The purpose of this article is to map and analyze how people within equestrian sports in Sweden and Norway define the environmental challenges of the sport, as well as, with a starting point in the COM-B model, identify capabilities, opportunities, and motivation to develop a more environmentally sustainable horse sector. The study is based on a questionnaire answered by 697 people. In summary, the horse sector has developed a stronger environmental commitment than it had 15 years ago (cf. Svala 2008). At the same time, many of the informants feel that they lack the opportunity to influence. An analysis of the answers using the COM-B model (cf. Mitchie et al., 2011; Mitchie et al., 2014) shows that the capability (C) for change exists (even if there are people who wish for more knowledge). In relation to the opportunity (O) component, however, there appear to be higher barriers to change. Physical opportunities, such as location, resources and time appear to be difficult for the individual agent to influence and economic factors are also pointed out as obstacles. The opportunity component also includes cultural norms, which may be used to overcome some challenges. The stable does not stand out as a littered place if you compare, for example, with cities or roads, but littering could mean a kind of general disorder. In the stables, everyone is expected to keep their belongings and common areas in order. Even if this orderliness does not primarily concern what we usually mean by ecological challenges, perhaps it can be something to build on when it comes to environmental sustainability work in equestrian sports.

Sport has often had an important role in times of crisis, but the Covid-19 pandemic is another matter. Sport was heavily affected world-wide on all levels. In Sweden, gathering people for endurance events conflicted with the Covid-19 restrictions. Some events were cancelled, but many tried to adapt. What adaptation strategies to Covid-19 have Swedish event organizers used? What role have digital tools played in their adaptation? What economic impacts did these events experience? We argue that the challenges posed by Covid-19 have accelerated the digitization of endurance events and highlighted the tensions between commercial and non-commercial actors in sports due to the differences in financial structure and eligibility for economic support. We thereby contribute to the growing research on how sport events in general have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and specifically in the context of Sweden’s somewhat exceptional response to the pandemic.

Todays' online media landscape facilitates communication on how sports practitioners can develop in their sport. Hence, sports and educational institutions need to recognize the increased role of the individual as “a facilitator of knowledge” through information and communications technology (ICT). For sport organizations and educational institutions to effectively reach out with knowledge and research, they need to know how individuals assess, value, and trust information sources. This article aims to increase the knowledge and understanding of how the traditional culture in equestrianism meets the contemporary media user. It is based on a study that uses a mixed methods design, containing a questionnaire with 1,655 respondents and 28 focus group interviews with Swedish and Norwegian equestrians, to investigate how equestrians create their own repertoires of horse-knowledge online and what sources of knowledge they trust and prioritize. The results show that accessibility, agency, and trust are key terms when mapping equestrians' preferred knowledge platforms, and that equestrians are generally not satisfied with the availability and the quality of horse-related online content. Horse experience is the most important positional factor influencing online repertoires in the equestrian community. Riders with less experience turn to Social Network Sites (SNS) to a higher extent than riders with more experience. Further, equestrians find the ability to assess information as an important yet challenging task. This article shows that the term (online) learning repertoires is appropriate when discussing the relationship (or clash) between the traditional culture in equestrian sports and the contemporary media user. On the one hand, many equestrians clearly express that they would rather stay away from obtaining information about horses and riding on ICTs. On the other hand, the data, together with previous research, indicates that many equestrians see ICTs as important platforms for discussing and exchanging information about horses and riding.

The study analyses female fandom in Sweden, focusing on female football supporters' self-presentation on social media. We found social media to function as a forum for empowerment, where the female football fans construct and express solidarity between girls and women and challenge hegemonic notions of femininity. Female football supporters are actively involved in formulating and shaping their own agenda and self-presentation and are drawn to the supporter culture for many of the same reasons as their male peers: group community, thrill and excitement, and the love for their team. The contribution of the study is two-fold: it fills a knowledge gap regarding Swedish female fans, while also making a conceptual intervention in the study of female fandoms more broadly, demonstrating the usefulness of critical theorization on femininities and indicating how social media enables female football supporters to 'play' with different conceptions of femininity to create space within the supporter milieu.

The historical, economic, sociological, cultural, and psychological importance of football fandom has been explored and analyzed in research since the 1960s. Nearly all studies have been based on the premise that the supporter is male, and that supporter culture as a whole is a male phenomenon (Armstrong, 1998; Giulianotti, 2002). Supporter culture has also been perceived as thoroughly embedded in a hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1995). There is a distinct lack of research on female supporters, both nationally and internationally (Hynes, 2012). The chapter will focus on women’s experiences as football supporters, their relationship with football and fandom, and how these relationships are defined and interpreted. The study will focus on interaction through social media. The body, physical location, and geographic belonging are dissolved in online interaction. While in the stands one is represented by one’s sex, being either male or female, one’s “digital identity” can be chosen freely. The analysis of female fandom will be enhanced by sociologist Erving Goffman’s theories of social interaction, the dramaturgical perspective, stigma, onstage and backstage, as well as through Judith Butler’s theories on performative gender. This study is based on media analysis and interviews. Online chat forums (Svenska Fans, MFF Support, Ultra Tifos, and Bajen Fans (Hammarby, Stockholm)) and interviews with female supporters who are active participants in these forums are analyzed.

In recent years, questions about horse-keeping and the welfare of horses have been debated in social media. Voices of researchers, elite and leisure riders are heard and different ideas about horse-keeping meet, clash and are discussed. The purpose of this study is to analyze stable cultures in cyberspace in Sweden and Norway. Horse riders’ communication in social media in relation to horse-keeping will be focused. The results will increase the knowledge of how thoughts, ideas, scientific research and proven experience about horses are shared and discussed in social media for different age groups and in different countries. The project will also lead to suggestions about how communication tools can be improved and developed. For equestrian stakeholders, it is important to understand what knowledge is granted value (and why) of riders and horse owners, so that digital communication tools can be improved. For the welfare of horses, it is important to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Hooligans telling their own story represent a new voice in the sports narrative: the hooligan memoir. While this is a comparatively new phenomenon in Sweden, this literary genre has a long and productive history in England under the name hit and tell. The purpose of this article is to expound on the pop cultural expressions of hooliganism in Sweden, as epitomized by four hooligan memoirs. The article explores football culture, hooliganism, violence, masculinity and media in Sweden, as it is imperative to the understanding of hooliganism that it is analysed in the contexts in which it occurs. Research has demonstrated that hooliganism and violence in football and supporter culture have become increasingly visible in popular culture over the last few years. The article shows how hooligan culture is created in dynamic interaction between media, political reactions and cultural praxis, arguing that the cultural praxis of hooliganism is manifested through actual fights and, to an even greater extent, the various media narratives surrounding the hooligan subculture presented in the four memoirs.

Syftet med studien är att kartlägga, analysera och skapa förståelse för kvinnligt fotbollssupporterskap i en svensk kontext. Det finns knappt någon forskning som handlar om kvinnliga supportrar, vare sig i ett nationellt eller internationellt perspektiv (Hynes 2012). I studien ska kvinnors erfarenheter av supporterskap, deras relation till fotbollen och supporterskapet och hur dessa relationer är definierade och tolkade studeras. Även om den absoluta majoriteten av supporterforskningen koncentreras till och på män så finns det några internationella undantag genom Goig 2007, Jones 2008, Hynes 2012. En pionjär på fältet var Coddington (1997) som i boken One of the Lads beskriver kvinnors erfarenheter av supporterskap; som fruar, döttrar, flickvänner och som supportrar på egna villkor. Hynes (2012) koncentrerar sina studier till skärningspunkten mellan det offentliga och det privata, mellan det kroppsliga (på läktaren) och det imaginära (sociala webforum) och mellan maskulina och feminina utryckssätt. Sociologen Richard Giulianotti´s (1999, 2012) supporterkategorisering är välkänd bland fotbollsforskare och denna kategoriseringen diskuteras flitigt både inom forskarvärlden och inom supportervärlden (Hognestad 2012). Giulianotti hävdar att det finns fyra idealtypiska kategorier som kan användas för att klassifiera åskådare och dessa är: Supporter-Anhängare-Fan-Flanör. I denna studie kommer jag att applicera Giulianottis modell på kvinnliga supportar för att åskådliggöra eventuella likheter och skillnader mellan kvinnligt och manligt supporterskap. Förutom Giulianottis modell ska analysen av det kvinnliga supporterskapet fördjupas utifrån sociologen Erving Goffmans teorier kring social interaktion, det dramaturgiska perspektivet, stigma och hur personer agerar onstage respektive backstage samt genom Judith Butlers teorier om performativt kön. Metod Studien baseras på medieanalyser, deltagande observation och intervjuer

Aim: The aim of this presentation is to map out and analyse how Swedish football fandom, as a lived and mediated experience, is being formed and transformed by football fans themselves on internet sites run by fans. Background: The technological development of media has changed ways of communication among fans. Fans can present themselves and their activities in a perspective they chose instead of relying on official club information or newspapers not seldom presenting fans as a problem rather than as a resource. In that way the new mediated experience allows for a broader audience to move from mere spectator to participant (cultural citizenship), and for the empowerment of fans. These experiences can be used to question who is the righteous member of a football club or carrier of the football culture. The project will map out and analyse these activities. In addition, the notion of new media technologies as enabling fans will be critically examined. It is possible that despite the growing membership action on the internet sites, the real power of the football clubs is still in the hands of the club board and the owners. Furthermore, not all groups (in relation to gender and social class for example) have equal access to new media technologies. Furthermore the question of how the football club should be organized is of importance. Not the least, the question of the influence of commercialization on a membership organization or the democratic process. This is, however, not isolated to fandom cultures. It is an important question for societal change over-all as a pivotal question is: who is to decide to what extent market forces are to influence the society? A gender perspective will be used. Methods and source material: An empirical starting point for this study is a comparison between different fan sites. The sites will be studied using content analysis. In addition, moderators of the sites will be interviewed using a semi-structure interview technique.

The article clarify how Swedish football supporters - labelled hooligans by the media, sport clubs and the general public - describe themselves, their background, how they regard hooliganism, violence and why they engage in it. The study is based on interviews, and the informants´self-image and opinions about hooliganism and hooligans will be analysed using the concept of identity as well as masculinity theory.

Artikeln redogör för den svenska huliganismen, med särskilt fokus på firmornas utveckling och status. Undersökningen visar att det under 2012 finns ca 700 aktiva huliganer i Sverige, vilket utgör ca 3 procent av antalet organiserade supportrar. De såkallade babyfirmorna samt seniorverksamheten i firmakulturen diskuteras. Medias roll samt maskulinitetsteorier problematiseras.

The purpose of the dissertation is to understand and explain howthe narrative image of the Swedish hooligan and hooliganism iscreated and recreated in various (media) descriptions. The dissertationconsists of four articles and one summarising chapter. Analysisof different types of media and in-depth interviews constitute thesource material for the study, which provides new insights intoSwedish hooligan culture. One important conclusion of the study isthat hooliganism is understood differently depending on the beholder’sposition in the hooligan landscape. The dissertation alsodemonstrates how various media narratives have had a decisivefunction in the rise, expansion and manifestation of Swedish hooliganculture.

The purpose of this article is to interpret and analyze the phenomenon of football hooliganism as presented in old print media and new digital media. A central issue explored in this article is possible differences between descriptions of the event in the old and new media. Research of the old media’s concept of hooliganism shows that media can create a panic that leads to demands for stricter regulations. In this article I have tried to demonstrate that discussions are even more fierce in some types of new media. It is difficult to clearly distinguish between old and new media. Descriptions and interpretations of the football landscape in the old media create the impression that Swedish football has o problem with meaningless violence and increasing hooliganism. The high-risk supporters are depicted as a serious threat to Swedish football, and as enemies of football in general. However, this narrative is also repeated by parts of the new media. In this article, I contextualize (media) images of a hooligan event and make visible the power struggle between different media actors around the question of “good football culture” versus “hooliganism”, a tug-of-war that will affect the Swedish football landscape to the core.

There are several problems with using the terms hooligan and hooliganism, as these are not emotionally neutral. The media as well as other parties use these terms uncritically to indicate a number of different phenomena. I will argue about the importance of understanding the complexity of the various aspects of supportership. This includes an understanding of the many facets of supportership as well as the numerous different contexts in which the people involved are acting in. The article clarify how Swedish football supporters – labelled hooligans by the media, sports clubs and the general public – describe themselves, their background, how they regard hooliganism, violence and why they engage in it. The study is based on interviews, and the informants’ self-image and opinions about hooligans and hooliganism will be analysed using the concept of identity as well as masculinity theory.

Hooligans: Nice guys or the last alpha males? A study of Swedish football supporters’ self-image. There are several problems with using the terms hooligan and hooliganism, as these are not emotionally neutral. The media as well as other parties use these terms uncritically to indicate a number of different phenomena. I will argue about the importance of understanding the complexity of the various aspects of supportership. This includes an understanding of the many facets of supportership as well as the numerous different contexts in which the people involved are acting in. The article clarify how Swedish football supporters – labelled hooligans by the media, sports clubs and the general public – describe themselves, their background, how they regard hooliganism, violence and why they engage in it. The study is based on interviews, and the informants’ self-image and opinions about hooligans and hooliganism will be analysed using the concept of identity as well as masculinity theory.

Rapporten ger en kunskapsbakgrund och en förståelse för idrottsvåldets karaktär i ett historisk samt i ett nutidsperspektiv baserat på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet.

This paper will examine the representation and the different pictures of a “hooligan scandal” that took place in Malmö, Sweden in May 2011, in traditional media: various newspapers, and in new media: various websites and Facebook. An aim is to analyse how the relationship between new media and old media affects the mediation and understanding of hooliganism. Another purpose with this paper is to analyse which effects the medialisation have on the understanding, explanation and suggested solutions to the societal problem of hooliganism.

The New Media and Hooliganism: Constructing Media Identities. This paper will focus on the football culture, hooliganism and new media. The main target is the production of the picture of hooliganism on Internet, as well as the consumption of this “picture”. The paper, will thereby, examine the relation between “The old media”, ”the new media” and ”hooliganism”. This discussion will be related to an analysis of the website www.sverigescenen. com, a Swedish online magazine. A central question is: How are different pictures/images of the hooligans constructed and described in the new media landscape? And does this contemporary picture differ from the “old medias” images of the hooligans? In this respect, Nordic criminologists have informed about the power and the influence of media. They have - close to a moral panic - uphold various social evils that have normally and frequently been related to the power of media in general. This power can be used to induce a fear amongst ordinary people; a fear of criminal act. This influence on the moral discourse could, in the extension, maintain a fear that is out of all proportion to actual risks. Previous research has in general indicated that mass media has a great impact on the (re-)production of the “narrative stories” of hooliganism and hooligans. Importantly, the new media landscape creates new conditions for this “narrative picture” of hooliganism, due to the fact that both supporters and the hooligans themselves are active and vigorous media producers. This "new" situation of participation/engagement involvement in the media production will expand and transform the research on the media process, focusing both on producing and consuming media. In this light, the new media construction of hooliganism stand out as an important subject.

This paper will focus on the new media, for the most part Internet. The main target is the production of the picture of hooliganism on Internet, as well as the consumption of this "picture". The paper, will thereby, examine the relation between "the new media" and "hooliganism". This discussion will be related to an analysis of the website www.sverigescenen.com, a Swedish online magazine. A central question is: How are different pictures/images of the hooligans constructed and described in the new media landscape.In this respect, Nordic criminologists have informed about the power and the influence of media. They have - close to a moral panic - uphold various social evils that have normally and frequently been related to the power of media in general. This power can be used to induce a fear amongst ordinary people; a fear of criminal act. This influence on the moral discourse could, in the extension, maintain a fear that is out of all proportion to actual risks. Previous research has in general indicated that mass media has a great impact on the (re- )production of the "narrative stories" of hooliganism and hooligans. Importantly, the new media landscape creates new conditions for this "narrative picture" of hooliganism, due to the fact that both supporters and the hooligans themselves are active and vigorous media producers. This ’new’ situation of participation/engagement involvement in the media production will expand and transform the research on the media process, focusing both on producing and consuming media. In this light, the modern media construction of hooliganism stand out as an important subject.