Planning to Win: Investigating Fandom, Media and Gender in Scotland's 'National' Game

This project will investigate how Scotland's men's and women's national football teams are
represented and discursively framed. It will further consider how football fans are engaging
with the teams and players in both 'live' (at the event) and 'mediated' (through multiple media
platform) contexts. The project will identify the existing promotional and audience engagement
strategies of the Scottish Football Association and their commercial partners, both of which
have the capacity to increase long-term value, credibility, funding and development of the
sport. In addition, considering the increasingly participatory nature of contemporary sports
fandom and spectatorship (Billings and Hardin 2014), the project will examine fans as both
audience members and as participants in media cultures through a series of important focus
groups. Using a wide range of methodologies including quantitative, qualitative and critical
analyses, this project will reflect on whether, and how, strategies for development need
improved and/or, indeed, tailored for Scotland's women's national football team.