Showing papers in "International Review for the Sociology of Sport in 2000"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the ways in which professional footballers respond to and cope with injury and, in this context, they focus on the culture of ''playing hurt'' in football.
Abstract: Professional football is, in terms of the risk of injury, a high-risk occupation. The objects of this study are to examine the ways in which professional footballers respond to and cope with injury and, in this context, we focus on the culture of `playing hurt' in football. The study involved semi-structured interviews with former and current professional footballers as well as interviews with club doctors and physiotherapists. The interviews focused centrally on the players' experiences of injury and rehabilitation, the attitudes of players, coaches/managers and others towards injury, and their relationships, particularly in the context of injury, with the club doctor and physiotherapist(s). Our findings indicate that incurring an injury has a number of well-understood meanings for players. The meanings associated with pain and injury, as well as the status of players who are unable to play because of injury, can only be fully understood by locating these shared meanings within the network of social rela...
203 citations
TL;DR: This article used a combination of Bourdieu's concept of habitus theory and an interactionist perspective to examine women's participation in the traditionally'man's world' of boxing and found that women boxers occupied an ambivalent position: on the one hand, by definition, they challenged the existing gender order; on the other hand, they also reinforced the status quo by displaying traditional modes of femininity.
Abstract: This article uses a combination of Bourdieu's concept of habitus theory and an interactionist perspective to examine women's participation in the traditionally `man's world' of boxing. The two major aims of the study were to identify how women entered and stayed involved in boxing and the types of identities that they forged in the process. The data were collected via participant-observation and in-depth interviews with a sample of women boxers and their coaches. It was found that the women's entry into and continued involvement in boxing depends on both disposition and situation. It was also concluded that women boxers occupied an ambivalent position: on the one hand, by definition, they challenged the existing gender order; on the other hand, they also reinforced the status quo by displaying traditional modes of femininity. This tension was related to the modalities of boxers' practice (`hard' or `soft') and their social histories. In short, the process of identity-formation among women boxers was insep...
183 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how female soccer players experience their bodies within the discourses of sport, gender and heterosexuality using in-depth interviews and participant observation, and find that soccer players are more likely to identify with women than men.
Abstract: This study explores how female soccer players experience their bodies within the discourses of sport, gender and heterosexuality. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation, the research...
177 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a Foucauldian framework is used to explore the concept of disciplinary power and its relationship to sport, focusing on the dietary intake of athletes to satisfy their disciplinary power.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to use a Foucauldian framework to explore the concept of disciplinary power and its relationship to sport. This article focuses on the dietary intake of athletes to s...
165 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explain the conditions under which this policy came to be, arguing that it was the widespread environmental damage at the 1992 Albertville and the Savoie Region Games, and the subsequent environmentally conscious Green Games of Lillehammer, Norway (1994), that were the historical benchmarks for the development of this policy.
Abstract: The Winter Olympics at Nagano, Japan, in 1998 marked the first Games at which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had a clearly articulated environmental protection policy that was to be followed by the organizing committee. This article attempts to explain the conditions under which this policy came to be, arguing that it was the widespread environmental damage at the 1992 Albertville and the Savoie Region Games, and the subsequent environmentally conscious Green Games of Lillehammer, Norway (1994), that were the historical benchmarks for the development of this policy. The importance of human/environment interaction in the creation of global sport policy is developed and demonstrates the primacy of local initiatives (Albertville, Lillehammer) upon transnational global concerns (IOC environmental policy), an example of the so-called disjuncture debate. The IOC declaration that environmental protection has become the third dimension of the Olympic movement, alongside sport and culture, is problemati...
121 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the fandom of supporters from four professional English football clubs organized into Independent Supporters Associations (ISAs), and the extent to which these groups contest the FA Cup were analyzed.
Abstract: This article analyses the fandom of supporters from four professional English football clubs organized into Independent Supporters Associations (ISAs), and the extent to which these groups contest ...
99 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined both the development and potential of human rights initiatives in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UHDH).
Abstract: This article, inspired by the activities surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, examines both the development and potential of human rights initiatives in sp...
98 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the shift in sports venue from the Montreal Forum to the Molson Centre is examined as a means to explore a variety of issues: the privatization and spectacularization of urban spaces, the local customization of those developments through a marketing of nostalgia, the increasing importance of sport teams and venues in investment in civic images and infrastructure.
Abstract: As global corporations scan the world for preferential locations, particular places are forced into a competitive race to attract inward investors. All of this is leading to increased global inter-urban competition around entertainment industries, where cities must reimage and reimagine themselves in order to position themselves as `world-class'. Sports stadiums and other complexes have become increasingly important in this dynamic. In this article, the shift in sports venue from the Montreal Forum to the Molson Centre is examined as a means to explore a variety of issues: the privatization and spectacularization of urban spaces, the local customization of those developments through a marketing of nostalgia, the increasing importance of sport teams and venues in investment in civic images and infrastructure.
80 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the marketing of postfeminist ideologies in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was criticised, while seeking to create new fans and create new identities.
Abstract: Grounded in feminist cultural studies perspectives, this article criticizes the marketing of postfeminist ideologies in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). While seeking to create n...
60 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined some of the gendered processes surrounding the selection of leaders in Norwegian sporting organizations and found that the most desirable candidates possessed professional expertise and had a good reputation.
Abstract: This article examines some of the gendered processes surrounding the selection of leaders in Norwegian sporting organizations. It was found that the most desirable candidates possessed professional...
53 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the planning of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer is analyzed from a game model perspective, and the authors show how the original Olympic plan that was sold to the Internat...
Abstract: This article uses Elias's game model perspective to analyse the planning of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer. The study shows how the original Olympic plan that was sold to the Internat...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the ways in which Nike has situated itself as an active participant in current cultural conversations about girls' and women's participation in sport through three television commercials: ''If you let me play', ''There's a girl being born in America', and ''The Fun Police''.
Abstract: In this article I critically examine the ways in which Nike has situated itself as an active participant in current cultural conversations about girls' and women's participation in sport through three television commercials: `If you let me play', `There's a girl being born in America', and `The Fun Police'. In these advertisements, Nike positions itself as helping girls get a chance to play sports, helping them lead healthier and happier lives, helping them learn the rules of the game, and helping them to have fun. However, I argue that Nike's suggestion that girls can be empowered through sport (and through Nike's efforts) occurs within a framework of discourses appearing in the commercials that, in effect, constrains girls by representing them as lacking their own agency.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take as its point of departure the concept of media event and presents some of the main results from an international comparative study of the media coverage of the 1994 Winter Olympic.
Abstract: The article takes as its point of departure the concept of media event and presents some of the main results from an international comparative study of the media coverage of the 1994 Winter Olympic...
TL;DR: The 1998 World Cup Finals focused the attention of the world on France and the cumulative television audience for the 64 matches was nearly 40 billion -the biggest ever audience for a single event as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The 1998 World Cup Finals focused the attention of the world on France. The cumulative television audience for the 64 matches was nearly 40 billion - the biggest ever audience for a single event. F...
TL;DR: This paper argued that the cultural specificity of the manifestations of the hero in television sports helps explain their varying gendered address, and pointed out the importance of the interplay of class, gender and nation in the construction of the protagonist within the narrative of television sport.
Abstract: This article considers television sport as a gendered genre. Drawing on film theory and feminist media studies, it illuminates the essential masculinization of the hero function within the narrative of televised sport, and suggests that the presence of a number of characteristics (clarity, banter and obscenity) may account for television sport's address to an overwhelmingly male audience. However, not every sport attracts the same audience, and while motor racing draws more male than female viewers, a relatively high proportion of the audience for a sport like snooker is female. The semiotic analysis of these two sports presented in this article suggests that the address of television sport is highly complex. The analysis points to the importance of the interplay of class, gender and nation in the construction of the hero within the narrative of television sport. It is argued that the cultural specificity of the manifestations of the hero in television sports helps explain their varying gendered address.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate how particular sports are affected by national cultures, and illustrate the frequent tension and strong discontinuity between the increasingly complex surrounding normative order and the more contained.
Abstract: Maurice Garin won the first Tour de France in 1903, and Lance Armstrong won in 1999, providing 86 races for analysis (after cancellations for war). Participation, fan interest, and success have been heavily French and by continent almost exclusively European. The bounded population of occurrences and singular geographical locus combine for a useful analytical frame for investigating how particular sports are affected by national cultures. The second race and the 1998 Tour yielded visible scandals, and there have been many other races where riders were censored even as winners were celebrated. A provocative element within the established bases for opprobrium and honor is that there are two (rather than one) normative frameworks: one of the racers themselves and the other of the surrounding society, originally French and now increasingly global. The research intends to illustrate the frequent tension and strong discontinuity between the increasingly complex surrounding normative order and the more contained...
TL;DR: The development of the Olympic Games throughout the 20th century in light of the evolving social and political realities that have shaped the Games and at the same time, the Olympic movement has evolved and changed over time as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to consider the development of the Olympic Games throughout the 20th century in light of the evolving social and political realities that have shaped the Games and at...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore some of the methodological and ethical issues that arise when undertaking ethnographic research into the governing bodies of world sport, drawing on the author's own attempts to conduct such research.
Abstract: This article explores some of the methodological and ethical issues that arise when undertaking ethnographic research into the governing bodies of world sport. Drawing on the author's own attempts ...
TL;DR: In an earlier issue of the International Review for the Sociology of sport, Konig argued that doping exposes sport as an enterprise which is inherently exploitative as mentioned in this paper, and that doping is consiste...
Abstract: In an earlier issue of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Eugen Konig argued that doping exposes sport as an enterprise which is inherently exploitative (1995). Doping is consiste...
TL;DR: The authors used a case-study approach to examine young Japanese men's participation in pre-game rugby rituals and found that many of the ritual activities were performed in distinctly Japanese ways, suggesting that they also express and confirm dominant local values and mark rugby as a discrete cultural practice.
Abstract: As an attempt to address the paucity of research on sport in Asian settings, this paper uses a case-study approach to examine young Japanese men's participation in pre-game rugby rituals Drawing on Durkheim's seminal work, it is argued that the pre-game ceremonies have much in common with rituals conducted in similar western settings However, many of the ritual activities were performed in distinctly Japanese ways, suggesting that they also express and confirm dominant local values and mark rugby as a discrete cultural practice
TL;DR: In this article, the adoption of modern sports in several Latin American settings and their evolving cultural meaning is discussed, including soccer in Argentina, baseball in Cuba, baseball along the United States-Mexican border and cricket in the West Indies.
Abstract: Drawing on recent scholarship, this overview discusses the adoption of modern sports in several Latin American settings and their evolving cultural meaning. Examples include soccer in Argentina, baseball in Cuba, baseball along the United States-Mexican border and cricket in the West Indies. Discussion focuses upon the reasons why particular sports are adopted within a culture and assume import to a people within a specific geographical area. Ineffable aspects of these pastimes, such as the aesthetics and the emotion of sport, are acknowledged, in the light of a recognition of the continuing distinction between the intrinsic and the extrinsic qualities of sports.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explain the nature and outcome of several attempts to professionalize soccer in the former British colony of Trinidad and Tobago between 1969 and 1983, drawing on the work of R. Williams and R. Gruneau.
Abstract: Research for Britain, the United States and Canada has shown that the early development of professionalism in sport was met with strong resistance from the elite adherents of the amateur ethos. For Trinidad and Tobago, however, and in relation to soccer, the conflicts which erupted over several attempts to professionalize the game had nothing to do with any opposition to professionalism on the part of the governing middle class dominated, soccer elite. Rather, the conflicts were fuelled by elite concerns over the protection of their power and authority over the game locally. While noting these comparative differences, a central aim of this article is to explain the nature and outcome of several attempts to professionalize soccer in the former British colony of Trinidad and Tobago between 1969 and 1983, drawing on the work of R. Williams and R. Gruneau.
TL;DR: This article examined the participation rates of Japanese women in sport and games from 1979 to 199, using various national surveys and some new survey data, and found that women participated in sports and games at a higher rate than men.
Abstract: This research note draws upon various national surveys, and some new survey data, to examine the participation rates of Japanese women in sport and games. The data cover the period from 1979 to 199...
TL;DR: In this paper, the fight for female participation in the most popular running competition in Norway between 1972 and 1975 was analyzed using the life story of a participant in the Olympic Games in Oslo.
Abstract: This article deals with a question of sport politics: the fight for female participation in the most popular running competition in Norway between 1972 and 1975. The focus is on the process from doxa (what we take for granted), through heterodoxa (the effort to challenge the doxa) and finally `winning the game'. Most research in sport politics has concentrated on formal politics in sports organizations and official political aims of the state, but not, as in this article, on informal counter-cultural movements and `ad-hoc groups'. This is also an example of how private experiences become official stories. The approach used is that of the life story (my own personal account of a particular experience), with some elements of life history (in the sense that I am placing my story into a particular cultural, social and political context). In addition to Bourdieu's concepts of doxa, heterodoxa and symbolic power, Mary Douglas's symbolic systems of purity and dirt are used in the analysis. The article demonstrat...