Nigerian undergraduate football fans’ discourse: Visuals as Communication tools

This paper examined the non-verbal discourse of student soccer fans of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, with a view to characterizing the discourse genre. Data for the study comprised six samples of the discourse obtained from two soccer viewing centers on the university campus. The centers were purposively selected with priority given to places that have the greatest turn-out of soccer fans. The participant observation method was employed in gathering data from the two centers. Video recordings of the discourses were done using both the surreptitious and non-surreptitious methods of recording while multimodal semiotic theory was drawn upon in the analysis of the data gathered. Analysis of the data revealed that the subjects of the study deployed jerseys, head warmers, belts, hand bands, and gestures to communicate various meanings including affective ones.