This study examines how politeness and impoliteness shape football banter among Nigerian Premier League fans on X. From 50 selected tweets, the results show that impoliteness dominates fan interaction. Positive impoliteness appeared most frequently, followed closely by sarcasm or mock politeness and bald-on-record attacks. Negative impoliteness was also common, while positive politeness and withholding politeness were rare. Overall, the banter relies on playful aggression, teasing and rivalry. These patterns indicate that impoliteness is not simply hostile; it helps fans bond, affirm group identity and participate in the competitive spirit that defines Nigerian online football culture in online fan communities.
AdebomiOAjayiT (2025) Conceptual metaphors and jocular mockery in select British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Yoruba reports on the English Premier League (EPL). Lodz Papers in Pragmatics. Epub ahead of print 5 December. DOI: 10.1515/lpp-2024-0065.
2.
AdekolaTEBolanleA (2025) Social identity and fans’ behavior among European soccer club supporters in Ibadan, Nigeria. PERSPEKTIF14(4): 798–808. DOI: 10.31289/perspektif.v14i4.16150.
3.
AichnerT (2019) Football clubs’ social media use and user engagement. Marketing Intelligence & Planning37(3): 242–257.
4.
AjayiTMAkinrinlolaTAjayiD (2023) Fandom language and banter-throwing in football-related interactions among Nigerian fans of English Premier League clubs. Arusha Working Papers in African Linguistics5(1): 67–91.
5.
AkinwotuSAAkinolaAJAdegbenroSA (2025) Virtual vernaculars: code-mixing dynamics among Yoruba/English bilinguals on Facebook. American Journal of Arts and Human Science4(1): 1–15.
6.
BadrakhA (2024) The role of digital cues in online banter: a systematic perspective. Psychology and Social Media Studies43: 31840–31851.
7.
BlainNBoyleRO’DonnellH (1993) Sport and National Identity in the European Media. Leicester University Press.
8.
BobmanuelKBUmunnahBOOchiaSE (2023) Television viewership of English Premier League and social bonding patterns among football fans in Port Harcourt Metropolis. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS)7(1): 649–660.
9.
BousfieldD (2008) Impoliteness in Interaction. John Benjamins Publishing.
10.
BootABTjong Kim SangEDijkstraK, et al. (2019) How character limit affects language usage in tweets. Palgrave Communications5: 76.
11.
Bou-FranchPGarcés-Conejos BlitvichP (2019) Analyzing Digital Discourse: New Insights and Future Directions. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
12.
BrownPLevinsonSC (1987a) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13.
BrownPLevinsonSC (1987b) Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage (Vol. 4). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14.
CandonP (2019) Twitter: social communication in the Twitter era. New Media & Society21(7): 1656–1658.
15.
ClelandJ (2014) Racism, football fans, and online message boards: how social media has added a new dimension to racist discourse in English football. Journal of Sport and Social Issues38(5): 415–431.
16.
CrawfordG (2004) Consuming Sport: Fans, Sport and Culture. London: Routledge.
17.
CrystalD (2006) Language and the Internet. 2nd ed.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
CulpeperJ (1996) Towards an anatomy of impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics25(3): 349–367.
19.
CulpeperJ (2011) Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20.
CulpeperJHaughMKádárDZ (2017) The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
21.
DitlhokwaGNcubeL (2025) Coaching African national teams: nativist nationalism and digital fandom during mega transnational football. African Identities. Epub ahead of print 15 May. DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2025.2501792.
22.
DynelM (2016) ‘I has seen image macros!’: advice animal memes as visual-verbal jokes. International Journal of Communication10: 660–688.
23.
Garcés-Conejos BlitvichPBou-FranchP (eds) (2019) Analyzing digital discourse: New insights and future directions. Cham: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-92663-6.
24.
Garcés-Conejos BlitvichPLorenzo-DusNBou-FranchP (2010) A genre approach to impoliteness in a Spanish television talk show: evidence from corpus-based analysis, questionnaires and focus groups. Intercultural Pragmatics7: 689–723.
25.
GoffmanE (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-face Behavior. New York: Anchor Books.
26.
GoldblattD (2014) The Game of Our Lives: The English Premier League and the Making of Modern Britain. 1st ed. New York: Nation Books.
27.
HardakerC (2010) Trolling in asynchronous computer-mediated communication: from user discussions to academic definitions. Journal of Politeness Research6(2): 215–242.
28.
HaughM (2010) Jocular mockery, (dis)affiliation, and face. Journal of Pragmatics42(8): 2106–2119.
29.
HaughM (2013) Im/politeness, social practice and the participation order. Journal of Pragmatics58: 52–72.
30.
HillMJ (2025) Catching stray balls: football, fandom, and the impact on digital discourse. In: Proceedings of the 9th workshop on online abuse and harms (WOAH), Vienna. Association for Computational Linguistics. Available at: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.01642
31.
HouseJ (2012) (Im)politeness in cross-cultural encounters. Language and Intercultural Communication12(4): 284–301.
32.
HutchinsBRoweD (eds) (2013) Digital Media Sport: Technology, Power and Culture in the Network Society. London: Routledge.
33.
Ikechukwu-IbeCJ (2025) An analysis of impoliteness as the oppositional discourse in the Nigerian #EndSARS protest. African Identities23(1): 128–144. DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2023.2227355.
34.
JenkinsH (2006) Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture. New York: New York University Press.
35.
KádárDZHaughM (2013) Understanding Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
KameckaGJackowiczK (2020) Nationalism – The main component of the fan identity on the example of fans of the local club Korona Kielce. Rozprawy Społeczne14(3): 126–140.
37.
LiF (2025) Digital fan engagement strategies in African football: a content and sentiment analysis. Journal of Information Systems Engineering and Management10(55s): 805–816.
38.
MobolajiAOFadipeIAEgbokhareOA (2024) ‘Divided in Nigeria, united by football’: football fandom culture as a motivating factor for communication and unity among Nigerian youths. In: AisengKFadipeIAMpofuP (eds) Divided in Nigeria, United by Football. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp.151–165.
39.
OsisanwoAAlugbinM (2024) Metaphorical constructs and semiotic expressions in the BBC Yoruba internet memes of English Premier League match results. Language and Semiotic Studies3(2): 415–436.
40.
PamPT (2024) Examining (im)politeness in Nigerian cyberspace. Veritas Journal of the Humanities5(2): 54–72.
41.
Romero-JaraESolanellasFLópezCarrilS, et al. (2024) The more we post, the better? A comparative analysis of fan engagement on social media profiles of football leagues. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship25(3): 578–599.
42.
RosénJ (2023) “Not my MVP!”: Analysing impoliteness in Twitter comments towards award-winning basketballers in the NBA and WNBA leagues (Unpublished bachelor’s essay, Department of English, Stockholm University). DiVA Portal. Available at: https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1725408
43.
RoweD (2014) New screen action and its memories: the ‘live’ performance of mediated sport fandom. Television & New Media15(8): 752–759.
44.
SitumorangYFLestariF. DSinagaNT (2024) Impoliteness strategies of the hate comments on Twitter. Alacrity : Journal of Education4(3): 220–228.
45.
SzymanskiSKuypersT (1999) Winners and Losers: The Business Strategy of Football. New York: Viking.
46.
TaggCSeargeantPBrownAA (2017) Taking Offence on Social Media: Conviviality and Communication on Facebook. Cham: Springer.
47.
TaiwoROAkinwotuSAKpolugboS (2021) Linguistic impoliteness and interpersonal positioning in Nigerian online political forum. Linguistik Online109(4): 113–132.
Ubelejit-NteAA (2023) Fandom and dress association among fans of mediated European football in Nigeria. International Journal of Development Strategies in Humanities, Management and Social Sciences13(1): 120–135.
50.
WellerKBrunsABurgessJ, et al. (eds) (2014) Twitter and Society. Lausanne: Peter Lang.
51.
XasanovZB (2025) Pragmatic aspects of football fans’ discourse on social media: a comparative study of English and Uzbek languages. Journal of Multidisciplinary Sciences and Innovations1(4): 1328–1330.
52.
YadavJSahoreNMendirattaA (2023) Digital social engagements and knowledge sharing among sports fans: role of interaction, identification, and interface. Technological Forecasting and Social Change195: 122792.
