Understanding fans of the English soccer premier league in Lusaka

Drawing on theories of fandom, this study investigates how soccer fans in Lusaka, who follow the English soccer premier league on satellite television, form identities based on their encounters with foreign teams/players, and how they appropriate these meanings in their everyday lives. The theoretical framework discusses the literature reviewed in constructing the theories informing the study. These fans follow the league via the media, hence the context within which they make meaning is discussed. Qualitative methods of observation, focus group discussions and individual interviews to gather data were used. The findings chapters interprete how the Zambian supporters identify a fan of the league among themselves and how fans make meaning of the mediated games through oral culture, as well as interprating the process undergone by the fans as a result of their viewing the games from public eating and drinking places.