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Football and peace in the Middle East

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By Dr Joel Rookwood

How has football for peace worked in the Middle East?- Some observations:

The Middle East can be considered a transcontinental region comprising approximately 370 million people who speak more than sixty languages and live across seventeen countries. The Eurocentric term is of British origin and was coined and first applied as a prefix to ‘question’, as a mark of the strategic importance yet disputed understanding of the region. Its geopolitical, economic and cultural significance has been recognized for millennia. Numerous world religions trace their origins to the Middle East. The region, like others, has a long association with ethno-religious conflicts, ideological struggles and resource and territorial disputes.

Despite having fought wars with its neighbours (Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), civil conflict has perhaps proven the most consistent threat to peace and stability in Israel. Relations between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs have frequently dominated international news. Few efforts to build peace across ethno-religious divides have proven successful, in Israel and the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.

Some agencies have prioritized projects and campaigned for policies and provision which emphasize the identification of and focus on commonalities, mutual cooperation and equality. However, in a militaristic and splintered society, where ethnic divisions run deep and trust does not, encouraging Jews and Arabs to build meaningful, lasting and mutually beneficial relations has challenged those striving to contribute to peace building in the region.

Sports such as football has been employed in this context. The use of competitive invasion sports centred on binary oppositions has been contested. Israel’s capital city is home to Beitar Jerusalem, a football club whose supporter base includes dominant Jewish nationalist fractions strongly opposed to Muslims. Importantly, such racist attitudes and behaviours are certainly not held by all football fans in Israel.

As with most social and sporting activities, football is not a priori good or bad, but can produce a range of positive as well as negative outcomes. In relation to participation (both on and off the field), football’s potential as a vehicle to promote social construction or deconstruction is largely dependent on how related engagements are presented, perceived, experienced and remembered. The ‘pacifist potential of football’ to which the seminal work of Sugden is associated with has been crucial in a project that has been implemented in Israel since 2001.

For most of that period the ‘Football for Peace’ (F4P) initiative has been run by Professor Sugden and his colleagues from University of Brighton in collaboration with others from further afield. The project has been subject to valuable academic research, but Sugden’s editorial collection on the project perhaps best represents the diversity of disciplinary lenses through which the initiative has been scrutinized.

F4P has sought to make grass-roots interventions into Middle Eastern sporting culture, contributing towards peaceful integration in the often violent, mistrusting and detached Jewish and Arab communities in Israel. The initiative has employed a specifically designed value-based football coaching model, in which all aspects of the programme are underpinned by neutrality, inclusion, respect, trust and responsibility.

Working with mixed groups of Arab and Jewish boys or girls from a similar area, student coaches from Britain collaborate with local coaches and respected community leaders who also serve as translators. Each programme begins with trust building exercises and concludes with mixed-team tournaments on designated festival days. The project has also developed some year-round cross-cultural collaboration, whilst diversifying the locations (such as Northern Ireland) and sporting applications (including rugby).

Such initiatives present a number of inherent challenges, pertaining for instance to practical and linguistic issues, as well as monitoring and evaluation and risk management. I was among the group of fifty F4P students and staff who were checked in and waiting to board a flight to Tel Aviv in July 2006 when news broke of the Lebanon conflict that had begun hours earlier in northern Israel.

Engaging in complex and dangerous locations, it is difficult to demonstrate and prove that such initiatives work, and that they are worth the risks involved. Training volunteers is demanding and preparing personnel to work in potentially perilous environments is fraught with challenges – and the impact of a project will always depend in part on the effectiveness of its staff.

For the participants, some perceive and receive such initiatives as political engagements, others view them as programmes that ‘make a difference’ whilst some merely consider them an opportunity to play football. It is not possible to fully represent, reconcile or explain such diversity, but it is important to remember that even well-intentioned, effectively managed projects will not always have the desired impact on every recipient.

Setting such initiatives in context however, peace seems as elusive in Israel. There is a continual need for constructive, internationally mediated dialogue and collaboration, cross-cultural relationship building, mutually reliant and beneficial infrastructure, and meaningfully representative and constructive politics.

There is need for international pressure around a long list of issues which may include:

• Illegal Israeli Settlements in the West Bank;
• Sporadic Palestinian attacks on Jews living in Israel;
• Protection of the rights of Arabs living in both Palestinian and Israeli territories;
• An end to the forced reclamation of Palestinian homes;
• An increase in aid, support and peace building in Gaza;
• Reinstatement and then normalization of relations with Lebanon,
• Resettlement of Palestinian refugee communities currently residing in Lebanon and Jordan;
• A permanent ceasefire in Syria;
• The removal of land mines at the Golan Heights and other international borders;
• Increased security cooperation and diplomatic mediation with Egypt; an end to the construction (and eventual removal) of the West Bank Wall; and
• What improved economic ties with all neighbouring countries. Faced with such an array of challenges, micro-level projects might seem insignificant –

Other issues could be added to this list If they can be connected with other initiatives, a coalition for peace could grow in strength and increase in impact.

During the process of working on football-based peace building projects I have interviewed dozens of local and international advocates in Israel, and in nations such as Liberia, Azerbaijan, Rwanda, Bosnia and Russia. If intra- and inter-project analysis produces robust evidence that sporting programmes such as F4P are worth the risk and resources, that football can reach beyond the political rhetoric and actually contribute to peace building, then long may these programmes develop.

It is worth remembering however, that whatever vehicle is used to drive Israel in the direction of peace, however well intended ‘cultural engagements’ such as F4P might be, coverall responses rarely solve complicated problems, especially at the intersection of ingrained mutual distrust and fragile peace.

Sports cuts will impact upon social opportunity and life chances

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By Grant Jarvie and Dominik Birnbacher

The news that sport in Scotland is to be cut by 20% backs up research first released by Edinburgh University in the Scotsman back in December 2016.. Figures released by BBC indicated that in 2015 52 sports benefitted from a total revenue of £65.1million. A figure that by the end of 2018 will have fallen to £58.1 million, a fall of 20% in the three years between 2015 and 2018.

While the Sportscotland response to the cut in funding focused upon the impact upon elite athletes many other areas of Scottish life could be affected. All of this in a week when the Holyrood Health and Sport Committee considered barriers to involvement in sport and physical activity.

In 2016 the United Nations put sport on a statutory footing in recognition of the contribution it could make to the 2030 sustainable development goals. What was significant about this was that having evaluated the available evidence about sports contribution the conclusion was that sport contributes to development goals 3, 4, 5, 8, 11 and 16. The Commonwealth Secretariat has concluded the same.

The point being is that what has being evidenced here is not a sterile debate about sport v physical activity or medals v participation but that sport is a valuable social tool that contributes to development and as such merits statutory provision.

Sport in Scotland is not statutory and yet it contributes greatly to young people’s heath and therefore their development (Health). It involves young people in positive activity, thereby helping them avoid trouble (Social Cohesion). It encourages concentration, motivation and other learning skills that helps young people’s education and their working and social lives (Education).

Sport is not a magic social silver bullet. No one silver bullet exists but if you want a healthier, more socially cohesive, socially mobile Scotland where the educational attainment gap has been challenged and Scottish cities are much more connected internationally then Scotland has to value much more the social tool box that is sport.

Yes, world sport has challenges over integrity and governance and physical activity can be addictive as well as healthy but clearly sport based approaches to development have a valuable contribution to make in terms of resilience, rehabilitation, social cohesion, soft power and diplomacy, connecting cities and many social and development goals.

The initial total proposed spending plan for Scotland in 2017-18 amounted to £31.4 billion of which £13.1 billion (41.7%) is allocated to Health and Sport. This represented a decline in both cash and percentage terms from the £12.9 billion (42.5 %) of the overall £30.4 billion allocated for 2016/17.

The allocation of resource for sport through the Health and Sport budget has reduced year on year from £71.8m in 2015-16 to £45.6m in 2016-17 to £42.4m for 2017-18. While this does not represent the total money available to sport the crucial point is that the consistent trend in the total funding made available through the Health and Sport budget has in the aftermath of the Commonwealth Games been a downward spiral.

In an austere Scotland sport, it is worth remembering, has not always been determined by power and privilege. The draft 2017-18 Scottish budget runs the danger of increasing inequality and displaying a real lack of knowledge about what sport can and is doing in other parts of the world.

The vision of a Scotland where more people are more active more often, underpinned by an Active Scotland Outcomes Framework which is underpinned by a commitment to equality, is not backed up in expenditure terms.

The vast majority of the money allocated to sport within the Health and Sport allocation goes to the national sports agency which has the unenviable task of delivering government objectives and using its resource strategically to cover over cracks in other parts of the system. The excellent Active School Sports Co-ordinators programme was introduced in the 1980’s to cover over the cracks in a school sport and physical education brought about by a teachers strike while the innovative and contemporary Community Sports Hubs initiative serves to cover up cracks in local authority provision for sport.

The allocation of funding to the national sports agency is in itself unfair given the role that it is asked to play by government. The Scottish Governments 2017-18 draft budget sees a fall of 7.02% compared to the 2016-17 draft.

The budget lines are split between sport and legacy funding and physical activity funding. The Sport and Legacy allocation is down 7.57%. The physical activity allocation remains static at a time when participation levels in sport and physical activity for 2-15 year olds have still to reach a 2008 high of 71% according to the Scottish Health Survey’s figures.

The standard Scottish Government argument for Scottish funding ills is invariably that of UK austerity. An argument that fails to recognise that all main government funding streams into Scottish Sport are showing signs of decline. The advent of the 2014 Commonwealth Games perhaps masked the extent of the funding cracks for a while as the injection of funds to support the event and the creation of major capital builds such as Oriam, The National Performance Centre and the National Para sports centre help to conceal downward trends. Such developments can be seen to have delayed the onset of austerity in sporting terms.

The allocation of funding to the national sports agency consists of three main items Scottish Government funding made up from the General Fund and Grant in Aid and the share of National Lottery funding that is distributed through Sportscotland. The allocation of Cash back funding produced from the receipts of crime has from time to time augmented funding levels but such expenditure is difficult to plan since it may or may not be allocated to sport and lies within the Ministerial gift.

Scottish Government Funding for sport fell between 2015 and 2016 mainly due to the removal of capital funds between the two periods. According to Hudson and O’Donnell (2015) the allocation of funding in real terms fell by 36.5 % between 2015-16 and 2016-17 with the £71.8 million allocated in 2015-16 falling to £45.6 million in 2016-17.

Scottish Government Capital Funding fell to £2 million in 2016-17 compared to a high of £15.7 million in 2012-13 and the run up to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The amount of revenue funding for sport has also fluctuated between 2011 and 2016-17 reaching a high of £33.7 million in 2015-16.

National Lottery Distribution Funding allocated to sport between 2007-8 and 2015-16 generally increased before decreasing.

The total resources distributed through Sportscotland generally increased up until 2015-16 and then decreased.

The proportion of the 2017-18 budget allocated to sport remains small compared to the total health and sport sector budget. The 2017-18 draft budget allocation of £42.4 million compared to £45.6 million in 2016/17 is a decrease of 7.0%. The Scottish Government’s sport budget as part of the health and sport portfolio, amounts to £13.1 billion or 41.7 % of the overall £31.4 billion Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL). This can be compared to £12.9 billion or 42.5 % of the overall £30.4 billion (DEL) for the year 2016/17. An increase in real terms and a fall in % terms.

The positioning of sport within the Health and Sport portfolio has been both enabling and constraining. The contribution that sport and physical activity has made to health has been grasped and prioritized. The sports contribution to Scottish society has at best been marginalized and least not provided with the space and resource to flourish. No where is this more evident than the allocation of time spent discussing the contribution that sport can make to Scottish Society within the overall business of the Holyrood Parliamentary Health and Sport Committee.

Admittedly Scotland does not control foreign policy but sport is one of the considerable avenues open to Scotland through which it can enable its influence on the world stage. The USA and parts of Canada tackle gender inequality in sport by legislating for it to be outlawed through Title IX provision as opposed to a £300,000 pa gender equality fund.

Norway and Holland have long since recognised the role of sport in International Development. The place of sport and physical activity within the challenge of educational attainment should be much more centre stage. Those lost safe common spaces for play could be recreated.

One respected political commentator has recently pointed out that football could actually be the conduit for breaking down barriers to tackling child abuse. All this and much more could emerge if sport was fully understood in terms of its full potential to Scotland.

The daily mile is to be applauded but daily enjoyable physical education provision should be recaptured and fought for not to mention the alternative education provision, such as the Spartans Academy, provided through sport in Scotland.

As China’s capacity supply of marathons, fun runs and building facilities for other countries outstrips demand and Australia’s development of it’s second sports diplomacy strategy begins to take on legs and arms it is doubtful if health and health alone is the main rationale.

In our sports stars Scotland has an an army of potential cultural ambassadors that with correct training could become potential diplomats and yet all of these potential possibilities and others could be lost if Scotland cannot find the space and political will to be far more politically aspirant and knowledgeable about what sport can do.

Yet the really sad thing about all of this is that sport used to be a proven pathway of social mobility and even an escape from poverty for a few. It reached into areas of multiple deprivation in a way that few other social tools can and yet falling trends of public funding for sport runs the risk of opening a social class divide in Scotland where cost and access to funds means that consumption of sport becomes the preserve of the leisure middle class,

The face of sport from the Health and Sport Committee Members, as opposed to substitute members, to Scottish Governing bodies remains almost entirely white and the real tools to create gender equality in and through sport such as a Scottish version of Title IX legislation is deemed to be too expensive.

This can be said while still acknowledging that the advent of the National Para Sports Centre is progressive and groundbreaking, the potential of the Community Sports Hubs to the conduit for developing human capabilities in challenging environments is enormous but not as a replacement for school or after school activity activity but rather a complimentary resource.

It does not have to be this way and yet the spaces to enable the potential of sport to deliver more for Scottish Society are few and far between and the cutting of resources to national sports agencies, amongst others, means that the capacity to paint over the cracks is diminished, the invitation to increase private provision for some is increased and the capacity to influence other parts of the world through sport is seen as an add on.

The only winners if Local Authorities cut the resources given to Sport and Leisure Trusts are the private providers whose pricing structures tend to reproduce rather remove social class patterns of sports consumption.

One of the potential dangers of Brexit upon sport in Scotland is the further pealing away of human rights legislation and its impact upon the protection for para-athletes and disability in general. Sport can shed a real light on concerns over Brexit but is it discussed at all in white papers and the volume of Brexit briefing papers?

Genuine sport for all means people cannot be excluded by cost, by lack of safe places, by lack of quality sustained pre school school and post- school experiences, or by lack of legislation that protects involvement in sport at all levels. Genuine sports for all is worth fighting for.

The social returns delivered by this primarily devolved activity are as much about the political choices made in Scotland as they are about funding cuts. Sport requires greater agreed cross-party support, statutory protection and political understanding of what can be delivered.

And I thought Apartheid was over…but it is a global condition?

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By Cora Burnett

University of Johannesburg, Professor and Director, Olympic Academy

& Global Fellow University of Edinburgh, Academy of Sport

Having been in the space of sport for development (SfD) for more than two decades, I have met amazing scholars and continue to engage with them around a common interest – SfD in Africa. In this field, context is everything. Over the years I have shared the forum for vibrant public discussions with some of the most informed and some of the most uninformed about the conditions of my country and continent.

2015-02-04094111FootballLandscape3

I would like to raise five main issues concerning: i) the documented ‘under-representation’ of African scholars and their research outputs; ii) research on filtered realities in support of the academic argument; iii) the focus on neo-colonial practices without capturing the voices (sense-making) and praxis of the affected populations; iv) the lack of critical introspection; and v) exclusionary practices.

For some, Africa represents an abstract collective of ignorance, backwardness and not ‘yet there’ phenomenon. As academics from non-first world countries, African scholars are often invited to contribute to discussion and debate but often solely about ‘context’. It seems that scholars from the Global North’s insights are recognised first and foremost in advancing first world discourses through the ‘production of (new) knowledge’. Mapping the field of SDP work, shows the small proportion of scholars from Africa whose work has been published in high impact research journals, whilst scholars from the North are increasingly conducting research on Africa and, in some instances, they have the arrogance to explain this by stating that local expertise does not exist.

The statistics tells a story. Cronin found 20% or 27 reports of all research to be conducted in Africa with five of the researchers living in Africa. In another analysis by Schulenkorf, Sherry and Rowe an even more dismal picture emerges. Of the total published research 73% of all authors were from Europe (37%) or Northern America (36%), whilst 8% authors were from Africa contributing to 9% of publications.

The latter was reported in 2016 which contradicts an analysis I conducted last month. I found at least triple the number of published research from authors in Africa, although not all 63 papers were strictly categorized or had keywords indicating a Sport-for-Development domain search. The under-representation raises some questions on many accounts. Such analysis contributes to the ‘hermeneutics of suspicion’ of an absence of Sport for Development researchers delivering quality research in Africa which may partly explain the absence in ‘other’ circles as well.

For many years, I have been silent about this issue. Discussing how some First World academics constructed and built stick figures for critical work on ‘neoliberal’ practices has become ‘entertaining’ lecture material in post-graduate classes. Notably, many of these first world academics come to the same conclusions. Some discover the complex truth based on a few interviews, blog or face book material, reducing the complex reality to build a case that would serve their particular flavour of ‘critical analysis’; or, they argue for the inclusion of ‘local voices’ (captured as an additional data set).

How can some academics be so sharp, intellectual and blind all at the same time? What about real reflection? Why construct hyper- or filtered realities and ‘lamenting’ on the unequal power relations, ideology and structures that in the first place continue to perpetuate SDP work without addressing the root problems to which they (possibly unintentionally) contribute? Why is most work pitched at the level of the recipient such as women and girls, who ultimately benefit little through endless temporary initiatives aimed at their empowerment and improved self-worth and self-esteem?

One must question who is actually benefitting from such programs when women and girls eventually return to real life and real conditions that render their newly founded power relatively meaningless. What about action? What about the authentic truth? What about real inclusion and collaboration on equal partnerships?

I intentionally did not quote the work of scholars as I think we should all reflect on our own academic practices. A recent ‘practice’ which mirrors many others, is a forum of invited and influential experts within the field of SDP that will gather in March 2017 at the University of Illinois. Of the invited experts, all but four are from Northern America and none are from Africa. Another example that rings hollow when talking about ‘human rights’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘partnership’ within academia, relates to invitations to publish in open source journals where the cost of the author’s contribution is completely out of the reach of many African scholars. Yet, as an African-based scholar I am repeatedly asked, and as a professional, often contribute, by reviewing the manuscripts of first-world scholars.

As South African academics we face violent student demonstrations, such as the Fees Must Fall Campaign and other poverty-related issues, on a daily basis. Conditions necessitate that we must work as relative generalists due to cash-stripped universities of which some provide up to three meals per day to needy students. We do not have the luxury of funds for large scale longitudinal research projects and associated opportunities to pay-to-publish, or to attend international conferences.

Nor, do we have the advantage of extensive and well connected networks of specialist colleagues for support. When I received some recognition from U21 universities at the end of last year, I tried to mask my level of indignation by merely stating: “Researchers from the Global South are obliged to unearth new ways of knowing with a voice that matters in academic discourse.”

I may have stepped on important toes, but I trust I can count on those academics who are committed to integrating their humanitarian beliefs to create a more just society and a truly genuine, inclusive scholarly community. Sometimes it seems that apartheid is alive and well amongst those scholars who live by some sense of their own objective morality yet, remain unaware of the meaninglessness of their detached, highly abstract but well-articulated arguments.

References: 

[1] Cronin, O. (2011). Comic Relief Review. Mapping the research on the impact of Sport and Development interventions. Manchester, UK: Comic Relief.

[1] Schulenkorf, N. Sherry, E.  Rowe, K. (2016). Sport for Development: Ann integrated literature review. Journal of Sport Management, 30, 22-39.

Sport, Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: Cause, Cure and Compassion?

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By Professor Michael Ego
University of Connecticut- Stamford

The text below was developed from the address presented at a one day symposia on Sport, Dementia and Mental Health hosted by The Scottish Football Museum in partnership with the University of Edinburgh.

Dementia can be caused by a number of different diseases, the most common being Alzheimer’s Disease. The cognitive and functional losses are exacerbated by stereotypes and stigma – as the world sees a person almost totally lost once he or she receives an Alzheimer’s diagnosis – lost both to themselves and to those who love them.

The stigma attached to dementia can be observed when the general public’s body reactions to the word when it is pronounced before them. Some associate dementia as a contagious disease (i.e. infectious) and steer away from any physical proximity, just in case they may catch the disease. Others will not admit that there is a friend or relative with the disease, since it would show shame about their family. Fact: Dementia is not an automatic condition of human ageing.

Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related illnesses have a devastating impact on American society and culture – impacting an estimated 5.2 million American citizens each year. The media coverage of this disease has primarily focused on the Cause and the Cure – with the third C – Compassion – mostly seen as third fiddle in the discussion.

The research that has been conducted on the Cause have pointed to what is considered “risk factors.” Age is one factor, in that persons over age 65 are likely to have the disease, as compared to during young adulthood or middle adulthood. Family history portends that persons who have a parent or sibling who has the disease are two to three times more likely to develop the disease, but not a guarantee that genetics is the cause.

The third category is lifestyle patterns, that include head injury, lack of exercise and a healthy diet, avoidance of tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption, staying socially active, and engaging in intellectually stimulating activities, and there is an association between heart health and brain health. In summary, there is NO evidence that there is a definitive causation that may PREVENT someone from developing the disease.

The “C” that has got most of the attention is Cure. Although there are some drugs that been developed to ameliorate the disease in the early stages of diagnosis, as of this time, scientists have not been able to discover the proper drug to cure the disease. Recently, there was an announcement by one of the pharmaceutical companies that a highly anticipated “trial” for a drug that might cure the disease was not successful. So, we are still awaiting good news about a discovery as a cure to dementia.

The third “C” is Compassion. During the past four years, I have been investigating the reasons for the third “C” being seen as an afterthought, in most cases. Of course, American society wants to know what causes the disease, and also the cure that will save people’s lives. But, unfortunately, Compassion is not shown by those who do not have the disease, towards those that do, nor towards the families with a person with the disease.

I began to investigate how Compassion was displayed regarding dementia by countries around the world. I found there is attention being given to non-pharmacological interventions to enhance the quality of life for those individuals with dementia. Sports and related activities have made a valuable contribution to provide experiences that are beneficial to the lives of persons with dementia.

In my exploration of societal efforts that demonstrate Compassion led me to Scotland. There, starting in 2009, socialization programs were initiated to enhance the quality of life for men with dementia.

The programme, entitled “Football Memories,” was begun by Michael White, who had several friends with dementia, and who also were soccer fans. Since the inception of “Football Memories,” there are currently 185 support groups, consisting of volunteers throughout Scotland (a population of 5 million people), who offer similar memories programs in Golf, Rugby, Cricket, Shinty and Movies.

I suggested In November 2016, at a symposium  hosted by the University of Edinburgh (Academy of Sport and the Global Health Academy) and the Scottish Football Museum that Scottish society understood the challenges and struggles of those with dementia, and were responding with Compassion through the socialization programmes. I was particularly struck by the way the challenges were being met in terms of dealing with, and helping people living with dementia through the medium of the Gaelic language – materials being prepared bilingually and work being done using both English and Gaelic where appropriate. This was highly cost effective and beneficial to a significant number of people.

In comparison, in the United States (with a population close to 325 million people), I have found two programs that have initiated sports memories programs: the Baseball Reminiscence League in St Louis, MO, and the BasebALZ League in Austin, TX). I have observed both programs and there is a genuine display of Compassion by the volunteers and the sponsoring organisations. In January, a third Baseball Reminiscence League will begin in Cos Cob, a collaboration between the River House Adult Day Care Center and the University of Connecticut.

In conclusion, I am not advocating that we dismiss the two C’s – Cause and Cure. We must continue to explore both dimensions that will help us to prevent dementia and to find a remedy for the disease. As we await the answers to Cause and Cure, let us show Compassion to those who have the disease and for their families and friends.

48 years to the day & anti-racism vigilance still needed in and through sport

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By Grant Jarvie

October 18 1968

In the course of 48 hours, Tommie Smith and John Carlos went from being celebrated to hated by many Americans. Two days after winning gold and bronze in the 200 meter sprint at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympic Games, both were suspended by the United States Olympic Committee for protesting against the racism experienced by black Americans and others.

As the national anthem played the pair bowed their heads and raised black gloved fists to bring attention to the injustices of black Americans. The athletes were stripped of their credentials and forced to leave the Olympic Village. At home they would receive death threats and finding employment became harder.

October 18 2016 

48 years on and the anti-racism actions of Smith and Carlos continue to be echoed by Colin Kaepernick and other athletes who have begun kneeling and or refusing to stand during the national anthem in protest against the brutality and killings experienced today in the US by so many black Americans.

Players from several NBA teams have locked arms in a sign of unity before recent exhibition games. The Celtics, Knicks, Rockets, Lakers and Kings have all locked arms during the playing of the national anthem. The gesture comes at a time when athletes in many sports at many levels are protesting racial inequalities and instances of police brutality.

The movement began when NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick chose to kneel during the national anthem. The NBA has a collectively bargained rule that states that all players, coaches and team staff must stand during the national anthem.

48 years on and anti-racism actions in and through sport are still needed in a world that is far from being a level playing field both in sport and society. 

Grant.Jarvie@ed.ac.uk

The ‘networked’ rise and power of the football super-agent

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By Dr Paul Widdop, Dr Dan Parnell and Tony Asghar

This summer, even for the hedonistic consumption of the Premier League, was unprecedented. Spending topped one billion pounds, with Manchester United breaking the World transfer record, in the region of £95million for Frenchman Paul Pogba.  Many within the football world were left dismayed that United payed so much for the Juventus player who the left the club for nothing in 2012. More disheartening for fans is the reputed 30% or if we conservatively round this down, the £20million fee super-agent Mino Raiola will collect.

Whilst football agents, the games infamous middle men, have been around since the early 1960’s , the term super-agent is only a recent arrival into the lexicon of association football. As money has flowed into the game, a powerful few have amassed enough resources to move from mere Agents to the grander media christened term ‘Super-Agents’.  Empirically of course it is difficult to typologise super-agents given the somewhat blurred boundaries, but we are told they are the most powerful men in football, not mangers, players, leaders of the games governing bodies, but agents.

However, what are we to make of super-agents and their networked world. Are they to be demonised as neo-liberal capitalists, fuelled by finance and commerce at odds with the cultural meaning of football as social institutions, or do they play a pivotal role in the production process, using there connected worlds to produce a global game.

It is somewhat easy to place all footballs ills at the doorstep of these business men. As Tony Asghar Managing Director of Revolution Global Sports Consulting Ltd and Masters in Sport Directorship student notes:

It is clear that the media and public perception of the role of the football agent has been dramatised as “the root of all evil” the people who “take money out the game” and “only think about themselves” , however on looking behind the curtain the role of the agent who represents a club in the transfer of player (buying or selling) or represents the player in negotiating an employment contract are necessities not only in football but in global commerce.

In this blog using a Social Network Analysis (SNA) we critically explore the networked rise of super-agents and how these structures give them power, resources and a means to restrict and skew the market. In doing so, we aim to provide both academic and industry insight.

 The rise and role of the super-agent

How did we get to this situation, where a powerful few have engineered a market-trading environment that not only facilitates a specific role for itself (agents), but one which would not function without them given their centrality to this market.  We consider that the rise in super-agent is fundamentally a network phenomenon.

We are interested here in whether this network takes away or restricts rational choice and constrains the trading market conditions, and ultimately whether this is positive or negative. Whilst it is difficult to define super-agents, it has been noted that a few represent the many, which has given rise to more networked with better connections than others (Poli, 2016). For Tony Asghar:

 “…the term Super-Agent has been tagged for a small number of agents (businessmen) who have created a business model which is clever and effective and is beneficial to the clubs who are working with them.”

However, it is clear that through their networks, super-agents have taken power from others and have created more for themselves. Perhaps the embodiment and archetypal manifestation of this is Portuguese businessman Jorge Mendes and his GestiFute networked empire.

Before exploring the networked nature of the GetisFute empire and its implications for global football, it is important to put the market and the agents role into context.

What is the role of an agent?

Agents can be described as those with the role of representing both clubs and players within the context of contracts or transfer negotiations, dealing with players image rights and carry out recruitment activities such as scouting (Poli, 2016). However, the actual role of agent (and intermediaries) has blurred boundaries. Fundamentally they are middlemen yet their role is increasing taking over responsibilities that were traditionally undertaken by the club. As Asghar notes:

“…representing the player in a contract negotiation requires payment whether it is a registered intermediary or a lawyer, whilst the credibility of a lawyer is not in question in most part (mostly due to the time spent educating themselves).

The role of an intermediary negotiating raises suspicion of lining their pockets. Intermediaries who are credible and have experience should only be looking for the best deal for their client and if this is matched by the club then the player is paid and the club may pay the agent fees on behalf of the player.

This is no different to any representation in entertainment, Media or other industry.”

Asghar believes the public scrutinise the role of agents for the most part because they don’t know exactly what they are being paid for:

“…most people agree that no person should sign a contract of any kind without seeking advice. Football players are no different. Perhaps the experience of an agent (who knows the market rate of salaries, knows how to structure a deal, knows the valuation of the player…) can be a lot more advantageous than an educated lawyer who may not have that experience.”

Asghar is also keen to raise awareness of all agents, not just those at the top of the pile:

“It is also important to note, that at present the public perception of agents who are making millions at the highest level of transfers does not alleviate for the majority of agents. Especially those moving players who are (i) free of contract (out of a job), (ii) not playing within a team, (iii) fell out with a manager and/or other reasons whereby time and effort are carried out (without payment) and not highlighted within the media.”

Jorge Mendes – a man at the top of the pile

Despite the significant numbers registered as agents, the market especially in the big European leagues follows somewhat of a power law distribution, i.e., more players are registered with a fewer number of agents. These agents gain further power and control becoming super-agents. We turn now to GestiFute and Jorge Mendes.

The rise in super-agents we believe is a network manifestation. The GestiFute networked business empire is illustrated below, it is an ego-net of Jorge Mendes.  To put this graph (network map) into context, the circles (nodes) represent football clubs and the line linking the two (an edge) represents a transfer between clubs (the players that Mendes represents).

The circle size is weighted on a measure of how often a circle falls along the shortest path connecting two other circle (football clubs), such that they might ‘broker’ between these parties (i.e., betweeness centrality). The lines (or transfers) are sized by number (or sum) of transactions between two clubs/circles. That means, the more transfers between the same clubs the greater the size of line.

What does this tell us?

medes

[Click on sociogram to enlarge]

This is a basic sociogram and helps to understand the complex network structure that exists. The network of Mendes is complex. However, we identify six points to consider in this brief insight into this ego-trade network of a super-agent (up until June 2016).

  1. This is a truly global network covering approximately 88 football clubs across 15 countries, involved in 500+ transfers. Portugal still remains the heartbeat of the organisation, but Spain is becoming important in this network.
  2. Examination of the graph metrics show that there are relatively short lines linking a few football clubs. This perhaps makes trading patterns more predictable.
  3. The three giants of Portugese football, FC Porto, Benfica, and Sporting Lisbon are the most central in the network and the powerbase of the organisation. Interestingly, there is relatively very little trade directly between these three, indirectly this is different. That is, players don’t move from FC Porto to Benfica to Sporting Lisbon, and so forth.
  4. Smaller provincial football clubs play key brokering roles in this network. For example smaller clubs in Portugal, for example Maritimo and Rio Ave FC. It appears that almost serve to be used as a trading hub, whether older players getting one last transfer, or a test bed for two years of a young star before being traded off in the football circus. This will be possibly at odds with the traditions and beliefs of the supporters.
  5. This clearly demonstrates the network nature of this industry and gives initial insight into how these agents have become all-powerful.
  6. Finally, whilst it is interesting to see the football clubs that are part of the Jorge Mendes network it is also interesting to note those that are not. Leading us to raise further questions. What impact does this have on them when they are trading? Is the market restricted for these organisations? What about the economics of rational choice? Perhaps a better way to understand this market is transactionally or relationally – through the lens of relational sociology.

 From an Agents perspective

From his deep knowledge of the industry, and understanding of the conventions and trading conditions of the market, Tony Asghar has somewhat of an alternative understanding of the network.

For Asghar:

“Jorge Mendes has created a network of players, clubs and managers with whom he has gained trust and respect as to being the man who can produce the best players for their clubs.

Mendes is a corporate head-hunter or talent finder who is no different to a Head-hunter is Silicon Valley or Hollywood as the “go to guy” to get the deals done.

There are other similar models by other agents working with a group of clubs and managers at lower level which again is bred by trust and ability rather than open a free market network to the ever increasing intermediaries after the de-regulation of FIFA agent regulations in 2015.”

Indeed, Asghar highlights that agents have an important contribution to the game:

“The issue of owning third party rights of players also comes into the world of the so-called super-agent, and although this is prohibited in the UK, FIFA and UEFA have still not regulated this type of transfer and Mendes and others have offered the service by purchasing a percentage of the player to allow the buying club to invest a more reasonable sum.

Like the banks and financial institutions used to provide loans for these fees, the super-agents are able to assist because they have the funds and more importantly have the experience and know the market and can make a calculated risk on their investment when moving a player say from South America to Europe and knowing he may accumulate club and international appearances and then be ripe for selling on to EPL or other top league for profit.

Therefore the commodities that players are becoming in the eyes of clubs and club owners are major financial investments and yes for every Pogba deal there will be a Falcao, some will work some will not.

The super-agent is becoming powerful but they are also becoming a necessity to the oligarch owners to make financial investment decisions on players, however managers will always have the say on players in order to create a winning team, and rightly so and in my experience most top level managers will not be swayed or overruled by a super-agent (if the player is not right for him), that will never happen.

Super-agents will be an exclusive and small band of football/business/relationship/social experts and even an agent who finds, nurtures a client that gets catapulted into super stardom then the super-agents are waiting to strike and offer that player into their exclusive club and why would the boys original agent say no, if he is getting a seat in the super-agents room, if only for a short time and not on the hard seats at the back of the room.”

The future

Clearly the network here only relates to Jorge Mendes and the players he represents. Therefore, this is not a clear portrayal of how the market is structured. Yet this does offers an insight into the networked characteristics of trading between clubs that warrants further investigation and critical thought.

This throws open questions of rational choice and utility models. In that clubs in the network, might be restricted by who they can trade with and for whom, whilst those clubs outside the network have barriers to entry into the market, given that this is an example of one of many super-agents in the market place.

What does this mean for smaller clubs? Are they destined to become small brokers or feeder clubs to the game’s elite? Will their players trading at the behest of external powers, or super-agents? It appears that power is ultimately being taken away from them as a single entity. They are at the behest of neoliberal forces that have significant access to resources and therefore power.

In a further development straight out of a text book example of Michael Porters five forces, the Fosun group who have a minority stake in GetisFute and heavily connected to Jorge Mendes  have entered into a new market and purchased a Football Club, it will be fascinating to view events unfolding at Wolverhampton Wanders founded in 1877. Indeed, it will be fascinating to see how Mendes and the Fosun group use Wolves to for their commercial gain.

At present elite level professional football continues to develop and extend its commercial power, whether in the English Premier League or in emerging football markets within the Global South. As such, we should expect the role of the super-agent to become more prominent as they grow their network and most certainly in their power to influence player transfers in football.

Perhaps the final word should be that of Asghars:

“The market is such that to have your club bring the biggest and best players, they need to call on the most expensive people and experts to provide the service. The culmination of transfer fees this window has exceeded 1bn and is excessive, however the market is dictating this and I don’t see it slowing down in the near future. A slow for deals at the top end or a slow for discretionary support at the bottom end”.

Dr Paul Widdop is a Global Fellow with the University of Edinburgh Academy of Sport and to contact the authors please email: p.widdop@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

English Premier League Trading Study – Preliminary Findings

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By Dr Paul Widdop and colleagues

A preliminary study into the trading networks of English Premier League Football Clubs suggests that West Ham United might have the most to learn from this data.

Dr Paul Widdop, along with colleagues at the University of Konstanz (Prof Ulrik Brandes); the Mitchell Centre (Prof Martin Everett); and Alliance Manchester Business School (Prof Adam Leaver) examine the structure of the transfer system of the English Premier League from 1992 – 2015; and professional clubs position in it. Evidence shows that trading patterns are not random rational acts; rather, they show a more highly structured network with differing levels of power and centrality.

received_10209605720564984[1]

Click on diagram or link to enlarge.

Trade-Networks[7] diagram

A recent FIFA report highlighted the significance of the global trade network in ‘Association Football’. Indeed, football clubs around the world spent a record  $4.1bn (£2.7bn) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30998454 on international player transfers during 2014. A significant proportion of this £2.7bn is accountable to the English Premier League (EPL). In total England was the world’s biggest spender in 2014, with its clubs paying $1.2bn (£795m) during the year. Furthermore, with the recent signing of new broadcasting rights 2016-2019, EPL clubs are set to share £8.3bn TV windfall [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/12141415/Premier-League-clubs-to-share-8.3-billion-TV-windfall.html] this has major implications not only on the international transfer market system but also the domestic one.

In this study we take a historical approach to the macro trading system to uncover patterns of connectivity, whilst also examining clubs position within the structure and what this means to their success and failure. It is a study of the domestic transfer system. The study is ongoing, but this overview gives good insight into how this system operates and the fragility of some clubs within its dense structure. A good way to measure and visualise this system is through a social network analysis approach, where links are forged between football clubs through trade in players. Furthermore, if we examine each EPL club and its transfers, making links between them, since the formation of the premier league the result would be a network: the EPL trade network.

Before we highlight our initial results, there is a need to put the sociogram (network map) into context. The nodes (squares or rectangles) represent football clubs, the line linking the two is an edge, an edge represents a transfer between clubs. The direction of the edge (arrow) represents which way the transfer (player(s)) flowed –seller to buyer.

Furthermore, the node height and width is weighted in and out-degree (in = incoming transfers; out =outgoing transfers; where degree means the number of ties that a node has). Edges are sized by number (sum) of transactions between two clubs, that is, the more transfers between the same clubs the greater the arrow (edge).

As can be discerned from this basic sociogram link above , a complex network structure exists. We identify six points to think about in this brief insight into this network.

• First, there is evidence of a core periphery structure.

• Second, although they share geographical propinquity there is little trade between clubs that operate in the same foci; this is especially true in the North West of England.

• Third, one pattern that emerges is the trade flow or indirect supply chain between Liverpool FC or Newcastle United FC via West Ham United to Queens Park Rangers.

• Fourth, of all the clubs operating in this market, perhaps West Ham United have the most obvious stability issues, in that there is constant trading in and out of the club.

• Fifth, successful teams in this time period are relatively small players in this domestic market, they are more dependent on the international global world system and are therefore less involved (net senders are wider than they are high).

• Finally, trading may not equate to success but it may equate to an ongoing sustainability and maintenance of position.

As identified this is our basic sociogram of the domestic transfer system in England, as part of our wider project we are also exploring other networks which include, the global transfer system; manager and directors; managers; agents, super agents and plyers/managers. Finally, we are exploring the flow of money in these systems.

Muirfield, golf and the myth of Scottish egalitarianism

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By

Grant Jarvie

“ The decision delivered at Muirfield is bad for golf, bad for sport, bad for Scotland and bad for those who would like Scotland to be truly egalitarian and just. “

The secretive and mysterious nature of the inner workings of the Scottish establishment are hard to track and yet it is evidenced on the public face of a place such as Muirfield, which shows scant regard for the simple goals of equality, regard or equality of sporting opportunity, all values allegedly held dear by the Scottish electorate.

Despite the popular image that Scotland is somehow a more egalitarian society in golfing terms such assertions can always be challenged as long as the privileged continue to operate a closed door policy in terms of membership.

It has often been argued that golf clubs or other sports clubs that are in receipt of public money should not be allowed to operate exclusive policies. If only it were that easy since money is clearly not an issue and therefore has not been a potential lever to produce change in such cases.

The threat of the Open Championship being taken away has not be enough to produce a vote that allows women golfers to join Muirfield.

  • To admit women golfers as members, Muirfield – a privately owned links in East Lothian run by The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers – needed two thirds (432) of its 648 eligible voters to back the move.
  • Of the 616 members who voted after a two year consultation 397 (64%) voted for change while 219 (36%) voted against. The Club voted in favour of change but fell short of the two thirds majority needed to produce change.
  • Muirfield has hosted the open on 16 occasions since 1892- the last time being 2013.

Historically golf is a cultural property that Scotland, rightly or wrongly, has claimed as its own. Other countries can also claim to have invented golf.

Scotland has also mythically or otherwise continued to claim it is an egalitarian country and yet in golfing terms the rich of the sporting world seem to be free to pursue their own interest and rules while paying little attention to sport for all.

Shakespeare on sport – 400 years on.

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By Craig Sharp

400 years after the death of the bard many continue to reflect upon the use of the word sport in the works of William Shakespeare. http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Brewster/shake.html

This small contribution continues such a tradition.

“He…hath drawn him and the rest of their company from their sport, to make another experiment of his suspicion.” (Mistress Page to Mistress Ford.Merry Wives of Windsor IV.ii.31).

“This sport well carried shall be chronicled” (Helena to Hermia Midsummer Night’s Dream III.ii.240).

“O Jesu this is excellent sport.” Hal to Falstaff. Henry 4 part 1. II.iv.383. Could be a comment on the whole marathon, with its 35,000 or whatever runners.

“Sport and repose lock from me day and night.” (from the visiting players Hamlet III.ii.227).

“I have some sport in hand, wherein your cunning can assist me much.” (Lord to players; Taming of the Shrew. Induction I.90).

“The body of our sport, of no small study.” (Two Noble Kinsman. Schoolmaster to all III.v.120).

“He is given to sports, to wildness and much company.” (Julius Caesar. Brutus to Cassius II.1.189).

“I wish ye sport” (Imogen to Guiderius;Cymbeline IV.ii.31).

“For this, be sure, tonight thou shalt have cramps,

Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up.” (Prospero to Caliban:

The Tempest I,ii.325).

“What will you do, good greybeard? Break a lance,

And run a-tilt at death within a chair?” (PUCELLE in Henry VI)

“This push will chair me ever, or dis-seat me now.” (Macbeth to a servant. Macbeth V, ii. 21).

“With thy brawls, thou hast disturbed our sport.” (Titania to Oberon. Midsummer Night’s Dream II.i.87).

Football justice and community- a tribute and record

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On the 26 April 2016, a 27 year struggle for truth by the families of of the 96 people who died at Hillsborough Stadium on the 15th of April 1989 heard the inquest into the Hillsborough stadium disaster conclude that the 96 fans had been unlawfully killed.

The inquest was asked to pass a verdict on 14 questions of which question 6 and 7 were seen as crucial-

Are you satisfied , so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed? Answer Yes

Was there any behaviour on the part of the football supporters which caused or contributed to the dangerous situation at the turnstiles? Answer No

The Facts

1989

15 April The worst disaster at a British Football ground took place at Hillsborough at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

16 April Kenny Dalgleish talking to the Observer notes that football is irrelevant when something like this happens. Dalgleish, who was manager of Liverpool at the time, played a huge role in helping the community and the club both through the day and in the aftermath of the tragedy. He and others has supported the families fight for answers throughout the 27 years.

17 April Jeremy Seabrook writing in the Guardian noted ‘ We were caged in like animals in zoo’ and the importance of Liverpool Football Club to the people of Liverpool and those at Hillsborough on that day was being displayed in ways  that confounded the most seasoned footballers and football managers.
1 August Lord Justice Taylor’s interim report blames police mismanagement and criticises South Yorkshire police.

1990

January Lord Taylor final report published recommending a fundamental rethink of the safety and maintenance of British football grounds. It rejected the idea of ID cards and brought in an era of all seater stadiums.
30 August The Crown Prosecution Service decides that their is insufficient evidence to justify criminal proceedings.

October South Yorkshire police admit negligence, failed in its duty of care and settles civil claims made by families.

19 November First inquest opens in Sheffield.

1991
28 March inquest returns a majority verdict of accidental death.

25 April Ian Taylor writes to Lord Justice Taylor suggesting that the £100,000 allocated to the modernisation of football stadia does not bode well. The treasury eventually makes £100 million available to the Football Trust to modernise football grounds.

29 October Police commander on the day of the stadium disaster retires from the police on medical grounds.

1992
13 January Disciplinary action against the control box commander at Hillsborough is dropped.

1993
5 November A judicial review application to revue the inquest verdict is rejected.

1996

8 July Sir Bernard Ingham letter states that to blame the police even although they made mistakes is contemptible.

5 December The government of the day orders the scrutiny of new evidence and it is found that 164 police officer accounts of the incident had been changed. The home secretary did not believe their was sufficient evidence for a new enquiry.

1998

13 February Lord Justice Stuart Smith rejects any grounds for prosecutions or quashing of the inquest verdict.

August The Hillsborough Family support group mount a private persecution against the match commander and others.

2000

24 July The jury does not reach verdict on the match commander who exercised the right not to give evidence.

2009

12 April The Guardian highlights the families ongoing grievances and complaints of injustice. Then labour Ministers Andy Burnham and Maria Eagle call for the documents relating to the disaster to be published.

15 April Burnham’s speech to the 20th anniversary memorial service at Anfield is interrupted by shouts of justice for the 96.

December Launch of the Hillsborough independent panel with a remit to to make the documents public.

2012

12 September The panel publishes its report, police failings are highlighted, the government of the day orders a new criminal inquiry. Operation resolve , the Independent police complaints commission launches an investigation.

19 December The verdict in the first inquest is quashed .

2014

31 March The new inquest begins in Warrington. This becomes the longest case heard by a jury in British legal history.

2016

26 April the jury delivers an unlawful killing verdict.

Talking about the verdict Dalgleish states:

” Well it can only be a pleasure for the families who have endured 27 years trying to get to the point that they knew should have been there 27 years ago. The way they have gone about getting to this point has been unbelievable – their humility, the way they’ve conducted themselves, their dignity and the determination to get what they thought was justice and the belief from them that the supporters were in no way, shape or form, to blame. You’re pleased that they’ve won this but on the other hand it’s taken 27 years out of their life, what they gave for their life and their families’ life. It’s fantastic news for them and it’s news that they thoroughly deserve”

Sport is not above the law but at the same time the law needs to be accountable to those it passes verdict on. In all of the 27 years from 1989 to 2016, least we forget, what forged this campaign was the honesty, humanity and solidarity of the football families and the football community which new that injustices had been carried out and which refused to let nothing but the truth be the final verdict.