The Covid-19 Pandemic and the social life of English Premier League Football Fandom in Eldoret, Kenya

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.