International Journal of Sport Management

Exploring Perceptions of Fan-Family Conflict: New Insights into Typologies, Directionality and Contributors

Jason Simmons, Heidi Grappendorf, Meg Hancock

Abstract: Fan-family conflict occurs when individuals struggle to navigate the simultaneous pull of demands from their sport fan and family roles (Simmons & Greenwell, 2014). The current study offers the first qualitative exploration of this phenomenon. Interviews were conducted with 21 participants self-identified as highly involved with both their sport fan and family roles. Several themes emerged from the data analysis regarding types of fan-family conflict experienced, directionality of conflict, as well as factors contributing to perceptions of conflict. Specifically, three types of fan-family conflict occurred: time-, strain-, and economic-based. Participants also experienced both fan-to-family conflict and family-to-fan conflict. Contributors to conflict included the presence of family support, gender roles, and age of children.

Keywords: Fan-family conflict, inter-role conflict, sport fan, family, serious leisure

Citation: Simmons, J., Grappendorf, H., & Hanock, M. (2018). Exploring perceptions of fan-family conflict: New insights into typologies, directionality and contributors. International Journal of Sport Management, 19(2), 163-185.

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