Jo Welford

Using a smartphone app in qualitative research: the good, the bad and the ugly

This article reflects on the use of a smartphone application (‘app’) in qualitative research following the experience of the FREE (Football Research in an Enlarged Europe) project, which investigated the lives of football fans in the UK. To meet this aim, a participant-focused audiovisual methodology was designed, featuring the use of an app to collect data. Fans were asked to take photographs and keep diaries to show the role football plays in their lives. The smartphone app was developed to allow fans to use their own mobile phones, capturing qualitative data in ‘real time’. The paper reflects on our experience of using the smartphone app in this qualitative research, analysing the advantages, disadvantages and the main risks that researchers will need to take into account when using smartphone apps in their future qualitative research projects. We encourage others to build on and advance this under-researched but potentially valuable tool.

A ‘healthy’ future? Supporters’ perceptions of the current state of English football

Over the last few years, clear public policy support in favour of fan engagement in the governance of football has developed. This is based on the assumption that supporters are dissatisfied with the current governance structures within the sport. There is, however, no robust academic evidence of whether this is indeed the case. This article aims to contribute to the debate by presenting data from qualitative fieldwork with 21 football supporters during March–May 2013. Each participant created a photograph album over an eight-week period, and was then interviewed individually to elicit the meaning of their photographs and diaries. This group of fans used their photographs to express dissatisfaction with several aspects of current football governance, highlighting issues with the financial, physical and social health of the sport. We suggest a number of implications of this, both for the fans and for the future state of the game.

Outsiders on the Inside: Integrating Women’s and Men’s Football Clubs in England

Welford investigates the relationship between women’s and men’s football clubs in England. Since the 1990s there has been a move for women’s clubs to join with men’s clubs to gain access to pitch and other facilities. Welford argues that the relationship between women’s and men’s football clubs can be complicated and has a significant impact on a number of areas. The chapter explores three of these areas: financial arrangements, club development and perceived status. Welford concludes that relationships between men’s and women’s football clubs can be fragile, and dependence on a male football club, particularly for financial support, can be highly problematic. Women’s football is an interesting site for examining the integration of men’s and women’s sports.

Facilitating inclusivity and broadening understandings of access at football clubs: the role of disabled supporter associations

ABSTRACT Research question: To which extent do Disabled Supporter Associations (DSAs) contribute to improve access of fans with disabilities to football? This research question addresses two interrelated gaps: the lack of attention to supporters in European policies on inclusion in and through sport, and the excessive focus on physical barriers over other dimensions of access in both policy and research on disability and sport. Research methods: The study uses visual auto-ethnography. Seven disabled supporters, members of three different DSAs at football clubs in England, took part in the study. They were asked to take photographs of their life as a supporter over a period of eight weeks, and were interviewed at the end to discuss and clarify the meaning of the pictures. Results and findings: Attention to physical spaces is not enough to ensure inclusivity in the stands. Further dimensions need attention by clubs, including knowledge, relationships and participation, and power of advocacy. DSAs have the potential to play a pivotal role in helping clubs improving their provisions for disabled fans, since they act as both a social forum and point of contact for clubs, but they are hampered for their lack or resources and clubs’ almost exclusive focus on physical access. Nind and Seale’s multi-dimensional model of access for the disabled is one useful way of interpreting these results. Implications: Conceptual understandings of access and inclusion can be broadened by using Nind and Seale’s model. Policies addressing inclusion in football should focus not only on those doing sport, but also on those spectating.

Globalising Women's Football: Europe, Migration and Professionalization

Womens football has a long and chequered history; a history that has only really emerged as a serious subject worthy of detailed academic study in the last two decades. Sports historian Jean Willi...