Brad Andrew Hill

Repeat Attendance as a Function of Involvement, Loyalty, and the Sportscape Across Three Football Contexts

Effects of the sportscape as well as personal attachment to sport and team were studied in a sample of 530 spectators at three rugby league stadia. Two spectator segments were identified at each venue: those who came to support the home team, and those who did not. Each venue served as a proxy for a different level of competition: home of a winning team in the top league (ANZ Stadium), home of a losing team in the top league (Carrara Stadium), and home of a minor league team (Pizzey Park). Hierarchical regressions tested the effects of personal attachment and experience of the sportscape on future attendance intentions. Psychological involvement with the sport of rugby league was a significant predictor of future attendance motivation for supporters of the home team regardless of context, but loyalty to the home team was only a significant predictor for supporters of the home team at ANZ Stadium. Perceptions of the sportscape improved prediction of future attendance intentions for spectators supporting the home team in each of the three venues, but the specific sportscape elements that best represented that effect were different in each case. For spectators not supporting the home team at Pizzey Park and at Carrara Stadium, perceptions of the sportscape did not enhance prediction of future attendance intentions. It is argued that the spectators experience of a game needs to be understood in terms of the characteristics of fanship that he or she brings to the event, as well as in terms of the particular expectations that are associated with different competition contexts.

Coach decision-making and the relative age effect on talent selection in football

ABSTRACT Research Question(s): Talent selection is a stepping stone to sporting success at national and international levels. The research questions that guided this study were: (a) What is the decision-making (DM) process that coaches (as key selectors) use during talent selection? and (b) In what ways does awareness of the relative age effect (RAE) influence their DM? Research Methods: This study employed an action research approach in order to raise coach awareness of RAE on talent selection to examine the decisions surrounding selection of players. From a sample of 263 male football (soccer) players (age range 12–15) and 4 coaches, qualitative and quantitative data were collected on coach decisions for selection of players and frequencies of selected players in birth-months. Secondary data were also gathered from previous years selections. Results and Findings: Logistic regression showed that coaches’ awareness of RAE did not eliminate nor reduce it. In-depth interviews revealed that coaches’ DM was influenced by preconceptions and various pressures to select certain players. Pressures resonated within the volatile nature of their profession and career goals, the existence of competing decision-makers such as peers and parents, and the tension to select players for immediate success. Implications: The results lead to the consideration of various practical recommendations on coach organisation, coach education and alternative interventions in DM such as an alternative staged approach to talent selection that lends itself open for future research.

Framing the 2007 National Basketball Association finals: An analysis of commentator discourse

Television broadcasters often exhibit bias in the reporting of sport events. Through framed discourse, networks embed multiple storylines to build and maintain audiences over the duration of an event. Research has typically focused on mega-events occurring every four years. This study, through content analysis of American Broadcast Company’s announcer discourse of a smaller annual event, the 2007 National Basketball Association finals series, found that the framing function of the media continued to be employed. Findings also revealed significant associations existed for play-by-play and colour commentary on the two competing teams that would serve to reinforce viewer beliefs. Commentary on the winning team emphasized skill, speed and creativity, whereas star players became the focus of the losing team. Sport marketers can gain practical utility for use of framing in broadcasts by providing commentators with prepared frames that could support viewer beliefs or expectations.