Students explore the psychology behind UK soccer fandom

From the press box at an Edinburgh-based Hibernian Football Club match, Greta Wilson ’26 watched fans sing, drum, and cheer emphatically.

“People were singing the whole time,” Wilson says. “They were loud, they had their drums, and they were very passionate.”

The vibrant fan scene showed Wilson and her classmates what they had traveled across the United Kingdom to study: how loyalty to a soccer team shapes identity, families, and communities.

The January session trip brought together a larger group of students studying the psychology of fandom and a five-person Textura team documenting what they learned along the way. Together, students explored how soccer fandom shapes identity, family relationships, and a sense of belonging.

The Textura team put those ideas into practice through on-the-ground journalism. They attended soccer matches, interviewed fans and sports leaders, and gathered stories, photographs, and video in stadiums, local clubs, restaurants, and city streets for the latest issue of Bethel’s student-produced international storytelling publication.

Wilson worked alongside Luca Lombardi ’26, Aiden Penner ’27, Sydney Roberts ’26, and Kat Kovalenko ’26. The five students brought complementary skills in reporting, writing, editing, photography, video, and production to the project.

Professor of Psychological Sciences Joel Frederickson has led nine study abroad courses, and he says this group especially stood out.

“I’ve never had a group who got along so well together,” he says. “They looked out for each other and did almost everything together.”

For Wilson, an organizational communication major who has also studied journalism and business, the project offered hands-on experience in reporting, editing, teamwork, and adaptability.

“I said I’d be down for anything,” Wilson says. “You figure it out. It all worked out in the end.”

Studying the connections behind fandom

The Psychology of Fandom course was led by Frederickson, while Scott Winter, a former professor of journalism at Bethel, helped guide the Textura reporting and production work.

Frederickson wanted students to experience soccer fandom in the United Kingdom and study the social connections behind it.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the intensity of UK football fandom, partly because I’m a social psychologist and partly because I’m a big sports fan,” Frederickson says. “So, I proposed a course that would allow students to experience fandom firsthand.”

Before and during the trip, students studied how fandom can build community, shape identity, and meet social needs. Then they watched those ideas play out in stadiums, clubs, and conversations with fans.

Wilson learned that loyalty to a team often connects families across generations.

“Fandom has been passed down for generations,” she says. “For some people, that’s how they had connections to their dad or another family member.”

She also saw how deeply soccer could shape a community.

“It was so ingrained in the culture,” Wilson says. “Some cities we visited felt like they existed for a soccer team.”

Finding stories through conversation

Some interviews were arranged before the trip. Students met with individuals connected to soccer clubs, the Scottish Football Association, universities, and coaching organizations.

Many other stories began when members of the Textura team approached strangers and asked questions. Wilson says being an American university student often helped start conversations.

“People were curious and asked me, ‘You’re an American. Why are you here?’” she says.

Once the students explained the project, many fans were eager to share their experiences.

“It was fun to basically ask them, ‘What do you think of your favorite thing ever?’” Wilson says. “They were really excited to talk about that.”

At a youth match in Edinburgh, one conversation with a supporter of a lower-division club became the foundation for a new story.

Another interview began at a farm that Roberts came across outside Edinburgh. Wilson and her classmates noticed offices upstairs and asked whether someone could meet with them.

“We just went upstairs, found their offices, and asked, ‘Can we interview someone?’” Wilson says. “We ended up having a 30-minute interview with Sam Lockhart, head of marketing at Swanston Farms, which contributed to the ‘Blue Collar Football’ story and a video.”

Reporting from the press box

One of Wilson’s favorite parts of the trip was the Hibernian match, where students worked from the press box and gathered footage from the sidelines.

“It was so much fun to be in those environments where we could directly experience what we studied,” Wilson says.

The experience also gave members of the Textura team a close look at professional sports reporting. They went through the press entrance, worked from the media area, gathered video, interviewed fans outside the stadium, and attended the press conference after the game.

Turning interviews into a publication

Throughout the trip, the five Textura students divided into reporting groups, developed story ideas, and planned the photos and videos they needed. Other students in the Psychology of Fandom course interacted with fans and completed assignments connected to the course.

“Every single day, we would get up and figure out where we could go find leads, where we could shoot video, and what we could do while we were there,” Wilson says.

Each Textura student contributed an article individually or with a partner. Together, the team took the publication and related video content from concept and research through writing, editing, design, publication, and marketing.

Wilson and Penner served as the primary student editors. After returning home, they worked with writers to strengthen leads, reorganize stories, and prepare each article for a public audience.

“We basically turned essays into articles,” Wilson says. “A lot of it was learning how you write an article, not an academic essay.”

The work helped Wilson connect skills from across her education. Her communication courses supported her leadership and collaboration, while her journalism coursework prepared her to interview sources and develop stories.

Learning to stay curious

The trip also changed how Wilson approaches unfamiliar places.

“I think I learned how to travel better,” she says. “If we didn’t know something, we would just talk to someone and see what they thought.”

That approach led to conversations the students could not have planned in advance.

“We didn’t have to have this whole itinerary planned out for the perfect trip,” Wilson says. “We could just go up to people, ask questions, and chat with them.”

By the end of the trip, students who once hesitated to approach strangers were starting conversations with fans, sports leaders, and community members throughout the cities they visited.

Wilson says the experience taught her to accept the discomfort that comes with trying something unfamiliar.

“You might be uncomfortable, but it’s okay to be uncomfortable,” she says.

The finished Textura issue reflects the reporting, teamwork, and curiosity that shaped the trip. It also captures a lesson Wilson practiced each day: Good stories often begin when someone is willing to ask a question.

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