Recent abuse scandals have intensified attention on sexual violence in youth sport, yet limited research has examined how athletes interpret boundary-crossing behaviours embedded within everyday coach-athlete relationships. This study explored how Spanish school-aged team-sport athletes perceived behaviours that may constitute sexual violence and how survivors retrospectively made sense of these experiences. A mixed-methods design was employed. First, 292 university student-athletes completed an online questionnaire assessing perceptions and experiences of 24 coach behaviours, ranging from routine interactions to explicit sexual propositions. Second, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with six survivors who experienced sexual violence in organised team sport before the age of 18. Quantitative findings showed that participants clearly identified overtly sexualised behaviours, such as proposing sexual relations in exchange for privileges, as sexual violence, while frequently occurring day-to-day behaviours were widely reported but rarely perceived as problematic. Qualitative findings revealed that many of these normalised practices formed part of grooming processes in which apparently caring, friendly, or performance-related actions progressively escalated into invasive and abusive conduct. By integrating athletes' perceptions with survivors' narratives, the study illuminates the grey zone of sexual violence in sport, highlighting how power relations and cultural norms render certain behaviours invisible in survey data yet recognisable as abusive within lived experiences.
This article examines how the online fan community on the German platform transfermarkt.de co-constructs the market values of professional footballers. Through a qualitative text analysis of 1030 forum posts, the study identifies six central justificatory conventions: performance, comparison, market, speculation, reputation, and intangible value. Fans' arguments encompass assessments of sporting performance, statistical data and comparisons with peers, current transfer offers, speculative projections, club-specific contributions, and considerations of public reputation. Market values thus arise as dynamic and collectively negotiated constructs, reflecting multiple, sometimes conflicting, norms of evaluation. The findings demonstrate that fans are not passive observers but active participants who shape the criteria and legitimacy of market values. In doing so, they contribute both to the ongoing economisation of professional football and to the social legitimation of market value as a key category within the sport.
This study investigates the role of engaging in physical leisure activities in facilitating refugees' structural integration through enhancing their social capital, destination-language proficiency, and health. The physical fitness gained from such activities can also be crucial for securing physically demanding jobs. As employment significantly influences refugees' social integration, this research specifically examines the impact of the intensity and regularity of sports engagement on employment outcomes among refugees from the 2015/16 influx in Germany. Utilising longitudinal data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, findings reveal that regular and more intensive engagement in physical leisure activities increases refugees' chances of securing gainful employment and obtaining physically demanding jobs in the subsequent year. However, sports involvement does not correlate with higher occupational prestige, potentially locking them into lower-status jobs. Additionally, time spent in other types of leisure activities shows a slightly negative association with labour market outcomes, underscoring the unique benefits of sports. This points to the dual-edged nature of sports as an integration tool - beneficial in fostering initial labour market entry but possibly limiting in terms of career advancement.
This study contributes to the developing body of research examining the precarity of professional coaching. As 'antidotes' to such vulnerability, concepts such as resilience and coping have been promoted in ego centric ways. In doing so, the coach has been portrayed as an individual who must be self-sufficient, self-determining, and independent; a stance that ignores or excuses the influence of structural workplace conditions. The purpose of the present study was to challenge the salience of such personalised notions and alternatively provide a more nuanced, relational understanding of coaching. The dataset included 20 semi-structured interviews and 260 qualitative survey responses from part-and full-time professional football coaches. The findings, guided by a loose framework of affordances, recast coaches' everyday practice as inherently interconnected and relationally accomplished. They illustrate how agency (and resilience) is bound to organisational constraints, always embedded within social relations and opportunities. Far from being a self-governing tenacious individual, the contention is made that the 'capable coach' is one who constantly navigates how action and influence are enacted through a wider arrangement of workplace relations. Coaches are subsequently presented as contextually sensitive interactants, capable of joint action that requires both individual intentionality and a sensitivity to situational dynamics.
This study investigates leisure-time participation in sports, exercise, and traditional outdoor activities among adults in Greenland, examining differences across urbanisation levels using Antony Giddens's structuration theory. Greenland has experienced rapid cultural and social changes, leading to shifts in physical activity patterns. This research explores how urbanisation influences participation in modern sports and exercise activities, hypothesising higher engagement in urban areas and a decline in traditional practices such as hunting and fishing.This study combined quantitative and qualitative methods, including a survey of 1,153 adults and in-depth interviews with 18 participants.The results confirmed that sports and exercise activities are more prevalent in urban areas, particularly among younger, educated adults, whereas traditional outdoor activities remain common in less urbanised areas and among older adults. Qualitative analysis found that modern sports and exercise are often conscious and deliberate choices, reflecting discursive consciousness. By contrast, traditional outdoor activities are ingrained routines that reflect practical consciousness, although they are sometimes reflectively approached in Nuuk, the capital town.These findings highlight how urbanisation shapes physical activity patterns in Greenland and underscore the importance of attending to the cultural and social contexts in which movement practices are understood and enacted.
Football is a high-intensity sport involving frequent contact and high physical demands, making injuries common. In Portugal, where football plays a major economic role, especially through player transfers, injuries carry both sporting and financial consequences. This study examines injury incidence and severity among professional players in the First and Second Leagues across five seasons (2016/17-2020/21), considering intrinsic (age, nationality) and extrinsic factors (tactical position, match participation, league, and environment). Using real-world data and quantitative methods, including descriptive, inferential statistics, and cluster analysis, findings show that injury incidence is associated with league level and nationality, while severity is influenced by league level and match participation. Although more injuries occurred in the First League, they were more severe in the Second League. Cluster analysis confirmed these patterns, revealing higher incidence among non-European players and greater severity among those with low match participation competing in the Second League.
Various factors, including individual and environmental variables such as participation intention, facilities, and biases in coaching and talent identification processes, influence talent identification and development in youth sports. Recent research has demonstrated disparities in access and opportunity for sports participation and development among youth from various socioeconomic backgrounds. This study explored these disparities in talent identification and sports development opportunities among youth. A qualitative approach was applied, with nineteen interviews conducted and thematic analysis employed. The study highlighted four key themes and revealed disparities resulting from uneven resource distribution, such as facilities, equipment, and skilled coaching between privileged and underprivileged communities. Socioeconomic status emerged as a key determinant, with youth from disadvantaged backgrounds facing limited access, financial constraints, and a lack of structured talent identification programs compared to their affluent counterparts. Factors such as parental support, coaching quality, psychological attributes, and community sports infrastructure crucially impacted youth engagement and advancement in sports. The research highlighted how these disparities perpetuate a cycle of exclusion, hindering underprivileged youth's social mobility prospects through sports. Addressing this issue necessitates collaborative efforts and targeted interventions, including policy amendments, community investments in sports, and inclusive talent development initiatives to level the playing field.
Modern sports present numerous opportunities for the emergence of social conflicts, particularly within the professional collaboration between coaches and physiotherapists in elite sports support teams. This study investigates these dynamics through the lens of social systems theory, examining conflicts and potential conflicts arising from intersystemic interactions between the two professional groups. Drawing on expert interviews (N = 45) across 28 Olympic disciplines in Germany, the study empirically identifies and analyses distinct types of intersystemic interaction. These types offer detailed insights into the mutual, and at times competing, interpretative frameworks and functional expectations that shape collaborative practices in elite sports support teams. For both, coaches and physiotherapists, the findings provide reflective insights into their respective and shared understandings of professional roles, thereby supporting more effective identification, moderation, and resolution of conflicts. We propose the heuristic of intersystemic sensitivity as a central point of reference for the reflective professionalisation of both professions.
As part of project on children's sporting identities, this paper explores the significance of Gaelic games in the lives of children in Ireland. The study is framed by Putnam's work on social capital, with aspects of bonding and bridging social capital used to explain the local identities manifested by children through Gaelic games. Data was collected via twenty-one focus groups with 147 schoolchildren in the Republic of Ireland. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in the construction of three themes, described as (1) people, (2) the club, and (3) the sidelines. The findings describe the social significance of Gaelic games for children in Ireland, particularly in terms of their relationships with family, friends and neighbours and local places and spaces, with physical facilities important for children who are moving to an age where they begin to 'hang out' independently of their parents. While the children quoted in this cohort exhibited a strong sense of community and solidarity, it is possible that the exclusivity that comes with this could be a threat for Gaelic games. Implications for integration are discussed given the impending move towards future amalgamation of the Gaelic games governing bodies.
This article examines the experiences of trans individuals in outdoor and adventure recreation, exploring the ways these activities shape their embodiment, empowerment, and gender transition processes. While outdoor spaces remain steeped in cisheteronormativity, participants described these environments as offering unique opportunities for self-reflection, self-confidence, and freedom from societal gendered constraints. Drawing on queer and feminist poststructuralist theories, the study interrogates the performative aspects of gender in outdoor settings and highlights how participants negotiate their identities in these spaces. Using a multisited ethnographic approach-including online ethnography, on-the-move interviews, on-the-move diaries, and autoethnography-the research reveals the transformative potential of outdoor and adventure activities for fostering personal growth and gender euphoria. Outdoor activities were found to provide a reprieve from gender surveillance, offering a space to construct alternative subjectivities. Despite the barriers to access these spaces, participants emphasised the therapeutic and empowering potential of the outdoors. The findings underscore the need for inclusive practices to reimagine outdoor spaces as sites of liberation and trans flourishing, advocating for a critical shift in outdoor recreation to centre diverse experiences and identities.
This paper introduces and systematically explores the notion of decelebritisation. Decelebritisation is understood in relation to celebritisation and refers to the processes during which the commonly invisible and hidden media construction of celebrities is unveiled, disenchanted, and often problematised. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of 60 articles published by the Czech online storytelling platform Bez fr & aacute;z & iacute; between 2016 and 2022, we demonstrate that decelebritisation is potentially articulated through six dimensions: (1) the explicit rejection of celebrity status; (2) recognition of an athlete's vulnerability as concerns health and financial problems; (3) open discussion with aspects of underestimation, denigration, and hatred; (4) recognition of failure and restoration of the disappearing fair-play myth; (5) reflexive insight as to dominant gender values and a move towards identity politics; and (6) disclosure and critique of the broader political economy of celebrity fabrication involving sport governing bodies, sponsors, and the media production process. Finally, we discuss how decelebritisation is narrowly intertwined with celebritisation and we provide some implications of the decelebritisation concept for further scholarship.
This study examines the intersection of football and nation branding in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, exploring how the country strategically leverages the sport to reshape its global image. Through major investments-such as the acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club and the recruitment of international football icons including Cristiano Ronaldo-Saudi Arabia has sought to expand its global presence and project a modern national identity. These initiatives form part of the broader Vision 2030 framework, which aims to diversify the economy and redefine perceptions of the Kingdom beyond its oil-based image. Employing a qualitative research design, the study draws on 12 semi-structured interviews with experts from diverse fields-including sociology, international relations, media and communication, sport management, and cultural studies-to provide nuanced insights into Saudi Arabia's investments in football and their implications for the nation's branding strategy. The findings reveal that participants view football as both a means of advancing Saudi Arabia's modernisation narrative and a reflection of its engagement with global conversations on sports, image, and soft power, allowing the Kingdom to connect with international audiences and challenge prevailing stereotypes. Ultimately, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how nations employ sports to construct persuasive narratives and enhance their international reputation.
This study examines youth participation patterns in various forms of physical activity, i.e. movement culture, ranging from club sports and gym workouts to self-organised physical activities across four sociogeographic contexts in Sweden: rural, mid-size city, inner city, and suburbs. Building on earlier research, which began in 1996 and was conducted in the same contexts, this study provides a contemporary and partly historical account of how gender, migration background, and the composition of economic and cultural capital influence participation and non-participation. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of social space and capital, the analysis uses survey data from 945 ninth-grade students (aged 15-16) and applies binary and multinomial logistic regression. The historical comparison of club sport participation from 1996 to 2024 shows both stability over the years and recent declines, especially in girls' participation. Overall, the findings reveal that youth participation in movement culture is structured through the combined effect of gender, capital, and place (context). While cultural capital facilitates engagement across all settings, economic resources and local contexts influence how, and for whom, participation becomes accessible and meaningful.
In Spain, national disability data reported 274,833 people with recognized intellectual disabilities (IDs) by the end of 2018. This study aimed to (a) identify the current offer of physical sports activities for people with IDs in Spain by territorial distribution, sport modalities, nature of practice (competitive/non-competitive), and type of participation (specific/inclusive); and (b) explore whether the number of activity categories differs by gender. For this purpose, ninety-eight organisations filled out an ad hoc questionnaire on their activities. Results showed notable territorial inequality and that most entities offered only one sport modality. Programs typically combined competitive and non-competitive activities, with both specific and inclusive participation formats. Regarding gender, no entity lacked women's categories, although mixed categories predominated; the number of categories offered did not differ by gender. The results were differentiated between federative entities and the associative movement, revealing significant differences in all study variables. This study advances the identification and characterisation of the current offer of physical sports activities for people with IDs in Spain and provides a theoretical basis to establish practical actions for improving inclusion and participation in such activities, contributing to their quality of life.
This study aims to reveal the self-presentation strategies of elite Turkish female athletes on Instagram. Drawing on Goffman's self-presentation theory, the research also explores how gender typing across different sports may shape athletes' self-presentation strategies. By examining the use of social media by 44 elite Turkish female athletes in 15 different sports, this study provides clear evidence that elite athletes utilise Instagram for both front-stage and back-stage presentations by employing six self-presentation strategies (information-sharing, match or competition-related information-sharing, behind-the-scenes, interaction, self-promotion, and opinion-sharing) when sharing content on the platform to convey these different aspects of their athletic lives. The research findings also reveal that, in 'masculine' sports, female athletes tend to share more back-stage performance footage, whereas within 'feminine' branches of athletics, there appears to be a notable inclination towards higher utilisation of the front-stage category.
Participation in sports during childhood and adolescence is typically segregated by gender, with girls and boys frequently engaging in different types of sports. This segregation has broad negative consequences, particularly for children who participate in sports that are not predominant within their gender. Qualitative studies indicate that parents play a crucial role by either supporting or hindering their children's engagement in gender-typical and gender-atypical sports; however, little is known about the influence of specific parental attributes. We argue that parental physical activity (PA) exerts a gendered influence on children's participation in gender-(a)typical sports, and that parents with high education promote children's engagement in gender-atypical sports. We test these hypotheses using a large dataset of children and adolescents in Germany (N = 9,224). Overall, we find that parental PA exhibits the expected gendered association: boys are more likely to practise (only) male-dominated sports when only their father does PA, and girls are more likely to practise (only) female-dominated sports when only their mother does PA. Regarding parental education, we find limited support: boys with highly educated parents are less likely to participate (exclusively) in gendertypical sports, whereas no such pattern is observed for girls. We discuss the broader implications and limitations of our findings.
This study explores the evolving discourse within the Sport for Development (SFD) field through an analysis of over 10,000 English-language articles published on the sportanddev platform between 2003 and 2024. Positioned as a central hub for SFD communication, this research examines how the agenda is constructed within the sportanddev platform, with a particular focus on the organizations, topics, goals, and target groups of the articles. The findings reveal a significant decline in article volume post-2016, coinciding with the closure of the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace. Despite the platform’s open nature, content is disproportionately produced by a small number of well-resourced international organizations, suggesting persistent power imbalances. Football dominates as the most featured sport worldwide, but there are also strong regional preferences. Thematic focuses such as youth development, gender, and disability fluctuate over time, often aligning with global events like the Paralympics or the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that external events and well-resourced organisations still largely drive the agenda in SFD. Overall, this study highlights how digital platforms such as sportanddev both reflect and reinforce existing hierarchies within SFD, while also offering potential for more inclusive and critical engagement.
This paper investigates the relationship between football fans' political values and their perceptions of governance and inequalities within European football. Drawing from a representative survey conducted across Germany, Norway, Poland, and Spain, our findings reveal a modest but significant correlation between political values-specifically, views on democracy and economic redistribution-and fan's critical perceptions of corruption and financial inequalities in football. Results suggest that fans project their democratic ideals and economic preferences onto football governance. By applying a combination of fan identity and activism literature with institutional theory, we contribute to a deeper understanding of fan activism and protests, offering empirical evidence of the previously assumed but untested link between political values and evaluations of football issues. This underscores the importance of recognising football fans as stakeholders with democratic voices, whose perspectives on football governance are (partly) informed by underlying political values.
Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, the country has struggled to transform the collective memory of the nation, which has long been skewed in favour of the famous and politically connected elites. Despite numerous calls for change to ensure a complete national memory that reflects the experiences of all citizens, regardless of social status, progress has been slow. This qualitative study adopted a critical emancipatory paradigm to explore the inclusion of marginalised township sports memories in archival holdings for preservation and access. Data were collected through interviews with township games organisers and archivists, document analysis, and observations during township sports activities. Key findings revealed that the main township games are soccer tournaments and road running. It emerged that memories of these games are partially stored in cellphones, USB drives, Google Drive, and on Facebook. To address the legacy of exclusion, the study proposes the creation of an online register on the archives repository's website. This platform could facilitate a structured and collaborative relationship between township sports organisations, broadcasting companies, and memory institutions. Without such an inclusive approach, future generations may be left with limited accounts of their sporting heritage.
