Organizational Aesthetics in Football Fandom

This article investigates the influence of emotions among Neapolitan fans in shaping both individual and collective bodily experiences during Napoli Calcio Club's championship win on 4 May 2023. The embodiment of these experiences is influenced by direct interactions with artefacts and proximal individuals. The analytical study presented here constitutes an initial phase of this investigative process developed through the collection of qualitative photographic data. In the three months preceding the mathematical victory of the Scudetto, 6432 photos were collected to document how the environment of the City of Naples reacted to the sporting event. Napoli Calcio is intertwined with the City of Naples which has transformed, street after street, into an enormous blue and white grid, decorated thanks to improvised fundraisers by the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods. The moods of the Neapolitan people are crystallized in the photos for a study of affective ethnography that delves into the relationship between artefacts, sporting event and bodies.