Female visitors and their behavior at football stadiums: Czechia case study

Abstract

Problem statement:Football is the most widespread sport and entertainment worldwide.Football is enjoyedespecially bymen, but nowadays, we can say that the number of women visitingfootball stadiums is steadily increasing. We must state that this beautiful game is linked tovisitor misbehavior (violence, racism, homophobia, and also corruption).Purpose: The goal of the paperis to analyze the conduct of female visitors in the example of SK Slavia Prague football club. Methods: The primary data were collected in a questionnaire survey carried out in the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons. The sample included 120 participants, aged 25.01 ± 10.20 years and every surveyed respondent attended the matches ata football end. The research mainly focused on respondents' experiences of unsportsmanlike behavior (whistling, booing, vulgar chants in the stand, firing pyrotechnics, etc.). Mathematical and statistical methods (e.g., Correspondence Analysis) were used. To evaluate the data, the program Statistica 13 EN was used. Results: We found that the surveyed spectators, fans, and supporters had no experience with demolishing stadiums and other riotous behavior. Similar results were noted fordisplays ofracism. No groups were interested in this activity apart from 9.09% of fans, who sometimes used racist allusions. Conclusions: This case study brings a unique insight into the issue of female spectatorship in aselected topleague football club. In Czechia, football matches are mainly attended by men, but we note that the number of women attending is gradually increasing – 9% werewomen in the 1990s, 19% werewomen ten years later, and 20% arewomen today. On the other hand, women are often neglected in academic research. If any data areavailable, they are not fully explored, unlike the male population. We state that the results are adequate for femalevisitors.