Managing for stakeholders in football: conflicts arising from the goals and behaviour of active Fans

ABSTRACT

As one of the main stakeholders, active football fans have a strong impact on clubs. The aim of this paper is to show how this impact creates conflicts with other stakeholders and affects club policy. In order to do so, stakeholder theory is used and 27 expert interviews with German representatives of all important stakeholders were conducted. The main fields of conflict identified were: (1) the handling and punishment of pyrotechnics; (2) the possibility of allowing active fans to influence elections; and (3) the overall commercialization. However, some of the conflicts are strongly interlinked and should not be considered separately. As tensions often arise because of conflicts of interest and a lack of dialogue between different stakeholders, it seems important for clubs to act as a mediator and to encourage these stakeholders to engage in dialogue. The joint dialogue should also develop joint long-term solutions for recurring conflict topics.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Bühler, Professional Football Sponsorship; García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’; Junghagen, ‘Tensions in Stakeholder Relations’.

2. Numerato, ‘Who says “No to Modern Football?”’; Mark Doidge, ‘The Italian Ultras’; Choluj, Gerard and May, ‘The Interdependence between a Football Club and its Ultra-fandom’.

3. Marsh, Aggro: The Illusion of Violence; Dunning, Murphy and Williams, ‘Spectator Violence at Football Matches’; Stott and Reicher, ‘How Conflict Escalates’.

4. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

5. Zagnoli and Radicchi, ‘The Football fan Community’; García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’; Junghagen, ‘Tensions in Stakeholder Relations’.

6. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’, 525.

7. Jinming Zheng and Borja Garcia, ‘Conclusions: The Rising Importance’.

8. Freeman, Harrison and Wicks, Managing for Stakeholders.

9. George, Authentic leadership.

10. Biscaia et al., ‘Conceptualising and Measuring Fan Identity’.

11. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

12. Geoff Walters and Richard Tacon, ‘Stakeholder Engagement in European Football’.

13. Junghagen, ‘Tensions in Stakeholder Relations’.

14. Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’; García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

15. Freeman, Strategic Management.

16. Ibid. 26.

17. Andriof et al., Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking 1.

18. Grunig, ‘Furnishing the Edifice’; Andriof et al., Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking 1.

19. Grunig, ‘Furnishing the Edifice’; Freeman, Harrison and Wicks, Managing for Stakeholders.

20. Grunig, ‘Furnishing the Edifice’.

21. Ibid. 156.

22. Olander and Landin, ‘Evaluation of Stakeholder’.

23. Berger, ‘Power Over, Power with, and Power to Relations’.

24. George, Authentic Leadership; Freeman, Harrison and Wicks, Managing for Stakeholders.

25. Freeman, Harrison and Wicks, Managing for Stakeholders.

26. George, Authentic Leadership.

27. Berger, ‘Power Over, Power with, and Power to Relations’.

28. Grunig, ‘Furnishing the Edifice’.

29. Freeman, Harrison and Wicks, Managing for Stakeholders.

30. Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder’.

31. Senaux, ‘A stakeholder Approach’.

32. Anagnostopoulos, ‘Stakeholder Management in Greek’.

33. Cicut et al., ‘Identification, Priorization and Management’.

34. Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder’.

35. Zagnoli and Radicchi, ‘The Football Fan Community’; García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’; Biscaia et al., ‘Conceptualising and Measuring Fan Identity’; Junghagen, ‘Tensions in Stakeholder Relations’.

36. Anagnostopoulos only Discusses the ‘Organized Football Fans’, Cicut et al. Focus on ‘Supporters’ Groups’ and Senaux Calls them ‘Committed Fans’. This paper uses the term ‘active fans’. These are understood as fans ‘who actively engage with clubs and supporter organizations’ (Cleland: 538) in order to partly influence them. As the ultra movement is almost congruent with the active-fan scene, this paper uses the term active fans as a synonym for both.

37. Spaaij and Viñas, ‘Passion, Politics and violence’; Totten, ‘Football and Community Empowerment’; Mark Doidge, ‘The Italian Ultras’.

38. Merkel, ‘Football Fans and Clubs in Germany’.

39. Dunning, Murphy and Williams, ‘Spectator Violence at Football matches’.

40. Ibid.

41. Cocieru, Delia and Katz, ‘It’s our Club!’.

42. Zagnoli and Radicchi, ‘The Football Fan Community’.

43. Jary, Horne and Bucke, ‘Football “Fanzines” and Football Culture’; Totten, ‘Football and community empowerment’.

44. Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’; Madden and Robinson, ‘Supporter Influence on Club Governance’; García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

45. Uhrich and Benkenstein, ‘Physical and Social Atmospheric Effects’.

46. FIFA, ‘FIFA Disciplinary Code. 2019 edition’: 16; DFB, ‘Rechts- und Verfahrensordnung’: 22; UEFA, ‘UEFA Disciplinary Regulations. Edition 2020’: 17.

47. Marco Noli, ‘Legal Measures and Strategies’; Choluj, Gerard and May, ‘The Interdependence between a Football Club and its Ultra-Fandom’.

48. Totten, ‘Football and Community Empowerment’: 715.

49. Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach’.

50. Meenaghan, ‘Understanding Sponsorship Effects’; Bühler, Professional Football Sponsorship.

51. Numerato, ‘Who says “no to modern football?”’; Schumacher Dimech, Brechbühl and Seiler, ‘Dynamics of critical incidents’; Totten, ‘Football and Community Empowerment’.

52. Jinming Zheng and Borja Garcia, ‘Conclusions: The Rising Importance’.

53. Numerato, ‘Who says “No to Modern Football?”’.

54. Jinming Zheng and Borja Garcia, ‘Conclusions: The rising importance’.

55. Junghagen, ‘Tensions in Stakeholder Relations’.

56. Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach’.

57. Merkel, ‘Football Fans and Clubs in Germany’; Numerato, ‘Who says “no to modern football?”’; Mark Doidge, ‘The Italian Ultras’.

58. Schumacher Dimech, Brechbühl and Seiler, ‘Dynamics of Critical Incidents’.

59. Totten, ‘Football and Community Empowerment’, 715.

60. Kuckartz, Qualitative Text Analysis.

61. Froschauer and Lueger, Das qualitative Interview.

62. Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach’.

63. Anagnostopoulos, ‘Stakeholder management in Greek’.

64. Cicut et al., ‘Identification, Priorization and Management’.

65. In Germany, there exist three professional football leagues, all of which are organized under the monopolistic Umbrella organization of the DFB. Additionally, the German Football League (DFL), as a second association, represents the interests of the first two leagues. All clubs are bound to the statutes of the DFB, and the sports jurisdiction supervises their compliance.

66. McIntosh and Morse, ‘Situating and Constructing’, 4.

67. Numerato, ‘Who says “no to Modern Football?”’.

68. Stott and Reicher, ‘How Conflict Escalates’.

69. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

70. German Ultras, ‘Forderungskatalog Sportgerichtsbarkeit’.

71. Gendron and Spira, ‘Identity Narratives Under Threat’.

72. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

73. Harwood and Garry, ‘An Overview of Content analySis’; Kuckartz, Qualitative Text Analysis.

74. See, e.g., Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’.

75. Kuckartz, Qualitative Text Analysis.

76. Since a number of scientific articles have already been published on this subject, this fact is only mentioned here and will not be further elaborated.

77. This power also varies between different locations in Germany. Where ‘traditional clubs’ often have strong fan scenes, given their club and committee structures, company-owned clubs offer only few opportunities for co-determination.

78. Choluj, Gerard and May, ‘The Interdependence between a Football Club and its Ultra-Fandom’.

79. See for example Numerato, ‘Who says “No to Modern Football?”’; Webber, ‘“Playing on the Break”’’.

80. Mark Doidge, ‘The Italian Ultras’.

81. Zagnoli and Radicchi, ‘The Football Fan Community’; Merkel, ‘Football fans and clubs in Germany’; Totten, ‘Football and community empowerment’; Mark Doidge, ‘The Italian ultras’.

82. Like partly also shown by Choluj, Gerard and May, ‘The interdependence between a football club and its ultra-fandom in relation to “Modern” football: A case study of Legia Warsaw’.

83. Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach’.

84. García and Welford, ‘Supporters and Football Governance’.

85. Walters and Chadwick, ‘Corporate Citizenship in Football’.

86. Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’.

87. Jinming Zheng and Borja Garcia, ‘Conclusions: The Rising Importance’.

88. Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’.

89. Freeman, Strategic Management.

90. George, Authentic Leadership.

91. Merkel, ‘Football Fans and Clubs in Germany’, 370.

92. Junghagen, ‘Tensions in Stakeholder Relations’, 624.

93. See e.g. Junghagen, ‘Tensions in stakeholder relations’.

94. Scalia, ‘Just a Few Rogues?’; Mark Doidge, ‘The Italian Ultras’.

95. Cleland, ‘From Passive to Active’.

96. Petar Ceronja, Marko Ivkošić and Siniša Petrović, ‘Football Club Ownership’.