Here are Käld's Angels. Uefa Women's Euro 2009 Through the Finnish Media

Authors

• Riikka Turtiainen Turun yliopisto

Abstract

Women's Euro 2009 was played in Finland between August 23 and September 10, 2009. In this article I discuss how the tournament was represented in the media. I approach “the media spectacle” from a follower’s point of view. I’m interested in online-contents produced by followers. While the media concentrated on emphasizing the conventional way to represent gender and nationality the Internet diversified the image of the sports event. As research material I have used magazines, online newspapers, websites and forums, television broadcasts and stories written by the followers of the WEURO. The tournament was remembered primarily as a positive event. However, the mass media still focused on reporting of the Finnish team and female football players in a trivializing and marginalizing way. The participatory role of the Internet came up in online forums. Women's Euro 2009 became momentous particularly for the community of female football players.