Abstract:

This study aims to examine football fans’ level of identification with the team and respect for opposite opinions in terms of different variables. The descriptive survey model was preferred in the study, in which the quantitative research method was used. The universe of the research consists of football fans in Turkey. A total of 863 football fans, including 326 women and 537 men, included in the study with the convenience sampling method, constitute the sample group of the research. To obtain data, the "Respect for Opposite Approach and Audit Scale of Self-Control at The Sport" developed by Gülle (2018) and the personal information form created by the researchers were used. Frequency and percentage analyses were conducted to determine the demographic characteristics of the data collected from the fans via Google Form. Kurtosis and skewness analysis were used to understand whether the scale scores showed a normal distribution, and t-test and ANOVA tests were used to determine the relationship between the variables. As a result, there was a significant difference between the two sub-dimensions of respect and hate, which are the two sub-dimensions of respect for opposite approaches and audit scale of self-control at the sport, and the variables of gender, age, marital status, education level, profession, being a member of a fan group, following the team's social media account and being affected by social media posts. There was also a significant difference between the football fan identification scale and the gender and sports branch variables. In addition, a significant difference was found in the variable of following the matches from the stands in the sub-dimension of hatred towards the opponent. As a result, it can be said that the increase in the level of identification of the fans with their teams causes a decrease in the respect for individuals with opposing views.

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