Football stories: football match reports from a narrative and stylistic perspective

Football has the potential to engage the energies and passions of populations. Encounters between rival teams, such as local derbies, can be opportunities for the expression of potentially dangerous social tensions of a tribal nature, while international fixtures have been seen as a proxy for the kind of conflicts that may end in warfare (Bishop and Jaworski 2003). This paper aims to contribute to a growing research field by connecting the radio football match report with other forms of popular narrative, and particularly with the epic or heroic tradition.