Supporting the 'World Game' in Australia: A Case Study of Fandom at National and Club Level

While soccer football is the most popular participation team sport in Australia, it lags in the media and spectator sport. Media commentators have long suggested that the ‘world’ game is un‐ or less‐Australian because many teams and clubs are founded/organised around ‘ethnic’ non‐Anglo derivatives. Despite the re‐naming of the sport and the re‐construction of the national club competition around a decidedly corporate managerial structure with big city names, clubs in the lower divisions in each state persist with ‘ethnic’ nicknames. This paper draws upon a case study of a Serbian–based club in the south‐eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We contrast this club alongside the newly formed A‐League team. We employed fieldwork observations, interviews and document analysis to capture and interpret the maintenance of a Serbian identity through the actions of supporters. Our findings suggest that despite likely acceptance of the corporate de‐ethicised model, suburban teams with non‐Anglo ethnic derivatives remain a vital area for both sport and their respective communities