ITV, along with BBC, Sky and Setanta, is one of four major options for UK residents for sports programming. Currently ITV Sport hold the rights to Champions League football (shared with Sky Sports), FA Cup action (shared with Setanta Sports), rights to the next two World Cups (jointly with BBC Sport), plus exclusive rights to UEFA Cup football (quarters onwards) and rights to Football League and Carling Cup action as well (these will switch to BBC in 2009).

All in all, there’s a lot going on at ITV especially where football is concerned. In July 2008 ITV relaunched their website and their online content / promotion efforts. I think you’ll find (and Marc confirms it in the interview) that ITV is much more video-centric than it’s rivals, and as a branding strategy it’s hard to argue against it.

(If you’re interested in more sports, see itv.com/sport which shows off what other sports they have, including F1, other motorsport, cycling etc.)

Earlier this week I caught up with ITV.com head of content, Marc Webber, to talk about what football fans can expect from ITV in the coming months. Mr Webber is responsible for all web content, whether it’s social drama or football, and I was interested in finding out how ITV saw itself in relation to the industry as a whole and football fans in particular.

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As anyone with moderate traffic to their website knows, spammers and pissed off commenters are the scourge of the Internet. The anonymity the Internet provides - especially the lack of personal, eye to eye contact - allows people to say and do things they wouldn’t think of doing and saying in person.

Combine this with the emotions football evokes in people and it’s safe to say that football fans have a great potential to be assholes.

I’m not here to bash fans - we are who we are and I know first hand how strong those waves of anger and joy can be. The rush you get from baiting opposition fans, the thrill of beating down on them when your team wins, it’s war without bullets and it feels so good when you’re winning that one forgets all civil norms.

But is there a way to build an online community that doesn’t engage in such behavior without compromising on the passion that makes football go around?

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On the surface, a “super fan” is just like any other serious fan - wears the team colours, knows the history and follows the team with a passion bordering on religious devotion.

Underneath the surface though, the super fan is a channel through whom other fans can experience and bring to life their own love for the team.

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