Abstract

Home refers to a number of locations and various meanings associated with it have been identified.
However, research has been limited by a focus on house and traditional family. To expand our understanding,
this study explored whether a secondary space, the English professional football ground,
embodied the same meanings as other places called home. Web survey respondents confirmed, to some
extent, their preferred football team’s home stadium does represent home similarly. Three distinct aspects
of the home emerged: general qualities of home, place attachment, and the importance of social
interactions. Some aspects varied by length of team occupancy and season ticket holder status; but none
differed by gender. Though the football stadium does represent some qualities of home, it was speculated
this may be due to the unique connection to place that underlies English football. Future research should
explore how the views of stadiums and other public spaces as home places vary across locales in order to
identify how home differs from places to which we are attached.