The importance of sport in forming a national identity, by Dr Matt Ashton

In the mid 1990s the political theorist Robert Putnam popularised the term ‘social capital’, in his bestselling book Bowling Alone. Broadly speaking, social capital referred to the links between people. If you had lots of friends willing to help you out when you were in trouble you’d be rich in social capital even if you were poor in physical or intellectual capital.  A variety of different studies have argued that the more social capital a country has the happier it is, as there are strong bonds tying society together. National identity with its shared sense of belonging is a key way of generating and promoting social capital.

For most countries national identity evolves naturally over time, based largely on a shared language, history and cultural touchstones. When any of these things are missing there is much more likely to be conflict between different groups that can sometimes slide into civil war. In Britain, our sense of national identity influences how we speak, behave and relate to others on a daily basis. For instance, politicians often refer to the ‘spirit of Dunkirk’ as a way of conjuring up the idea of succeeding against the odds. This reference would be quite familiar to the average citizen thanks to a diet of old war films and half remembered history lessons. However, for most people in Latin America or Asia the phrase might as well be meaningless.

This is where sport comes in. Nothing fosters a sense of shared national identity better than the country taking part in a global sporting competition (short of declaring a popular war). It draws people together into supporting the national team and this is partly why the World Cup is so important for South Africa. Due to its traumatic history, fractured by the apartheid regime, there are still huge differences in South African society with pronounced divisions between rich and poor and the various social and ethnic groups.

Sport increasingly crosses cultural and political boundaries in a way that few other activities can. The recent Clint Eastwood film Invictus deals with this subject in that the newly released Nelson Mandela saw the rugby world cup team as a vehicle to help bring the country together with a shared purpose. The teams’ success, eventually winning the competition, provided a huge boost to his government and helped the society make the transition from the Apartheid dictatorship to democracy. Now cracks are emerging again, prompted in part by the economic crisis that has swept the world in recent years. The question remains however, while the World Cup might temporarily paper over these cracks, can it help develop the social capital needed for solutions to the long term problems facing South Africa?

Dr Matt Ashton, Nottingham Trent University

To speak to Dr Ashton, call the University Press Office directly on 0115 848 8782 or email worldcup@ntu.ac.uk

[To view Nottingham Trent University’s team of World Cup experts go to www.ntu.ac.uk/worldcup]

The cultural politics of our football communities: Where are our talented Asian footballers?

Cardiff City player, Michael Chopra. One of only seven British Asian players in the elite football system

Amidst the backdrop of the fervour of this World Cup, certain cultural aspects of England’s football communities seem ever more politicised and deserving of a little more thorough than a cursory glance. In part even more important due to the lack of relative media and political attention they attract in comparison with WAGs, celebrity culture and selection minutiae hearsay.

Whilst the World Cup is sold as a uniting and global pageant in the host ‘rainbow nation’ there are parallel issues that, to those interested in the development of football talent and building of community structures, remains a source of potential cultural complexity.

One such issue is the complex and, at times, contentious issue of the lack of Asian footballers progressing into the elite football system. There are currently only seven British Asian players in this system; Zesh Rehman (Bradford City), Krishnan Patel (Bury), Michael Chopra (Cardiff City), Anwar Uddin (Dagenham & Redbridge), Rikki Bains (Darlington), Aman Verma (Leicester) and Netan Sansara (Walsall).

Whilst football participation rates amongst Asian communities are higher than the national average, the numbers of those that progress into the professionalised academy system beyond recreational club performance and the lower levels of the FA pyramid structure are very limited.

Research conducted by the Commission for Racial Equality in 2004 found that only 0.8% of those young footballers in academies of centres of excellence were of Asian descent. An independent study eight years earlier had established this figure at 0.2%. This broad benchmark, given that around 15% of Asian adult men play football recreationally, illustrates there is a mismatch somewhere.  

There is also an implication for this issue in relation to inequality and potential discrimination that may be acting as a barrier to talent and the development of future stars that could be participating for England at national level. Past research into this issue has highlighted some of these subtle factors that remain difficult to address.

A further cultural issue is the interaction this may also have with what could be termed the ‘cultural politics of football’ in this country. How do Asian participants in local communities associate with the English flag and the often nationalistic, monolithic boundaries of “being English” promoted during the World Cup tournament? Is the supposed shared or imagined community of English fandom one that would be inclusive for the diverse religious and cultural communities that should be engaged by this global showcase in England? It appears that whilst football is popular amongst Asian communities, the link to sustained participation beyond local community recreational level is problematic and currently beyond our grasp. 

Historical academic research has shown that there are complex local, regional, national and indeed globalised identities present within the diverse Asian sporting community. How these interact with the imagery and language of supporting ‘Engerland’ in 2010 can be a sharp contrast with the aspiration of an inclusive vision of a 21^st Century nation at ease with its own multi-ethnic and varied religious backgrounds of its supporters.

Could this World Cup be an opportunity for greater inclusivity of England supporters, potential participants and future community club volunteers or coaches? It would be hoped so, but, for the Asian communities of England having an ever more glaring lack of presence in the highest tier of professional football and limited opportunities in the lower levels of the professional game serious questions remain.

As a country that since the 1997 election has poured significant developmental monies into community and school football, what has been the legacy for those Asian footballers that aspired to make it to this global stage? It is surely not acceptable for sports development professionals and, more specifically, the English footballing structures, governing bodies and policy makers to still have a status quo on the lack of talent that seems to make it through our revered academy system.

A move to address socio-cultural issues within the academies, grass roots youth football development systems that address bias, talent selection/identification and coach perceptions is long overdue for our young Asian footballers. The mysterious talent vacuum present today is most neatly reflected by the omission from our squad of any footballer of Asian descent. By 2018 will we have made any further headway?       

Chris Mackintosh, senior lecturer in sports development, Nottingham Trent University

To speak to Chris, call the University Press Office directly on 0115 848 8782 or email worldcup@ntu.ac.uk

[To view Nottingham Trent University’s team of World Cup experts go to www.ntu.ac.uk/worldcup]

The World Cup, football-speak and national identity, by Dr Dean Hardman

When the football World Cup comes around once every four years, it seems like the nation is gripped by World Cup fever.  Not only is there wall-to-wall coverage of the actual matches; extra television programmes devoted to talking about the matches are aired, while football permeates every other televisual and media genre.  Football, already the advertising vehicle of choice for a whole range of brands and products, is used to promote everything from soft drinks to washing powder, from credit cards to chocolate.  There doesn’t seem to be a product or service whose brand managers don’t see the world cup as a prime opportunity to increase brand awareness.

Clearly these advertisers are drawing upon the high level of interest that the world cup generates among otherwise casual viewers of the game.  Everyone during a World Cup, especially but not exclusively when a home nation is involved, has an opinion on football.  These range from the team and game-specific: “Rooney’s injury holds the key, they’ve got to play 4-4-2”, to the more general: “England have got no chance”, and from the positive: “I’m so excited about tonight’s game”, to the negative: “I can’t believe they’ve cancelled Eastenders for this.”  Whether the speaker or writer has any specialist knowledge or not, or whether their opinion or comment is positive or negative doesn’t really matter: all this shared focus on football and talking about the world cup helps to reinforce social identities and helps us to construct a shared sense of group identity.  Ultimately this might be a shared sense of Englishness that talking about the England team creates.  However, it might just as easily be a shared sense of Scottishness when talking about a strong desire to see England fail, or a shared anti-football agenda.

Casual viewers also begin to draw upon the footballing lexicon for the first time in four years.  “Beating the offside trap” is inserted awkwardly into sentences, alongside the notion of “hitting a barn door with a banjo” or “making an impression early doors” as “squeaky bum time approaches”.  The Ivory coast might need to “shut up shop”, while everyone wants to know who will survive the “group of death”.  Again, having a shared national footballing lexicon to delve into also helps to oil the wheels of communication  and reinforces a sense of national togetherness and cohesion.

Whatever one’s feelings are towards the world cup, it is absolutely unavoidable.  It is going to be all but impossible to spend the month of June in the UK without being bombarded with images of footballers selling ice-creams, or hearing colleagues speak, sometimes inarticulately, about events in South Africa.  At the same time, though, for one month only, talking about football becomes a key way in which vast swathes of the population signify membership of a whole range of social groupings and identities.  For a limited time only you need never be stuck for something to say, it’s the event that we can all feel part of.

Dr Dean Hardman, lecturer in linguistics, School of Arts & Humanities