As the Civil Rights Movement unfolded, Black fans turned their passion for sports into a nonviolent weapon. From boycotting teams that segregated stadium seating to chanting derogatory chants at then-Dallas Mavericks owner Jerry Wolman, fan protests pushed professional sports leagues to change their policies. They were supported by Black journalists like Jim Hall, Marcel Hopson and Marion Jackson who regularly highlighted their actions in their newspapers.
Today, we can still find fans using their passion to fight for change. Whether they helped bring down Jose Mourinho, marched against their club’s owner or pushed back against plans to commercialize the game, they show that fan activism is far from a fad and that football fans will use their power as supporters to fight for what matters most.
We asked people to tell us their fan protest stories and if possible, to share photos from the event. We found that the story of a fan protest was much more credible when it was told in a way that humanized the participants. This is because we believe that people have an inherent bias towards believing in human stories.
These protests have been largely focused on issues related to the governance of clubs, especially when they involved efforts to unseat managers and directors who had been saddled with massive debt or presided over declines in sporting standards. However, they have also reflected wider questions about national and international politics such as the recent conflict in Ukraine where some fan activists were prevented from attending matches by Russia’s annexation of Crimea.