International Review for the Sociology of Sport

Forbes, Debra; AlHashmi, Reem; Bowes, Ali; Liston, Katie; Matthews, Christopher R.

doi: 10.1177/10126902241250090pmid: N/A

It has become something of a truism, that within various athletic subcultures pain and injury are regularly normalised as ‘part of the game’. One clear consequence which flows from this empirical reality is that athletes often need medical care in various forms. Recent developments in the gendered structuring of sport means that sportswomen are increasingly centred within this process. Yet, there is a broad consensus from sportswomen and academics alike that access to medical support and the availability of associated resources in women's sport is inadequate. Based on interviews with 17 women located in the United Kingdom, we cast new light on how medical support and care appears to be structured across various women's amateur sports. Two key findings are highlighted, firstly, that the majority of medical support was via first aid kits, which is problematic in their inconsistent restocking, and the availability of someone trained to use them. And, secondly, that there was a DIY approach to medical care which we explore via a discussion of athlete-to-athlete ‘team-doctoring’ – wherein sportswomen provided medical advice, care and treatments to each other. Our analysis of these two findings shows how medical care might be inconsistent, compromised and otherwise poor in quality, especially when viewed through the lens of critical scholarship about the sociology of sports medicine. This has specific consequences for the sports women we spoke with, and wider implications for our understanding of amateur sportspeople generally.

Harris, Laura; Trussell, Dawn E

doi: 10.1177/10126902241255148pmid: N/A

In this reflexive commentary we provide critical reflections on the challenges of recruiting professional women football players as experienced by the researchers. We posit that the same social, systemic inequities that make continued study of women's professionalized sport so important, also generate challenges to recruiting women athletes. As we share our reflections on the difficulties we experienced throughout our recruitment process, we hope to illuminate challenges and strategies to advance sport research with professional women athletes and answer calls to amplify marginalized voices across sport studies. Namely, we identify three (inaccurate) outsider researcher assumptions that contributed to our recruitment challenges related to social, systemic inequities: (a) many professional women football players will (at some point) secure a financial sponsorship deal, (b) the football club staff would be our gatekeepers, and (c) women's football has professionalized working conditions, resources, and support. We argue that it is important to understand the challenges and gatekeepers that researchers encounter while studying professional women's sport, to address gender inequities while working towards a more socially just landscape.

Cleland, Jamie; Adair, Daryl; Parry, Keith; MacDonald, Connor

doi: 10.1177/10126902241251861pmid: N/A

This article explores spectator racism across three high-profile professional men's football codes in Australia (Australian Football League, National Rugby League and the A-League). To pursue this goal, the study conducted an online survey from April 2021 to June 2021, securing 2047 responses. Our focus in this article centres on those participants who self-identified as White to gather their insights on racism as they witnessed and understood it being expressed in the context of attending a professional men's football code match in Australia. Applying Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus to theorise why some White spectators overtly express racist language and behaviour, our findings indicated the resilience of Whiteness as a source of power and domination, with many White participants reporting they had witnessed racial bigotry in recent years. Concurrently, many demonstrated anti-racist sensibilities, expressing frustration that change has been limited, if at all. Some participants suggested racism is an individual failing rather than being subject to institutions and community norms. From that perspective, racism is viewed as a personal choice rather than a failure of society.

Söderström, Tor; Sandlund, Stefan; Westerlund, Runa; Tervo, Taru

doi: 10.1177/10126902241258677pmid: N/A

One common practice in talent development environments during the investment years (age 16+) and elite sport, in general, is the use of physiological testing of the athletes’ physical determinants of performance. In this article, the regime of controlling and monitoring athletes’ bodies for elite sport production through physiological testing will be examined. To this end, we explored athletes’ experiences of what has been done and why physiological tests are carried out the way they are to understand the practice of physiological testing in relation to athlete development. The material in this study is based on interviews with adult elite sport athletes (four group interviews with eight individual athletes in three different sports, four male and four female, and individual interviews with twelve female and five male football players). Schatzki's and Reckwitz's theorizing on social practices, together with Dewey's theorizing on learning from experience, are used to explore and illuminate the practice of physiological testing and what learning is enabled and constrained within that practice. The findings show that the meaning and significance of physiological testing for athletic development relates to how the tests are followed up and talked through with the athletes. The analysis shows that there exists a form of sport-wide commonality where the same understandings, rules or ends—irrespective of which sport is concerned—govern coaches’ and athletes’ behavior regarding physiological tests. The physiological testing practice articulates action intelligibility through rules and structures which emphasizes tests as isolated quantified indicators of physical status. The use of physiological tests as a part of learning or as a means for athlete development can therefore be questioned.

Rogstad, Egil Trasti; Tjønndal, Anne; Røsten, Stian; Skirbekk, Sigbjørn Børreson

doi: 10.1177/10126902241252319pmid: N/A

The UEFA Women's EURO 2022 and the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup set new attendance records, thereby reflecting the growing popularity of women's football. In this context, social media platforms have become critical tools for women athletes offering opportunities for sponsorship and activism. This study focuses on the Instagram activity of five individual players from the Norwegian national team during the UEFA Women's EURO 2022. It examines the following research questions. (a) What type of content did the players post throughout the UEFA Women's EURO 2022 Championship period? (b) How did content type and posting frequency vary throughout the championship period? (c) How did audiences engage with the various types of content posted on Instagram throughout the championship period? Methodologically, this article is based on a quantitative content analysis of posts, stories and comments shared by the players during the championship period. Our findings reveal a diverse content sharing pattern that is indicative of strategic impression management. Players predominantly shared sports-related content to enhance their profiles as committed athletes; a tactic aligning with audience expectations. Their posting frequency peaked around matchdays, reduced post-loss and indicated a strategic approach to maintain a positive online presence. Post-elimination, players diversified their content by incorporating business and personal aspects, thereby indicating a shift to a more multifaceted self-presentation. Audience engagement was largely positive, with interactions showing support and encouragement, which reinforced the effectiveness of sports-focused content in garnering positive reactions. However, the posts relating to LGBTIQA+ activism prompted a notable amount of negative feedback, which highlighted the challenges and potential backlash when engaging in social media activism.

Valiyeva, Dilara; Strittmatter, Anna-Maria; Hermanrud, Inge

doi: 10.1177/10126902241253856pmid: N/A

Scholars emphasise the need to understand how contested concepts, like social inclusion and legacy, are interpreted within specific contexts. However, there are a lack of critical studies on social legacies of sports mega-events. This study aims to analyse how social inclusion of marginalised groups is constructed in the legacy-shaping process of and bidding for the Olympic Games. Three cases were chosen in which the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples was stated as one of the goals of the bidding and organising committees: Sydney 2000, Vancouver 2010 and Tromsø 2014, 2018 bids. Translation theory and critical discourse analysis were used to understand how inclusion and legacy efforts are taken into action. The cases spread across space, time and bidding stage did not provide unique approaches to the formulations of legacies and inclusion. Despite the highlighted celebration of culture and diversity of communities in the documents, we interpret the inclusion discourse as a symbolic appreciation of Indigenous Peoples with attempts to address and solve the challenges connected to social exclusion. However, these attempts are characterised by postcolonial and assimilation thinking. A broader commitment is needed to create lasting social change through long-term initiatives created with and led by Indigenous Peoples.

Sharples, Bradley

doi: 10.1177/10126902241252451pmid: N/A

Major sporting events can act either as drivers of environmental degradation or catalysts for environmental sustainability, often dictated by the developmental level of the host nation. This article applies a Capability Approach, alongside World-Systems Theory, in its analysis of the environmental sustainability of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The article suggests that it is the possessed capabilities of the event host, rather than resources or utilities, which defines sustainable Olympic delivery. It asserts that the ‘non-core’ Rio possessed national capabilities less valuable in hosting an environmentally sustainable MSE than the ‘core’ London. In doing so, the article establishes four key inequalities between the environmental sustainability of the two cases: environmental starting positions; prevalence of expert local organisations; structural and regulatory conditions; and economic stability. It argues that these inter-national inequalities were unaccounted for in event planning and delivery – and were exacerbated by the ‘core’ hegemony of the Olympic Games. The paper suggests that the identification, acknowledgement, and attempted remediation of this inter-national inequality of capability may encourage a more equitable Olympic Games.