Śląski "Ruch" - ponowoczesne meandry regionalnej tożsamości : (na przykładzie klubu piłkarskiego i jego społecznego otoczenia)

Abstract

The social background of „Ruch” Chorzów sports club with its concentric semiinstitutional structure (from ultras via supporters to sympathizers) manifests symbols/signs understood in a very specific way. They emphasize Silesian separateness referring in different ways to the redefined identity of the Silesian club. It happens so in the situation when social and cultural indexes of this identity are gradually disappearing – fewer and fewer players in the team are Silesian homegrown of “Ruch” Chorzów, the football squad being based to a growing extent on “newcomers”. The process of disappearance of Silesian identity indexes – such as place of birth (of players and their parents) or ability to communicate in Silesian dialect – both among the players and the supporters is accompanied by redefinition and instrumentalization of the Silesian identity also as an element of space division/closure in Silesian cities. “Ruch” offers then, in many cases, flexible, symbolic dimension which can be redefined and modified so freely, that it can take the forms distinctly contradictory to tradition. It doesn’t mean that the manifestations of the Silesian identity shown in the article are suspended in the social vacuum. However, using quasi-traditional forms they describe and express new, postmodern reality, stressing particularly (and aggressively) the element of diversity.