Choosing to stay away: Soccer fans’ purposeful avoidance of soccer events

Against conventional patterns of fandom loyalty, it is interesting to examine the behavioral patterns of enthusiastic fans who specifically choose to distance themselves from their favorite team and from reality during decisive matches. The present study explores the reasons and implications of such behavior, based on in-depth interviews with 19 soccer team fans in Israel who practice such purposeful avoidance. Findings show that such purposeful avoidance of games is generally motivated by a desire to avoid a source of stress or can be attributed to an illusion of influence, where purposeful avoidance is part of rituals whose irrationality is recognized by the fans themselves. Today, in the era of ubiquitous smartphones and social networks, purposeful avoidance becomes a true challenge.