Abstract:
One of the most recent trends of cultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been the growth of communities of fans of English Premier League football. The processes and impact of this popular cultural form have been explored in various studies, such as Olaoluwa & Adejayan (2011), Waliaula (2011), Siundu (2011), Akindes (2010), Vokes (2010) and Komakoma (2005). This paper is motivated by Olaoluwa & Adejayan’s (2011: 92-93) observation of what they term as ‘poor female fandom’ in the South Western region of Nigeria. The researcher’s data reveals a big gap between the males and females, which on the surface could be dismissed as a ‘normal’ and thus ‘acceptable’ trend, given that the object of fandom in this context is a man’s game that has also ‘traditionally’ been patronized by men. However, what is interesting to note is that there exists a small but visible number of female enthusiasts of English Premier League football, as has been noted in the previous studies. This study is interested in the experience of these fans and uses the snowball sampling technique to identify female fans within Eldoret town and engage them in unstructured interviews and focused group discussions aimed at unveiling and interrogating what is termed in this study as ‘playing against gender’. Using media audience theories the study develops the argument that women participation in such audience communities is a metaphor of the deconstruction of (patriarchal) ideology and reconstruction of identities.
