Fictional narratives are valuable data sources, places, where representations, and meaning, are created (see Bairner 2011 & 2017 and Hill 2006). The production of sports fiction romance novels has grown significantly in recent years as developments in technology have allowed access to online and self-publishing platforms, and social media has enabled authors to connect with wider audiences through hashtags and communities on popular platforms (such as Instagram’s #Bookstagram and TikTok’s #BookTok). While many sports are presented in the genre, increasingly representations of women’s sports, all-gender sports and queer narratives are finding a strong place within this landscape, building diverse fandoms and communities around sporting narratives that have not always connected to traditional sports or engaged in traditional fan practices (see Symons, 2022 & Schallhorn et al., 2023). Popular examples include the cult following of Melbourne (Aus) bases writer Abra Pressler’s Love and Other Scores (2023) that imagines an environment where a men’s professional tennis player comes out during the Australian Open and Meryl Wilsner’s novel Cleat Cute (2023) that has been described as Ted Lasso meets A League of Their Own that gained the attention of legendary athletes Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird to option the book through their production company for a scripted series (Deadline, 2024).
In his work defending sports fiction as a rich data source for researchers, Bairner quotes Tadié (2012) on cricket fiction who says, ‘literature about cricket does not merely portray the game, but defines our perception of it...’ (in Bairner, 2017, pg. 524). This paper thus examines the portrayals of diverse sporting experiences through fiction that explore sporting utopias and hopes for change, desire for more visibility of diverse lived experiences in sporting landscapes that sports organisations can learn from to reflect on alternative and creative modes of fan engagement.
We consider the ways the form might: drive fandom of sport in diverse audiences; connect with new fans who may not fit ‘traditional’ sports fan models; and offer insight on the diverse nature of fan bases of sports who are seeking fan connection in alternative ways. The paper focuses on preliminary findings of scoping of the genre through textual analysis of selected texts (Belsey 2013) and semi-structured interviews with authors and content creators to begin to scope the motivations and experiences of the community through emerging groups (such as the ‘Hockey Smut Book Club’) who are driving fan connections in this space.
This paper presents alternatives ways of data collection and explores intersections with creative products to demonstrate the value of looking outside traditional fan engagement practices to understand how non-fans, diverse fans and new fans are engaging with sporting narratives outside traditional channels.