Forbidden fruits? Institutional rules, agency and structure in European football

Kossakowski, R and Ludvigsen, J (2025) Forbidden fruits? Institutional rules, agency and structure in European football. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. ISSN 0193-7235

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Abstract

This paper investigates the contested regulation of alcohol, standing and pyrotechnics in European men’s football, utilizing Giddens’ structuration theory. Specifically, we analyse how the regulation of these three practices – representing key expressions of football supporter culture inside the stadia – reveals the making of a spatio-historically significant structure that is constantly ‘on-the-move’ and co-produced by processes of institutional control, fan agency and acts of micro-resistance. The structuring power of European football’s governing body (UEFA), therefore, constrains and unleashes new dimensions of supporters’ agency that, again, reveal how attempts to regulate cultural practices and spaces are characterized by new sites of (non)compliance, resistance and (non)negotiated practices. The conceptual article extends our sociological knowledge on structure and agency within spaces of consumption, culture and sport.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Kossakowski, R., & Ludvigsen, J. A. L., Forbidden Fruits? Institutional Rules, Agency, and Structure in European Football. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Copyright © 2025. SAGE Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/01937235251403176. Reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1504 Commercial Services; 1608 Sociology; Sport, Leisure & Tourism
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Humanities and Social Science
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date of acceptance:	16 November 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	19 November 2025
Date Deposited:	19 Nov 2025 13:13
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2026 11:31
DOI or ID number:	10.1177/01937235251403176
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27589

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