International Review for the Sociology of Sport最新文献

Empirical studies show that first- and second-generation immigrants are less likely to be members of sports clubs than their non-immigrant peers. Common explanations are cultural differences and socioeconomic disadvantages. However, lower participation rates in amateur sport could be at least partly due to ethnic discrimination. Are minority ethnic groups granted the same right to belong as their non-immigrant peers? To answer this question, this paper uses publicly available data from a field experiment in which mock applications were sent out to over 1,600 football clubs in Germany. Having a foreign-sounding name significantly reduces the likelihood of being invited to participate. The paper concludes that amateur football clubs are not as permeable as they are often perceived to be. It claims that traditional explanations for lower participation rates of immigrants need to be revisited.

This paper demonstrates the community support of Premier League football players during the first COVID-19 national lockdown in the United Kingdom (March to May 2020). Given the global popularity and influence of footballers' behaviour, it shows that they play an important role as citizens in supporting wider communities during circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A content analysis of 376 Premier League football players (80% of those registered) comprising 3877 posts on Instagram and Twitter is presented. The findings show 12 athlete citizenship roles during the pandemic which collectively illustrates players fostering support for fans and citizen's public health compliance, wellbeing and lives. Players also conveyed how they coped with the pandemic with their athlete mindset and were hopeful for a better future. The discussion and conclusion suggest that COVID-19 has presented an opportune time to renegotiate the complex social systems of which athletes are a part, identifying how they can engage in citizenship and future community support embracing the fullest range of their sporting profession.

The aim of this paper was to photograph this precise moment in history, focusing on the situation of older adults during the COVID-19 health emergency in Northern Italy. In particular, we analysed the relationship between social networks and social support, sport and recreational activity, and the use of communications technologies in December 2020. We investigated and discussed such use of technologies, wondering if and how it helped to compensate for the diminishment in social health, usually gained trough social interactions and the practice of sport and physical activity. We examined how reduction of mobility, social distancing and isolation measures imposed by the government to reduce the spread of COVID-19, affected the living conditions of the older adults, in particular their social health, and the level of sport and physical activity they were engaged in. We collected data through interviews with the subjects, assessing their social networks, the perceived social support provided by their family members, friends and caregivers, and the level of sport and physical activity they were engaged in. Moreover, we analysed the impact of technological communications devices, which were employed to help older adults to maintain their relationships with the outside world and to preserve their active life. The interview questions were formulated based on the Lubben Social Network Scale-Revised (LSNS-R), the short version of the Social Support List (SSL12-I) for the elderly and the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). A relationship was found between the social health related to physical activity of the older adults subjects during the COVID-19 emergency and the use of communications technologies, which played a role in mitigating the impact of the crisis on their social health by helping them to keep physically and socially active.