Sport Fans as a Community of the Invisible religion

The articles explores the social phenomenon of sport fandom. Contrary to traditional approaches it offers a different perspective of analysis. It applies Thomas Luckmann's concept of invisible religion in order to provide better insight into the community of fans of sport clubs. The authors identify the idea of a sport club, its crest, unique colors and tradition as a form of postmodern sacrum. In our times this untraditional form of sacrum gathers new type of believers - fans of sport clubs. The goal of the paper is (a) to present fans as communities of the invisible religion that would provide evidence on the relocation of sacrum outside traditional structure of institutional religion; and (b) to make a typology of fans based on degree of their "faith" and a form of participation in the community of invisible religion. Completing both tasks would help understand the social phenomenon of sport fandom and its undergoing transformation under the pressure of commercialized sport.