British Football Culture

This thesis is a study of football culture, a part of popular culture.This thesis starts with the definition of culture and popular culture, and some of the major scholarship in this area has been presented. Since the word 'football' is applied to more than one form of sport games in Britain, the writer differentiates the terms 'football', 'soccer' and 'rugby'. The second part of the thesis is devoted to an introduction of the origins of football worldwide, and football's evolution in Britain as well as its detailed division of clubs, with especial focus on the important events in different stages of its evolution. Football is culture to an extent; therefore through explanations on the traits of British football, the writer argues that British football is not simply a sport game, but more importantly, one aspect of the extemalization of British culture. The five major features of British football culture, i.e., different national identity, gentility, conservativeness, working class' pastime, and being highly commercialized, are inevitably derived, which in turn reflect, the essence of British culture and society. The thesis ends with a tentative analysis of the problems of British football culture.To conclude, this paper aims at probing into the football culture and its relationship to the core of British culture and its influence upon the British society, so as to help achieve a better understanding of the British society and people.