Roughrider fans are gearing up for the season opener June 27 at Mosaic Stadium. Katie Sveinson knows something about those fans. Sveinson is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies. She’s studying the concept of fandom, including what makes a fan authentic, how we learn good and bad fan behaviours and how gender plays a role. She’s a Riders fan - and is also a diehard fan of the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. “When I was working on my Master’s Thesis, I wanted to explore if female fans experienced feelings of marginalization or empowerment. So I started with a small study on female Rider fans. I found that the Rider community is an inclusive one,” says Sveinson, whose findings were published in Leisure Studies, an academic journal. “Those feelings of marginalization did not appear to exist, at least when it comes to the Rider fan base.”