Rally around the flag: sport fans and geography among Israeli school students.

Sociology points to the contribution of sports to many areas of life. One stream of research focuses on how sport socialises its participants and fans into an entire world of values that extends beyond the realm of sport. This article explores whether and to what extent sports benefit young fans by facilitating an increased awareness of the global space. It found significant differences between national flag identification abilities of sport fans and non-fans. No significant differences were found between these groups on other factors. Implications of the study potentially support approaches that conceptualise sport as a social learning tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]