![]() ![]() The central aim this paper is to address the dearth of research on CMC between soccer fans and, more specifically, to provide conceptual outline for our understanding of online communities and the nature and consequences of online interactions. The results of such studies also suggest that it is precisely those fans engaged in traditional practises who are the most likely to converse via the internet. Ironically, several studies, which have used online fan interactions as a source of data, have reported the replication of (or potential for) several forms of traditional soccer fandom within online settings – most notably, the centrality of geographic identity and origin, as well as the establishment of meaningful relationships and genuine communities of soccer fans. Thorough research, therefore, into the nature of such interactions, and the distinct communities that emerge from this, has been largely neglected. An unhelpful dichotomy has thus emerged, which divorces CMC from ‘authentic’ fan practises and excludes those that interact online from ‘genuine’ fandom. Consequently, computer mediated communication (CMC) has become stigmatised and fan interactions via the internet have been widely regarded as one of the many negative consequences of the globalisation of the sport. "Generally speaking, sociological studies of soccer fans have labelled specific fan practises as ‘authentic’ or ‘inauthentic’, often doing so on the basis of a subjective prioritisation of ‘traditional’ forms of soccer fandom.
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