Abstract:
English Premier League Football Fandom (hereafter referred to EPLFF) has
infiltrated the everyday life of the ordinary people in Eldoret, working its
way into the communal and commercial aspects of life here. Studies have
shown that this trend is popular in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa as
well. In this study we argue that this essentially global cultural form has
been affected by the Covid-19 Virus Pandemic in ways that resonate with
its social function and that this varies from one locality to another. Using
data from a long-term ethnographic study of EPLFF and sociological
introspection on lived experience here in Eldoret, the authors revisit the
normally active sites of EPLFF-dominant social sites to capture and reflect
on the social function of this popular cultural practice that is now changed
because of the social impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
