Ordinary heroes: England international football players in the 1990s

This paper considers recent debates about the quality of English football, and it also looks at alleged connections between declining standards and the restructuring of the Football League in England. It contrasts the specific qualities of the British style against those more commonly associated in English eyes with the continent and it also looks at the increasing in fluence of television in shaping the consumption of football as a global idiom. It concludes by arguing that growing commercialization and globalization per se cannot alone explain the increased physical stresses on players and the peculiarly robust style of play in Britain. For this one also needs closely to examine discourses on masculinity, class, nation and tradition, and to locate the effects of these discourses as mediators of recent trends in the management and marketing of the sport.     

Fans, homophobia and masculinities in association football: evidence of a more inclusive environment

This article draws on 3,500 responses from fans and professionals involved in association football (soccer) to an anonymous online survey posted from June 2010 to October 2010 regarding their views towards gay footballers. The overall findings are that, contrary to assumptions of homophobia, there is evidence of rapidly decreasing homophobia within the culture of football fandom. The results advance inclusive masculinity theory with 93 per cent of fans of all ages stating that there is no place for homophobia within football. Fans blame agents and clubs for the lack of openness and challenge football's governing organizations to oppose the culture of secrecy surrounding gay players and to provide a more inclusive environment to support players who want to come out.     

'We are Irish Everywhere': Irish Immigrant Networks in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia

In the nineteenth century, Irish immigrants in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, showed a strong interest in the affairs of Ireland and its residents. Although a distinct minority in these 'southern' cities, they formed networks through societies, clubs, militias and Irish nationalist organisations to encourage social activities and ethnic connections among their fellow countrymen and those friendly towards Irish interests. These groups provided opportunities for upwardly-mobile immigrants to improve their social status in America, while retaining their 'Irishness'. Charity towards new migrants was thus an important element in retaining ethnicity. Irish Protestants initially dominated these networks, but increasingly, as the century progressed, Irish and Irish-American Catholics came to prominence. Nonetheless, interdenominational networks remained strong. Class and sectarian divisions within the Irish communities of these two cities were not as deep or rigid as they were in some other Irish-American communities. Overall this study highlights the great importance of immigrant networks in assuring Irish integration into host societies.     

One week in October: Luis Suárez,John Terry and the turn to racial neoliberalism in English men’s professional football

This article explores two significant incidents of racism – involving Luis Suárez and John Terry – from the 2011–2012 English Premier League football season. In particular, it analyses and contextualises the reactions and responses articulated by key stakeholders within the football industry. Discursive themes were employed by these individuals as a means of trying to mitigate and/or exonerate the actions of Suárez and Terry, to question the veracity of the allegations made against them, and to downplay the extent and effects of racism in English football more generally. The article situates these standpoints within the wider cultural politics of race in the game and extricates the connections between discourse and structure in manifestations of racism. It demonstrates that these dominant responses are indicative of colour-blind ideology, white racial framing and the rules of racial standing. It also argues that these sporting trends are part of a wider societal shift towards racial neoliberalism.     

Football spectator behaviour in Argentina: a case of separate evolution

There has been a separate and distinctive evolution of football related violence in Argentina. Fighting between rival gangs of fans in Argentina developed independently and considerably in advance of the modern phenomenon of football hooliganism in Britain. This case is argued using Argentine sources not previously translated into English. The distinctive features of Argentine football violence are described and the main differences in relation to England are outlined. Of paramount importance are the explicit political links of Argentine football clubs. Organised football preceeded democratic politics in Argentina which resulted in the new political parties utilising the football infrastructure of neighbourhood-based clubs. The death rate associated with Argentine football is significantly higher than in England, and the role of the police is more negative in Argentina. In the conclusion a framework is proposed for the comparative and historical analysis of football related violence.     

‘Ethnicity’: The Irish in Scotland‐football,politics and identity

One of the central arguments of this paper is that football in Scotland has acquired characteristics which make it a nationalistic, political and cultural repository. An examination of football allows us to examine characteristics of identity in Scotland otherwise unclear. These identities have their origins in the post‐Reformation period in Scotland, Irish immigration into Scotland and Scotland/Britain's historically contentious relationship with Ireland. This paper examines some of the mainfeatures of these identities.     

Le corps en jeu : les conditions sociales de l’arrêt de travail des footballeurs professionnels

Underlaid by a long-term case study in a professional football club, this analysis of the social conditions that led these players to temporarily stop work when their physical integrity was impaired focuses on relations within the work group. It describes how this process fits into the framework of social relations between various categories of workers who adjust individually and collectively to occupational requirements. While inquiring into the conditions of bringing players physically into play, it focuses on the practices of members of the medical staff whose position within the group is awkward.     

Continuity,change and complexity in the performance of masculinity among elite young footballers in England

Following recent research evidencing that young men are redefining the essential components of what it is to be a man, this paper draws on qualitative interviews with 22 elite‐level, English Premier League academy level football (soccer) players to investigate their performances and understandings of masculinity in relation to decreasing homohysteria. Even in this gender‐segregated, near‐total institution, these working‐class, non‐educationally aspiring adolescents evidence an attenuated performance of ‘maleness’ and improved attitudinal disposition toward homosexuality. Congruent with insights developed by inclusive masculinity scholars, respondents maintained emotional closeness and physical tactility with male teammates and friends. These more inclusive attitudes and homosocial behaviours were, however, slightly more conservative than in other recent research. We close by explaining this variation with reference to theoretical apparatus’ provided by Goffman and Bourdieu to advance theoretical debates about social class and masculinities.     

Continuity and change in the regional stereotypes of southern college students, 1970–1987

This article examines the effects of the race and Hall of Fame membership of professional football players on the value of their “rookie” football cards. Several studies have examined the impact of race on the value of baseball cards, but only one paper has examined this topic among football card collectors. Data were derived from 177 black and white football players who are members of the NFL Hall of Fame or who have been on the final voting ballot for the Hall. All of the players in the sample started their careers after professional football became racially integrated. Data for each player's race, value of their rookie card, card availability (scarcity), performance, Hall membership, and position were obtained from secondary sources. The principle finding of the study is that when controlling for factors such as position, performance, and card scarcity, race applies an independent effect on the value of the rookie cards of NFL Hall of Fame members, but not among non-Hall of Fame cards. Speculation on why “race matters” and suggestions for future research are offered.     

'Women of the Wild Geese': Irish Women, Exile and Identity in Spain, 1750-1775

This study focuses upon the experiences of first and second generation Irish female migrants in Spain during the mid-eighteenth century. Recent scholarship has sought to place Irish migrants in Europe within a broad context of assimilation. The experience of Irish communities in Spain appears to have been particularly positive, with the Irish as a group being awarded equal citizenship at the beginning of the seventeenth century. However, the gendered experience of Irish assimilation into Spanish society has received limited scholarly attention. This essay analyses the experiences of two groups of Irish women living in Spain: women who lived in religious communities and the female members of one of the most elite families to have migrated from Ireland. The lives of the daughters of Ignatius White reveal the ways in which Irish women worked their way into spheres of power and influence, including the Spanish court. The networks and activities of these women show a crystallisation of the ambitions of many Irish from the first and second generation to be born in Spain. The relationship between these women, their kinship groups and their networks of power and influence offers a positive and successful example of Irish female migrant experience.     

Priests,Publicans and the Irish Poor: Ethnic Enterprise and Migrant Networks in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Liverpool

Part of the outreach mission of one of the earliest Catholic parishes in Irish Liverpool, the St Patrick's Society developed into one of the largest collecting societies in Victorian Britain, offering burial benefit to tens of thousands of poor Irish migrants beyond the reach of organised labour or industrial insurance. Growth soon led to scandal and litigation, revealing a number of fault lines within the migrant community. Catholic clergy withdrew in protest as publicans and other ‘Micks on the make’ came to the fore, secular ethnic culture brokers who accentuated the ‘Irishness’ of the Society, running it as a machine which looked less to the respectability (or religion) of the members than to their assurance of an adequately funded ‘wake’. It was this ‘Irish’ image, as much as the alleged financial irregularities, which brought the Society into disrepute (and ruin), a judgement yet to be challenged by historians. The study examines this mutualist network and explains the rise and fall of an important, but until this point, unexamined feature of the communal life of the Irish neighbourhoods of Liverpool.     

Accommodation or rejection? Teenagers’ experiences of tensions between traditional and new speakers of Irish

This article analyses narratives presented by teenage Irish‐speakers about encounters between new speakers of Irish and locals in Gaeltacht (traditionally Irish‐speaking) areas. It demonstrates how two conflicting ideologies of legitimate language promoted by the state in the establishment and maintenance of Irish as ‘the national language’ alienate young new speakers of Irish and young Gaeltacht‐based Irish‐speakers from each other and from the language by construing the Gaeltacht as a resource for the nation, generating unrealistic expectations from new speakers and corresponding resentment from their Gaeltacht peers. The analysis of this case contributes to wider debates about the impact of language revitalisation policies on young people, and explores the tension that may arise between the aim of increasing the number of a language's speakers and the desire to retain its traditional functions in the communities where it has been best maintained.     

Priests, Publicans and the Irish Poor: Ethnic Enterprise and Migrant Networks in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Liverpool

Part of the outreach mission of one of the earliest Catholic parishes in Irish Liverpool, the St Patrick's Society developed into one of the largest collecting societies in Victorian Britain, offering burial benefit to tens of thousands of poor Irish migrants beyond the reach of organised labour or industrial insurance. Growth soon led to scandal and litigation, revealing a number of fault lines within the migrant community. Catholic clergy withdrew in protest as publicans and other 'Micks on the make' came to the fore, secular ethnic culture brokers who accentuated the 'Irishness' of the Society, running it as a machine which looked less to the respectability (or religion) of the members than to their assurance of an adequately funded 'wake'. It was this 'Irish' image, as much as the alleged financial irregularities, which brought the Society into disrepute (and ruin), a judgement yet to be challenged by historians. The study examines this mutualist network and explains the rise and fall of an important, but until this point, unexamined feature of the communal life of the Irish neighbourhoods of Liverpool.     

Commodification of rural places: A narrative of social fields,rural development,and football

One of the most significant recent elements of restructuring in rural areas is the transition from an economy based on agricultural production to an economy based on the countryside as a form of commodity. In this transition process, different narratives or images of an area are produced to promote villages and other places in the countryside as commodities. Much of the literature takes it for granted that outsiders control the processes of branding rural areas, but our case study demonstrates that the producers (as well as potential consumers) of the countryside as a commodity can be insiders within a community. In this paper, we demonstrate how a local football club can take a leading role in the process of commodification of rural places in the post-modern era. Football clubs are presented as commodities to attract investors, sponsors, and expertise from private businesses. In both commodification of rural places and football, the challenge is to construct narratives or images that correspond to the pre-existing expectations of consumers, whoever they might be. Our theory-informed empirical analyses illustrate the way in which the Norwegian football club Sogndal Football has been instrumental in the restructuring of the Sogndal community.     

Ethnocentrism and History Textbooks: Representation of the Irish Famine 1845-49 in history textbooks in English secondary schools

This case study examines how a topic of Irish history, the Irish Famine 1845-49, is represented over time in history textbooks used in English secondary schools and whether and to what extent ethnocentrism is inherent in this presentation. The concept of ethnocentrism is used as a framework for interpreting the presentation of the topic. A strategy of content analysis of samples of history textbooks from the 1920s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to the present is used. The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that the history of the Irish Famine is marginalised in the overall sample and that the textbooks contain examples of both direct and indirect ethnocentrism. The conclusion also highlights the importance of maintaining an intercultural approach when designing school curricula and of providing alternative accounts of history to that of the dominant culture.     

ARE WINNERS PROMOTED TOO OFTEN? EVIDENCE FROM THE NFL DRAFT 1999–2012

Firms engaging in hiring face recruitment costs. To reduce these costs, firms concentrate their efforts in locations that are perceived as talent rich or have produced successful employees in the past. Such recruitment mechanisms may lead to statistical discrimination if they reduce uncertainty for a subset of candidates or if firms relate current employee attributes with the institution. In this article, I test for statistical discrimination associated with an individual's institutional affiliation that results from targeted hiring practices by using a unique individual‐level data set of National Football League (NFL) draft prospects. I find that conditional on individual ability, individuals from highly ranked college teams are drafted earlier than individuals from lower ranked institutions. Over the length of a player's professional career, a player's college institution has no effect on career success, indicating that certain players are damaged by this recruitment mechanism. Even though players can suffer substantial financial damages as a result of being drafted later in the draft, NFL team performance is not sufficiently affected for teams to exploit this bias. (JEL J71, J31)     

'Operating in the Ethnic Sphere': Irish Migrant Networks and the Question of Respectability in Nineteenth-Century South Wales

This study explores the problems of entry by middle-class Irish migrants into respectable urban elite networks in British towns. Although opportunities to participate in political, cultural and charitable institutions were plentiful in nineteenth-century urban Britain, few Irish migrants achieved such distinctions. In the context of south Wales, this was because there were few opportunities for Irish migrants to acquire the necessary occupational status for entry into public life. Those Irish who worked in 'middle class' occupations, were more likely to do so in the retail and service sectors than in the professions, from which ranks local 'worthies' were more likely to be drawn. As a result, they struggled to attain status and remained on the margins of respectable Welsh middle-class life. For these Irish, the 'ethnic sphere' provided an alternative network within which status and recognition could be achieved.     

Imagined Irish Communities: Networks of Social Communication of the Irish Diaspora in the United States and Britain in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

The discussion in this essay clarifies three neglected aspects of the comparative destinies of the Irish in America and Great Britain. First, it explores an apparent if generally unrecognised discrepancy between theories of nationalism and those of ethnicity, attempting to close a loophole in the literature. Secondly, it assesses what being Irish meant to the networks bridging the diasporic experience in the old country and adopted lands. Thirdly, it looks at tours overseas, mainly to the United States, by nationalist figures from the vantage point of the formation of an imagined community or network. It is suggested that the disjunction and a degree of misunderstanding about the networking process arises because the literature presumes an already existing or nearly formed Irish Catholic identity among the immigrants on arrival in new lands. Charles Stewart Parnell's trip in early 1880 also allows elucidation of theoretical paradigms. This linkage of theory and a specific form of ethnic networking yields a fresh dimension to the debate about immigration. Finally, in conclusion the analysis offers a new angle on the curious phenomenon of a resurgence or expansion of Irish 'ethnicity' or purported 'new Irishness' in the United States and elsewhere from around 1960.     

"Everyone with Eyes Can See the Problem": Moral Citizens and the Space of Irish Nationhood

This paper examines Ireland's 2004 Constitutional Amendment which removes birthright citizenship from any future Irish‐born children of immigrant parents. I argue that for particular historical reasons, the ability of the state to convince its citizens of the necessity for this Amendment was remarkable and I suggest that it was able to do so by constructing citizenship as a moral regime and foreign‐nationals and their foetuses as ‘suspect patriots.’ I describe how the notion of immorality is laminated upon black bodies — specifically black pregnant women — and how the presence of black migrant workers, refugees and asylees consequently comes to be experienced in Irish national space as transgressive, their political subjecthood constrained by the supposedly legible abjectivity of their bodies. The issue of race remains unenunciated, and yet, as the Minister for Justice stated during the referendum debate, ‘anyone with eyes can see the problem.’ The Irish government's privileging of moral rather than cultural incommensurability is strikingly similar to culturalist rhetorics of exclusion that are often invoked when race is at issue in European public debate on immigration. Configured upon, and therefore experienced as a type of body, immorality becomes an alibi for race and is naturalized as a form of exclusion and as a potential site of state intervention in the form of xenophobic legislation and policymaking. Reading this decision as merely racist however, fails to give voice to the experiences of Irish Citizens who voted for this Amendment. Their struggle to build a “New Ireland” and to accept a multiculturalist framework in the face of neo‐liberal restructuring policies and a European‐wide retreat from the welfare state must be considered as being in dialectical tension with the ideological smearing of immigrants if we are to fully grasp the complex interaction between relations of power and the privileging of difference.     

Autoportrait des footballeurs de metier

Professional football players are well known public figures and in the French case always considered as working class people. An enquiry with questionnaires showed that this does not reflect the reality of the French players in the past as well as in the present. French professional football players consider themselves as artists and their social origins are quite diverse. They use particular strategies in their careers in order to improve their social conditions. Overall, it can be said that the social standing of footballers has increased during the last decade.