Physical activity-related health competence as an integrative objective in exercise therapy and health sports – conception and validation of a short questionnaire

Health literacy represents an increasingly important subject in health sciences. This article initially illustrates a domain-specific model of physical activity-related health competence. Movement competence, control competence, and PA-specific self-regulation competence are described as sub-competencies.     

Envy and scorn as primary markers of the pervasive antipathy in college football’s rivalry games: the University of Michigan as a representative microcosm

Rivalry games – or derbies – are special. They involve emotions and identities that reach way beyond the playing field. This article submits that the emotional content and normative expression of college football rivalries in the United States are less defined by the respective teams’ actual athletic results in the competition but rather by their institutions’ perceived prestige as well as their social and cultural capital encapsulated by their academic ranking. Fans of the institution that is lower ranked in its academic status display envy towards their opponents representing an institution with higher academic ranking, whereas the latter express scorn for the former. They both hate each other but the nature of their respective hatred differs: envy up, scorn down. The paper analyses a bevy of college rivalries before focusing on two featuring the University of Michigan.     

Identity construction in professional football: the case of Brøndby IF

Professional football clubs exist in a complex environment consisting of multiple stakeholders. When a club is unable to fulfil what is expected of it, its stakeholders are usually quick to express their dissatisfaction. This constant exposure to critical voices, and the fact that clubs are deeply dependent on their stakeholders, not least financially, makes identity construction a very important task. Perceiving identity as a social process in which self-expressions and external stakeholder images interact, the purpose of this study is to examine how the Danish football club, Brøndby IF, constructs its identity. The analysis shows how Brøndby to some extent chooses to ignore external perceptions of the club, which leads to further criticism. The study suggests how football directors should prioritize to construct a well-balanced identity that includes both internal and external perceptions of the club in order to stay attractive to stakeholders and secure future collaboration and funding.     

The success culture of Nordic football: the cases of the national men’s teams of Norway in the 1990s and Iceland in the 2010s

Abstract

Every now and then – but with surprising regularity – small nations break through to the international level in sports and attract the attention of the global sports world. This paper focuses on two such occasions in men’s international football: the Norwegian national team in the 1990s and Iceland’s national team in the 2010s. We conducted case studies of the two teams, which consisted of interviews, observation of games and published material. The key emerging themes were how sport successes in Norway and Iceland took place amid the developing professionalism of sport, and how both teams built on important elements from amateurism and professionalism in their successful sporting conquests. We argue that some of the team’s characteristics were founded in a specifically Nordic mentality, which at the right time with the right message manifests in great achievements. Finally, the study follows the decay of the Norwegian national team in the new millennium and suggests that Icelandic football could face the same decline in results as Norway did 20 years earlier.     

‘Re-branding’ women’s football by means of a new Sports product: a case study of women’s football in Denmark

Women’s football (soccer in the US) does not reach the same overall popularity levels as men’s football measured on a variety of factors, i.e. league attendances, participants, media attention, fan engagement or strength of business models as it translates into brand equity and revenue generation. This article investigates how a new sports product, i.e. a new football (soccer ball) labelled ‘Sensational 1’, and its interaction with positive participation numbers concerning women’s football in Denmark can enhance the brand equity of women’s football in Denmark and exploit the associated commercial opportunities. In doing so, the article discusses how this development relates to factors like winning and success, passion and the business of sports, accountability and role models, brand articulation and marketability in the context of women’s football in Denmark.     

Injuries in football (soccer)—a systematic review of epidemiology and aetiological aspects

Increasing injury incidences prove the importance of injury prevention in football. The aim of this review was to summarise the recent evidence on the epidemiology and inciting events of acute injuries within subgroups (performance level, age and sex). A systematic literature search was conducted in the databases PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane, PEDro, and SPORTDiscus for articles published from 1 January 2014 until 15 October 2017. The search yielded 4690 results. After the initial screening of titles and abstracts, 182 studies underwent detailed full-text screening according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, 53 studies were included. Of these, 46 papers contained epidemiological data, with a total of approximately 41,212 observed player seasons and 11 further tournaments, including 7122.5 observed matches with approximately 126,748.5 player hours. A total of 30,844 injuries were identified. The overall injury incidence ranged from 0.6 to 20.3 injuries per 1000?h of exposure. The locations at highest risk of injury were the lower limbs, particularly the thighs, knees and ankles. Injury-inciting events were reported in 12 studies, involving a total of 8035 injuries. Of these 12 studies, 5 considered all body locations, 3 concentrated on anterior cruciate ligament injuries, 1 reported on general head injuries, 2 reported on concussions, and 1 reported on midfacial trauma only. One of the main findings of this review was that playing football does not necessarily imply a high risk of injury. Promising preventive approaches are being used to revise implementation strategies of evident training programmes and management of individual workloads.     

From Mitropa Cup to UEFA Cup: the role of UEFA in the establishment of a European scale in football, 1927–1972

ABSTRACT

Since the 1920s, many European exchanges began to exist in the domain of football. However, it was during the 1950s that a European scale was established primarily due to the creation of UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) in 1954, which quickly organized the first European tournament in the game’s history– The European Champions Clubs’ Cup. The present essay argues that Europeanization of the game has to be understood in a long-term perspective. The papers examines the creation and development of three competitions as key defining events, which represented different stages of the Europeanization of the game: Mitropa Cup (created in 1927), European Champion Clubs’ Cup (created in 1955) and UEFA Cup (created in 1971). Thus, afocus on these cases can help us better understand the background of the Europeanization of the game which happened during the 1990s.     

The relevance of media in football coaching: the case of José Mourinho’s leadership approach

This article examines the leadership approach of the football coach José Mourinho, particularly of the relevance of the media for his top performance at Porto (2002–2004), Chelsea (2004–2007), Inter Milan (2008–2010) and Real Madrid (2010–2013). The perspective from which we analyse the work of Mourinho in that period, and his presence in the media, is based on what science calls the paradigm of complexity. This is a relational perspective which, in this case, means not only focusing upon the actions ‘central’ to the activity in question – the technique, tactics, physical preparation and so on – but, with particular relevance, detail and in an integrated fashion, also focusing on the media and the cultural context in which the activity takes place. Key to the transformational work of José Mourinho is his presence in the media, the managing of fame, the challenges and ambitions of the players, the fans and the general public. At stake is a personification of a global system of significance.     

‘Race’, politics and local football – continuity and change in the life of a British African-Caribbean local football club

This paper focuses on the role of a local sports club in shaping the lives of British African-Caribbean males in one British city over a 40-year period. The paper describes how the ‘Meadebrook Cavaliers’ has transitioned from its origins as an East Midlands parks-based football team in 1970 to a successful senior-level local football club by the early 1980s, before finally achieving a further social and financial organizational complexity in its charitable status, attained in 2009. Attention is paid specifically to the social formation of this largely masculine ‘black’ sport space over time and on how, and in what ways, these developments in local sport in one club in one British city are also intimately connected to wider social, economic and political developments in the UK. In doing so, the paper demonstrates, both theoretically and empirically, how the emergence of ‘black’ local football resonates with social change around ‘race’ politics in Britain during the period 1970–2010. By the same token, this mainly black male sporting space continues to reflect and influence change in the wider political, social and sporting terrains within which the club has been located – and within the dynamic black African-Caribbean communities which constitute it.     

Macho men in a girls’ game: masculinities and the Otago men’s netball team

This article examines the experiences of seven men who play for the Otago men’s netball team (in Dunedin, New Zealand). Despite playing a sport that was initially invented as women’s basketball and in an association that has historically had a strong gay and trans* presence, they subscribe to rather hegemonic definitions of masculinity. All the players are both heterosexual and consider homosexuality incompatible with hegemonic masculinity. However, they also characterize homophobia as vulnerability and therefore a failure of masculine power. This suggests that there may be some shifts in definitions of hegemonic masculinity within this context. The traditional southern ‘hard man’ is therefore relegated to second-tier status: it is the man who tells his rugby mates that he likes netball that must ‘have a bit of bloody strength’.     

Can high-intensity interval training improve physical and mental health outcomes? A meta-review of 33 systematic reviews across the lifespan

ABSTRACT

High-intensity-interval-training (HIIT) has been suggested to have beneficial effects in multiple populations across individual systematic reviews, although there is a lack of clarity in the totality of the evidence whether HIIT is effective and safe across different populations and outcomes. The aim of this meta-review was to establish the benefits, safety and adherence of HIIT interventions across all populations from systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Major databases were searched for systematic reviews (with/without meta-analyses) of randomised & non-randomised trials that compared HIIT to a control. Thirty-three systematic reviews (including 25 meta-analyses) were retrieved encompassing healthy subjects and people with physical health complications. Evidence suggested HIIT improved cardiorespiratory fitness, anthropometric measures, blood glucose and glycaemic control, arterial compliance and vascular function, cardiac function, heart rate, some inflammatory markers, exercise capacity and muscle mass, versus non-active controls. Compared to active controls, HIIT improved cardiorespiratory fitness, some inflammatory markers and muscle structure. Improvements in anxiety and depression were seen compared to pre-training. Additionally, no acute injuries were reported, and mean adherence rates surpassed 80% in most systematic reviews. Thus, HIIT is associated with multiple benefits. Further large-scale high-quality studies are needed to reaffirm and expand these findings.

Abbreviations: ACSM: American College of Sports Medicine; BMI: Body Mass Index; BNP: Brain Natriuretic Peptide; BP: Blood Pressure; CAD: Coronary Artery Disease; CHD: Coronary Heart Disease; COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; CRP: c- reactive Protein; CVD: Cardiovascular Disease; DBP: Diastolic Blood Pressure; ES: Effect Size; FAS: Reduced Fatty Acid Synthase; FATP-1: Reduced Fatty Acid Transport Protein 1; FMD: Flow Mediated Dilation; Hs-CRP: High-sensitivity c- reactive Protein; HDL: High Density Lipoprotein; HIIT: High-Intensity Interval Training; HOMA: Homoeostatic Model Assessment; HR: Heart Rate; HTx: Heart Transplant Recipients; IL-6: Interleukin-6; LDL: Low Density Lipoprotein; LV: Left Ventricular; LVEF: Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction; MD: Mean Difference; MetS: Metabolic Syndrome; MPO: Myeloperoxidase; MICT: Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training; NO: Nitric Oxide; NRCT: Non-Randomised Controlled Trial; PA: Physical Activity; PAI-1: Plasminogen-activator-inhibitor-1; QoL: Quality of Life; RCT: Randomised Controlled Trial; RoB: Risk of Bias; RPP: Rate Pressure Product; RT: Resistance Training; SBP: Systolic Blood Pressure; SD: Standardised Difference; SMD: Standardised Mean Difference; TAU: Treatment-As-Usual; T2DM: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; TC: Total Cholesterol; TG: Triglycerides; TNF-alfa: Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha; UMD: Unstandardised Mean Difference; WC: Waist Circumference; WHR: Waist-to-Hip Ratio; WMD: Weighted Mean Difference

Key points:

• HIIT may improve cardiorespiratory fitness, cardiovascular function, anthropometric variables, exercise capacity, muscular structure and function, and anxiety and depression severity in healthy individuals and those with physical health disorders.

• Additionally, HIIT appears to be safe and does not seem to be associated with acute injuries or serious cardiovascular events.

     

Scandinavian women’s football: the importance of male and female pioneers in the development of the sport

ABSTRACT

The importance of female and male pioneers in the development of women’s football in Scandinavia is in focus, where some of the female pioneers’ experiences presented. Sif Kalvø from Western Norway was the first known Scandinavian female football player who played abroad in Italy in 1971, and she was one of the pioneers. She was dependent on door openers in Norway and abroad. The door openers role, in making professional football possible; how the professional contracts came through; and why the Scandinavian female footballers went global in the early phases, discussed. To study this the Norwegian Mother of Women’s football, Målfrid Kuvås, and other female pioneer footballers are in-depth interviewed. Kuvås’ large collection of scrapbooks with media coverage, letters and other correspondence from the 1960s to 2000s are also studied. Qualitative in-depth interviews carried out, with five of the early professionals and five of the leaders involved in the migration processes. Secondary sources are academic literature and sport media. The dream about playing professional football, and to be able to live from football brought female players across the globe. Due to this, migration research is of interest when studying women’s football, and ‘push’- and ‘pull’- factors in migration are discussed.     

Authentic inquiry-based learning in health and physical education: a case study of ‘r/evolutionary’ practice

Background: Greater understandings about how progressive pedagogies are interpreted and practiced within schools will be required if international calls to enhance relevance and meaning in Health and Physical Education (HPE) are to be realised. Little is understood about how inquiry-based units of work connected to real-life issues are enacted, engaged with, and generate deeper knowledge within a HPE context.

Purpose: This study explores learner outcomes and perceptions of engagement with an inquiry-based unit of work, Take Action, that aimed to provide young people with an opportunity to critically reflect on movement, investigate an issue important to them, and enhance their capacity to enact positive change for themselves and others.

Participants and setting: Forty-four students and three teachers from two secondary school settings participated in the research. Both schools were located in relatively low socio-economic status areas in southern metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Data collection and analysis: An exploratory and evaluative study design that employed naturalistic inquiry, using qualitative semi-structured interview data, observational data, and analysis of learner-produced artefacts were used. Analysis drew upon authentic learning frames to explore elements of knowledge construction through disciplined inquiry and real-life application.

Findings: Take Action provided a unique experience of HPE for the students and teachers who engaged with it. It was a collaborative, learner-centred inquiry-based experience that most learners found to be engaging and authentic. Both teachers and learners lacked the foundational knowledge of the discipline and a sound understanding of a critical-inquiry process that would have allowed them to deconstruct and reconstruct new ideas in deep interconnected ways.

Conclusions: More support for teachers and students is needed to legitimate these types of approaches within broader curriculum contexts to support student learning. Specifically, foundational understandings of: socially critical approaches to critical inquiry that serve to enhance knowledge relating to learner-identified topics; learning intentions and authentic assessment and how these might align with inquiry-based learning; forming connections with external experts to support learners early in an inquiry process; and how to extend explorations and elaborations within the constraints of a congested and contested curriculum.     

‘I just want to watch the match’: a practitioner’s reflective account of men’s health themed match day events at an English Premier League football club

This study reflects on the effectiveness and delivery of a series of health themed match day events at an English Premier League Football Club which aimed to create awareness and motivate men to adopt recommended health behaviours. A range of marketing techniques and activities were adopted within a targeted space and time to increase men’s exposure to health information. The first author adopted a practitioner-cum-researcher role and was immersed in the planning and delivery of the events utilising the principles of ethnography. Data were predominately collated through observations and personal reflections logged via autobiographical field notes. Data were analysed through abductive reasoning. In general, men were reluctant to engage in health-related behaviours on match days. However, subtle, non-invasive approaches were deemed successful. Positive outcomes and case studies from the latter techniques are presented and suggestions for effective strategies that will better engage men in health information and behaviours are made.     

Beyond the reach of FIFA: football and community ‘development’ in rural South Africa,towards a politics of inclusion and sustainability

The real legacy of the 2010 World Cup is that people in the focus areas of Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg–Tshwane may have received some benefit from infrastructural development while much of the rest of South Africa has fallen further behind those globally projecting conurbations. Though the literature on sport and community development is growing rapidly as is work on legacy and mega events, there are few studies that examine initiatives generated within local communities, particularly those located well away from the activities of international sport development agencies. In this paper, we examine a village football team in rural Mpondoland in the far reaches of the Eastern Cape located well away from the impact of World Cup football-related initiatives. We also explore activities of international sport development agencies. We examine the motivations of the players, the community role that football plays and how community-generated initiatives might be supported and nurtured with full involvement and democratic decision-making practices embedded into the operation of local sporting groups. Understanding the hurdles faced in resource-strapped communities will enhance discussion of the ways in which sporting development can be supported rather than imposed and become sustainable in the future.     

Institutional maintenance and elite sport: a case study of high-performance women’s ice hockey in Canada

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how Canadian women’s hockey stakeholders view the elite female hockey program and its impact upon the ability of a player to progress along the athlete development pathway. This research applied institutional work through institutional maintenance to address this purpose. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with players, parents, coaches and administrators with experience within elite female ice hockey programs. The finding indicated a static approach that mimicked the dominant male elite sport development model that both enabled and constrained the opportunities for female players to advance to high performance levels. The implications for the future success of women’s elite hockey in Canada, and the value of the Canadian model as an exemplar to countries building their female hockey systems are discussed.     

‘Defnyddiwch y Gymraeg’1: community sport as a vehicle for encouraging the use of the Welsh language

Abstract

Despite cultural and statutory changes, including significant investment in Welsh medium education, latest census data show a drop in the percentage of Welsh speakers. Moreover there is a concern that many of those who are able to speak Welsh are not using it – the language is not ‘alive’. The Welsh Language Commissioner has identified sport as a space where Welsh can be used, encouraged and promoted. The aim of this study was to investigate whether community sport clubs can provide a space to encourage the use of Welsh. Using qualitative methods we found that strategies to promote Welsh in sports clubs are potentially divisive. The dominant and ‘operational’ language of many community sport clubs is English. Increasing the use of Welsh in these clubs risks excluding non-Welsh speakers, but ignoring the language denies Welsh speakers the opportunity to participate in Welsh.     

Of magic and mania: reflections on the fan following of Brazilian football and Pelé in Calcutta

Why do Indians celebrate Brazilian football? Is it because Indians do not have local stars to root for? Why does it have to be Brazil? Why was a generation of football fans in Calcutta in awe of an exotic South American footballer called Pelé? This essay responds to these conundrums by analysing transnational football fandom from perspectives of cultural diffusion and image-making. It situates circulation of culture in a historical study of the impact of Brazilian football, with particular emphasis on Pelé, as borne out by fan culture in India. It examines if the similarities between India and Brazil in the global meridian of development had any bearing on football fandom. Next, it studies particularly how Pelé’s visit to Calcutta in 1977 was registered by the overlapping categories of fans, politicians and journalists. By doing so, it offers a model of understanding moral/cultural networks of transnational fandom in terms of hero/icon/legend worship.