‘Stick to Soccer:’ fan reaction and inclusion rhetoric on social media

AbstractIn the wake of the United States Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, social media reflected a range of support and dissent. US Soccer posted a photo featuring an eagle and the phrase ‘One Nation, One Team’ in rainbow font on their official social media accounts. This paper explores the reaction to those posts by social media users. We examined comments made about the post and, using elements of grounded theory, found five themes emerge: (1) resistance to the intertwinement of politics and sport and pushback to that resistance; (2) patriotism/nationalism; (3) the symbolic importance of out gay players, coaches and fans; (4) general negative comments; and (5) general positive comments. We contextualize these themes in light of (1) the tension around the role of politics in sports, (2) US Soccer’s historical heterosexism and its manifestations and (3) the changing landscape of women’s sports in regards to homosexuality.