing. In addition to this, these fanatical actions create disorder and chaos among all fans causing mass hysteria, panic and in worst instances, death due to stampedes. In other instances, fanatics of two opposing teams may engage in violent actions against each other especially if one of the teams secures a win against the other or a wrongful incident such as foul play is committed against any member of the team. Because of these incidents, extremists may react violently against each other further causing disarray and confusion. At this point, every person is usually in imminent danger due to the hostility and brutality exuded from both sides. During such times, many innocent people die due to the acts of a few people.

Conclusion

Every sporting activity possesses different types of fans. These fans are the main support system for teams and athletes alike. Accordingly, the variants of aficionados that exist comprise casual fans, real fans, and fanatics. Casual fans view sports for enjoyment and leisure purposes and thus, do not exhibit strong emotions towards their objects of interest. Real fans, on the other hand, exhibit strong sentiments towards a specific sporting incident, team or player and generally view sporting events for the love of it. Lastly, fanatics view sporting events due to their obsession for players or teams. Nonetheless, sports provide persons with the opportunity to bond and develop relationships based on a similar interest. However, such relationships are only possible if individuals get over their differences and concentrate on satisfying themselves rather than being disruptive and causing chaos, which may have disastrous and regrettable results on every person.