Abstract
Previously published as a special issue of Soccer and Society, Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer is a collection of articles edited by Kausik Bandyopadhyay that explores minority group involvement and/or disengagement in soccer. The articles in this edited collection examine how the sport of soccer broadly serves as a continuing indicator of nationalism, race, ethnicity, religion, community, gender and cultural specificity amongst its minority participants and how it can act as a vehicle by oppressed groups, in a variety of societies, to create identity(ies). Collectively, the articles highlight how race and ethnicity alone are insufficient in explaining underlying difficulties that ethnocultural and racialized minority individuals and groups face in relation to their experiences in soccer. In accordance with this, the edited collection offers wide-ranging analyses of minority involvement in soccer through the use of a variety of characteristics used to delineate minority status. Soccer has long been understood as the most popular mass spectator sport in the world (Bandyopadhyay, 2013), and its use to defy and combat cultural constructions of existing hegemonic narratives, practices and codes is worthy of exploration, as exemplified within this book.
Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer is primarily organized along geographical lines. Each article in the collection examines the issue of minority involvement in soccer in the context of a specific nation-state in five different continents (Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Australia). This analysis of minority involvement in soccer is accomplished through empirical research articles and socio-historical essays by contributors from an array of disciplines including exercise and sport, education, history, sociology and behavioural sciences. As a result of the inclusion of works from such a diverse pool of contributors, this book is able to offer a broad range of perspectives on the topic of minority group inclusion/exclusion. The book as a whole provides an expansive account of soccer involvement at a variety of levels including recreational, professional, youth and adult participation. The manner in which this book explores the intersectionality of a variety of minorities’ involvement in soccer should be acknowledged; in addition to focusing on ethnicity and race, this book also explores religion, community and gender as they contribute to minority status in soccer. Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer therefore makes a nuanced contribution to literature of minority involvement in, and exclusion from, soccer.
Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer acknowledges that a linear understanding of minority representation is not appropriate in describing individuals from different regions and further explains how this can be limiting to a sociological analysis of minority participation in sport. As CL Lennox (2006) explains, it is problematic to take the predominantly European concept of minorities and apply it to other regions, such as Kenya (explored in Chapter 11), given the differences in social and political histories. The understanding of what exactly constitutes being a minority varies according to region: what may signify minority status in one instance may not be applicable in another. This book also explores the idea of identity amongst socially oppressed participants in soccer. A main tenet shared amongst the articles is the acknowledgement of the role that soccer plays in the articulation and creation of ethno-cultural identities. The book explores several different aspects of how minorities use soccer as a means of integration into the societies in which they live. It is argued that soccer can assist minority migrants in accessing the institution of the host society. The sport can act as an avenue through which these migrants can appreciate nuances of the new societies they find themselves in.
In Chapter Four, how identities are created and influenced is investigated through player associations with their respected national teams. In this chapter, Hassan, McCullough and Moreland explore Irish soccer players’ decisions to play either for the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, irrespective of which of the two jurisdictions they were born in. They suggest that ‘sport offers a framework for people to build allegiances to their nation or nation-state and to each other’ (p. 55). It is argued that the identity constructed through association with the Republic of Ireland soccer team is not influenced by boundaries established along territorial lines; rather, it exists in the minds of those who would attach themselves emotionally to its broader constituency. In Chapter Nine, Hay and Guoth look at Australian migrant minorities and their allegiances to either their native country or their newly adopted homes. It is explained that some migrant minorities embraced soccer as an important element of cultural identification and distinction, while others used it as a way of finding ways into some areas of Australian society. Others still have shunned the game altogether as being un-Australian. Both chapters satisfactorily exemplify how soccer can be used to challenge the notion of a single established identity by instead providing an opportunity for the players to create new and constructed identities in an unrestricted fashion. The authors of both articles contend that the static existing practices which constrain minority players from exploring their identities can be overcome even when they are regarded as deviating from established norms.
In Chapter Six readers are offered an in-depth look into the understanding of minority involvement in soccer both from the view point of the socially marginalized as well as those who, in part, impose the existing oppressive constraints. Agergaard and Sorensen used interviews with elite youth level coaches to bring light to the existence of prevailing stereotypes of ethnic minority players in Danish football clubs. The argument that coaches contribute to the categorization of minority players as a uniform group is strongly emphasized through the interview responses which offer a clear, albeit disheartening, example of race inequity, a major theme amongst the articles in the book. Race is explored further as a means by which hegemonic hierarchies both exist and are supported as social constructions used to legitimize the power of privileged groups in soccer. Long and Hylton’s (2000) reference to the normalizing process of whiteness in local sport suggests that racialized privilege becomes so routine in these spaces that such a hierarchy is often rendered invisible to those it empowers. This explanation is further exemplified in Lusted’s work (Chapter Three) regarding the underrepresentation of black individuals not only as players but also in other dimensions of the soccer industry, including coaching, managerial positions and administrative roles. This chapter further explores the experiences of minority ethnic youngsters using soccer as a setting with which they can engage in a process of political and cultural resistance.
This edited collection has a number of strengths including its incorporation of works that examine minority participation (or lack of) in soccer in several different countries. As a result, the reader is able to gain a broader understanding of why, in certain countries, ‘minorities choose to take up soccer while in others they back away from participating in the game’ (Bandyopadhyay, 2013: 2). Minority participation in soccer is also explored from a cultural, racial and religious perspective throughout the articles. By not concentrating solely on ethnicity and race as the only viable markers of minority position in sporting spaces, Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer is successful in introducing readers to a wide range of examples of minority engagement in sport. This analysis, which observes minority inclusion in soccer from a broad sense, presents a fuller attention to minority life and culture through the exploration of significant issues revealed through minority attitudes and participation in soccer. Another strength of this book is its use of new language and terminology in its discussion. One such example is ‘self-exclusion’ (p. 2), a term used in the book that defines deliberate withdrawal from sport. It is explained that this ‘self-exclusion’ is practiced by some youths who are immigrants in new countries in which soccer is considered to be unnationalistic; in other words, the sport is not popular amongst local residents. This in turn allows these immigrant minorities’ inclusion into the new society in which they live. This incorporation and explanation of terminology offers a language with which to unpack the experiences of minorities in their attempt to gain entrance into their societies.
A notable shortcoming of the book is the lack of in-depth attention to or analysis of women’s participation – or lack of participation – in soccer. There is little attempt in the book to examine the extent to which women are represented in the world of soccer and although they, as a minority group, are discussed, it is done so in an undervalued and problematic manner. Although women constitute a much underrepresented minority group in the sport, the focus of analysis in this book is on the status of women as spectators rather than players. Few of the articles included explore the oppression of women in soccer and so the book lacks a genuine attempt to explore and articulate the oppression, underrepresentation and obstacles that women face with regards to their involvement. For example, the only mention of female participation in Burdsey’s piece (Chapter Two) exclaims that ‘Whilst girls and women were present, their role was limited to that of supporters and providers of nourishment, reflecting the wider, cross-cultural marginalization of females in sporting spaces’ (p. 13). The only piece that focuses exclusively on female participation comes in the very last chapter, by Ben-Porat, in which the lived experiences Israeli women as soccer spectators are explored. This piece argues that, historically and traditionally, women’s access to sport is not equal to that of men, specifically through the lens of female involvement as spectators of Israeli soccer. Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play soccer can be criticized for its inadequate (or lack of) exploration of female soccer players. Attention to, and analysis of, this undervalued minority group would have greatly advanced the discussion of gendered difference in the involvement of what this book portrays as a male-dominated sporting activity.
Although the articles in this book were originally published in 2009, Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer remains a timely and topical contribution to the greater understanding of soccer, given the approach of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It highlights a variety of different minority statuses that centralize participation in or exclusion from soccer; reminds us of the social and cultural significance of sport both in producing and reproducing inequalities in society; how these inequalities have been combated through involvement in soccer; and, most importantly, demonstrates that sport is a potential arena for resistance and change. This book would be of value as a supplemental text for academics and students in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in a variety of disciplines, including the sociology of sport as well as cultural studies. It is also a very interesting read for those who are generally interested in the sport of soccer because it offers a glimpse at a portion of the subculture of the most played sport in the world. It may be of interest/use to a general audience interested in gaining a foundational and broad understanding of various categories of social constructions affecting minority participation or lack thereof, in sport.