What Kind of Sports Fan Are You?
How much the team is part of you - and what you really come for
Two people can sit side by side at the same game for completely different reasons. One is there because the team is part of who they are, and a defeat will spoil their week. Another is there for the nerves of the final minutes, or for the friends, or for the pleasure of watching something done beautifully. Sport psychologists measure both things: how strongly you identify with a team, and what motivates you to watch.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Think of the team you follow most closely, in any sport. If you follow several, choose the one that matters most to you. If you do not really follow a team, answer about how you feel when you do watch sport.
What it measures
Team identification, meaning how central being a supporter is to your sense of self, measured along the lines of the Sport Spectator Identification Scale, plus three of the motives from the Sport Fan Motivation Scale: the thrill of uncertainty, the company of other fans, and the beauty of the play. It differs from competitiveness, which is about your own need to win, not your team's.
Based on: Sport Spectator Identification Scale (Wann & Branscombe, 1993) and Sport Fan Motivation Scale (Wann, 1995)
Possible results
Team identification
How much being a supporter of your team is part of who you are.
Thrill
Watching for the tension and excitement of not knowing the outcome.
Company
Watching as a way of being with other people.
Beauty of the game
Watching for the skill, grace and craft of the athletes.
Common questions
Why do I care so much when my team loses?
Because for highly identified fans, the team becomes part of how they see themselves, so a defeat is felt partly as a personal loss. That is the core idea behind the identification scale. The same mechanism explains why a win can lift your mood for days. It is normal, and it tends to fade within a day or two; if a result regularly ruins your week, it may be worth widening what you rely on for a good mood.
Is being a big sports fan good or bad for you?
Mostly good, with conditions. Research by the author of these scales suggests that identifying with a team, especially a local one, can bring a sense of belonging and connection with other people. The risks lie at the extremes: moods tied tightly to results, hostility towards rival fans, and spending, including betting, that grows beyond what you planned.
Can you be a real fan without supporting one team?
Yes. Researchers distinguish between being a fan of a sport and identifying with a team, and the motivation scale was built partly because people watch for many reasons besides loyalty. Someone who watches for the thrill, the company or the beauty of the play is a fan in every meaningful sense, even with a low first bar.
Sources
- Wann, D. L., & Branscombe, N. R. (1993). Sports fans: Measuring degree of identification with their team. International Journal of Sport Psychology.
- Wann, D. L. (1995). Preliminary validation of the Sport Fan Motivation Scale. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. doi:10.1177/019372395019004004
- Wann, D. L. (2006). Understanding the positive social psychological benefits of sport team identification: The team identification-social psychological health model. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice. doi:10.1037/1089-2699.10.4.272
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording adapted from the Sport Spectator Identification Scale and the Sport Fan Motivation Scale, so scores are not comparable to published norms. Only the first bar corresponds to the identification scale, which yields a single score; the other three are subscales of the separate motivation scale, of which we use three of eight. Most of this research was done with American university students, and fan culture differs a lot between countries and sports.