The history of football scarves is intricately linked with textile innovation (and the use of synthetic fibers) brought about by the English, who in the 1930s found a way to stay warm without giving up on displaying their team’s colors. By the 1970s, this phenomenon had become widespread, as the New York Times recounts here, retracing the fascinating history of football scarves, which have now become one of the best-selling football merchandise items worldwide. The Women’s Aid Federation of England, on the occasion of this year’s European Championship, used the slogans on football scarves to raise awareness among the English public about domestic violence. Let’s see how.
Already in 2022 – with the spot He’s Coming Home – Women’s Aid, with the help of House 337, had opened a window on this issue, extremely difficult to communicate but of great importance. The focal point of this year’s awareness campaign – as mentioned above – are the football scarves and the slogans of the English supporters. “No More Years of Hurt,” “He’s Coming Home,” and “England Till I Die” thus take on a different meaning when accompanied by statistics from a study by Lancaster University. According to this 2013 study by Stuart Kirby, Brian Francis, and Rosalie O’Flahery, the percentage of domestic abuse increases by 38% when the English team loses, while even when it wins, it still stands at 26%.
Football scarves thus serve as a medium to demonstrate how the deep meaning of such misogynistic messages – due to communication heavily influenced by patriarchal principles linked to the football world – is neglected in most cases despite being omnipresent. Moreover, on the edges of the scarves, we find the most common phrases used by abusers. A great use of the football scarf trope had already been made by Nike in collaboration with Ted Lasso for the Believe campaign.
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The good news is that many prominent figures support this cause, starting with Mel B (whom we also saw taking part in this collaboration). The scarves have already been sent to influencers, featured in dedicated out-of-home campaigns, and on social media. We can only hope to see more initiatives of this kind, even here in Italy, where these issues are increasingly less discussed.
