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The number of women fans entering the traditionally male domain of the sports stadium has continued to grow in recent years.

Whilst watching professional sport is important for women for so many reasons, their expectations and experiences have been largely ignored by academics.

Dr Stacey Pope, a leading figure in the sociology of sport in the area of female sports fans, takes a signifcant step in redressing the balance with her book, "The Feminization of Sports Fandom: A Sociological Study", published by Routledge this week.

The 280-page edition breaks new ground by moving away from typical studies that exclusively focus on male football fans and male hooligan cultures and/or issues of fan rivalry.

Instead, it tackles these shortcomings head on in the literature and addresses the dearth of research on female sports fans.

Stacey, Associate Professor in the School of Applied Social Sciences at Durham University, said: "It examines the extent to which, and how, sports fandom figures in the leisure lives of women in football and rugby union. It also explores women’s journeys into their fandom and how they negotiate their place in this male domain."

As well as featuring original research on football and rugby union in the UK, Stacey's book looks at the increasing opportunities for women to become sports fans in contemporary society and critically examines the way this form of leisure is valued by women.

Drawing upon feminist thinking and intersectionality, it shows how women from different social classes and age groups consume the spectacle of sport.

The publication has already received widespread acclaim, including praise from John Hughson, Professor of Sport and Cultural Studies and Director of the International Football Institute, University of Central Lancashire.

He said: "The Feminization of Sports Fandom is a book of interest not only to the academic field of sports studies but also to scholars and students in areas such as sociology, cultural studies and the history of popular culture."

* Available to buy now from publishers Routledge, Amazon and other outlets.

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