Practice, instruction and skill acquisition in soccer: challenging tradition

The acquisition of soccer skills is fundamental to our enjoyment of the game and is essential to the attainment of expertise. Players spend most of their time in practice with the intention of improving technical skills. However, there is a lack of scientific research relating to the effective acquisition of soccer skills, especially when compared with the extensive research base on physiological aspects of performance. Current coaching practice is therefore based on tradition, intuition and emulation rather than empirical evidence. The aim of this review is to question some of the popular beliefs that guide current practice and instruction in soccer. Empirical evidence is presented to dispel many of these beliefs as myths, thereby challenging coaches to self-reflect and critically evaluate contemporary doctrine. The review should inform sports scientists and practitioners as to the important role that those interested in skill acquisition can play in enhancing performance at all levels of the game.     

Ending traditions: football and the study of football in the 1990s

John Williams and Stephen Wagg (eds.), British Football and Social Change: Getting into Europe (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1991). Pp.258. £13.99 (paper). ISBN 0–7185–1410–6.

Steve Redhead (ed.), The Passion and the Fashion: Football Fandom in the New Europe (Aldershot: Arena, 1993). Pp.205. £29.95 (cloth) and £12.95 (paper). ISBN 1–85628–462‐X; 1–85628–464–6.

Alex Fynn and Lynton Guest, Out of Time: Why Football isn't Working (London: Simon and Schuster Pocket Books, revised edition, 1994). Pp.xiii + 400. £5.99 (paper). ISBN 0–671–85087–3.

John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson (eds.), Hosts and Champions: Soccer Cultures, National Identities and the USA World Cup (Aldershot: Arena, 1994). Pp.323. £35.00 (cloth); £14.95 (paper). ISBN 1–85742–227–9; 1–85742–228–7.

Richard Giulianotti and John Williams (eds.), Game Without Frontiers: Football Identity and Modernity (Aldershot: Arena, 1994). Pp.381 £35.00 (cloth); £14.95 (paper). ISBN 1–85742–219–8, 1–85742–220–1.

Richard Haynes, The Football Imagination: The Rise of Football Fanzine Culture (Aldershot: Arena, 1995). Pp.xi + 169. £29.95 (cloth); £12.95 (paper). ISBN 1–85742–212–0; 1–85742–213–9     

Science and football: a review of applied research in the football codes

Over the last two decades there has been a growth in research directly related to football. Although most of this research is focused on soccer (association football), there has been a steady increase in publications related to the other football codes. There is evidence of more systematic training and selection influencing the anthropometric profiles of players who compete at the highest level. Fitness is being optimized to cope with match demands while accommodating the need for specific requirements of positional roles. There is evidence of work rate being higher in contemporary football games than in previous decades, with consequences for training and dietary practices. Notation analysis of actions during matches is now used regularly to provide detailed objective feedback on performance to players and coaches. Training regimens are designed for game-specific purposes where possible. Sports psychologists working in a football context have a more eclectic body of knowledge to draw from. In the professional soccer clubs, the rewards associated with a successful investment in youth academies have helped to focus attention on talent identification and development models. It is a challenge to those specializing in science and football to contribute to the success of such schemes.     

Poles apart: foreign players,Polish football and Euro 2012

The 14th running of the UEFA European Championships represented a watershed moment for football, and sport more broadly, in Eastern Europe. Whilst the competition itself might have been restricted to Europe’s elite national teams, world football’s gaze was drawn towards the joint hosts, Poland and the Ukraine, for the duration of the tournament. At this juncture, therefore, this paper seeks to consider the ‘place’ of football in Eastern Europe, and in this case, Poland specifically, by conducting an analysis of the economic value of Poland’s top division – the Ekstraklasa, and by examining the factors that influence foreign players’ decisions to migrate to that particular league. The paper identifies that whilst the Ekstraklasa might sit outside of Europe’s core football economies, it still offers much as a migration destination for certain sorts of players. However, the paper also shows that whilst the 2012 UEFA European Championships provided significant exposure for Poland in the football context, it is less clear if hosting the event will have a lasting effect on the development of Poland’s top league and its desirability to foreign players.     

Football,identity, place: The emergence of Rugby football in Brisbane

Today we accept that football in its various forms is the predominant winter sport in Brisbane; in fact, it is reasonable to state that this is true globally. This paper examines the construction of identity of Brisbane and its people through football in the colony of Queensland during the 1880s. It demonstrates the centrality of sport in this process. The struggle over the choice of football code illustrates how sport was a feature of contested social and cultural terrains and how support for a game was a source of the construction of the identity of initially Brisbane and later Queensland. The paper further illustrates the centrality of the role of sport in the cultural hegemony of British imperialism and of the predominance of the ideology of athleticism in the public schools of colonial Australia.     

Moments of social inclusion: asylum seekers,football and solidarity

Abstract

Established in 2012, ‘the Seekers’ are a football club in Melbourne, Australia. Initially set up to provide social recreation for various refugees and asylum seekers, the Seekers have more recently entered a team in the mainstream league competition. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper considers how football facilitates forms of social inclusion for team members, both in relation to the action of the sport and the political and social context of Australian society more broadly. In many ways the field of sport is highly contested as players engage with the mainstream; however the solidarity forged through playing creates the possibility for moments of social inclusion in other ways. The capacity of sporting interactions to facilitate social inclusion for male team members is vexed, though there is evidence to suggest that, in the correct conditions, sport can contribute to an individual’s capacity to access employment and educational opportunities.     

Socio-educational work with football fans in Germany: principles,practice and conflicts

The paper explores socio-educational fan work in Germany, focusing on the part played by fan projects in preventing football-related violence. It supplies an overview of the German model of repression and prevention since its beginnings in the 1990s. The work of fan projects in Germany is institutionalized under German social law. The article outlines the theoretical concepts of socio-educational work on which the fan projects are based and shows that fan projects play an important role in mediating the conflict interactions between clubs, fans and police. Insights into difficulties and conflicts are debated. Although fan projects are very successful, a systematic evaluation is lacking. Advantages, pitfalls and future prospects are discussed.     

European football clubs and football betting among the youths in Nigeria

European football clubs are very popular social realities in Nigeria. Their existence and activities shape social relations, process and outcomes of well-being as well as socio-economic and policy orthodoxies. Unfortunately, social trajectories of well-being, economic ramifications and policies remain poorly understood in Nigeria. What some people are aware of is the popularity of the clubs and not the intensification of associated implications and policy remits in existential environments of their social spaces. This is particularly important as the domains of European football clubs’ presence in developing countries, especially Nigeria, are largely nascent and haphazard. Against this background, this article examined the phenomenon of football betting as an ancillary of European football clubs’ presence among the youths in Nigeria. This article makes important contribution to understanding of ways European football identities are interlinked to the increased popularity of betting syndicates especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Research questions engaged include; what is the pattern involved in football betting among the youths? What are the factors facilitating football betting among the youths and What are the perceived developmental implications relative to well-being and social health in Nigeria? The Social Exchange theoretical tradition was adopted as theoretical framework. Data collection triangulated quantitative method (questionnaires) and qualitative methods. Relevant findings were made and valid conclusions were reached and presented in this article.     

Exit,voice and loyalty: the dislocation of football fan communities

The creation of a new non-league community-led football team, borne out of opposition to the commercialization of the modern fan experience, presents a range of challenges both on and off the football pitch. FC United of Manchester emerged from the fan protests at the Glazer family takeover of Manchester United FC (MUFC) in 2005. Positioning itself in direct opposition to the corporatization of league football, it has come to prominence as a model of democratic and innovative cooperative social enterprise and, as such, a viable alternative for football fan self-organization. The sustainability of the FC United model requires long-term financial and cultural security. This article applies Hirschman’s lexicon of exit, voice and loyalty to the process of dislocation of fans from MUFC and their relocation to an area of relative deprivation in east Manchester to illuminate the challenges of creating shared community assets between an extant community and football’s arrivistes.