MOTIVATION, TEAM LOYALTY AND VIOLENCE TENDENCIES OF HANDBAL L SUPPORTERS: A CASE STUDY IN TURKEY Mehmet Ali Çeliksoy- S

1. MOTIVATION, TEAM LOYALTY AND VIOLENCE TENDENCIES OF HANDBALL SUPPORTERS: A CASE STUDY IN TURKEY • Mehmet Ali Çeliksoy- Sema Çeliksoy • Anadolu University, School of Physical Education and SportsESKISEHIR/ TURKEY • INTRODUCTION • Handball is a sport that has a large number of spectators in the world. It is a fast game and makes its spectators excited because of the game characteristics. • It is seen that the number of handball spectators and supporters has decreased but the number of rows has increased on courts and grandstands, and recently, these events have been figured in mass media. A lot of projects have been prepared in order to ensure handball spectators and supporters’ interest in handball. On the other hand, it can be said that there have been no prosperous results. Furthermore, there are not enough studies on handball spectators, supporters, marketing of handball and sponsors. In addition, the existing studies are not satisfactory for handball. • AIM OF THE STUDY • In this research, the answer was sought for the following questions: What are the tendencies of handball supporters for their teams? Is there a correlation between the tendencies and the supporters’ demographic characteristics? • METHOD • a survey has been prepared by the specialist researchers in İstanbul, Ankara, Bursa and Eskişehir and the survey was conducted with 386 handball supporters. • In analyzing process, a statistical program was used. Frequency, percentage, mean average and standard deviation were revealed in analyzing of data. Cronbach Alpha was used for the reliability of the variants. T –test and ANOVA were used to reveal the differences between the tendencies (the motivational factors, team loyalty, and violence) and demographic characteristics (age, gender, education and marital status). • RESULTS AND DISCUSSION • % 47.4 of the supporters are male, % 77.2 of them are single, % 67.4 of them are students, % 45.3 of them are university graduate, % 51. 8 of them are under the age of 21, % 45.6 of the supporters’ earn 384 or fewer than 384 dollars in a month. It can be said that majority of the handball supporters are singles and students, for this reason they have low income. • The most common answer in terms of motivational factor is that: ‘I feel excited when I watch my favorite team.’ Most of them like going to handball matches because they get excited. • In terms of team loyalty ‘I support my team even if there is no famous handballer in the team’ was the most common opinion.’ It means that when they watch their team, they have emotional relations with their team and they try to support it in any case. • ‘I believe that hard game makes the game exciting.’ was the most common answer which reflects the supporters’ opinions on violence tendency. As the large number of spectators is under 21, they like watching hard games. • The findings of the research revealed that there are significant discrepancies between the tendencies (motivation, team loyalty, violence) and gender. Female supporters’ mean value is higher than male supporters’ in motivational factors and team loyalty. It can be said that female supporters’ tendencies such as supporting the team, emotional relations with the team, watching the match with friends are higher than male supporters. • The research reveals that there are meaningful differences between gender and motivational factors, team loyalty and violence. Females’ average is higher than males in motivational factors and team loyalty. It can be said that female supporters’ tendencies are higher than male supporters on supporting the team, being emotional and enjoying handball games • SUGGESTIONS • * The supporters watching female and male handball games should be evaluated and compared separately. • * The survey should be applied to handball supporters every year, so development progress and changes can be seen clearly. • * The findings among the cities should be compared. 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