Media construction of peripheral regional identities: Real Murcia Football Club as a symbolic space for negotiation and sense-making

Abstract

Football is an important symbolic space for representation and the construction of regional identities. However, it is an underdeveloped subject of study within the field of communication in Spain. This paper seeks to analyse the media construction of regional identities within the context of football. The case study selected was the crisis experienced by the emblematic Real Murcia Football Club at the end of 2018, with citizens and followers forming a solidarity movement to resolve it. By means of quantitative content analysis, a total of 152 news items published between October and December 2018 were analysed. The results show Real Murcia to be perceived as a symbol of local identity created by citizens, their ethical actions and a media discourse promoting values and adherence to the culture of the region of Murcia. Hence, local media are key social institutions when disseminating peripheral regional identities, i.e. identities less well-developed than the historical ones recognised by the Spanish Constitution. Ultimately, football represents a symbolic space for sense-making, including the discourses of collective identities on the fringes of nation states.