https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9398-6427
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ABSTRACT
Sports fans sometimes feel shame for their team’s moral transgressions. In this paper, we investigate this phenomenon. We offer an account of sports fan shame in terms of collective shame. We argue that this account is superior to accounts of sports fan shame in terms of shame for others and shame for oneself. We then argue that accepting the role that sports stars play in bringing about the collective shame amongst their fans provides a new way of justifying the claim that sport stars are subject to special moral obligations.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. For a discussion of the shame experienced by sporting competitors see Emily Ryall’s contribution to this volume.
2. For other accounts of collective emotions amongst sport fans, see Mumford (Citation2012) and Thonhauser and Wetzels’ contribution to this volume.
3. For a detailed and illuminating discussion of the way in which being a fan can inform a sense of identity see Tarver (Citation2017).
4. Thanks to Paul Gaffney for bringing this distinction to our attention.
5. Given the clear and indisputable evidence of wrongdoing by the Rangers management, it seems likely that many fans would have recognised the wrongs committed by their club and so it seems plausible that many violent fans would have suppressed their shame. Thanks to Myisha Cherry for pressing us on this point.
6. This work was support by the NWO (The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research; Grant Numbers 016.Veni.174.104 and 040.11.614) and the Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Foundation (Project number: 1520110). Thanks to Myisha Cherry and Paul Gaffney for comments.