Print Media Narratives of Bullying and Harassment at the Football Association: A Case Study of Eniola Aluko

Abstract

In this article we draw on critical theory to discuss how power frames the media “narratives” of Eniola Aluko, a Black, female footballer who accused an established (White) football coach of bullying, harassment, and racial comments. We critically discuss data analyzed from 80 print media articles from three British newspapers (with circulation figures ranging from 1.4 million to 135,000 a day), from August 6, 2017 to October 19, 2017. In our findings, we discuss the four dominant themes identified from our analysis to examine how race, gender, and belonging frame Aluko in ways that seek to position her as an outsider and question her legitimacy in the White male space of football. We demonstrate how frames are shaped by, as well as reinforce, existing power relations, and influence how bullying, and racial harassment are represented in media accounts. We argue this type of analysis has implications for our understanding of how the narratives bullying and harassment in sport can be reframed along dominant power lines that question the legitimacy of athletes’ accounts and experiences.

Keywords

media representations gender bullying racism football

On August 7, 2017, various media outlets in the United Kingdom (U.K.) reported that Eniola Aluko, an England female football player, had received an £80,000 settlement from the Football Association (FA). Allegedly the FA paid this settlement in response to a 2016 complaint Aluko made about bullying and racial comments against the then England women’s coach, Mark Sampson (Taylor, 2017). At the time Sampson became manager of England Women in 2014, Aluko was already an established player with nearly 100 caps. It was widely reported that in 2016 Aluko filed a complaint to the FA which detailed bullying and examples of unfair treatments, as well as a broader culture of harassment and bullying in Sampson’s approach to coaching the England team. The complaint also included details about a racially offensive comment that Sampson had made in 2014 to Aluko commenting that “my family should “make sure they don’t (come?) over with Ebola” before the England v Germany Game” (Aluko, 2017). The media broke this story a year after the FA had cleared Sampson and his staff through an internal inquiry (Ratna, 2017). In response to the media interest and broader concerns about sport governance on the 11th September, the chair of the parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee informed the FA they would face a parliamentary inquiry to question their handling of Aluko’s complaint. Shortly after, on the October 18, 2017, a 1-day parliamentary hearing took place to review the evidence and to question the FA about their internal investigation processes.

The purpose of this article is to critically discuss print media representations of Aluko, and her complaints about bullying, harassment, and racially offensive comments from when the story broke to the day after the inquiry. Aluko is a Black female footballer and to understand how she is framed in media narratives we draw on intersecting power lines to understand the way her story is told. To date, little research has explicitly focused on how complaints of harassment and bullying in sport are represented in sport media. In the United Kingdom, Racial Harassment is defined as “Racial harassment is unwanted conduct on grounds of race or ethnic or national origins, which violates your dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for you.” (National Education Union, 2019). The article starts by providing a contextual overview of race, gender, and racism in sport and football, moving onto discuss the theoretical framework, methods, and finally the results, discussion, and conclusion are presented.

Race, Gender, and Racism in Football

Although race is often defined as biological, referring to skin color, or other physical markers, ethnicity explains cultural characteristics such as dress, norms, and values (Farrington et al., 2012). Despite accepted definitional differences, van Sterkenburg et al. (2019) note that when people discuss race, they draw on a range of markers referring simultaneously to biology and cultural difference, suggesting that both race and ethnicity should be considered social constructs (van Sterkenburg et al., 2019). We need to consider the ways in which traditional racisms may be circumvented through drawing reference to nationhood or religion to mark difference and highlight racial and ethnic hierarchies (Morning, 2009).

Issues of race and racism in sport are well documented (Carrington & McDonald, 2001; Cashmore & Cleland, 2014; Hylton, 2018) with research that has explored the multiple ways in which Whiteness and White privilege work in sport (Long et al., 2005; Hylton, 2009). To date, much of this research has focused on men (Burdsey, 2011, 2015; Lusted, 2009, 2014), which may reflect how the relationship between “Football” and “England” remains closely associated with men and masculinity as those who represent the nation (Bowes, 2017). The long-standing identification of football as a male preserve has restricted girls’ and women’s opportunities to play football (Scraton et al., 1999; Williams, 2007). Despite women playing football in England since the end of the 19th century (Petty & Pope, 2018), the FA banned women from playing on FA-affiliated clubs grounds from 1921 until 1971. This was detrimental to the growth and development of women’s football. In organizational terms, The FA only took full responsibility for women’s football in 1993 (Dunn, 2016). This was in response to pressure from the international governing body “FIFA,” who wanted a single organization for the men’s and the women’s game and the FA merged with the Women’s Football Association (WFA; Scraton et al., 1999). Since 1998, the growth of women’s football has remained slow, but post 2011 with the launch of the semiprofessional Football Association Women’s Super League, the focus on women’s success at London 2012 and beyond, there has been a growing investment, which has increased the numbers of people watching the women’s game, while the men’s game, has continued to dominate.

Ratna’s (2007, 2010, 2013) research, one of the few to highlight the intersections of race and gender in football, discusses how the experiences of British Female Asians are gendered and racialized. She discusses the way British Asian females play up and play down particular identities to negotiate their inclusion within football (Ratna, 2013). While some of the players in her research deny issues of race and racism in the game, for those more likely to question and highlight racism these were more likely to be positioned as outsiders in the game and less likely to progress in formal structures. As Ratna (2011, 2013) demonstrates, there is a need to capture the complex and nuanced workings of discrimination in sport to explore how racism exists and how the experiences of British Asian female footballers are affected by intersecting identities of race and gender in a primarily White male sport, a call which remains as critical today.

In the following section we outline the theoretical framework adopted in our analysis of the print media.

Theoretical Framework: Critical Theory and Power Lines in Media Representations

In Birrell and McDonald’s (2000) Reading Sport, Critical Essays on Power and Representations they outline critical theory as a useful framework for understanding how media reports of controversial incidents provide an analysis of broader power relations in sport. In particular they outline how critical incidents and how they are framed in the media can be informative in understanding power relations, as well as how power influences the reporting of incidents. As discrimination exists beyond a single axis of power, it is necessary to explore the multiplicity of social identification and how discrimination may reflect inequalities of power. Framing is a way of explaining how a controversial event is represented and it draws attention to how journalists organize and select facts or narratives and then present a storyline (Kian & Hardin, 2009).

This perspective stresses the way media narratives may guide and limit public understanding of events and personalities in sport. Rather than just providing neutral and factual accounts, the way athletes are represented in the media carry significance (Birrell & McDonald, 2000). When analyzing print media representations, it is necessary to consider how power is framed in media narratives, as well as illuminating who has power and who does not. Power relations are conceptualized as multiple and existing on different axes (Birrell & McDonald, 2000). This approach identifies the ways stories are framed in the media influences interpretations of race, gender, and identity which in turn, provide people with discourses about race and ethnicity (van Skerkenburg, 2011). Research on race and racism in print media have led some to suggest the (print) media are institutionally racist (Farrington et al., 2012) and suggest concerns about the lack of diversity in media workforces (Kilvington & Price, 2017). Carrington (2011) emphasizes the role of media exploring how media can confirm and challenge racial equality, particularly in an era of heavily mediatised sport. Using the term White sports/media complex emphasizes how racialized relations of power are connected to representational politics. Carrington (2011) emphasizes the complexity in how the media both deny racism while simultaneously representing racial difference, and argues this needs careful analysis. In the following section research on gender, race, and the nation that inform our understanding of the role of media narratives and media representations are discussed.

Gender, Race, and the Nation in Print Media

Feminist scholarship has continued to highlight how female athletes are trivialized, sexualized, and underrepresented in all forms of sports media (Godoy-Pressland, 2014). Although research highlights changes to the amount of print media coverage, female athletes remain underrepresented (Biscomb & Matheson, 2017). Petty and Pope’s (2018) recent analysis of the 2015 Women’s World Cup draws on theoretical considerations of Connell and power relations to argue that there has been more positive print media coverage during mega-events, reflecting broader shifts in gender relations where women’s sport is now more widely respected (Petty and Pope, 2018). Who is represented in the sports media is connected to ideas about national identity and representation. Bowes and Bairner (2016) demonstrate how media representations of Britishness for female athletes are complex, contradictory and often differ from male athletes’ representations. In this respect, the framing of who represents the nation in sport is about power (Black, 2016). The images of successful female athletes which are most circulated by the media emphasize homogenized White standards of “beauty” (Douglas, 2018), thus marginalizing or rendering some women invisible (Spencer, 2004).

In other research outside of football discussing gender, race, and the nation Zenquis and Mwaniki (2019) critically discuss media representations of Nnemkadi and Chinenye Ogwumike, professional second-generation Black African Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) players. They demonstrate how the intersection of race, gender, and nationality in print media narratives emphasize Whiteness as the norm alongside stereotypes of Africa that influence the narratives of the athletes. The authors adopt the term color-bland racism to explore the way media framing has become more subtle in highlighting difference. They suggest this so that the press can avoid being labeled racist, while at the same time still drawing on ethnicity as the marker of difference (Zenquis and Mwaniki, 2019). In other research, Schultz (2005) draws on McDonald and Birrell’s (1999) framework to outline how print media representations polarize and privilege some identities over others in media representations of Serena Williams. This includes a focus on her appearance and athleticism, which seek to reinscribe Whiteness as the normative identity in women’s tennis (Schultz, 2005). In other research exploring intersections of power in media reports it was noted that women and ethnic minority athletes are often absent (Deeb & Love, 2018) and when they are discussed they could be framed as troublesome by the print media (Kilvington & Price, 2017). These observations highlight how the Whiteness of sport spaces continue to highlight the role of White privilege in sports (Bruening, 2005; Long & Hylton, 2002).

Method

Design

Media research involves the systematic study of media and involves typically one of the three elements of the media: media production, media representation, or media consumption. In this article, we focus on print media representation (Millington & Wilson, 2016). Media analysis is an established method in the sociology of sport, and in this article, we adopt similar methods to other studies on print media representation (Biscomb & Griggs, 2013; Bowes & Kitching, 2019; Carey & Mason, 2016; Deeb & Love, 2018) to provide an analysis of print media representations of Aluko, Sampson, and The FA around the time of the inquiry. Despite the growth of online media and platforms, print media remains a salient source of news. Print media articles were searched using the online “UK Newspapers” directory. For a range of articles and journalism styles, The Guardian, The Times, and The Sun were selected. In the United Kingdom, The Sun is a traditionally Eurosceptic, right-leaning tabloid with the largest circulation, 1.4 million (Reeves et al., 2016). The Times is a broadsheet newspaper, with circulation figures of 406,000. However, it is also recognized as being a more right-wing, Conservative-supporting newspaper (Cushion et al., 2018). The Guardian was chosen as a left-leaning, broadsheet newspaper; it has a smaller circulation (Binderkrantz et al., 2016). We collected data from different newspapers to ensure we explore the differences between papers in the media representation of female athletes (Biscomb & Matheson, 2017).

Data Collection

The timeframe for inclusion of media articles was the date the story first appeared in The Daily Mail, which was the August 6, 2017 (Cunningham, 2017) to the day after the parliamentary inquiry on the October 18, 2017 (August 6 to October 19). A total of 80 newspaper articles were identified during this period. The articles were found using the search terms, “Aluko,” “Eniola Aluko,” and “Eni,” and the articles were placed into three files, one for each newspaper, and entered into NVivo, a tool used to organize qualitative data. Our approach was informed by McDonald and Birrell (1999) in accepting there is no one truth in the event or story, but to consider how the story, is influenced by dominant power relations, both within and outside of sport. The frames of the story have more considerable cultural significance and make visible ongoing social inequalities that counter the notion that sport is meritocratic and apolitical.

Data Analysis

Following a qualitative approach, a thematic analysis was used to understand the framing of Eniola Aluko and Mark Sampson and the issue of racism in the FA, focusing on how media narratives framed the incident, Aluko and Sampson before, during, and after the parliamentary inquiry. We adopted Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of thematic analysis to explore patterns in the data. The first stage involved familiarity with the data, reading and rereading the articles and all the articles were filed by paper and date. Stage Two involved generating initial codes, which were done by the second author. Both authors then searched for themes and discussed these, at this stage we identified frames and narratives aligned to power in media narratives (Bednarek, 2008). Stage Three involved reviewing the themes and Stage Four involved refining these themes and discussing and cross-referencing themes, during this stage, we discussed how race, gender, and national identity were influential and what role language played in the development of media narratives. Stage Five involved defining the themes and a final agreement of themes. The themes that are discussed in the results section of the article are, Aluko as “Other,” Is it Racism? Aluko as the Problem, and Sampson as the Victim and Questioning the FA? In the following section, we discuss the themes before providing a more substantive critical discussion of the data.

Results

Aluko as “Other”

In this theme, we discuss the process of “othering” where in some media articles Aluko was emphasized as different to Sampson. This is noticeable in a few ways, but one is to emphasize Aluko’s place of birth thereby emphasizing to the reader that she was not born in England, examples include, “Aluko, who was born in the African country” (The Sun, August 22, 2017). “After telling Nigeria-born Aluko” (The Sun, October 19, 2017). The emphasis of Aluko’s place of birth occurred most frequently at the start of an article,

To recap, Aluko—who is of Nigerian descent—accused the then-England women’s manager Sampson of making a racist comment about the possibility of her family carrying the Ebola virus. (The Sun, October 19, 2017)

These examples are similar to previous research that has highlighted how media can reinforce the racialized identities of players by disassociation from their country (Hylton & Law, 2009), through emphasizing Aluko’s place birth, this highlights to the reader that she was not born in England and she is not White.

Other examples include how Aluko’s race is noted or emphasized in articles, for example, “The Chelsea player, who is mixed-race” (The Guardian, August 7, 2017). Reference to Aluko as mixed race focuses on her not being White. This is often associated in articles also stressing that Aluko was not born in the United Kingdom and was born in Nigeria. These descriptions of Aluko seek to question her position and legitimacy to question the English (White) FA. Another way this occurs is to frequently refer to her place of birth as well as compare her with her brother, who plays football for Nigeria, “despite her ties to Nigeria (for whom her brother, the Fulham winger Sone Aluko, plays), she chose to progress with England” (The Guardian, August 17). The relevance of Aluko’s brother is not clear, it seeks to reinforce to the reader as a reminder that Aluko’s birthplace and her family are not from England. In doing so it positions Aluko as an outsider, questioning Aluko’s Englishness through her family affiliation. Through emphasizing Aluko as born in Nigeria, and as mixed race, these narratives frame Aluko as different from the White-established FA. This process of othering often came before discussing the complaint, which then focused on the extent to which Aluko had or had not experienced racism.

Is It Racism? Questioning Aluko’s Narrative

A consistent approach in media reporting was to repeat how the FA insisted Mark Sampson has been cleared “of allegations of bullying and discrimination” (The Times, August 18, 2017). The emphasis of clearing Sampson at an internal FA investigation reminds the reader that Sampson was found not guilty (by the FA) of the allegations. Despite the framing of the internal investigation as flawed some media reports continued to deny or obscure this; for example, in The Sun (August 18, 2017), “Sampson has been cleared of making racial comments—but admits he must watch his words.” The denial of racism, alongside the recognition that his language needs to change, reframes the issue to question what is racism? In an article in The Times (August 20, 2017) the severity of the claims made by Aluko are further questioned,

So on the basis of what we have seen so far, this “scandal” is based upon two comments, one of which was judged not to have been made and the other which is rather innocuous.

These comments both question the validity of the complaint and suggest that even if the comment was made, it was not as severe comments as “interpreted” thus suggesting it might be Aluko rather than the language that is the problem. In a later article, in The Times (August 30, 2017) there is a more direct attack on Aluko, “to call this a “racism” storm is to trivialize racism.” This problematises what is and is not racism, it invites the reader to question whether Aluko is too quick to identify her experience of Sampson’s behavior as racism. The Times (August 11) noted, “Aluko should know the difference between bullying and high demands delivered, occasionally, with coarse language.” The introduction of the interpretation of language as the problem suggests it is the person’s interpretation that can be problematic. In later media reports, there is an indication that there are lesser and more problematic forms of racism, as The Guardian note (October 19, 2017) “Racism is a big word; not everything is racism. Sometimes remarks that land badly is just unfortunate.” Such framing around what constitutes racism and racist comments problematize the experiences of those who report racism as their interpretations are discussed and questioned, shifting the focus from those using the language to those receiving and start to reposition or question who is the victim is.

Aluko as the Problem, Sampson as the Victim

In a similar way to how racism is questioned, there was a narrative in which media stories framed Aluko as the problem while her manager, Mark Sampson, was framed as the victim. This refers to a suggestion that through her complaint she had encouraged other people to turn on Sampson and accuse him of bullying, “anyone with a grievance- and they are queuing up to bash up- is coming forward with another damaging allegation” (The Sun, September 15, 2017). The use of the term “grievance” and “damaging” infers that Aluko has created and manipulated a situation in which others are open to accuse Sampson. Aluko, and her actions become the focus not the problematic behavior or language used by Sampson.

Another example can be seen in The Times (September 22) when the journalist quotes a former England captain, “it does seem like a bit of a witch hunt.” In this frame the narrative of racism and discrimination is obscured. The notion of poorly framed comments, as opposed to racism, is noted in the following media report,

We should never confuse racism—the systematic discrimination against ethnic groups—with a comment or two here and there made by decent people during a lifetime of good work. (The Times, August 30, 2017)

The term “decent” people suggests that decent people are not racist, and people who make racist comments are not racist. Instead, there is an inference that others can misinterpret comments; this shift focuses on the person who deems the comment as racist, and they become identified as the problem.

The Times and The Sun, in different narratives, express concern with Sampson’s welfare as a result of the accusations he faced, “The idea that any manager could work with a player who accuses of racism is quite remarkable” (The Sun). There seems to be little consideration given the players and how they would continue to work with a manager/coach in a situation where they have complained about bullying and harassment, perhaps part of a broader issue where athletes are considered disposable and easily replaced. Sampson is frequently referred to in the print media as the “most successful coach.” “Mark Sampson was the most successful England women’s coach on the pitch” (The Sun, September 13, 2017). The emphasis on Sampson’s success, while also emphasizing that he is the “women” coach to signal the difference between men and women’s game validates his success in coaching the women’s game. In direct contrast is the minimal discussion of Aluko’s success as a player; for example, The Sun only made one reference to her number of caps 102. In minimalizing the sporting success of Aluko she is not positioned as an essential player, so there may be a suggestion that Aluko may be jealous of other players or enacting revenge against Sampson for not being selected.

In contrast, in The Guardian and The Times, Aluko’s sporting achievements were described more frequently recognizing her achievement as the “102 Cap International.” The Times was also more likely to make references to Aluko as a qualified lawyer, recognizing her nonsporting achievements alongside her sporting success. By emphasizing Sampson’s success, this also enables space for the reader to doubt Aluko by the suggestion that she could be seeking revenge for not being picked. This was discussed in The Times (August 8, 2017) and The Guardian (August 17, 2017) when they refer to Aluko as accepting “hush money.” Both women were from a Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BME) community, and they are positioned as troublesome, as well as using discrimination laws to seek compensation. These examples illustrate how women playing or working in the game have to deal with the media scrutiny, on top of the harassment they have faced.

Questioning the FA

The day after the inquiry, media discussions continued, but there was a shift in focus to questioning the poor internal processes at The FA, who apologized to Aluko. The Guardian reflects on the case and discusses the perceived complexity of racism,

Trying to determine what prejudice looks like, and how prejudiced people behave, still confounds us. Not all people who have problematic attitudes to race wear a white hood and carry a burning torch. Not all sexists grope women. Some of these people would describe themselves as nice. Some of them, in different situations, actually are nice. Not everybody plays the part they are expected to play. (The Guardian, October 19, 2017)

In some media reports there was some criticism of the FA, and there was a questioning of their poor handling of the incident. This was discussed in the media reports as well as questioning the culture of the FA,

It was as if they had been shaken awake from a dream in which a little racist banter, such as telling a player of Nigerian descent not to let her folk bring in Ebola when they came to watch her play for England, was greeted with backslapping chortles. In their world, only a very bad sport would not laugh along. Unluckily for the Football Association, but happily for the wider game, Ms Aluko is not readily intimidated by any anxiety about fitting into a racist culture. She is both courageous and well qualified, and she has brought The Football Association to a humiliating account with a measured determination that finally bore fruit in front of MPs on the digital, culture, media and sport committee on Wednesday afternoon. (The Guardian, October 19, 2017)

In her written statement to Parliament Aluko explains a legal letter was sent to the FA via email. This detailed her complaint and was copied to the FA Chairman Greg Clarke. In response Clarke responded with “I have no idea why you are sending me this, Perhaps you can enlighten me” (Aluko, 2017). The handling of the case sparked some discussions about the FA as institutionally racist and dialogue of the idea that the culture of sport should allow problematic behaviors. Ultimately Aluko’s complaint was upheld, which emphasized how her complaint should have been more seriously addressed by the FA who did not handle the situation very well, The Times (October 19, 2019),

Has taken three investigations to prove that two incidents of abuse took place, and MPs accused the Football Association’s leaders of a “shambolic” process. Clarke also had to apologise to MPs for having described issues such as institutional racism as “fluff.”

In these narratives the FA and culture of the FA are identified as problematic, and it is highlighted how practices may limit the culture whereby complaints are made and addressed. There was no discussion of the Whiteness of the FA or structural racism or the role of mediated discourses in framing race, and ethnicity or harassments.

Discussion

In the media framing of Aluko’s story, her experience of racial harassment and bullying was questioned, denied, and at times reframed as her misunderstanding the comments made by Sampson. Aluko and the complaint about Sampson became a media-mediated story which highlights the interconnecting power lines, race, gender, and national belonging.

Sexism in football toward players, fans, and referees remains an ongoing issue for how women in football experience the game (Dunn, 2014; C. Jones & Edwards, 2013; K. W. Jones, 2008). Positive changes to media framing of female athletes are noted by Petty and Pope (2018), Bourne and Pitkin (2019), and Bowes and Kitchings (2019). Gender frames the Aluko media reporting in a number of ways, one of this is how media representation framing of Sampson, as a White successful male coach of the women’s game is emphasised. In contrast, there was little emphasis on the number of caps and the footballing success of Aluko before (and after) Sampson became England’s Women Coach. The emphasis is frequently on Sampson’s success while simultaneously minimizing Aluko’s success. This is similar to broader research findings which highlight the way sport continue to still position men’s sport as more appealing than women’s sport, and men as more suitable for coaching positions (Adjepong, 2019).

The FA represent an established historic (male) governing body, and although they organise the men and women’s game, the governance of the FA remains male-dominated. Those who criticize the FA are positioned in ways that seek to deny them a voice. Other women experiences, for example, Eva Carneiro, a female doctor who was positioned as troublesome (Kessel, 2015) was framed in way to suggest that she complained about sexism at Chelsea for a settlement fee (Gibson, 2015). The FA as an established and powerful organization, can try and influence the reporting of a story. This is indicated by Aluko in her written statement to the inquiry where she notes that during the initial media frenzy the FA were providing one-sided information to journalists to try and influence how the story was told (Aluko, 2017). This a reminder of how powerful institutions can influence how less powerful people are perceived and represented (van Skerkenburg, 2011).

Perceptions of belonging and who represents the nation and the relationship between this and birthplace play a role in framing Aluko’s story. The White sports/media complex used by Carrington (2011) is relevant to consider the way racialized discourses are circulated through mediatised critical events. Through the emphasis on Aluko’s place of birth, the media narrative seek to position Aluko as different, it frames her “Britishness” as different to Sampson’s and other players. This remains significant because of how sport continues to be a space in which notions of Britishness are constructed and contested (Fletcher & Lusted, 2017). This is at a time when through the ongoing political context of Brexit, anxieties about Britishness and who belongs in the United Kingdom and who does not are growing. Emphasizing national identity, and place of birth is a way of framing Aluko as different without drawing on or stressing biological difference that may be more likely to be termed racism. Other analyses of print media have found similar findings, Black’s (2016) analysis of Mo Farah, a British Olympian from Somalia, highlights how the print media frame the narrative of his success in a way that suggests he is both included in and separated from British national identity. Black (2016) explores the way media representations associate being British, with being White and how these narratives form dominant ideas about Britishness. Thus emphasizing difference through the place of birth in media stories is significant. Aluko’s decision to play for England while her brother plays for Nigeria is mentioned alongside frequently reference to her birthplace of Nigeria. The way these stories are represented are particularly significant at a time where belonging is increasingly problematized in the United Kingdom post Brexit. Who represents and who belongs in the “nation,” is narrowing and there is growing hostility to “others” (Gibbons & Malcolm, 2017).

The discussions about what is and what is not racism in media stories focus on the extent to which Aluko misinterprets the series of events. This works in a way that the legitimacy of Aluko’s complaint is questioned. By questioning racism and the complaint made by Aluko; this seeks to deny racism, or if it did occur, suggest that racism is a historical or individual problem (Deeb & Love, 2018). Thus, what constitutes racist comments and how we understand racism and racist behaviors may mask White privilege and issues of power (Carrington, 2011; Harrison, 2013; King, 2007). The focus on whether Sampson’s comment were racist, or misinterpreted, fails to account for broader structures of White sport and sporting organizations’ culture and language. To suggest that in elite sport there are different standards of acceptable language because of the high-pressure environment and the pursuit of elite performance focuses on the individual, and their ability to withstand such comments. By focusing on this, readers are invited to question the legitimacy of Aluko’s account, questioning her resilience for elite sport, while simultaneously hearing about Sampson’s success as a coach.

There was space in media reports given to questioning Sampson’s use of language, but this sought to separate issues of poor language from racism and broader structures. The opportunity to discuss issues of race, sport, harassment, and bullying cultures in sport are not realized. There is little discussion about other aspects of Aluko’s complaint about the private spaces in which racial comments are made by those working in the sport. Post-racial ideologies stress that there was once racism, but now there is not (Love et al., 2019). These ideas exist alongside as common-sense beliefs that sport is meritocratic, anyone can be successful if they work hard enough, therefore race and racism are denied (van Skerkenburg et al., 2019).

There were minimal differences in reporting across the newspapers, highlighting as Biscomb and Matheson (2017) suggest, that more research may need to explore the differences between papers in the media representation of female athletes. In this research, The Guardian, a left-wing broadsheet newspaper, was more articulate about Aluko’s sporting achievements and were more likely to use her “voice” in their stories. By giving more space to Aluko to explain her experiences and give her a voice to discuss her experiences of bullying and harassment. The tabloid newspaper, The Sun was generally more sympathetic to current management and governance structures which arguably favor White, middle-class males who currently govern football in England. Although they too found space, primarily post the inquiry, to critique aspects of the FA and the culture. None of the articles discussed issues of racial harassment or bullying and few questioned the structures or structural inequalities in sport or the media (King, 2007).

Conclusion

In this article, we provide an analysis of the print media during a specific critical event around media reporting of bullying and harassment in sport. Research providing a critical analysis of how narratives of discrimination and harassment in sport are significant because sport and the media remain a mechanism for sustaining the ideology of (White) male superiority (Fink, 2008). Aluko is a Black female player who questioned a White male coach and the establishment of the FA. This “story” is significant as women’s football does not receive as much print media coverage as the men’s game (Petty & Pope, 2018), and therefore the story received coverage because of the allegations of racism, the fact Aluko accused a White male coach and because of the cultural interest in the FA. We would suggest future research analyses should extend to other forms of media to understand the range of views that exist concerning gender and race relations, how these relate to exisiting power lines, and better understand the ways in which people reinforce and challenge exisiting views in these platforms. In Aluko’s written testimony to the inquiry she discusses how difficult she has found the press intrusion and the different ways her story was framed and reframed (Aluko, 2017). This highlights the significance of understanding that athletes’ accounts of harassment and bullying maybe reframed in media accounts along dominant and intersecting power lines that question the legitimacy of those making the complaint.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Philippa Velija

Author Biographies

Philippa Velija is an associate professor at Solent University and head of Education and Sociology. Her research explores gender relations in sport and she has written on social inequalities for women athletes across a range of elite sports.

Louie Silvani is a Master’s graduate from Solent University, studying Youth Sport and Physical Education. Louie works at a professional football club, coaching schoolboys aged 9-16.

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