Paper short abstract:

This paper is an anthropological study of the commercialisation of football in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, thus contributing to studies looking at the intensified commercialisation of a previously less-commercialised sector. By focussing on supporters of Azam FC, an attempt is made to understand the socio-cultural and psychological changes triggered by commercialisation.

Paper long abstract:

The intensified commercialisation of the local football industry in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is affecting the country’s most popular sport at various levels – from ownership, sponsorship, gambling to TV broadcasting. This paper is concerned with the commercialisation of football, thus contributing to studies looking at the intensified commercialisation of a previously less-commercialised sector. By focussing on supporters of Azam FC, a new club whose commercial model is evident in the team’s slogan, “Better Team, Better Products”, an attempt is made to understand the socio-cultural and psychological changes triggered by commercialisation. An emphasis is placed on how the supporters themselves perceive agency and social structure in their own social context, for example by rationalising their consumption of Azam products as a mode of supporting their team and contributing to the circulation of money in the local environment. The analytical intention is to argue against the hegemonic coherence of neoliberalism, which is presented as being natural and having no alternative, and instead to show how neoliberalism is negotiated and subverted in local landscapes. Ultimately, it is shown that football supporters are key actors in determining how the commercialisation of football becomes embedded in society.