Evaluate the importance of sporting affiliation and fandom in contributing to a national identity Introduction National identity is a debatable issue

in most modern countries since there is no single ethnic country but more than four fifth countries all over the world consist of multi-ethnic groups, as Jiang (1997) argued. Therefore it is rather difficult to define a common point of a modern country. The multi-ethnic communities also cause conflicts within a society. However sports events often provide a channel to solidify citizens in a country, like the World Cup fever. At times sports affiliation also becomes a symbol of the country, such as football in the UK. Yet sometimes it leads debate on race and ethnicity. For example, the Tebbitt speaking, A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are? Taiwan is experiencing the ethnic conflict and sports affiliations and fandom provide a platform for consolidation and sometimes thesebecome problems as well. This essay will start from the meaning of personal identity in order to establish a base for the discussion of national identity, and then introduce functions of sporting affiliations and fandom and how these functions contribute to the identity. Lastly it will draw attention to Taiwan for the purpose of evaluating the importance of sporting affiliation and fandom in Taiwan. 1. Identity

It is worth to take a deep view of the meaning of identity in order to discover the relation between national identity and sporting affiliation. Identity in general terms means the collective aspect of the set of traits by which a thing is definitively recognizable or known. As Perry (2002) argued, there are two methods to identify the identity of one thing. One is the notion of a statement of identity (absolute identity) as opposed to a resemblance or common property statement (relative identity.).......... On the one hand, it is a universal notion; any entity. Sports such as football or baseball involve lots of physical activities. Sports and exercises help in strengthening and toning the muscles and bones in the body. In short, the importance of sports for kids is that it keeps them in an excellent shape.

When children or adults plays team sports, be it cricket or hockey, they learn to work in groups. They learn that if the team wins, they win and if the team loses, they lose. This way they learn how to work in groups. Thus, the importance of sports for kids is that they understand what is team spirit and thus, when they grow and actually start working, it will help them immensely in building relationships with their co-workers, and also to work in harmony with others.

Sports makes people mentally strong. Success and failure are both parts of sports as well as life. A sportsman knows that there will be times when he will win matches, there will also be times when he will lose them. A sportsperson knows how to handle defeat and thus, treats success and failure equally. This is an important life lesson too, which sports can teach a person. Besides this, another importance of sports for children or for adults is that it teaches them how to handle competition, and be fearless when facing the adversaries.

Children and adolescents ooze with physical energy. When they are involved in sports, their physical energies are used up in a constructive way. Teenage is such an impressionable age, if adolescents are given free time they might get involved in wrong activities or may fall in bad company or may also display anti-social behavior. Thus, the importance of sports in society is that it keeps adolescents from becoming antisocial elements, who might otherwise disturb the delicate fabric of society.