Here is why Ugandan fans can kill in EPL clubs’ name
Mourners gather at the ancestral home of Arsenal fan Jackson Bainomugisha in Rwanyinakahire Cell, Sheema Municipality ahead of his burial on September 5, 2023. PHOTO/MILTON BANDIHO
What you need to know:
It’s just a game. Or is it? The emotional dynamics of football fans have, perhaps, been discussed as much as Cleopatra’s nose was. Like the supposed hook on the Egyptian queen’s aquiline nose, the asymmetries of football fandom remain the object of debate as Robert Madoi writes in this explainer.
What exactly happens in the mind of a sports fan?
The groundbreaking work of British psychologist Dr Michael Apter and psychiatrist Dr Ken Smith that culminated in the birth of the reversal theory has been extensively used to understand ebbs and flows in a fan’s mind. The theory conceives two types of emotions, including felt arousal and felt transactional outcome (i.e. perceived loss and gain). These all play out differently if the four frames of mind that impact how people interpret their motives are considered.
The felt arousals could be unpleasant anxiety, pleasant relaxation, pleasant excitement, unpleasant boredom, unpleasant anger, pleasant placidity, pleasant provocativeness, and unpleasant sullenness.
The felt transactional outcome include: shame, modesty, pride, humiliation, guilt, virtue, gratitude, and resentment.
Do the choice words exchanged in a kibanda (video hall) during a match have any impact?
Yes, they do. Multiple studies have established an umbilical link between winning and pleasant emotions (relaxation, excitement, gratitude and virtue) in fans. Conversely, losing triggers unpleasant emotions in fans such as anger, sullenness, humiliation, shame and resentment. The studies have proceeded to show that fans’ positive and/or negative emotions can be ameliorated or exacerbated through the experience of arousal and interactions with others.
Why do fans of English Premier League clubs get so emotional?
Per Apter: “Reversal theory links … motivational states … to emotion by proposing that if one is in a state and things are going well, positive emotions result; if the needs of the state are not fulfilled, negative emotions result.”
When it comes to the English Premier League, constituting a fandom can yield a strong psychological connection from a fan to their team. This typically brings vicarious pleasure when the team of the fan in question wins; the unwanted concomitant being that defeat could impair social functioning. In case of the latter, the dysfunctional fan could at best complain in a petulant way or at worst be confrontational.
This can even end badly as, lamentably, the recent stabbing of Jackson Aineruhanga by Vincent Bainomugisha shows. Bainomugisha reacted aggressively to downward revisions from Aineruhanga of his fragile self-concept after Arsenal rallied to edge past Manchester United in an English top flight football match. Far from being highly identified, fans like Bainomugisha who dare cross the rubicon are—per experts—believed to have narcissistic traits and lower levels of self-esteem.
Does being part of a fandom provide more than just a sense of community?
Yes. Sporting outfits that can pass for institutions can be viewed by fans, experts note, as an extension of self-identity. In which case, losses do not pass by easily. There is a rich body of empirical evidence in psychological research on sports fans that draws attention to the dark side of strong team identification. In 2015, a devastated Deus Ruhinda took his life after Arsenal suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of AS Monaco in the Uefa Champions League. A suicide note he left behind made clear that the boda boda rider had placed a Shs0.5m bet on his favourite club.
While fans feeling a strong psychological connection to their favourite team can help erase loneliness and alienation, things can go awry. In 2014, Fahad Musana suddenly collapsed and died after a late Frank Lampard goal earned Manchester City a share of the spoils with Chelsea in an English top flight football match.
Musana’s post-mortem report disclosed pneumonia to be the underlying cause of death. Watching a match can ratchet up stress levels and have a profound impact on one’s health. Stress, for one, can lead to dehydration in people afflicted with pneumonia. This can be fatal as Musana’s kin learnt.
