Elite male spectator sports have been problematized as sites that play a key role in molding and regulating a gender order dominated by an aggressive hegemonic masculinity that is patterned on male sporting heroes. This article explores instead the love, devotion, and desires that some male fans feel for these male sporting heroes. Drawing on fragments from Australian and US online fan forums, together with interviews with Australian Rules Football supporters and a film based on an American football fan, this article examines the possibly heterodox aspects of these feelings, how they intersect with the aggressive, territorial masculinity of the sports their heroes play, and touches on the implications for social change. The love of male fans for male sporting heroes suggests that the hegemonic masculinity associated with elite male spectator sports is not as monolithic as previously thought, but the broader aggressive, heteronormative context of these sporting cultures also suggests some limits to notions of an emerging inclusive masculinity.
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