Community politicization of female supporters fans: The case of Nuestra Cruzada

Abstract

In a context of high politicization of Chilean society and where gender issues have become central in the public debate, spaces of community politicization of women soccer fans have been created to tackle violence and exclusion towards women both in the soccer as in society in general. In this paper, the results of an investigation carried out with members of the Nuestra Cruzada group are presented, the objective of which was to understand the community politicization that takes place in said group. Through participant observation and review of group documents, the main results were that the group allows its members to be together both in football and in various socio-political struggles, transforming the stadium and the gallery into spaces of fighting against the male chauvinism and patriarchy, but also acting in the streets in various feminist and social struggles in general. In conclusion, we confirm the importance of the community politicization of women in soccer for the ongoing processes of contestation and social transformation.