Ground Hoppers

Do you know groundhoppers?

The term ‘groundhopping’ originates from England in the late 1980’s. It describes fans who try to see sport matches in as many different stadiums or grounds as possible. This phenomenal fan culture applies mostly to football.

The 1990 Footbal World Cup was the main factor in the increase of the number of groundhoppers in Germany: After the World Cup, German football fans started attending matches abroad, especially European Cup matches. Groundhopping as a hobby is most popular in its originating countries, which are Great Britain and Germany. There are only few groundhoppers in other European countries and they are not institutionally organized as those in England and Germany. Many groundhoppers, similar to ultras, have dedicated their whole li

ves to this hobby. Therefore groundhopping is a good example of how people define themselves through their hobbies in postmodern society.

Travelling is a central motif in this hobby. Most groundhoppers therefore travel very frequently to see as many new football stadiums in different cities, regions and countries as possible. As is the case with ‘normal’ travellers, escapism is also a widespread motif among groundhoppers. For some groundhoppers, just as for normal travellers, tourist sights in foreign cities play an equally important role. The analysis showed that this is only an important fact for groundhoppers at the periphery of the scene. For most groundhoppers, who practice this hobby intensively, the sights play a minor and most commonly even no role on their journeys. Another important aspect of this hobby aside from travelling is collecting sport grounds (of a certain league) and socialising.

Get active, pass by groundhoppers and plan their travel & tickets ahead.

Source: Groundhopping – a phenomenon in European fan culture, Hendrik Kren, University of Kiel

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