Georgalou, M: The Discursive Construction of National Identi

Media sport constitutes a significant arena within which discourses about national identities are continually articulated. This monograph analyses the football commentaries of the matches in which the Greece national football team competed during Euro 2004. Its focus is on the discursive means that the sportscasters deployed with a view to constructing a national identity that promoted unification and solidarity amongst the audience. In parallel, it explores how the representatives of this national collectivity, i.e. the footballers, their coach and the fans, were depicted. Adopting a discourse- historical framework (Reisigl and Wodak 2001; Wodak et al. 1999), it becomes evident that the sportscasters show great support for their home team forging points of identification with the audience. In doing so, they confirm the ideological power that media sport has in generating, reinforcing and disseminating national identities. The study will especially benefit students, instructors and researchers in discourse analysis, media studies, and sports sociology.