Jonathan Magee

The World at their Feet: Professional Football and International Labor Migration

The global migration of footballers to and within the top professional leagues in Europe has greatly accelerated in the last decade. Commercial interests in this “football business” have also grown prodigiously and the English leagues, especially the Premier League, have experienced an associated and pronounced increase in foreign player migration. The Premier League, supported by intensive commercial investment, has placed England on the career map of some top global stars. The globalization of football and its labor migrants can only be considered as part of a multifaceted and multidirectional process. This paper provides a model for understanding the globalization of football and the movement of its labor, but also probes beneath this model, drawing on findings from interview-based interpretative research conducted with foreign professional players in England (n = 22). A typology based on player experiences is established, explaining some of the key experiential dimensions of sports labor migration.

‘Can we play on the swings and roundabouts?’: creating inclusive play spaces for disabled young people and their families

The importance of play for children’s development and wellbeing has been well established. However, disabled children and their families frequently find accessing play sites challenging due to a range of physical and social barriers and are therefore unable to experience many of the benefits play in this setting provides. Increasingly, United Kingdom policy has recognised this with the 2008 Play Strategy making an explicit commitment supported by funding to ensure that more inclusive public play facilities are developed. Using a case study example of a newly developed ‘inclusive’ play facility, this paper examines the views of young disabled people and their families regarding what makes a play facility inclusive. Using a socio-spatial analysis the paper identifies the importance of not only addressing physical constraints but also creating a space where disability is viewed positively and able-bodied discourses are not privileged at the expense of others. The importance of consulting with families, location of facilities and the role of play workers are all analysed. The paper concludes by critically examining the implications of the findings for the delivery of the Play Strategy particularly within the context of public spending cuts imposed by the new Coalition Government, and considers whether inclusive play spaces can become a standard and embedded part of community facilities.

Football’s coming home: A critical evaluation of the Homeless World Cup as an intervention to combat social exclusion

A key feature of government policy in the last 30 years is the use of sport programmes as a vehicle for social change aiming to benefit and improve the lives of marginalized and vulnerable members of society. Sports policy-makers and practitioners have sought to use the ‘power of sport’ through sport-based intervention programmes to tackle key social issues. The Homeless World Cup is an example of this, comprising a football tournament held annually since 2003 aiming to re-engage marginalized, vulnerable and socially excluded homeless people. This article focuses on a group of young male homeless players from a United Kingdom squad that attended the inaugural Homeless World Cup. Drawing upon observations and interview material, the findings centre on the benefits of engagement in the programme but also the challenges and difficulties specific to the circumstances surrounding this group of players. The article concludes with a preliminary assessment of the appropriateness of the HWC as a mechanism for assisting homeless people to overcome the multi-faceted and complex issues they face.

A Fair Game for All? How Community Sports Clubs in Australia Deal With Diversity

Diversity and equality are key issues confronting sport. This article draws on findings from qualitative research carried out in Australia to critically examine how diversity is understood and valued in community sport. The findings suggest that there is a discrepancy between the policy objectives of government and sport organizations and the way in which diversity is understood and responded to in practice. Diversity management is not being adopted widely among local sports clubs. The idea of a moral imperative to cater to people with diverse backgrounds and abilities is largely absent; rather, the dominant discourse is underpinned by a business rationale which interprets diversity in terms of benefits and costs to the organization. This business-driven approach is often detrimental to the social policy objective of ensuring equitable outcomes in sport. A fundamental reconsideration of the rationale and practice of managing diversity in sport is therefore necessary.

Disengagement, de-motivation, vulnerable groups and sporting inclusion: a case study of the Homeless World Cup.

The inaugural Homeless World Cup was held in July 2003 in Graz, Austria with 18 teams competing. Organized by the International Network of Street Papers, the tournaments aims were to encourage disengaged and de‐motivated people to participate in the sporting environment, to provide an inclusive football opportunity to raise personal dignity and self‐esteem, and to use football as a social inclusion tool to challenge stereotypical views, especially in the media, of homeless people. The researcher was coach to the Welsh squad and this article reflectively reports the experiences of the Welsh squad in relation to the tournaments three objectives of: encouraging disengaged and de‐motivated people, raising personal dignity and self‐esteem, and challenging stereotypical views.

Urban Youth, Worklessness and Sport: A Comparison of Sports-based Employability Programmes in Rotterdam and Stoke-on-Trent

The potential value of sport as a vehicle through which urban regeneration and social renewal policy can be delivered has been extensively examined. However, there are an increasing number of initiatives aiming to use sports-based programmes as a way to address worklessness and social exclusion amongst young people which have received less attention. This paper provides a critical comparative analysis of two such programmes, one based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the other in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK. Using qualitative data collected from participants, staff and other stakeholders, the paper details the nature and perceived merits of the programmes before considering the limitations and constraints of employability initiatives using sport. The paper concludes by suggesting that a fundamental shift in policy discourse is required for such programmes to be able to achieve sustainable positive outcomes for workless young people with complex problems and needs.

Sport for development in Zambia: the new or not so new colonisation?

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to examine the experiences of indigenous participants in Global North led sport for development programmes. The chapter considers whether the experiences of indigenous participants reflect the neo-colonialist claims levied at such initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – The chapter draws on findings from a qualitative study utilising in depth interviews with 14 young women who participated in a sport for development initiative and 8 mothers and grandmothers. Findings – The research illustrates how we can construct sport for development initiatives as neo-colonial activities imposed on indigenous participants by Global North agencies. However, we argue that this alone does not capture the complexity of experience at local level and the young women we interviewed highlighted the important place sport for development programmes have within their lives and how they reshape them to provide resources that are valuable for them within their communities. Research limitations/implications – The challenges of navigating power relationships as Global North researchers working in the Global South are highlighted and their potential impact on the research discussed. Originality/value – The chapter highlights the importance of understanding indigenous experiences in sport for development programmes. Such local level analysis is lacking within current literature.

Diversity work in community sport organizations: Commitment, resistance and institutional change

Diversity is a key term used in a range of public and private organizations to describe institutional goals, values and practices. Sport is a prominent social institution where the language of diversity is frequently and positively used; yet, this rhetoric does not necessarily translate into actual practice within sport organizations. This paper critically examines diversity work in community sports clubs. Drawing upon qualitative research at 31 amateur sports clubs in Australia, the findings show that diversity work in community sport organizations is often haphazard and accidental, rather than a strategic response or adaptation to policy. This paper concludes that while individual champions are critical to the promotion of diversity, persistent tensions and resistance arise when they seek to translate the language of diversity into institutional practice and culture change.

Promoting Gender Empowerment through Sport? Exploring the Experiences of Zambian Female Footballers

Sport-for-development initiatives have expanded in the last decade at a phenomenal rate. As researchers working in Africa over the last six years, it has not only been challenging for us to keep up with changes to work on the ground, but also the ever expanding and increasingly sophisticated debates that now occur regarding this somewhat contentious development area. As Levermore and Beacom (2009) suggest, this body of work has extended from a fairly descriptive outline of the potential of sport to achieve development goals and the possible ways it may do this, to a more critical examination of the capacity of sport to achieve the ambitious goals attributed to it (Coalter, 2007, 2010). Subsequent analyses have also reviewed the position of sport within broader development politics, particularly the role of sport in maintaining or increasing hegemonic global power relations (Darnell, 2007; Darnell and Hayhurst, 2011; Hayhurst, 2009). This body of literature has provided an excellent basis for repositioning and critiquing the sport-for-development movement. However, we argue that there continues to be a gap in knowledge that articulates and examines the experiences of those at the receiving end of sport-for-development initiatives (Hayhurst, 2009). Only a limited number of studies (e.g. Fokwang, 2009; Guest, 2009; Kay, 2009; Lindsey and Gratton, 2012; Okada and Young, 2011; Schulenkorf, 2010; Spaaij, 2011) have directly sought the views of participants and local communities to examine how policy plays out in practice, that is, in the lives of those where sport initiatives are intended to benefit.

Social exclusion and access toleisure in Northern Ireland communities :Examining the experiences of parents with disabled children

Abstract This paper critically considers the Quebec Declaration’s (2008) statement that leisure can be a powerful tool for developing social capital and improving communities in the context of families containing disabled children. Disabled families continue to be excluded and marginalised within their communities. However statement and policies report suggest that leisure can play a key role in tackling exclusion. This paper critically analyses whether leisure can contribute to social inclusion and the development of social capital amongst families with disabled children. Data has been collected from 32 parents of children who have a disability or disabilities located in an urban area of Northern Ireland. The research examines parents’ experiences of inclusion and exclusion with regard to leisure access. The paper illustrates that whilst accessing inclusive leisure opportunities may begin to address some of the issues preventing families from feeling part of their local communities, leisure access alone cannot address the full range of barriers preventing inclusion.