There are a number of other ways that football can be seen to have a strong cultural impact; its representation in art, gaming, film, television and music, for example. But we think the existence of the game around the game is a great example of why we should consider football to have a strong cultural reach. The passion and intensity with which fans engage with fantasy football mirrors the same passion that players and fans experience during league matches themselves.
Other Ways That Football Flexes Its Cultural Cachet
Before we explore deeper the reasons we think fantasy football is an important yardstick to measure the cultural impact of football, let’s take a look at some of the other ways that football shows us that it is a culturally important and dynamic force.Football's Influence on the World of Gaming
When an entertainment medium becomes the source of other forms of entertainment, we know that it is an important part of our culture. This is another great way that we can point to the cultural impact of football, especially as this is similar to the argument we will make about the importance of fantasy football. There are many more examples of football in gaming, from the FIFA series, now EA Sports FC, to games like Football Manager. These representations of fans' favourite teams and players in games allow them to recreate famous moments and seasons, experiment with dream squads and overall to deepen their appreciation for the sport.Football has also seen some representation in the gambling world, with online slots that offer a no deposit bonus sometimes using the imagery and representations of famous teams and players. Similar to other games, these slot games allow players and fans of football to feel a deeper connection to the sport they love. The existence of these games is a key indicator that football has a wide cultural appeal, as even when they aren’t watching a game, fans of the sport enjoy interacting with elements of the sport.
Football's Influence on Music and Film
Football has an impact on other forms of less-interactive entertainment like music and film. Music related to football can include everything from the football anthems that come to stand for so much more than simply the lyrics that fans sing passionately, to songs that have been influenced by and strongly reference elements of the beautiful game.In terms of film, both television and movies are fertile ground for looking for evidence of football's cultural impact. From characters that briefly mention supporting one team or another to entire plots that revolve around the importance of a specific game day, fans of football love to engage with their hobby outside of simply watching games, and film and television give them that opportunity.
Fantasy Football is A Game Around the Game
For many football fans, simply tuning in to their favourite team is enough. For some fans, that means staying or getting up early in the morning to account for matches played on the other side of the planet. Other fans take their love for the beautiful game to a whole different level and play in fantasy football leagues. The concept is simple: Fans choose players currently active in whichever league the fantasy league is mirroring, then construct a dream squad with those players, eschewing the normal bounds of club loyalty. These constructed teams then score points depending on how the real footballers perform.While it might sound simple enough, the dedication and passion that fans put into analysing and constructing the perfect dream teams and tracking all of the stats of different players is a far cry from simplicity. Fantasy football is a whole new hobby, a subculture that is tied to the main culture of football, and which takes a large amount of attention and time to participate in.
We think that if football had no cultural impact, then fantasy football wouldn’t exist. The existence of fantasy football and the existence of fans who feel so passionately about the sport that they feel driven to engage in this subcultural game around the game is a sure sign that football is an immensely important part of our culture for many people.
What does Fantasy Football Really Say About the Beautiful Game?
Fantasy football tells us that the beautiful game is more beautiful to some of us than was ever expected. The dedication to not only watch your favourite team, but also to check on a number of different players across multiple teams and to compare their stats week-to-week with other fans, it’s a powerful sign of cultural importance.Such a strong subculture that encourages competition and socialisation between die-hard fans of the sport does exist in some other sporting leagues. Cricket and American football come to mind, but neither of those sports has anywhere near the global appeal that football does, and so neither do their fantasy leagues.
Having an entire subcultural game built around the sport is a sure sign that the cultural reach of football is strong indeed. While the beautiful game is yet to have an architectural style based on it, its impact on our culture and on the lives of those who love it most should not be undersold.