Symbolic and Structural violence
Symbolic and Structural violence
Definition : Symbolic violence is defined as violence that is part of the mores and values of a culture. For example, the competitive sports culture, which is focused on performance at all costs and which values effort and surpassing oneself through monetary rewards. This obsession with fame and recognition can lead to the normalization of abusive behaviors, attitudes, and practices.
Structural violence refers to social structures and systems that create conditions for the perpetuation of violence (Galtung & Höivik, 1971; Gutiérrez, 1971) and that glorify a dominant model in sport culture, such as the model of hegemonic masculinity or heterocisnormativity.
April 2024 – July 2024
Background: The tradition of Swedish ice hockey as a masculine-dominated territory that encourages characteristics like roughness, aggressiveness, and to some extent violence has been hotly debated. Objectives: Using historical articles from the Swedish Hockey magazine, and with a perspective combining hegemony with the social-ecological model of violence prevention, this study develops an interpretation of how masculinity traits and violence in Swedish ice hockey interconnect. Results: The historical case provides findings for this interconnection, with meanings of masculinity and a competitive commitment as permeating threads. Triggered by individuals, but also connected to coaches’ encouragements, organizations’ endeavours, societal, and financial forces, the negotiations around playing styles and allowance levels have been permeated by ideals of masculinity; ideals that enforce the current hegemonic gender order. Conclusion: Ultimately, the article contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of sport violence as an issue that not only impacts or can be utilized by sport organizations and players/practitioners but also its broader societal implications.
Background: Online abuse is prevalent in sport and can be the by-product of trigger events – reactive social media posts that motivate online hate. Little is known about what triggers online abuse, types of content, and how this impacts certain groups. Objectives: The current research examined how online behaviour emerges, and evolves during a trigger event, through a gendered lens. Methods: This research employed a two phase, mixed methods approach of a digital netnography with participation observation through social network analysis and thematic content analysis of 1332 (N = 1332) tweets in the United Kingdom. The trigger event examined abusive content toward Karen Carney following post-match football commentary on 29 December 2020. Results: Results identified 590 individuals who formed two distinct groups. Directed network visualisation indicated Carney was the focus of the trigger event. Thematic time series analysis revealed emotional maltreatment (i.e. ridiculing, humiliating, belittling) progressing to overt gendered discriminatory maltreatment. Conclusion: Findings support the need for safeguarding policies for target groups, as trigger events escalate quickly, and group affiliations impact abusive content. From a theoretical standpoint, in-group and out-group affiliations resulted in rhetoric highlighting persistent, gendered socio-normative issues within sport, amplified in an online environment.
Background: Rugby is considered by many to be the antithesis of femininity because, since its creation, it has been a way for men to prove their masculinity. For this reason, the trajectory of women who practice it can be permeated with prejudices. Objectives: The aim of this article is to advance the conceptual understanding of gender prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination, through an evaluation of the sports trajectory of cis women rugby players in Brazil. Methods: Ten female athletes, who are current or former athletes of the Brazil women’s rugby 7’s national team, were interviewed. Results: They identified gender prejudice in relation to: (1) playing a sport considered masculine in which women should not take part; (2) being considered not to be able to practice it; (3) having bodies which do not fit the requirements of the ideal female body; (4) playing a violent sport; (5) trying to highlight attributes of femininity in publicity and press coverage. Conclusion: We conclude that, in the sport of rugby in Brazil, women are treated unfairly, with unequal salaries and limited opportunities. Moreover, they suffer prejudice and social pressure where they need to constantly reaffirm their sexuality, their femininity and their technical competence to play rugby.
Background: Researchers have highlighted elite refugee athletes’ acculturation and sport-related challenges upon transitioning into host country sports systems. Objectives: Using a strength-based approach, we aimed to broaden this view through exploring the internal and external factors that have fostered refugee athletes’ abilities to find meaning and growth following their transitions into a national sports system. Methods: Data collection began with an arts-based drawing activity which was then discussed in a conversational interview. Fourteen (n = 11 male, 3 female) national and international refugee athletes participated. The interviews were analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis, a form of qualitative analysis used to derive commonalities that connect athletes’ experiences. The data is represented through polyphonic vignettes (narrative featuring multiple perspectives) to safeguard athletes’ anonymity whilst showcasing varying perspectives. Results: Athletes were at various phases of growth at the time of the interviews. The primary internal factor that facilitated growth was responsibility to find and pursue meaning. External factors of trust and belonging, actualized through supporting elite athletes’ personal differences, were external factors that fostered their abilities to find meaning. Conclusion: Elite refugee athletes’ growth occurred at the nexus of individual responsibility, trusting relationships, and inclusive sport environments. The findings inform individual and environmental growth-based interventions for current and future elite athletes who face varying adversities within their sports contexts.
Background: Scholars and practitioners have attended to and shown support for the promotion of a culturally sensitive approach within applied sport psychology. Yet, a cultural competence knowledge-behavior gap among sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) remains prevalent along with a lack of practical guidance on how SPPs can engage in a cultural praxis. In order to ensure that SPPs are helping all clients (e.g., athletes) thrive—not merely cope with forms of social identity oppression (e.g., racism) and other sources of harm that pervade sport—there is a need for empirical research that explores how current SPPs fully account for identity, privilege/power and oppression in their work. Objectives: This qualitative study aimed to help close this gap by offering practical insights from SPPs that can serve as direction for other practitioners to strengthen their cultural praxis. Methods: This study adopted a cultural praxis agenda. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 current SSPs working in the United States who identified as making efforts to account for social identity, privilege/power and oppression in their practice. Reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with SPPs was carried out at the semantic level. Results: Results highlight four key themes that reflect SPPs approach: (a) acknowledging the self, (b) learning about the client as a whole person in context, (c) shifting power to the client for collaboration, and (d) taking individual-level and/or organizational-level action. Conclusion: Findings provide guidance for how SPPs can engage in a cultural praxis that goes beyond cultural competence promotion in order to ensure that sport is an empowering context for all.
Background: Scholars often highlight the roles that group threat and intergroup solidarity play in shaping attitudes toward outgroups. Competition among social groups, including over values and culture, can underlie negative attitudes toward outgroups. Meanwhile, perceptions of discrimination against outgroups can drive feelings of solidarity, sympathy, or empathy, which may foster more positive attitudes. These social identity concepts are often studied in the context of racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice, with less attention to how they apply to attitudes toward transgender and gender diverse people. Objectives: Using a 2022 national survey, we assess how respondents’ perceptions of cultural threat from the LGBTQ community and perceptions of discrimination among a range of outgroups are related to attitudes about transgender rights policies, including access to public restrooms, participation in school sports, and medical transition care. Results: We find that cultural threat is consistently associated with support for policies that restrict the rights of transgender people, but perceived outgroup discrimination tends not to show a significant relationship with these attitudes.
Background: Ethnicity plays a significant role in adolescents’ everyday lives, but there is a limited understanding of adolescents’ own experiences with how ethnicity is addressed in different contexts. Three contexts of importance during adolescence are investigated in the present study: schools, social media, and sports. A closer contextual examination has the potential to provide insights into how multiple contexts shape experiences with ethnicity. Objectives: The aim of the study was to understand more about adolescents’ experiences of how ethnicity is addressed in schools, on social media, and in sports. Methods: Six focus groups with a total of 21 adolescents (Mage = 14.5, SDage = 0.5, female = 76%) discussed their experiences. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a close-to-data, inductive thematic analysis. Results: The analysis resulted in three main themes and seven subthemes, indicating that ethnicity was addressed differently in the three studied contexts. For the main theme of how ethnicity was addressed in schools, the subthemes were: Addressing ethnicity is important; Ethnicity is addressed through stereotypes and Everyday racism. The main theme of ethnicity on social media consisted of two subthemes: Sharing ethnic and cultural narratives and Hateful remarks. The main theme of ethnicity in sports also consisted of two subthemes: On equal terms and Clear consequences for racist behaviors. To better understand the multiple contexts, the results are discussed guided by the ecological systems theory. The adolescents highlighted that there are many benefits of addressing ethnicity and that it is important to do so in multiple contexts of adolescent life, just not in the same way. Conclusion: When ethnicity was addressed carelessly, such as through stereotypes or via racism masked as jokes, it had the potential to cause harm. When ethnicity was addressed with reflection, it instead had the potential to build understanding, lead to positive experiences, and provide learning opportunities.
Background: Deviant behavior may be thought of as irrational and compulsive, as permissible only in areas devoid of social control, or as something that needs to be kept hidden from society at large. However, behavior that is labeled as deviant or problematic may offer an alternative and seemingly rational pathway to success within socially respected contexts. Methods: Here, a quantitative portrait of such a case is presented: the occurrence of fist-fighting within junior and professional hockey organizations. Results: Analysis shows that fighting in hockey, while frowned upon and debated by many in the media and the public, has served as a pathway to success for less skilled players. While theories of masculinity, honor, and intergroup violence may explain why these fights occur at all, variance in this behavior between individuals is largely explained by an informal division of labor that occurs as less-skilled players seek a way into higher levels of professional hockey. Those who choose to fight more than others are largely responding to a set of incentives within the ecology of their sport, in line with other choice-centered models of deviant behavior. Deviance, paradoxically, offers an alternative but costly pathway to respectability.
Background: Participation in sport is often assumed to promote the healthy development of youth. However, research suggests that gender and sexuality policing in sports negatively impacts the self-esteem of LGBTQ + youth. Results: Using moderated mediation analyses, findings suggest that hyper-surveillance and policing of sexual and gender norms, specifically masculinity, through the use of anti-LGBTQ + language in sport not only marginalizes LGBTQ + individuals, but can harm all youth. Among straight cisgender youth, the conditional direct effect of playing sports on self-esteem was positive for only girls, across race, indicating a positive moderated mediation for girls. The positive effect of playing sports on self-esteem had a comparatively lower effect for white boys, when mediated by the frequency of hearing anti-LGBTQ + language. Implications are discussed.
December 2023 – March 2024
Background: While researchers have established that young men’s sporting friendships are often structured by violence, minimal intimacy, competition, and the degradation of all things feminine (Messner, 1992b), we know relatively little about sporting relationships between older men. Results: Drawing on interviews with and ethnographic research of older male hockey players in two Canadian cities, this article finds that while those in late midlife (ages 54–71) continue to enact patterns of male relationships associated with younger men, those in later life (ages 71–82) break with these masculine patterns. Instead, their team relationships involve joking about themselves in the locker room (instead of mocking others) and an ethic of care. Many defined true or close friendships as those which extended beyond sport. Conclusion: These findings suggest that men’s alignment with the dominant sporting masculinity of the young is not static over the life course and may wane in certain arenas as men reach later life.
Background: Sport provides a unique context for the inquiry of moral decision-making about aggression as, in many ways, it is a space of sanctioned violence (e.g., tackling someone to the ground in American football), and its highly physical and highly competitive activities require that one thinks about the use of physical force on others and on oneself. Sport’s position as a bounded, largely voluntary activity also makes it ideal for studying the ways in which rules and authority, personal choice and consent, and the goals, purposes, expectations, and consequences of an activity factor into an individual’s reasoning about aggression and harm. Over the last four decades, there have been a small but growing number of studies that have looked at moral reasoning in the context of sport. Using frameworks such as social learning theory (Bandura, 1973, 1991) or Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral development (Kohlberg, 1969), these studies regularly concluded that athletes, particularly those playing contact sports, used less mature forms of moral reasoning and were more approving of aggression than their non-athlete peers, and that the context of sport itself encouraged cheating and other harmful behavior in an effort to win. Two prominent explanations for this degradation in apparent moral aptitude in sport are moral disengagement (the use of rationalizations to separate oneself from the types of self-sanctions that typically dissuade individuals from immoral behavior; Bandura, 1999; Stanger et al., 2013) and bracketed morality (an alternative moral code that prioritizes self-oriented goals over the welfare and rights of others; Bredemeier & Shields, 1995). While this research has pointed to the idea that there is something different about the ways people reason about aggression in the context of sport, the overall conclusions that these researchers make about the moral reasoning of athletes oversimplifies the reasoning processes of individuals and the realities of learning and development in the context of sport, creating a deficit lens that contributes to harmful stereotypes particularly about the athletes of color who make up many high-contact sports. Using the alternative model of moral decision-making set forth by social domain theory (Turiel, 1983), this study re-examined the claims of previous researchers in an effort to survey the ways people make decisions about morally salient events like aggression, in highly physical contexts like sport. Social domain theory posits that people consider moral issues such as rights, fairness, and the welfare of others as important, prescriptive matters while also recognizing that when making decisions about the social environment, sometimes these concerns must be coordinated with other domains such as social and personal concerns. Objective: The first aim of the present study is to illustrate and get clarity on this process of making decisions about aggression as it plays out in the context of sport and understand the role context itself plays in moral decision-making. A second aim is to highlight the ways people first make meaning of their social environments and how such processes may transform even interpretations of what one considers harmful in a given context. A third aim is to compare reasoning across demographic groups, including sport experience, to see the ways prior experience impacts reasoning about physical aggression, both in and out of sport contexts. Methods: To do this, the present research used semi-structured interviews of 109 participants between the ages of 18 and 25 (M = 20.7 years; 52% female) of varying degrees of prior sport experience (33% non-athletes; 37% moderate athletes, and 29% elite, contact-sport athletes) to gather participants’ sense-making, evaluations, and justifications about acts of physical aggression (pain-causing hard pushes) that take place in social situations across sport and non-sport contexts. Results: Results showed that while more participants approved of aggression in the sport context more than in the non-sport context in the abstract, when participants were given details that specified the intention and rationale behind the hard push, differences between contexts largely collapsed, with the majority of participants disapproving of the act of hard pushing across the situations in both sport and non-sport settings. Contrary to the findings of previous studies, there were no significant differences in the approval of hard pushing across the sport experience groups, though there existed some evidence that the contact-sport elite athletes interpreted the situations in the sport context differently than the other participant groups and that this had to do with the knowledge they have gained from playing sports at a high level for many years. Findings also showed that participants, including athletes, considered and often prioritized the integrity of the game, the importance of fairness, and the welfare of others, refuting previous conclusions about bracketed morality and moral disengagement. Lastly, the study showed ways that context and previous experience can transform the meaning of certain acts, rendering something like a hard push morally benign, given certain parameters. Conclusion: These findings have implications for the field of moral development, the understanding of decision-making about aggression, and the treatment of athletes.
Background: Discrimination and inequality have been identified as significant problems faced by transgender individuals in sports participation. However, uncertainties remain regarding the effectiveness of interventions aimed at promoting equality. Objectives : This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the experiences of transgender athletes in sports, focusing on mental health issues and factors contributing to inequality among transgender and other sexual minorities. Methods: The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and searched 10 electronic databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, to identify eligible studies published between 2005 and 2022. The search yielded 1430 articles, of which only 12 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. Results: The meta-analysis of the 12 studies included in this review revealed that transgender athletes faced social discrimination and inequality in sports participation, resulting in mental health problems and higher rates of suicide. From a cohort of 21,565 participants in the studies, 7152 (33%) were subjected to discrimination in sports participation and healthcare, with a rate of 0.61 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35, 0.81). However, transgender athletes who felt welcomed and embraced by their respective teams accounted for 0.39 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.65). These results indicated significant differences between how transgender athletes are treated in healthcare settings and when participating in sports. Conclusion: The study findings underscore the need for policies, cultural research, and interventions to address discrimination and inequality faced by transgender athletes in sports participation. Promoting equality and safeguarding the rights of transgender athletes can mitigate the risk of mental health problems and increase physical activity among sexual minorities.
Background: Historically, bicycle riding connoted freedom, independence, and enhanced mental and physical wellbeing for women. Persevering through criticism and moral panic, female cyclists have been competitive since the late 19th century—many earning substantial prize money and prestige. Unfortunately, this progress was not linear in its trajectory and contemporary professional women’s cycling continues to be pervaded by structural and cultural challenges, which can have deleterious effects on athlete mental health. Notably, socioeconomic pressures endure, like unstable employment terms, limited team support, and role conflicts. Furthermore, sexual harassment, body shaming, and manipulation may characterize women’s experiences with their coaches and teams. Sizable investment gaps between men’s and women’s teams and competitions often underpin these scenarios of disadvantage. Alongside hindering the development of women’s cycling, these adverse circumstances may induce psychosocial risk factors. Within this context, by highlighting sport-specific and sex-specific considerations, the emerging subdiscipline of sports psychiatry can be valuable for protecting and promoting athlete welfare in women’s cycling. Raising awareness about extant symptoms, vulnerabilities, contributing behaviours, and systemic issues, can bolster efforts to develop better conditions and care equivalence. Objective: To that end, this perspective article draws upon anecdotal and scholarly evidence to provide an overview of psychiatric concerns in women’s professional cycling. Results: This informs recommended strategies to improve mental health and advance equality within the sport, which should involve actions from several stakeholders, such as athletes, teams, and governing bodies.
Background: When athletes gained rights from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the NCAA’s historic hegemony over college sports was challenged. However, given the recency of NIL, there is minimal research on how the NCAA communicated NIL changes to its members during this time. Methods: Through the lens of hegemony theory, this research explored how the NCAA communicated its hegemony and its loss of power via its distribution of NIL resources (N = 48). Results: Critical discourse analysis demonstrated the NCAA and its leaders predominantly employed ideological influence in their communications to members and athletes to follow NIL guidelines. This influence centered around appeals to fairness and amateurism. The NCAA also tried to use coercion to force compliance. Finally, with an increasing trend toward decentralization, the NCAA relinquished hegemony in communications that shifted control to member institutions and by requesting federal involvement.
Background: Athletes and governing bodies have raised ethical concerns related to the negative psychological effects of Twitter for professional athletes. There remained a need to systematically understand the processes involved in negative fan athlete social media interactions by categorising social media data using psychological theory. Objective: This study aimed to examine the attributional (specific or global negative comments) and contextual (sport-specific and general life context or “no context”) factors of Twitter content that were Tweeted by fans about high profile sports people. Methods: In order to retrieve preliminary social media data to explore this phenomenon, Tweet data was collected data using Twitter’s Search API related to the top 10 highest-paid athletes (a crude initial ranking of “high profile”) as ranked by Forbes, 2018 and the data was retrieved on Friday 26th of April 2019. The search and retrieval strategy used a combination of sentiment analysis and qualitative filtering in order to isolate negative tweets directed at sports athletes. Results: Preliminary findings highlighted that negative tweets directed at sports athletes can be accurately classified into three broad themes: (i) global negative projections (no context) (ii) global negative projections (sport performance context), and (iii) specific negative projections (personal context). The socio ecological theory was used as a holistic model to understand the broader processes involved in fan athlete social media interaction when considering these types of negative engagement between fans and athletes. Conclusion: Twitter can be used as a means for the public to direct negative projections towards athletes and our study puts forward a number of applied and research recommendations for researchers and sport management staff to educate and protect athletes from the negative consequences of “twitter abuse”.
Background: In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the concepts of bullying and banter within both sport research and media reporting. However, at present, research has not explored reports of bullying and banter within the UK sport media This is a potential omission, as the media may provide important conceptual information about bullying and banter to those outside of the academic domain. Objective: Therefore, the present study sought to understand how banter and bullying are framed by the UK sport media and how these concepts have been distinguished from one another. Methods: Guided by a pragmatist approach, 85 print and broadcast media articles were analysed from The Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Sun, The Guardian, British Broadcasting Company (BBC) and Sky Sports News (SNN). Results: Through an abductive thematic analysis, the findings highlighted several themes around the media’s view of bullying. The media differentiated bullying and banter through the tipping point between these concepts and a misinterpretation of jokes and banter. Conclusion: The present study contributed to the current research on bullying and banter by analysing the media’s perspectives of the concepts. Overall, the findings outline the contemporary understanding of bullying in sport, whilst highlighting the significant influence the media has in shaping the discussion around banter in this context.
Background: Hosting large-scale sport events presents inherent human rights risks and opportunities across the event life cycle due to their size and complexity. Few studies on the planning, organising, management, and delivery of large-scale sport events incorporate a human rights perspective; however, human rights outcomes may be implicit in research on event impact, legacy, leverage, and event-led development. Objective: This paper presents a scoping review of the state of research on human rights and large-scale sport events in sport management and related fields for the time period 1990–2022. Methods: Specifically, our review identifies and maps existing scholarship on human rights issues, summarises findings, and highlights areas for future research. We utilised a range of scholarly articles, reports, and human rights instruments to develop a list of 14 human rights topics related to the study of large-scale sport events. Using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review framework, we searched 100 sport-related journals across 10 databases, yielding 279 articles. Our deduplication and data extraction processes were supported by DistillerSR project management software. We followed the PRISMA Scoping Review Extension guidelines to present our results. Results: The most prominent human rights issues examined are equity and inclusivity and public health, well-being, and quality of life. In contrast, there was a dearth of research on issues, such as children’s rights and safeguarding and privacy rights of athletes, spectators, and consumers. Conclusion: Our review highlighted a need for more empirical and theory-driven scholarship in the area of human rights and sport events.
September 2023 – November 2023
Background: Recent research has focused on students’ experience of banter in the general university setting. However, these experiences may differ when specifically focusing on university students’ interactions in sports clubs and societies. Methods: The present study explored undergraduate students’ understanding and experiences of banter in sports clubs and societies through five focus groups (n = 24; 18–23 years, 5 male, 19 female) at one UK university using semi-structured interviews and vignettes. Results: Thematic analysis identified three key themes: “It’s all part of the culture”, banter to excuse inappropriate behaviour, and a question of boundaries. Discussions highlighted banter was accepted and expected, but there was a sense of ‘banter fatigue’. There was awareness that banter could be used to mask harmful behaviour such as hazing and inappropriate sexual behaviour. Students also highlighted that boundaries were important when using banter, discussing how repetition can have a negative impact on the target of the banter. Conclusion: The study contributes to the limited literature exploring the use and perceptions of banter by students in extracurricular activities at university.
Background: While researchers have established that young men’s sporting friendships are often structured by violence, minimal intimacy, competition, and the degradation of all things feminine (Messner, 1992b), we know relatively little about sporting relationships between older men. Results: Drawing on interviews with and ethnographic research of older male hockey players in two Canadian cities, this article finds that while those in late midlife (ages 54–71) continue to enact patterns of male relationships associated with younger men, those in later life (ages 71–82) break with these masculine patterns. Instead, their team relationships involve joking about themselves in the locker room (instead of mocking others) and an ethic of care. Many defined true or close friendships as those which extended beyond sport. Conclusions: These findings suggest that men’s alignment with the dominant sporting masculinity of the young is not static over the life course and may wane in certain arenas as men reach later life.
Background: There is minimal research on the sport experiences of racialized young women athletes in Canada. When studying racialized groups, an inclusive and meaningful approach to research is necessary because ethnicity and race are integral to understanding identity, diversity, discrimination, and overall experiences in sport. Objective: The purpose of this qualitative description study was to explore the identities and body-related sport experiences of racialized young women athletes in a variety of sports in Canada. Methods: Eight racialized young women athletes (ages 14–18 years; Mage = 16.63, SD = 1.19) participated in multiple semi-structured one-on-one interviews and reflexive photography. Results: A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted, and three overarching themes were generated that describe the athletes’ identities and body-related sport experiences: (a) Who I am vs who they say I am; (b) My unique body in sport; and (c) The importance of representation. Conclusion: From these findings, three critical factors – intersectionality, discrimination, and diversity – are examined that influence the quality of sport experiences for racialized young women athletes in Canada.
Background: Many primary school pupils broaden their education through extracurricular activities and sports, among which school soccer stands out due to its high levels of participation and its significant impact. The kind of learning imparted fluctuates between a priori pedagogical desires and the evaluations that family members and coaches bring to bear on the activity. Objective: This study aims to understand these evaluation strategies, their meaning, and their capitalization by schoolchildren. Methods: A multiple case study was conducted, making use of participant observation among 101 schoolchildren aged six years (3 girls and 54 boys) and seven years (2 girls and 42 boys) over one academic year and interviews with 21 teachers from their schools. Family members who were involved on site on a daily basis and the teams’ 10 coaches are included. 204 observation sessions were recorded, including matches and training sessions. Results: The findings highlight a results-driven arbitrariness in the adults’ evaluations, favoring concurrent hetero-evaluation and the comparison of schoolchildren’s performances. This gives rise to situations of symbolic violence and to the child’s self-evaluation being linked to victory over their peers. Conclusions: This study encourages the planning of evaluative spaces for the co-participation of instructors, families, and schools, taking into account the child’s personal growth. To this end, we recommend the harmonization of formative opportunities regardless of schoolchildren’s individual skills.
As the phenomenon of playing hurt persists in sports, extant literature has explored the risk, pain, and injury custom (RPIC) from diverse angles. However, academic endeavours revealing the agency–structure continuum between individual agents’ willingness to play hurt and the capital structure related to the RPIC remain limited. This study aims to investigate professional athletes’ health-compromising practice and its underlying mechanism through capital games. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, we examined two research questions: (a) how does individual athletes’ desire for capital justify playing hurt? and (b) how are their capital games connected to the RPIC? Empirical data were collected through semi-structured and photo-elicitation interviews with eight athletes and six coaches (ex-athletes) from three combat sports. The data were interpreted using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings were categorised into two narratives: (a) rationalisation of playing hurt and (b) reproduction of the RPIC. First, our participants continued playing hurt, expecting certain rewards (cultural, social, economic, and performance capital); this profit-seeking aspiration rationalised self-destructive action as an investment to garner social energy in the field. Second, the more athletes immersed themselves in capital games using health as a token, the more prominent the habitus of playing hurt became in the field. This RPIC reproduction mechanism drove former/present athletes’ choices to converge into an identical career trajectory, uni-taste, and limited subversion strategy, trapping them in a cycle where the victim becomes another perpetrator of playing hurt. These results are expected to provide sport institutions with insights into building safer sporting environments.
Background: Sports media regularly frames the issue of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) through the ideals of morality, nationalism and expected behaviours. This has provided an emergent focus for research studies and extensive and enlightening coverage. Objective: This study aims to identify how the Australian media frames PEDs across a diverse range of media sources through the selection of five print and online media publications. Methods: Using nationalism bias and media framing, the study researched the prevailing positions, language and framing each publication used to report on individuals associated with, linked to or found to be using, PEDs. The prevalent, ‘nationalism-based’ reporting emerged, glorifying anti-doping procedures in relation to international athletes and sporting programmes. In comparison, the guilt and severity of punishments given to Australian athletes was questioned. Conclusions: Thus, the reporting presents both a political and biased narrative that is explored further within this manuscript.
May 2023 – August 2023
Purpose: Experiences of violence and abuse are becoming well recognized as a problem across sport settings, and nearly a third of student-athletes on college campuses experience sexual violence (SV). Filing a formal report can allow those who experience SV to receive institutional supports and services, however few choose to do so. The aim of this study was to identify structural and sport-related barriers to formally reporting SV among collegiate student-athletes. Methods: We surveyed student-athletes at 10 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I institutions across the United States to understand perceived barriers to formally reporting SV. We analyzed responses using descriptive statistics for closed-ended questions and inductive thematic analysis for open-ended questions. Results: In our sample of student-athletes (n = 1,004), 23% stated they would feel worried about formally reporting SV because of their membership in a particular identity group and 31% because of sport-related factors. In open-ended responses, student-athletes noted barriers to reporting at multiple levels: society, institution and athletic department, coach, and team. For example, student-athletes were concerned about negative perceptions and responses of teammates and coaches if they were to report, particularly because of stereotypes based on gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion. Other barriers included fear of negatively affecting their team standing or altering team dynamics. Conclusions: Our results highlight the need to address athlete-specific barriers to formally reporting SV. Efforts to change reporting-relevant policy or practice should center the experiences of minoritized athletes who may be facing heightened barriers to reporting.
Behavioral aspects of organized sports activity for pediatric athletes are considered in a world consumed with winning at all costs. In the first part of this treatise, we deal with a number of themes faced by our children in their sports play. These concepts include the lure of sports, sports attrition, the mental health of pediatric athletes (i.e., effects of stress, anxiety, depression, suicide in athletes, ADHD and stimulants, coping with injuries, drug use, and eating disorders), violence in sports (i.e., concepts of the abused athlete including sexual abuse), dealing with supervisors (i.e., coaches, parents), peers, the talented athlete, early sports specialization and sports clubs. In the second part of this discussion, we cover ergolytic agents consumed by young athletes in attempts to win at all costs. Sports doping agents covered include anabolic steroids (anabolic-androgenic steroids or AAS), androstenedione, dehydroepiandrostenedione (DHEA), human growth hormone (hGH; also its human recombinant homologue: rhGH), clenbuterol, creatine, gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), amphetamines, caffeine and ephedrine. Also considered are blood doping that includes erythropoietin (EPO) and concepts of gene doping. In the last section of this discussion, we look at disabled pediatric athletes that include such concepts as athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCIs), myelomeningocele, cerebral palsy, wheelchair athletes, and amputee athletes; also covered are pediatric athletes with visual impairment, deafness, and those with intellectual disability including Down syndrome. In addition, concepts of autonomic dysreflexia, boosting and atlantoaxial instability are emphasized. We conclude that clinicians and society should protect our precious pediatric athletes who face many challenges in their involvement with organized sports in a world obsessed with winning. There is much we can do to help our young athletes find benefit from sports play while avoiding or blunting negative consequences of organized sport activities.
The present study explored implicit and explicit honesty perceptions of White and Black children and whether these perceptions predicted legal decisions in a child abuse case. Participants consisted of 186 younger and 189 older adults from the online Prolific participant pool. Implicit racial bias was measured via a modified Implicit Association Test and explicit perceptions through self-reports. Participants read a simulated legal case where either a Black or White child alleged physical abuse against their sports coach, and they rated the honesty of the child’s testimony and rendered a verdict. Participants were implicitly biased to associate honesty with White children over Black children, and this bias was stronger among older adults. In the legal vignette, for participants who read about a Black child victim, greater implicit racial bias predicted less trust in the child’s testimony and a lower likelihood of convicting the coach of abusing the child. In contrast to their implicit bias, participants self-reported Black children as being more honest than White children, suggesting a divergence in racial attitudes across implicit and explicit measures. Implications for child abuse victims are discussed.
A paucity of research persists surrounding disordered eating among sub-populations of athletes with diverse identities. In this commentary, we argue that in the absence of extensive research to understand the nuances embedded in sub-populations of athletes, using a culturally humble approach is preferable and recommended in identifying and preventing disordered eating in athletes. Cultural humility is a powerful guiding framework for sport psychology professionals to navigate the underrepresented, “unheard voices” of disordered eating in sport. Specifically, engaging in the 5 Rs of cultural humility (Reflection, Respect, Regard, Relevance, and Resiliency) may help sport psychology professionals: a) become aware of and help reduce stereotypes that label certain athletes as disordered, and b) listen deeply to the individual experiences of the athlete while remaining aware of the inherent sport professional-athlete power imbalance. We offer recommendations based on current eating disorder research, gaps in this body of literature, and highlight recent publications on cultural humility for professionals to consider when addressing and preventing disordered eating concerns. Lay summary: Sport psychology professionals may benefit from a culturally humble approach to disordered eating in athletes. We acknowledge that more research needs to be conducted on disordered eating in athletes with intersecting identities. We propose that a cultural humility framework can inform a richer understanding of diverse presentations of disordered eating.
In this article we explore the relationships amongst anti-doping sciences, ‘abjection,’ and the protection of ‘women’s’ sport. We introduce three novel concepts: ‘abjection bias,’‘abjection potential,’ and ‘intersectional abjection,’ as tools with the potential to provide greater nuance to understanding the context for these contentious issues in contemporary sport. The debate concerning participation in women’s sport—especially elite sport—of people who do not fit within traditional definition of ‘women’ is increasingly fraught with acrimony with anti-doping sciences often recruited as arbitrator. With access to opportunities such as participation at the Olympic Games at stake, emotions run high in arguments that typically centre on inclusion of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) athletes on the one hand and protection of the women’s category on the other. While sport theorists have begun the important work of identifying the roots of these problems deep within the structure of modern sport and society itself, they have hitherto paid little attention to the philosophical underpinnings of that structure. Through the lens of feminist critical analysis, we seek, in this paper, to understand the complex role of ‘abjection’ in framing the current debate in sport and in related anti-doping sciences. From a clear definition of abjection as a perceived existential threat due to violation of the status quo, we introduce the new concepts of ‘abjection bias,’‘abjection potential,’ and ‘intersectional abjection’ in order to understand and explain what in common parlance we might call ‘gut reaction.’ By looking at the few notable previous treatments of sport abjection and highlighting the historical connections between anti-doping sciences and efforts to protect the women’s category, we demonstrate that this co-development is, in part, more easily understood in the context of ‘abjection.’ We conclude that the clarity gained can also help to shed light on current policy decision-making in relation to the question of protecting the women’s sport category.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1106446
Protecting clean sport, and the rights of athletes to a clean sport environment, is at the centre of anti-doping policies. To better support and enable clean athletes and sport, an understanding of the clean athlete lifeworld is required. The current study explored the ways that clean athletes are personally affected by others’ actual or suspected instances of doping and anti-doping rule violations, and by aspects of the anti-doping system. Qualitative Secondary Analysis (QSA) was used to re-analyse and interpret 13 focus group transcripts generated from the ‘Research-Embedded Strategic Plan for Anti-Doping Education Clean Sport Alliance Initiative for Tackling Doping’ (RESPECT) project (see Petróczi et al.). The sample in the parent study included 82 self-declared clean elite athletes, from Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, and the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis generated three overarching themes: The harm done by clean athletes having to coexist with dopers, how clean athletes are undermined by a disingenuous interest in clean sport, and the anxiety experienced by clean athletes over mistakes that could lead to anti-doping rule violations. The impacts of doping on clean athletes – direct or indirect – are experienced by all clean athletes in some way. The results indicate that current approaches to anti-doping rule compliance frequently undermine clean athletes and the perceived legitimacy of the anti-doping system.
Objectives: To examine the lived experience of adolescent athletes reporting an episode of sport-related low back pain (LBP), including effects on daily life, relationships with parent/guardians, teammates, and coaches with relation to LBP, experiences of management/treatment, and understanding of LBP. Design: Qualitative interviewing using online video conferencing platforms. Participants: Athletes aged 10e19 years old who experienced low back pain within the year prior to interviewing. Main outcome measures: Interview transcripts, Modified Oswestry Disability Index, and International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: Three main themes were developed 1) The culture of normalising LBP in sport negates safeguarding efforts aimed at protecting adolescent athletes against injury and pain 2) LBP changes how athletes are perceived and perceive themselves 3) LBP has broad effects on the well-being of adolescent athletes. Conclusions: The lived experience of LBP for adolescent athletes is impacted by the culture of tolerance of pain and injury in sport. Further steps should be taken to implement safeguarding measures in a way that adequately protects adolescent athletes who experience pain.
This study aimed to explore and describe the experiences of LGBTQ student-athletes to identify ways in which athletic staff, coaches, and others can support LGBTQ youth’s safe participation in sports. Guided by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews (PRISMA) and eMERGe reporting guidance. We conducted a meta-ethnography to synthesize qualitative research focused on student-athletes’ experiences. Fourteen studies were included in the meta-ethnography published between 1973 and 2022. Four themes were identified: (1) experiences of discrimination and violence; (2) perceived stigma; (3) internalized prejudice; and (4) coping and team support, and they were used to generate a line of argument model, which explains the stress process of LGBTQ student-athletes in the sports. LGBTQ student-athletes experience persistent discrimination in college sports, which poses a significant risk to their mental health. Meanwhile, this study identified that qualitative research on LGBTQ youth sports participation is lacking in many regions of the world and lacks knowledge of the sports participation experience of bisexual, gay, and transgender students. These findings revealed a way for research on LGBTQ-related issues and future policy and practice on LGBTQ youth-related issues in sports.
Participation in sports can increase young adults’ risk for heavy alcohol use and related consequences. Among student-athletes, more men report heavy drinking than women. These gender differences may reflect men’s expression of masculinity which can encompass excessive consumption. While a growing body of research indicates that general masculine norms are positively associated with alcohol use and consequences among men, the extent to which alcohol-specific masculine norms can increase student-athletes’ risk for elevated drinking and related outcomes is not yet known. Thus, we examined how masculine drinking norms are associated with alcohol use and related consequences while accounting for demographics and multiple dimensions of general masculine norms. 1,825 National Collegiate Athletic Association studentathletes (White = 79%, Mage = 20.1/SDage = 1.3; 50 colleges/universities) completed a confidential online survey which included questions regarding masculine drinking norms of excess and control and conformity to general masculine norms. We created latent constructs and tested a path model in structural equation modeling. Results indicated that, after accounting for demographics and multiple dimensions of general masculine norms, the masculine drinking norm of excess was positively associated with alcohol use and consequences. Conversely, control was negatively related to alcohol use but unrelated to consequences. Compared to control and other dimensions of general masculine norms, excess was most strongly related to alcohol use and consequences. A move from assessing general masculine norms toward alcohol-specific masculine norms can further researchers’ and practitioners’ knowledge of masculine norms and their link to drinking behaviors, and enhance the application of masculine norms in alcohol intervention and prevention programs.
December 2022 – April 2023
J. S. Russell has argued that it is morally permissible for children to participate in dangerous sports and that much of value can be gained from such participation. He attempts to justify children’s participation in dangerous sport with two arguments, which he calls the common sense view and the uncommon sense view, and I apply the basic reasons given in these general arguments to the specific case of justifying children’s participation in mixed martial arts (MMA). To safeguard against wanton and gratuitous risk of great harm, Russell also includes some basic limitations for children’s participation in dangerous sports, and I use these limitations as a general framework for providing a number of additional constraints to render children’s MMA morally permissible.
Objective: Homophobic language is common in male sport and associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes for all sport participants, but particularly for gay or bisexual youth populations. Evidence-based interventions are needed to reduce such language and mitigate harm. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a short social-cognitive educational intervention delivered by professional rugby union players in youth sport. Methods: In a two-arm, cluster randomised controlled trial, 13 Australian youth rugby teams from 9 clubs (N=167, ages 16–20, mean 17.9) were randomised into intervention or control groups. Professional rugby players delivered the intervention in-person. Frequency of homophobic language use was measured 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the intervention. Hypothesised factors underpinning homophobic language were also measured, including descriptive (other people use), prescriptive and proscriptive injunctive norms (approval/disapproval by others), and attitudes towards the acceptability of homophobic language. Results : At baseline, 49.1% of participants self-reported using homophobic language in the past 2 weeks and 72.7% reported teammates using homophobic language. Significant relationships were found between this behaviour and the hypothesised factors targeted by the intervention. However, generalised estimating equations found the intervention did not significantly reduce homophobic language, or alter the associated norms and attitudes, relative to controls. Conclusion : Use of professional rugby athletes to deliver education on homophobic language was not effective. Other approaches to reduce homophobic language (and other forms of discrimination) such as peer-to-peer education, and enforcement of policies prohibiting specific language by coaches, should be explored.
Racism in football is a long-standing phenomenon that has changed shape and form over time. From individual fans either throwing bananas or making monkey-like sounds to organized neo-Nazi fans celebrating on the terraces, the superiority of all things white, non-white football players has long suffered abuse in football. Overlooked by football’s governing bodies for several decades, racism in football was only highlighted in the early 1990s, when the first anti-racism organizations devoted to tackling racist abuse in sport came to life. Thirty years later, the criminal offence that is racism in football not only is still present, but it has also invaded yet another domain of social life–the digital world. The present article, first, addresses notions pertaining to racism in football, then, considers the criminological aspects of digital racisms and, finally, discusses the impact of digital racisms on football studies.
The rise of online hate speech in sports is a growing concern, with fans, players and officials subject to racist, sexist and homophobic abuse (in addition to many other prejudices) via social media platforms. While hate speech and discrimination have always been problems in sports, the growth of social media has seen them exacerbated exponentially. As a consequence, policy makers, sport governing bodies and grassroots anti-hate organisations are largely left playing catch-up with the rapidly shifting realm of online hate. Scholars have attempted to fill this vacuum with research into this topic, but such is the evolving nature of the issue that research has been diverse and fragmentary. We offer a scoping review into the scholarship of online hate in sport in order to encourage and facilitate further research into this urgent issue. Our review will achieve this through offering a comprehensive cataloguing of previously employed methodologies, case studies and conclusions. In doing so, it will not only equip future researchers with a concise overview of existing research in the field, but also illuminate areas and approaches in need of further examination.
Student-athletes of color navigate white normativity daily, yet it is a form of racism rarely examined in sport psychology. Examining people of color’s daily experience can be instructive to understanding how whiteness gets normalized and challenged in various contexts. Moreover, as white normativity is ubiquitous, research methodologies themselves must explicitly acknowledge and challenge white normativity. This study examined (a) manifestations of white normativity in the daily lives of student-athletes of color, (b) student-athletes of color’s processes of negotiating and navigating whiteness, and (c) methodological designs for creating safe spaces for student-athletes of color to make meaning of race. Seven women student-athletes of color engaged in group and individual interviews during which the interviewer foregrounded race and racism and facilitated participants’ meaning-making. Specifically, building from humanizing research and heeding the call for empirical spaces to be culturally-responsive, participant storytelling was encouraged and stories were reexamined through critical lenses. Through our findings, we illustrate how women student-athletes of color are not merely passive recipients of dominant (white) culture but, in different ways, active agents negotiating their status as athletes, women, and people of color within white normative contexts. Conscious of their deviance from the white norm, participants engaged in continuous negotiation processes of normalizing, nuancing, and resisting whiteness.
Protecting clean sport, and the rights of athletes to a clean sport environment, is at the centre of anti-doping policies. To better support and enable clean athletes and sport, an understanding of the clean athlete lifeworld is required. The current study explored the ways that clean athletes are personally affected by others’ actual or suspected instances of doping and anti-doping rule violations, and by aspects of the anti-doping system. Qualitative Secondary Analysis (QSA) was used to re-analyse and interpret 13 focus group transcripts generated from the ‘Research-Embedded Strategic Plan for Anti-Doping Education Clean Sport Alliance Initiative for Tackling Doping’ (RESPECT) project (see Petróczi et al.). The sample in the parent study included 82 self-declared clean elite athletes, from Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, and the UK. Reflexive thematic analysis generated three overarching themes: The harm done by clean athletes having to coexist with dopers, how clean athletes are undermined by a disingenuous interest in clean sport, and the anxiety experienced by clean athletes over mistakes that could lead to anti-doping rule violations. The impacts of doping on clean athletes – direct or indirect – are experienced by all clean athletes in some way. The results indicate that current approaches to anti-doping rule compliance frequently undermine clean athletes and the perceived legitimacy of the anti-doping system.
Sport events are often held up as opportunities to showcase excellence and further access to sport participation. The ethos of accessibility has come to the forefront of many events, but none more so than the Commonwealth Games (CG). CG uses the ethos of inclusivity to bring the Commonwealth (CW) community together and utilizes sport to celebrate, uphold and drive its vision and values: Humanity, Destiny, Equality. However there remain significant gaps in participation opportunities and the realization of equality through CG, particularly for lower resource CW nations. CG is also the only global multisport event that integrates athletes with disabilities (para sport athletes), and yet there persist significant constraints to the creation of equitable opportunities for full participation for many para sport athletes. Shalala wrote “How can you effectively achieve integration (during CG), while ensuring the gulf between the best and the rest doesn’t become a seismic divide?” We echo Shalala’s concerns. Through this review we intend to examine sport classification as exemplary of the opportunities and hindrances for CG to actualize their values of “equality, humanity and destiny” for para sport and athletes, specifically from developing CW nations, and guard against the growing chasm “between the best and the rest”. Of significance, we consider, through a human rights lens and the concept of structural violence, the impact of sport classification on the integration of para sport and athletes at CGs, and the future of Commonwealth-wide participation and the integrated model itself.
Background: PE curricula and pedagogy maintain dominant discourses of whiteness as normalized, lacking in cultural relevancy and disregarding racially minoritized students’ cultural knowledges (Azzarito 2019, “‘Look to the Bottom’: Re-Writing the Body Curriculum Through Storylines.” Sport, Education and Society 24 (6): 638–650; Clark 2020, “Toward a Critical Race Pedagogy of Physical Education.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 25 (4): 439–450; Culp 2020, “Thirdspace Investigations: Geography, Dehumanization, and Seeking Spatial Justice in Kinesiology: National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education 39th Dudley Allen Sargent Commemorative Lecture 2020.” Quest (grand Rapids, Mich) 72 (2): 153–166; Flintoff and Dowling 2019, “‘I Just Treat Them all the Same, Really’: Teachers, Whiteness and (Anti) Racism in Physical Education.” Sport, Education and Society 24 (2): 121–133). Both pre-service and in-service PE teachers of color often experience marginalization, hypervisiblity, exclusion, racism, and must consistently negotiate an additional emotional ‘load’ when located within white educational spaces (Flintoff 2014, “Tales from the Playing Field: Black and Minority Ethnic Students’ Experiences of Physical Education Teacher Education.” Race, Ethnicity and Education 17 (3): 346–366, 2015, “Playing the ‘Race’ Card? Black and Minority Ethnic Students’ Experiences of Physical Education Teacher Education.” Sport, Education and Society 20: 190–211; Simon and Azzarito 2019a, “‘Singled out Because of Skin Color … ’: Exploring Ethnic Minority Female Teachers’ Embodiment in Physical Education.” Sport, Education and Society 24 (2): 105–120, 2019b, ““Putting Blinders on”: Ethnic Minority Female PE Teachers’ Identity Struggles Negotiating Racialized Discourses.” Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 38 (4): 367–376.). Purpose: This study aimed to understand Black and Latinx pre-service PE teachers’ negotiations of whiteness, and the accompanying emotional ‘load,’ at predominantly white institutions (PWIs). We utilized Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and emotionality to establish a framework that included interrogating normalized discourses of whiteness through counternarratives (Milner and Howard 2013, “Counter-narrative as Method: Race, Policy and Research for Teacher Education.” Race, Ethnicity and Education 16 (4): 536–561), destabilizing a white/‘other’ dichotomy, and validating emotions connected to racialized identities (Ahmed 2014, Cultural Politics of Emotions. Edinburgh University Press). Method: This qualitative study employed visual narrative methods, extricating, via counternarratives to whiteness (Miller, Liu, and Ball 2020, “Critical Counter-Narrative as Transformative Methodology for Educational Equity.” Review of Research in Education 44 (1): 269–300), the racialized experiential knowledge of 10 Black and Latinx pre-service PE teachers enrolled in predominantly white PE teacher education (PETE) programs. The researchers collected data through interviews, written reflections, and visual texts. Data, including interview transcriptions, participant-generated images, and researcher reflections, were analyzed both inductively and deductively. Results: The results of this study demonstrated how participants first presented emotionally distanced negotiations of overwhelming whiteness in their PETE programs, engaging in a self-preservation response to inherent ‘othering’ and hypervisibility (Evans-Winters and Esposito 2010). With time and developed rapport with the researchers, ‘cracks’ in their positive narratives appeared as more details emerged about the pain caused by consistent experiences of racism in their PWIs. It was clear that participants’ racialization through dominant whiteness presented a multi-layered emotionality that had to be masked in order to be accepted within their white educational communities (Kohli 2018, “Behind School Doors: The Impact of Hostile Racial Climates on Urban Teachers of Color.” Urban Education 53 (3): 307–333). Conclusion: Participants’ emotional responses to racially ‘othered’ hypervisibility provided insights to program attrition by students of color, and how teacher education maintains racialized discourses of whiteness. The results of this research support the idea that PE teacher educators need to demonstrate an outright and long-standing commitment to racial equity and to minoritized students’ emotional well-being before students of color may open up and share what’s ‘really going on,’ thus furthering emotional connections and understandings that can prevent pre-service teacher of color attrition. In the case of the Black and Latinx teachers in this study, the norms of whiteness which underpinned their educational context denied them their humanity regarding their potentially strong emotions towards their experiences of racism, prejudice, discrimination, biases, and stereotypes, placing them as ‘outsiders’ within predominantly white ‘collective bodies’ (their PETE programs and institutions).
There have been multiple studies with regard to the different aspects of soccer hooliganism throughout the world; the majority of these have been focused internationally. The most common trends of hooliganism examined include: harassment, vandalism, fighting, theft, public intoxication, and crowd disorder revolving around the game of soccer in countries throughout the world. This phenomenon has been analyzed in detail in the United States with regard to the big four: football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. However, while soccer is the most popular sport in other countries, it lags in comparative popularity in the United States. To date, there has not yet been extensive research into the development of the phenomenon known as soccer “hooliganism” in the United States. Furthermore, there is ambiguity with regards to the definition of hooliganism, what constitutes it and what does not. Radmann (2014) demonstrated that the terms hooligan and hooliganism are problematic, as they are not emotionally neutral. Additionally, the media uses these terms interchangeably to indicate multiple different phenomena revolving around soccer games. This study examined survey results from NAIA soccer players and their perception of hooliganism within the context of professional soccer in the United States. Additionally, the economic impact of hooliganism on professional soccer clubs was examined. It should be noted that many NAIA soccer players actually hail from other countries where hooliganism is prevalent, and as such, they have an understanding of its implications. The survey instrument consisted of questions regarding the perception of hooliganism and the propensity of hooliganism to occur in the United States. Each element of hooliganism was distinguished based on significance determined by the players, and conclusions were drawn to identify the perception of hooliganism and propensity for hooliganism to occur in the United States. Furthermore, the survey provided insight regarding the economic implications of hooliganism.
2022 – January to November
This paper explores an incident of alleged fan racism involving Chelsea defender, Antonio Rüdiger. During a match against Tottenham Hotspur, in December 2019, Rüdiger claimed he heard racial abuse from Spurs fans. This incident sparked a broader national conversation regarding racism in sport, and wider society. This paper will draw on a comprehensive content analysis of Twitter comments to provide insights into fan reactions at the time of the incident. Was Rüdiger alleged to have played the ‘race card’? Was Rüdiger believed to have used his ‘race’ to attempt to punish the Spurs’ fans? Using thematic analysis, it will highlight patterns in fan responses to this case and attempt to illustrate football fans’ attitudes towards ‘race’ and racism within English football. The paper will close by offering some final thoughts on how racism, and other forms of discrimination, can be both challenged inside the stadium and on social media.
This perspective paper considers what scholars and teachers of sport sociology can (un)learn by applying the concept of intersectionality in research and in the classroom. I focus on contemporary forms of activism in the context of sport in the United States (U.S.) and demonstrate intersectionality’s utility through three examples of athlete activism from the past 10 years led by sports people. Although each example is focused on a particular axis of difference and domination, such as sexual harassment (read: gender) and Black Lives Matter (read: race), I show that the cause at stake is always already intersectional. This has consequences for the field of sport studies/sport sociology; in engaging in intersectional research, sport sociologists and researchers alike can inform policymakers in sport in the decision-making process. In the final part of the paper, I offer insight from my positionality as a graduate student through reflection on how I—and my colleagues—might understand our role within the “matrix of domination” that characterizes both our subject and our field. As novice sport scholars, graduate students can translate the theoretical meanings and purpose of intersectionality into lived reality by being intentional in what and how we teach and research. In this case, I suggest that intersectional justice in sport does not just mean on the track/field/court; it can also mean in the classroom, thereby expanding our notion of what activism “in sport” is and looks like.
The present study scrutinizes the role of societal culture in cases of sexual violence in Greek sport, as presented in the media after a two times Olympic medalist of Greece fired up the “‘me too’ Movement” in the country. Specifically, data for this study consisted of 36 media articles (14 international in the English language and 22 national in the Greek language), reporting multiple cases of sexual abuse and harassment in Greek sport and were published between January 2021 and January 2022. We drew on the cultural praxis heuristic to explore how the cultural setting operates as an underlying factor in priming athletes for harassment and abuse and in oppressing them into not speaking up. Our thematic analysis of media data revealed two overarching themes, namely, keeping the home intact and failed negotiations with power. Based on these findings, we discuss how subtle manifestations of patriarchy and collectivism perpetuate sexualized violence in Greek sport as they promote a climate of silence, prevent safeguarding, maintain underreporting of sexual violence, and delayed the arrival of the #metoo. We conclude that under the current circumstances, change seems to be a threat to all involved in Greek sport, yet for different reasons. For the coaches, sport officials, stakeholders, state system, change would require them to relinquish male powers and authority, find new meaning of what it means to be and do as a man, and allow women to be seen as counterparts. For the female athletes-survivors, it would require them to prioritize the self and their self-care and let go of the in-group loyalty and subordination learned and exhibited from infancy. We also contend that mere translations of international and regional safeguarding guidelines and toolkits cannot foster awareness raising, nor the implementation of measures within cultural settings that divert from the Global North. If we care to combat the universal phenomenon of sexualized violence in sport, a glocal approach is needed, where local socio-cultural factors are acknowledged, their role is addressed, and violence is understood within its context.
Supporters of American Indian mascots claim that these mascots honor American Indians. If this is the case, then those who have more contact with, and are more supportive of, these mascots would logically demonstrate support for American Indian Peoples in other ways. In this study, we break new ground by employing a cultivation and social learning approach to examine possible associations between greater exposure to American Indian mascots and prejudice toward American Indians, as well as support for their rights. We used an online survey of 903 White Americans to examine associations between long-term exposure to American Indian mascots, attitudes toward Native appropriation, and support for American Indian Peoples. We found that greater exposure to sport media and more contact with American Indian mascots were associated with more prejudice toward and less support for American Indian rights, via double mediators—first via less opposition to American Indian mascots, and second via less opposition to other types of Native appropriation. These findings provide further evidence that American Indian mascots are harmful to American Indians, in this case via their association with higher levels of modern prejudice, less feelings of warmth, and less support for American Indian Nation sovereignty and trust relationship with the United States government. Further, our findings suggest that this harm may be related to lessons learned from the general phenomenon of Native appropriation, which includes acceptance of objectification and dehumanization of American Indians, disregard for their feelings, and legitimation of White settler colonial power.
This paper draws on conceptual and analytical tools from cultural sociology to analyze media representations of the MMA right after the murder of a twenty-year-old boy, that took place in a small village in central Italy by a gang of young men, two of whom frequented a MMA gym. While often characterized as violent and uncivilized, MMA has a core following of fans who watch and practice MMA out of an interest in the effects of the sport in terms of health and well-being. Through in depth qualitative analysis of MMA media discourse offered by traditional and new media, this paper explores the way the MMA media constructs symbolic boundaries around different kinds of fights inside and outside the gym, through aesthetic and moral evaluations based on the hierarchical ‘distinctions’ between “violence” and “health” as possible outcomes of the MMA training process. Particularly, we carry out a discourse analysis based on Italian Newspapers, Magazines and Facebook groups dedicated to MMA, through which we frame the multiple representations of the discursive production built around the MMA in Italy. Our aim is to identify the different ways in which the discussion about this event provided narrative paths and points of view about the meaning of MMA, focusing on the reputational consequences concerning health, especially in its physical and mental expressions. This research may prove useful for scholars interested in MMA, culture, and sports media studies.
Increased rates of domestic violence (DV) have been associated with events such as public holidays, seasonal variations, disasters and economic crises. Sport is seen as gendered, exemplifying hegemonic masculinity and associated violence, with the link between sporting culture and violence against women well recognised. This paper reports on a systematic review of empirical research literature exploring the link between major sporting events and incidence of DV. We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus and Proquest Central databases from inception to December 2020 for quantitative studies examining major sports events and reports of DV using a pre–post comparison design. Study quality was assessed using the Kmet quality assessment tool. The review identified 1445 records following duplicate removal. Once screened and assessed for eligibility, 12 studies met the inclusion criteria. Results are presented qualitatively due to the heterogeneity across studies. Most studies originated in North America and the United Kingdom, used police records as their data source for measuring incidences of DV and few looked beyond the day of the sports event for recorded incidences of DV. Studies reviewed suggested that there is an association between certain major sports events and increased reporting of DV. However, studies’ findings conflicted with regards to whether increases were associated with contact sports, the rivalry between competing teams, whether the events were emotionally salient and whether alcohol was a contributing factor. In conclusion, there is limited research globally. Heterogeneity and conflicting findings mean that more research is needed to understand the associations and inform community prevention/interventions to address DV.
Coaches strongly influence athletes’ attitudes toward doping and can shape athlete’s beliefs, behaviors, and decisions to be for or against doping. Coached-centered studies examining multiple factors affecting coaches’ doping attitudes and behavior are scarce. The aim of this study was to analyze for the first-time attitudes toward doping in athletics coaches using the Sport Drug Control Model (SDCM) as a theoretical framework. A secondary aim was to determine the factors in the model predicting attitude and susceptibility toward doping. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a sample consisting of 201 Spanish athletics competitive level coaches from whom 11.4% were female. Participants completed a cross-sectional online survey. Structural equation modeling showed a good fitness of the SDCM. Positive attitudes toward doping predicted high susceptibility to doping (β = 0.39, p < 0.001). Moral disengagement (β = 0.58, p < 0.001), descriptive norms (β = 0.42, p = 0.001), ego-oriented goals (β = 0.34, p < 0.05), and self-efficacy to refrain from doping (β = 0.26, p < 0.05) displayed a significant influence on attitudes toward doping. Self-reported doping prevalence in coaches was 4.5%. These variables should be considered when designing anti-doping research projects and educational programs aiming at modifying coaches’ attitudes toward doping. It is recommended to focus more efforts on coaches, without putting aside the athletes, and therefore turn coaches into reliable doping prevention factors. To this end, it is necessary to enhance scientific research and then develop, implement, and promote more educational programs targeting coaches, on a mandatory basis while covering the specific needs of coaches so that they can perform their role as anti-doping educators in an effective, committed, and proactive manner.
Behavioral aspects of organized sports activity for pediatric athletes are considered in a world consumed with winning at all costs. In the first part of this treatise, we deal with a number of themes faced by our children in their sports play. These concepts include the lure of sports, sports attrition, the mental health of pediatric athletes (i.e., effects of stress, anxiety, depression, suicide in athletes, ADHD and stimulants, coping with injuries, drug use, and eating disorders), violence in sports (i.e., concepts of the abused athlete including sexual abuse), dealing with supervisors (i.e., coaches, parents), peers, the talented athlete, early sports specialization and sports clubs. In the second part of this discussion, we cover ergolytic agents consumed by young athletes in attempts to win at all costs. Sports doping agents covered include anabolic steroids (anabolic-androgenic steroids or AAS), androstenedione, dehydroepiandrostenedione (DHEA), human growth hormone (hGH; also its human recombinant homologue: rhGH), clenbuterol, creatine, gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), amphetamines, caffeine and ephedrine. Also considered are blood doping that includes erythropoietin (EPO) and concepts of gene doping. In the last section of this discussion, we look at disabled pediatric athletes that include such concepts as athletes with spinal cord injuries (SCIs), myelomeningocele, cerebral palsy, wheelchair athletes, and amputee athletes; also covered are pediatric athletes with visual impairment, deafness, and those with intellectual disability including Down syndrome. In addition, concepts of autonomic dysreflexia, boosting and atlantoaxial instability are emphasized. We conclude that clinicians and society should protect our precious pediatric athletes who face many challenges in their involvement with organized sports in a world obsessed with winning. There is much we can do to help our young athletes find benefit from sports play while avoiding or blunting negative consequences of organized sport activities.
Purpose: Esports has been emerging as a multi-billion dollar industry by attracting players, viewers, advertisers and investors across the globe. Even though there are plenty of professional titles present, only a few have been considered mainstream due to lack of formal governance mechanisms, presence of corruption and cheating mechanisms. “Doping” is one such practice where the players try to gain unfair advantage over their competitors, causing major hindrance in esports development. This qualitative study would draw insights from their perceptions about different doping mechanisms and possible recommendations to curb them. Design/methodology/approach: This study has analyzed the semi-structured interviews of selected esports professionals to draw insights from their perceptions about different doping mechanisms and possible recommendations to curb them. This qualitative study would explore the content of their interviews for extracting relevant themes and subthemes. Findings: The findings of this study have made significant contributions to deeply lacking literature about the esports industry and barriers it faces in order to be considered as a legitimate sport. The study has extracted contemporary and new emerging themes about the rising trends in the industry and their impact on society and the way we see sports as a whole. Moreover, this study dwells upon the rampant drug abuse persisting in this industry and how it offers itself as a barrier to the legitimization of esports as a viable global industry. Originality/value: This study provides an on-ground reality reports on esports and various malpractices rampant in the industry by conducting interviews with various industry professionals and analyzing them through a thematic analysis method using an inductive approach.
The following dissertation sought to understand how sport stakeholders conceptualize and experience safe sport and to elicit their recommendations to advance safe sport, a movement that has emerged in response to cases of athlete maltreatment. To-date, the related literature indicates there is no universal definition of safe sport and thus, prevention and intervention initiatives differ; further, these initiatives are not necessarily empirically or theoretically driven. In Study 1, a constructivist grounded theory was employed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with forty-three stakeholders in sport to elicit views of the meaning of the term safe sport. The findings revealed commonalities among the participants’ interpretations, specifically pertaining to the prevention of and intervention in incidences of physical, psychological, and sexual harm. Additionally, some participants’ interpretations expanded beyond the prevention of harm to include the optimisation of the sport experience, characterized by the promotion of positive values and human rights. In Study 2, an interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to explore equity-deserving athletes’ understanding and lived experiences of safe sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven athletes of diverse intersectional identities. The findings suggest that athletes from equity-deserving groups experience verbal and non-verbal forms of discrimination in sport and questioned whether safe sport was an attainable outcome for them. Moreover, athletes with visible, under-represented characteristics (e.g., Black, physical disability) perceived themselves as more vulnerable to unsafe sport experiences compared to athletes who could hide elements of their identity (e.g., gay athletes). Finally, Study 3 was a constructivist grounded theory that utilized semi-structured interviews to explore thirteen sport administrators’ perspectives of advancing safe sport. The participants recommended that sport organisations establish a universal framework of safe sport, design and implement education, implement and enforce policies, establish independent monitoring and complaint mechanisms, and conduct research to ensure advancement strategies are current and applicable. The current dissertation contributes to the growing body of safe sport literature by recommending that conceptualizations and advancement strategies of safe sport, which tend to be focused on the prevention of harm, extend to the promotion of human rights in sport through safeguarding.
There is a growing concern that the voices of athletes, and in particular, athletes from equity-deserving groups, are unaccounted for in the development and advancement of Safe Sport initiatives. The lack of consideration of the needs and experiences of diverse groups is concerning, given the existing literature outside the context of sport indicating that equity-deserving individuals experience more violence. As such, the following study sought to understand how equity-deserving athletes interpret and experience Safe Sport. Grounded within an interpretive phenomenological analysis, semi-structured interviews were used to understand how athletes with marginalised identities conceptualise and experience Safe Sport. Seven participants, including two Black male athletes, two White, gay male athletes, one Middle Eastern female athlete, one White, female athlete with a physical disability and one White, non-binary, queer, athlete with a physical disability, were asked to conceptualise and describe their experiences of Safe Sport. The findings revealed these athletes perceived Safe Sport as an unrealistic and unattainable ideal that cannot fully be experienced by those from equity-deserving groups. This interpretation was reinforced by reported experiences of discriminatory comments, discriminatory behaviours and systemic barriers, perpetrated by coaches, teammates, and resulting from structural aspects of sport. The findings draw on the human rights literature to suggest integrating principles of equity, diversity and inclusion are fundamental to safeguarding equity-deserving athletes.
Racism in football is a long-standing phenomenon that has changed shape and form over time. From individual fans either throwing bananas or making monkey-like sounds to organized neo-Nazi fans celebrating on the terraces, the superiority of all things white, non-white football players has long suffered abuse in football. Overlooked by football’s governing bodies for several decades, racism in football was only highlighted in the early 1990s, when the first anti-racism organizations devoted to tackling racist abuse in sport came to life. Thirty years later, the criminal offence that is racism in football not only is still present, but it has also invaded yet another domain of social life–the digital world. The present article, first, addresses notions pertaining to racism in football, then, considers the criminological aspects of digital racisms and, finally, discusses the impact of digital racisms on football studies.
Student-athletes of color navigate white normativity daily, yet it is a form of racism rarely examined in sport psychology. Examining people of color’s daily experience can be instructive to understanding how whiteness gets normalized and challenged in various contexts. Moreover, as white normativity is ubiquitous, research methodologies themselves must explicitly acknowledge and challenge white normativity. This study examined (a) manifestations of white normativity in the daily lives of student-athletes of color, (b) student-athletes of color’s processes of negotiating and navigating whiteness, and (c) methodological designs for creating safe spaces for student-athletes of color to make meaning of race. Seven women student-athletes of color engaged in group and individual interviews during which the interviewer foregrounded race and racism and facilitated participants’ meaning-making. Specifically, building from humanizing research and heeding the call for empirical spaces to be culturally-responsive, participant storytelling was encouraged and stories were reexamined through critical lenses. Through our findings, we illustrate how women student-athletes of color are not merely passive recipients of dominant (white) culture but, in different ways, active agents negotiating their status as athletes, women, and people of color within white normative contexts. Conscious of their deviance from the white norm, participants engaged in continuous negotiation processes of normalizing, nuancing, and resisting whiteness.
Although sport has traditionally been a toxic environment for sexual minorities, recent research has shown greater levels of inclusivity. Building on a growth of recent research on typically marginalized groups of sports fans – including women, racial minorities, and some sexual minorities – this research examines the experiences of English bisexual soccer fans. To do so, I draw on semi-structured interviews with 25 bisexual fans (14 cisgender men and 11 cisgender women) of a range of English soccer clubs. Findings indicate that English soccer stadia have become a more inclusive climate for bisexual fans. This was best evidenced by a growth of LGBT visibility through the formation of dedicated fan groups, as well as the general decline of anti-LGBT chanting. Despite the decline of abuse inside stadia, however, these fans spoke of how the proliferation of social media has provided an alternative platform for discrimination. Accordingly, these fans’ experiences of consuming soccer through social media differ significantly from their experiences inside sports stadia.
Within research on retirement due to injury, transitional difficulties (e.g., mental health issues, identity loss) have been identified and linked with a singular athlete identity, early or forced retirement, and difficulty comprehending life beyond sport. More research is needed to learn further about the socio-cultural context of athlete retirement and injury. The present study builds on media research in sport sociology and sport psychology, to explore retirement and injury in a cultural context, using relativist narrative inquiry. In this study, the media was explored as a cultural site circulating stories within narratives that convey meanings (e.g., injury is normal) and values (e.g., playing through pain, playing sport as long as one can) that impact athlete’s lives. A thematic narrative analysis was conducted on 60 digital news stories of one incident surrounding a high profile athlete in the National Football League (NFL): Andrew Luck’s retirement due to injury. A central narrative identified was “football’s toll on athlete health.” Three small storylines shaped nuanced meanings of Luck’s injury and retirement within the central narrative: “defending the retirement,” “from superhero to human,” and “athlete communities of pain and injury.” The theoretical and applied contributions of the findings are outlined. We conclude with what a narrative approach to media stories affords sport psychology, and suggest future research.
Sports activities are a major aspect of American culture and involve key areas that shape society. The explicit societal attitudes regarding race, implicit racial prejudice, and negative stereotypes involving African American football athletes are evident as a result of the response following the peaceful protests (kneeling) by former NFL San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, during the singing of the National Anthem. Away from the campus “gridiron” field and football facilities, African American athletes continue to struggle with the need for support as it relates to unique psychological challenges they face inclusive of racism, negative stereotypes, microaggressions, and isolation. These unique challenges are shared by both African American college student-athletes and professional football athletes. The research design for this study involves a critical review of the literature in examining and interpreting the existing literature regarding this phenomena — unique psychological challenges shared by both African American college student-athletes and professional football athletes. Research highlights the experiences of African American football athletes (Comeaux, 2018); however, there is limited exploration regarding the barriers that hinder these athletes from utilizing clinical services by psychology professionals, particularly, clinical psychologists. In addition, this study addresses recommendations to reduce/eliminate these barriers. Theoretical perspectives are presented inclusive of Critical Race Theory and the Social Dominance Theory. This research has the potential for providing a platform for implications for further study in examining strategies and implementing ways in which colleges/universities, professional sport programs, and clinical psychologists can better support African American football athletes as they face unique psychological issues on college/university campuses, the sports environment and the community at large.
DOI non-disponible
Discrimination and inequality are ever present in today’s society, with athletes facing racial abuse and LGBTQ+ individuals fearing for their safety at international events. Due to these additional stressors, the role of sport psychologists becomes increasingly important when supporting athletes from minority groups. An online questionnaire was developed to gain greater understanding of the equality, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) knowledge, perceptions, and experiences of those working, studying or researching in the field of sport and exercise psychology. The findings of the current study highlight the ongoing experiences of sexism, racism, homo/transphobia, and ableism experienced by participants, as well as the need for more suitable, in-depth training around ED&I subjects and guidance on meaningful action to combat inequality and discrimination in the field. The involvement of individuals from minority groups in the development, delivery and evaluation of training and research is necessary to move towards true inclusion.
The article focuses on transgressing the traditional boundaries of sport history scholarship on more than one occasion. It mentions storytelling enables us to convey counterstories of land dispossession, colonization, genocide, violence, and importantly, Indigenous survivance. It also mentions affirm relationships and responsibilities to kinship and the natural world, and empower us to present counterstories about colonization.
Protests against racism in Australian sport have a long history, with many notable actors, agents and incidents. Of these, the on-field protest against racial abuse in Australian rules football by an Aboriginal player, Nicky Winmar, produced Australia’s most famous image of race and sport. While the moment was captured in 1993, it has reverberated throughout the intervening three decades, and the image of Winmar lifting his jersey to point proudly to his chest retains powerful currency. The Winmar protest is both an Australian precursor to the Black Lives Matter movement and remains a potent touchstone in the current debates around the topic. And while Winmar’s stance remains a moral compass point towards racism-free sport, it also highlights continuing tensions around race, racism and memory. We explore these dimensions through a discussion of the intersection of the global Black Lives Matter movement with Australia, a revisiting of Winmar’s 1993 protest and its representations, reverberations and relevance, and an analysis of the meanings and issues surrounding the placement of a statue commemorating Winmar in Perth, Western Australia. These episodes occurred against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, revealing intersections with, and unique dimensions of, racial issues in Australian sport.
The present study examined, for the first time, the multivariate association between social norms, negative self-conscious emotions, and self-regulatory efficacy and doping intentions in an international sample of MMA athletes, with an emphasis on moderation and mediation effects. We also examined whether MMA athletes with different doping experiences also differed in doping-related self-conscious emotions, self-regulatory efficacy, social norms and doping intentions. A cross-sectional survey-based design was used, and structured anonymous online questionnaires were completed by 249 MMA athletes from 16 countries. Three groups of users were identified based on self-reported doping use: never users, never user contemplators, and ever users. One-way ANOVA showed that athletes with differed doping experiences gave significantly different scores in social norms, self-conscious emotions, self-regulatory efficacy, and doping intentions. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that doping intentions were significantly associated with perceiving greater social approval of doping among referent others (injunctive norms), anticipating less negative self-conscious emotions from doping, and with lower levels of self-regulatory efficacy, after controlling for the effect of past doping use. Moderated regression analysis showed that self-conscious emotions did not interact with social norms in predicting doping intentions. Regression-based mediation analysis further showed that self-regulatory efficacy significantly mediated the association of injunctive norms and self-conscious emotions with doping intentions. Our findings highlight the role of social norms and self-conscious emotions in the decision-making process underlying doping in MMA athletes. The practical implications of our findings are discussed within the context of clean sport education and related campaigns to prevent doping in MMA.
The main goal of this paper is to consider the necessity of founding ethical committees in professional sports. In the first part of the paper the authors consider the emergence of the first ethical committee in medicine, and the emergence of bioethics as a social movement and academic discipline. In the second part of the paper, the authors examine few examples of ethical committees in contemporary professional sport and the need to set up ethical committees within sports associations to consider numerous ethical problems: doping, match fixing, referee errors, racism, injuries, sex/gender and body issues, sexual abuse in sports etc. These topics are also an inevitable field studied within bioethics, so the following question arises: ‘Is the official establishment of ethical committees in professional sports as an aspect of ‘bioethicalization’ of sport a real need that is imposed due to the growing ethical problems that are present in modern sports?’
Transgender athletes face discrimination based on negative societal attitudes in many life arenas; they particularly confront prejudice in the arena of sport. This study examined the attitudes of some of the most influential people in an athlete’s life, coaches. The study examined coach gender, conformity to masculinity norms (particularly hegemonic masculinity norms of power over women and heterosexual self-presentation), and level of physical contact in sport as related to negative attitudes toward transgender athletes. In light of the recent spate of anti-transgender legislation focusing on transwomen athletes, attitudes toward directionality of transition within transgender athletes were also investigated. Data were obtained from 156 coaches across the United States, who coached a variety of sports at different levels of competition. The findings indicated that stronger adherence to masculine norms was associated with stronger negative attitudes toward transgender athletes. Male coaches were more likely than female coaches to have negative attitudes toward transgender athletes although this relationship was not moderated by adherence to hegemonic masculinity norms of power over women and heterosexual self-presentation. Coaches’ attitudes toward transgender athletes varied based on the direction of the transition, with transgender women athletes facing more prejudice. No difference was found between coaches of collision, contact, and non-contact sports on their attitudes toward transgender athletes. Implications from these results include using targeted interventions toward coaches and athletic administrators to reduce transgender athlete prejudice and promote inclusivity.
DOI non available.
This article is written in response to the collective “reckoning” with anti-Black violence in 2020. We share our perspective in solidarity with the long traditions, and contemporary, everyday actions of survival and resistance from millions of unnamed members of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities across the world. This article calls in the field of sport management, while calling attention to ways anti-Blackness has permeated the academy. Through observations, reflections, and interrogation of literature in the field, we illustrate the invisibility/marginality/erasure of Blackness in this body of knowledge and discuss missed opportunities for sport management. With the hope that the field will transform into a more inclusive, equitable, and just intellectual space, representative of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized voices, perspectives, experiences, and cultures, and accountable to rectifying the injustices inflicted upon Black and other racialized bodies, we offer calls to action for everyone in the field to consider.
Sport settings have long been documented as exclusionary environments for sexuality and gender diverse (SAGD) people and a key location of discrimination. Sport is associated with well-being, and increasing physical activity for disadvantaged groups is a key aim for many governments. This study reports on 13 semi-structured interviews with young SAGD people aged 18–24 in Australia that explore their attitudes to and experiences of sport and physical activity. We found that SAGD young people are ‘game to play’: they hold strong desires to participate in sport and physical activity, and articulated how sport could be more inclusive. Using Bourdieu’s concept of ‘capital’, we outline how young SAGD people identify sport as a ‘field’ that requires and fosters various types of capital. We explore barriers they identified that prevent the accumulation of physical and social capital associated with sport participation and physical activity, and their insights for how this may be fostered. The ‘field’ of sport presents as an exclusionary environment, which allows for both explicit bullying and more subtle discriminatory practices. Passive assimilation approaches are not enough to provoke substantial change and active intervention is required to decentre the heteronormativity underpinning these spaces, which has implications for policy and practice to advance the inclusion of SAGD young people in sporting environments.
Objectives: Para sport has much to teach the broader sports world about safeguarding and athlete protections. By centering athletes’ human rights and underlining the rights-based philosophical underpinnings of the Paralympic Movement, we outline how sport can be safer to all players, coaches, and other participants. Methods: We address global Human Rights conventions and their application to Para and non-disabled sport. Safe Sport is positioned as a matter of human rights. The nature of interpersonal violence that human beings experience within and outside sport is discussed. The intersectionality of vulnerable identities (related to gender, sexuality, disability, ethnicity, etc.) is reviewed in some detail. Results: Rights violations in Para and non-disabled sport illustrate both individual and organizational vulnerabilities. Individual- and organizational-level drivers of abuse, as well as various modes and types of abuse observed in Para sport, are relevant in all sport settings and should be centered in global sport safeguarding work. The rights-based core of Para and similar sports movements, exemplifies this. Conclusion: From a Para-informed vantage point, we issue a call to action, where interpersonal violence in sport is reduced by leveraging relevant elements of the Paralympic Movement. This call asks all sport participants to reject a purely capitalist approach to sport and follow a Para sport paradigm; which embodies human achievement (including sporting success), reflects human rights and inherent human dignity, and requires a higher standard of behaviour.
In the present special issue of Sports Psychiatry, a series of articles discusses some of the socio-cultural, medical, and regulatory issues related to the similarities and differences of substance use between recreational and elite sports. This collection of themed articles illustrates the tension between therapeutic and extra-therapeutic use of substances in and outside of sports well. While in democratic societies some substance use for performance enhancement or for a psychotropic effect would seem to be on course to be eventually normalised and regulated, within professional sports the dream of a “clean” sport still has the overhand. It is promoted with such a strong drive that it has a totalitarian ring to it, carrying a risk of spiralling towards dystopian features in a dynamic of what Dimeo labelled the dichotomy of “good anti-doping” up against “evil doping”. This dynamic has created a tension with health consequences for individuals, who whether elite athletes or not, need attention and professional care. The articles in this issue remind us again that the mental health issues in sports are real and need to be better taken care of.