The limits of loyalty to professional football teams and the attraction of non-league football: A case study of Worcester City FC

This paper questions traditional notions of supporter loyalty and monogamy through reporting research into a group of football fans who identify as supporters of Worcester City FC and a professional football team. Whilst it is not uncommon for non-league fans to also identify with a professional team, extant research is yet to qualitatively explore the relationship such fans have with two different football clubs. Through interviews with a sample of 10 fans from the Worcester City FC Supporters’ Trust, the research explored erosion of the relationship with their professional team and the Premier League and the attraction of Worcester City and non-league football. Participants expressed disillusionment with ‘modern football’ but also discontent with some aspects of Worcester City. However, supporting Worcester City provided participants with satisfactions, meanings and identities embedded in the distinctive phenomenologies of non-league football that are largely absent from experiences supporting their professional team.