Sport Tourism as Celebration of Subculture

Review of the article “Sport tourism as Celebration of Subculture” by B. Christine Green and Laurence Chalip (Annals ofTourirm Research, Vol. 25, No. 2, PP. 275-291, 1998)

The authors have examined the attractiveness of a tourist destination as a venue of a sporting event and have specifically examined the motives of participants travelling to a particular destination as it was hosting a women’s flag football tournament. With changing attitudes and a desire to portray an active and youthful persona, sporting activities is no longer the domain of only the young but people that are not so young are also becoming increasingly interested in sports and eager to visit destinations that host sporting events. Therefore sports tourism is gradually developing into a specific and well define genre of tourism industry.

However, it must be remembered that there is a very vital difference between participating in a sports event and being there as a spectator. Generally tourism literature concentrates on spectator volumes rather than number of participants that take part in a sporting event and it is always economical to host a sports event that has minimal participants while drawing vast number of spectators. Also there needs to be a differentiation between participants that engage in a sporting activity more as a recreation and for the pleasure of playing the game and those that engage in a competitive sporting event with the aim of winning the trophy. While the former group would be more interested in availability of sporting and recreational facilities the latter would be more intent on defeating competitors and lifting the winner’s trophy. The researchers preferred to term the former group as “activity participants” while the latter as “players” to identify the intent and focus of these two groups.

The authors have studied Key West Women’s Flag Football tournament and tried to investigate and analyze the motives that coaxed participants to travel to a particular tournament. While one of the authors participated as a player the other was not attached to any particular team. This provided the authors both an insider’s as well outsider’s perspective to the whole issue as they debriefed each other and assimilated their observations and findings.

This tournament has gradually increased in terms of participation of teams as well as spectators and has now acquired a significant place in the country’s sporting calendar. This sporting event has also acquired some form of a cult status and participants have started finding an affinity and bonding towards not only this sport but also this particular tournament. The organizers have also been quick to grasp the opportunity and included quite a sprinkling social events along with the main sporting event and specified venues where participants from various team can mix and gel with each other. In order to retain some form exclusivity and consequent elevation to some form of a subculture, the organizers charge fees for entry in all venues where social events are held. Fees automatically reduce the number of participants and as a natural consequence those that throng such social events start feeling they are privileged members of some esoteric gang.

The development of a subculture associated with women’s football has been facilitated by male dominance in this sport and the geographical distance between centers where women’s football is actively played. Women who play football consider themselves as somewhat different and consider this an opportunity to give back to the society that promotes male dominance. It is a form of protest and women footballers feel proud to be part of the gang that breaks social customs and mores.

Hence this tournament is much more than a competition between teams; it is more of social reunion of a small but determined community and all participants feel a sense of homecoming when they gather together to take part in the tournament.

The authors thus conclude that sports tourism actually helps participants to reaffirm their identity and existence and is much more than mere act of travelling to a destination and participating in a competition.