published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/a> (PNAS), which shows that the intense feelings of joy, unity, and excitement fans experience surrounding sports can be less about the game and more about the ritual of coming together.<\/p>\n\u201cRituals are the kinds of things that, at first glance, don’t make any sense in terms of human behavior, but are deeply meaningful to people,\u201d says Xygalatas.<\/p>\n
With the cooperation of a die-hard Brazilian soccer (actually, it\u2019s \u201cfootball,\u201d Xygalatas grudgingly reminds us Americans) fan club, Xygalatas and his team tracked the physiological arousal of fans before, during, and after a state championship final in Minas Gerais between local rival teams.<\/p>\n
Using wearable heart monitors, they measured the emotional reactions of fans during the ritual of Rua de Fogo (Street of Fire), where crowds gather near the stadium to welcome the team\u2019s bus. As it arrives, fans light flares, smoke bombs, and fireworks, wave flags, and chant to boost team morale and unify supporters.<\/p>\n
The scientists outfitted participants with EKG monitors hidden beneath their clothing. The devices measured heart rate fluctuations, which is a proxy for emotional arousal, as fans participated in the pre-game celebration, entered the stadium, and watched the match unfold.<\/p>\n
What they found was striking: The levels of shared excitement, or what the scientists call \u201ccollective effervescence,\u201d peaked not during the game, but during the pre-game fan rituals.<\/p>\n
Only when the home team scored a goal did those physiological markers exceed the emotional high of the pre-match gathering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we see is that, in fact, the pre-game ritual generates more emotional synchrony than the game itself,\u201d Xygalatas says. \u201cThere\u2019s a single moment in the entire game when they have more collective emotional synchrony than the pre-game ritual, and that\u2019s when they scored a goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The findings underscore Xygalatas\u2019 broader work to understand how ritual shapes human behavior and identity.<\/p>\n
Xygalatas’ past research has taken him to remote firewalking ceremonies and intense religious festivals. But soccer, he says, offers a unique laboratory: It’s a global obsession that\u2019s rich in ritual and pageantry, but largely free from political or religious ideology.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople attribute a lot of meaning to sports,\u201d Xygalatas says. \u201cSports generate billions and billions of dollars globally, and they take up so much of people’s attention. And the reason they do that is not just because of what’s happening on the pitch. It\u2019s because of these ritualized interactions that occur among the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The implications, the paper argues, extend beyond sports. Ritualized group behaviors like concerts, religious ceremonies, or political rallies, may powerfully shape people\u2019s emotions and even their beliefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy going to these events, we’re actually shaping our beliefs,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, sports is not just an excuse for people to get together. It\u2019s a driver of identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Xygalatas speaks from experience. As a young man growing up in Thessaloniki, Greece, he was a member of a soccer fan club. One day, while wearing his team\u2019s scarf in the wrong neighborhood, he was ambushed by four men and brutally attacked, an incident that echoes the fatal beating of a 19-year-old in his hometown years later, also over team allegiance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt a blow to my head from behind, and next thing I knew, there were four men beating me, kicking me on the head, everywhere,\u201d remembers Xygalatas. \u201cThe reason I was able to escape is that another group of men was turning the corner, wearing my insignia, so they chased them away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Football, he says, is the only sport that regularly leads to deadly violence, a fact that leagues and governing bodies like FIFA should take seriously.<\/p>\n