"Reviving Zbrojovka’s Glory": Collective Memory, Fan Engagement and One Football Stadium

BOTIKOVÁ, Zuzana and Michal ŠINDELÁŘ. "Reviving Zbrojovka’s Glory": Collective Memory, Fan Engagement and One Football Stadium. In 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association 2015. 2015.

Basic information

• Original name: "Reviving Zbrojovka’s Glory": Collective Memory, Fan Engagement and One Football Stadium
• Authors: BOTIKOVÁ, Zuzana and Michal ŠINDELÁŘ.
• Edition: 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association 2015, 2015.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 50000 5. Social Sciences
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Tags: International impact

Abstract

Football stadiums are for many football fans synonyms of their sporting affiliation, moreover also their local identity. Besides being an important part of the football clubs’ trade mark, stadiums also play a crucial part in the narratives regarding the club, its fan base, however also their urban neighbourhood. They provide the ultimate space for creating a shared collective memory - through social encounters, negotiations as well as mutual celebrations. However, those shared narratives usually change, when the club moves to a new stadium, with the nostalgia overruling the objective advantages of the new venue. In our paper we want to present a unique case of reviving collective memory regarding an old and abandoned football stadium Za Lužánkami in Brno, which is strongly tied to the history of the local club Zbrojovka. The stadium was built in the early 1950s and for some time it was the largest stadium in the former Czechoslovakia. In 2001 Za Lužánkami was closed due to adverse technical conditions and should be demolished in the nearest future. However, there is a recent revival initiative that comes from a former Zbrojovka player, who besides his own nostalgic sentiments wants to allow the local football community to say farewell to “their” stadium. Through a mixed method approach we observe and problematize the processes of communal nostalgia as well as memory revival.