Kuningaspelin sisä- ja ulkopuoliset

Brändättyjä jalkapallotiloja Etelä-Afrikan MM-kisoissa ja Englannin Valioliigassa

Abstract

In the article, we compare spatial branding strategies
related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, held in South
Africa, and the Barclays Premier League, England’s
top football division. On the basis of evidence drawn
from fieldwork in South African and English cities, it
is shown that trademarks and symbols designated as
“official” play a crucial role in demarcating and signifying
football spaces in both contexts. Due to the blatantly
commodified nature of ambiences such as FIFA
Fan Fests™ (co-branded semi-public spaces dedicated
to game-watching), the owners and marketers have
been simultaneously at pains to authenticate football
events and spaces via allegedly non-commercial values.
In the case of the World Cup, the carnivalisation of
space and references to aspects of culture and geography
of the hosting nation (in 2010, both South- and
pan-African icons) are key strategies in this respect.
By contrast, evocations of community and club history
are pervasive at the Premier League stadiums
and related media representations. In addition, the
article analyses the practices of social exclusion, transgression
and political resistance as regards the FIFA
World Cup, Premier League clubs and associated urban
processes, concluding that place branding efforts
represent coercive and controversial spatial practices
in the context of today’s top football.