The Football and Society Podcast

For most of us, it’s been over a year since we were last able to go and see our team play alongside fellow supporters. But many fans support their club from afar for much longer periods, sometimes from the other side of the world.

Dr Tegan Baker has studied the creation of ‘home’ by long-distance football fans resident in New Zealand, and found that material objects and football fandom are intimately linked. 

Among the material objects imbued with special meaning for fans were shirts, which are highly emotional symbols of pride and belonging for those who wear them. Materiality therefore fed into conceptions of ‘home’ that formed the bedrock of supporters’ identity. As a repository of emotion, memorabilia held value as a marker of this identity, effectively collapsing the vast distance between the fans and their club. 

...all this and more in the 24th episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

Club Deportivo Palestino was founded in 1916 by Palestinian immigrants to Chile. After a decade of success in the 1970s, the club has retained a loyal following and stayed among the top teams in Chilean football, though success on the pitch is not the only reason for Palestino’s loyal following.

In this episode, Siri Schwabe joins us to discuss her study exploring the relationship between soccer and diasporic resistance through an examination of the club. 

Following the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1990, most Chilean football teams have stayed out of politics; Club Deportivo Palestino, however, poses an exception to the rule with its overt political commitment to Palestine and the Palestinian struggle. Central to this political outlook is an enduring narrative of resistance, which is embodied by the concept of sumud - sumud has come to stand for a mode of being which ‘allows for all Palestinians to feel and be recognized as foci of resistance, even in diaspora, by simply remaining Palestinian and by insisting on a continued Palestinian presence in Palestine and elsewhere’. This allows the Palestinian-Chileans in Santiago to find resistance in the everyday mode of being, living, and practicing the Palestinian, and for fans of Palestino support for their club is another means of celebrating this ‘being’ thousands of miles away from Palestine itself. Palestino’s commitment to the Palestinian struggle is therefore a central aspect of the club’s identity, for fans and players alike.

...all this and more in the 23rd episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Follow Siri on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sirischwa

Email Siri: [email protected]

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

The revenue generated by gambling sponsorship for English Premier League teams rose to nearly £350 million in the 2019-20 season. The logos of gambling companies are ubiquitous when watching professional football; on players’ shirts, along the advertising hoardings, and in the countless adverts at half-time.

Today we speak to Dr Natalie Djohari and Dr Gavin Weston about their study exploring the effects of gambling’s visibility for children who follow the sport, focussing on products and merchandise that are specifically targeted at them. This included sticker albums, trading cards, and football magazines. 

Despite legislation forbidding direct advertising aimed at children, they are nevertheless exposed to it indirectly. Natalie and Gavin note that it is difficult to limit this exposure, since images are mobile and circulate within a visual economy that invests them with meaning and significance. The study also found that youngsters are likely to have a larger portfolio of teams that they follow than adults, which increases the likelihood they will come across signs of gambling in some form or other. 

In this manner, gambling advertising finds its way into the worlds of young football fans, a matter of concern given that they lack the critical faculties to understand the risks of addictive behaviour. The exposure of children to gambling logos is an important, if unintended, consequence of the increasing sponsorship of football teams by gambling companies worldwide.

...all this and more in the 22nd episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Follow Natalie on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NatalieDjohari

Follow Gavin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GavinWeston1

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

In recent years, political tensions between China and Hong Kong have boiled over, leading to mass protests in the streets of Hong Kong and a clampdown on activists by the Chinese authorities. But how has this played out on the football pitch?

Today's guest, Dr Chun-wing Lee, has studied the history of matches between the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong. 

The People’s Republic was largely absent from international football from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, due to political unrest following the Communist uprising. Many residents of Hong Kong, having fled mainland China because of this unrest, identified more with the Chinese team than the Hong Kong side at that time. A localized identity gradually emerged in the 1970s, symbolised by the way in which the people of Hong Kong supported their team during the 1976 Asian Cup qualification tournament.

Since then, Hong Kong versus China has become a fierce rivalry fuelled by mutual hatred.

...all this and more in the 21st episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Follow Wing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CcleecwWing

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

In 1992, there was just one Muslim player in the English Premier League. Twenty years later, there were 40, and Muslim players like Mohammed Salah are now counted among the superstars of Europe’s most lucrative domestic league. Muslims’ participation is not without complication, however.

Professor Uriya Shavit studied the experiences of Muslim players in Europe, and published his findings in the Soccer and Society journal in 2019. Muslims’ participation in football, both as players and as spectators, is complicated by fatwas within Islamic jurisdiction. These are formal rulings or interpretations on a point of Islamic law given by a qualified legal scholar.

Certain fatwas rule that Muslims should not compete in sports for money, should not break fasting in order to take part, and should not shower in communal areas with certain areas of the body exposed, all of which is problematic for Muslims wishing to participate.

Even in the world of professional football, several incidents recently have illustrated that difficulties remain for Muslim players. Ultimately, however, football is effectively influencing Islamic norms, by encouraging new contextualization of prophetic traditions to legitimize playing and watching the game.

...all this and more in the 20th episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

In 1967, Celtic became the first ever club from Britain to win the European Cup. At the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon, the team that became known as the ‘Lisbon Lions’ beat Internazionale 2-1; 10 of the 11 players in the team were born within 12 miles of Celtic’s stadium in the east end of Glasgow.

John Kelly and Joseph Bradley, in an article for the journal Soccer and Society, highlighted how significant this was for the Irish diaspora residing in Glasgow. 

Most contemporary discourse, however, neglects to acknowledge the symbolic nature and iconographic character of this famous victory. The triumph of Celtic, a team with strong connections to the Catholic area of Glasgow in which it is based (as well as other Catholic areas overseas), was a proud moment for the Irish Catholic diaspora in Scotland negotiating and forming its own identity, after suffering the consequences of British colonial legacy, mass starvation, and revolution in Ireland. 

Whilst it is not a Catholic club, there would be no Celtic Football Club without Catholics, Catholicism, and the Catholic Church in Scotland. It was an Irish immigrant and Catholic teacher, Brother Walfrid, who saw in the development and popularity of football an opportunity to raise money to feed poor immigrant Irish Catholics in Glasgow. Celtic’s distinctive identity contrasts sharply with dominant forms of Scottish and British identities. Over several generations, the club has become part of a shared biography for thousands of Irish-descended Celtic fans, and the Lisbon Lions’ victory in 1967 is a key moment in this collective narrative.

...all this and more in the 19th episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Follow John on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnKellyEdin

Find out more about John and his work: https://edinburgh.academia.edu/johnkelly

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

The influence of the mafia is widely acknowledged on the Italian island of Sicily, where the mob gained influence in the 19th century when rising demand for Sicilian products led to the growth of the agricultural sector. The involvement of these groups in local football, however, remained obscure until a court case in 2007 exposed interactions between the mafioso and employees of the Sicilian team Palermo FC. 

Dr Vincenzo Scalia explored the implications of this court case in an article published in Soccer and Society in 2020, and he explains that the practices of the mafia sit awkwardly with the culture and practice of football management. The article describes the roles of two individuals with connections to the cosa nostra, a local mafia group: one of them is a lawyer employed by the club, and the other manager of Palermo’s youth team.  Both provided information as ‘supergrasses’ before the court, exposing the dynamics inside the criminal organisation and testifying to illegal activities such as securing free tickets for mob members and building contracts for the new stadium.  

Palermo experienced great success as a club at the start of the millennium, reaching the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup in 2006, yet the cosa nostra has shown limited interest in taking advantage of the economic benefits of such success. It seems that, for the Mafioso, involvement in football is a political rather than economic affair, concerned more with control over the local territory.  

...all this and more in the 18th episode of the Football and Society podcast. 

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice. 

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod 

Follow Vincenzo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScaliaVincenzo 

*** 

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game. 

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

In the midst of the Covid pandemic, we have clearly been missing that familiar pilgrimage to the stadium on a Saturday afternoon. Equally, many of us have been impatiently awaiting the chance to meet our friends to watch the game over drinks at a pub or bar, rubbing shoulders with supporters of all persuasions.

Dr Daniel Buffington has studied the social dynamics of an American sports bar. His ethnographic study of supporters watching the 2006 Men's World Cup explored the social interactions that took place among the patrons of the bar while they watched televised broadcasts of the tournament taking place in Germany. 

Influenced by the work of Robert Putnam, sociologists have underlined concerns at the loss of community in the face of increasing mediatisation; combined with other changes in society, they argue that Americans’ growing love affair with television has reduced participation in civil activities that generate much-needed social capital. 

In his research, however, Buffington found that the spectators in the sports bar constituted a type of community in themselves. 

He noticed a hierarchy implicit in the race to obtain prime seats before the match, and described the ways in which spectators used visual icons to signal their allegiances; sometimes, this led to tension and confrontations, as well as opportunities for bonding and joint celebrations. Equal importance was therefore given to watching the televised games and interacting with fellow patrons: the act of individually consuming the broadcast was intertwined with the social experience surrounding its consumption.

...all this and more in the 17th episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Find out more about Daniel's work: https://uncw.edu/soccrm/buffington.html

Buy Daniel's book 'The Global Migration of Soccer Players': https://uk.bookshop.org/books/the-global-migration-of-soccer-players/9781498572811

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

In Poland, the term ‘hooligan’ refers specifically to supporters who focus on competitive violence with rival fans, while ‘ultras’ are those who engage in the more performative aspects of fandom. Traditionally, hooligans command respect from non-hooligans due to their dominant position in the supporters’ hierarchy, but in recent years the behaviour of hooligan groups has isolated them from the wider fanbase.

In this episode we speak to Radosław Kossakowski, who with his colleague Mateusz Grodecki has studied the rise of a hooligan ‘bourgeoisie’ in Poland and the subsequent resentment among non-hooligans. 

They note how a hooligan elite emerged as football-related violence evolved, from ‘confrontations of beery hooligans with bellies somewhere in and around stadiums into organized gang fights involving martial arts fighters’. This shift intensified hooligans’ sense of being ‘the elite of the stands’ and their sense of separateness from the remainder of the fanbase. Alongside this hegemony on violence, the hooligans began engaging in (largely illegal) money-making practices, often exploiting the resources of the other supporters and using their power over the stands to serve their own economic interests. 

Because of this, there is growing resentment towards this elite hooligan class among non-hooligans. Are hooligans therefore making a tactical error, breaking the norms of ‘stands culture’ and exposing the false character of the dominant ideology that legitimizes hooligan power?

...all this and more in the 16th episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Follow Radosław on Twitter: www.twitter.com/R_Kossakowski

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.

In August 2015, Jose Mourinho criticised his first-team doctor, Eva Carneiro, for running onto the pitch to attend to an injured player, and she was subsequently dropped from Chelsea’s medical staff. Carneiro later took Mourinho to court for his use of abusive language, but the incident had also brought to the fore a debate about managers’ attitudes towards injured players.

Very little is known about football management strategies, particularly in academic literature. Graeme Law and his colleague Daniel Bloyce have explored the views of managers with regards to player injuries. They had interviewed 10 managers across the five professional English leagues in 2013, asking them questions on aspects such as playing through pain, taking risks with team selections in important games, and ‘inconveniencing’ injured players. 

Managers interviewed revealed that they did not expect their players to be 100% fit for games, and in some cases they faced difficult decisions about whether to play ‘key’ players for important games when there was a risk of injury. There was scepticism among managers generally towards those players who missed action due to minor injuries, or those who feigned injury. 

...all this and more in the 15th episode of the Football and Society podcast.

***

If you like the podcast, please subscribe and give us a review via your platform of choice.

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/footballsocpod

Follow Graeme on Twitter: www.twitter.com/g_law14

***

Each week, Ash, Chris and Norman explore societal issues through the lens of the beautiful game.

From the ethics of gambling sponsorship to what a stadium move means for fans, we’ll be covering it all each week with expert guests from the worlds of sports journalism and sociology.