Dear all,
I do hope you all had a wonderful and restful summer holiday. Now it’s over for most of us, and not least for this editor there’s much to do and most of it much like what I always do; but thankfully, always with a crucial difference – exciting new content. Which is to say that we’ll be publishing the usual stuff – articles of varying degree of academic depth as well as book reviews, journal presentations and news of interest for anyone involved in social science studies of sports. I sincerely hope that you will be with us all through the fall semester.
A few comments are called for regarding the list below of what’s been published since our latest newsletter, of June 26. One feature article was published mid-august, another one plus two book reviews last week. Seven new posts were published on the idrottsforum.org blog during summer. We’re still working on catching up with the publication for scholarly journals. Quite a few were publicized during summer, but the ones listed below are all from last week. We list all news items, mostly calls for papers, published since Midsummer. You’ll find that for some of them abstract submission deadlines are long gone, sometimes even the event itself. But you get a chance to see what you missed.
As usual the listed published pieces include language and publication dates, YYMMDD, in brackets. Click on the red headings to go to content. Utilize the Google Translate service to turn Scandinavian language pages into (some sort of) English.
Again, welcome back, and have a great week and semester,
Kjell Eriksson
Editor
Feature Article
How not to study bias
Torsten Skov read an article in Sport Management Review that challenges the idea that the relatively low demand for women’s professional soccer is due to the poor quality of female players’ technical performance. Central to the argument in the article is that evaluations of sports are biased by gender stereotypes, and the authors attempt to show this through an experiment. However, as Torsten Skov shows, bias is a tricky phenomenon to study. (Published in English 230814.
Bibliography of Finnish Sports Journalism: A Review
In February 2023, a bibliography of Finnish sports journalism was launched as an outcome of a project carried out in the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä. The site also presents key concepts and characteristics of sports journalism and sports media, as well as the history of Finnish sports journalism. Vi asked Veera Ehrlén to review the site. She applauds the initiative and the outcome, but she also highlights a few weaknesses, for instance regarding the treatment of female sports journalism. (Published in English 230830.
Book Reviews
Social Capital and Sport Organizations, by Richard Tacon
Drawing on primary research within voluntary sports clubs in the UK and secondary analysis of the wider international literature on social capital, Richard Tacon’s Social Capital and Sport Organisations (Routledge) focuses on the micro-processes of social capital development and how they play out in specific social settings. In his appreciative review, Karsten Elmose-Østerlund points out some unique features, such as a new conceptualization of social capital, and thorough qualitative case studies as empirical basis for his analyses. (Review in English, published 230828.)
The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Race, Power, and Sportswashing, by Jules Boykoff
In his new book The 1936 Berlin Olympics: Race, Power, and Sportswashing (Common Ground), Jukes Boykoff situates Hitler’s Olympics in the longer political history of the Games and examines the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to the International Olympic Committee handing these Games to Germany in the first place. Martin Friis Andersen is our reviewer, and he finds Boykoff’s analyses enlightening and he appreciates his provocative style. (Review in English, published 230901.)
New Blog Posts
Oppbud og forbud, vakthold og måtehold: Når supporterskap blir fiendskap [Invitations and prohibitions, guarding and moderation: When supportership becomes enmity], by Mads Skauge
This is written in concern. Something must happen, because something important is about to be lost. As a researcher of football culture and supportership, Bodø/Glimt has always interested me. Norwegian supporter culture started in Bodø in the 70s. At that time, everyday clothes were the norm in Norwegian football arenas, but Glimt sympathizers began to dress in yellow. Soon it became impossible to imagine Glimt matches without “det gule koret” (The Yellow Horde) in the stands. There was a participatory element to the way Glimt’s supporters got involved in the matches. (Published in Norwegian 230704.)
I’m sorry, but the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ is just another form of elitism, by Duncan Stone
For the first four days of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia, the atmosphere at Lord’s Cricket Ground had been sedate to say the least. So sedate, in fact, that numerous posts on Twitter were either making unfavourable comparisons to the vibrancy witnessed throughout the first Test at Edgbaston or, even, suggesting the blood and thunder of ‘Bazball’ was “incompatible” with the staid conformity of Lord’s. Day five would prove to be very different, however, as the affordability of tickets, at just £25, had ensured a demographic change among the spectators akin to that called for by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket Report (ICEC) earlier in the week. (Published in English 230704.)
Penalties, passes, and a touch of politics: the Women’s World Cup is about to kick off, by David Rowe
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off this Thursday night, the first football world cup hosted by Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand opens the tournament by taking on Norway in Auckland, while Australia’s Matildas will play Ireland in front of an anticipated 80,000 fans at a sold out Stadium Australia in Sydney. Despite the persistent delusion of some that politics should be kept out of sport, it has always been suffused with political calculations and meanings. The major question is not whether but what kinds of politics will be played and by whom. (Published in English 230717.)
Three reasons why your daughter shouldn’t play football, by Erkki Vettenniemi
The kids are back in school, and the habitual hunt for healthy, wholesome hobbies is on. Will it be cooking or curling this time? How about choir singing, maybe cloud watching for a change?Not for our 12-year-old daughter. Owing to long-standing peer pressure she insists on trying her hand (i.e. feet) at football, which is fine with me – as long as the ball keeps rolling in our tiny backyard. Organised football is a different business, of course, but modern, malleable parents can hardly be expected to overturn the globally binding Declaration of the Rights of the Child with perfectly rational arguments. Yet there’s no harm in trying, as they say. (Published in English 230811.)
VARs hovedproblemer [The main problems with VAR], by Mads Skauge
VAR’s problems are talked about a lot, but the points are little illuminated. Firstly, VAR doesn’t just fail to make football fair; football is getting more unfair! The referee must let the game go in case of doubt, in case the attack ends in scoring. Then VAR is checked afterwards. But VAR only catches clear refereeing errors. Many VAR penalties are given after a defender is pushed into an attacker and should have had a free kick. The error is not big enough for VAR, but still crucial. It increases injustice. (Published in Norwegian 230812.)
«No Direction Home?»: Pilegrimenes sommer i (idretts)sosiologisk lys [“No Direction Home?”: The pilgrims’ summer in (sport) sociological light], by Mads Skauge
Earlier this summer, Norwegian public radio wrote about how the pilgrim route is in the wind like never before. Pilgrims are on the rise in both Norway and Europe. In recent years, there has been a 20 percentage point increase in pilgrims in Norway each year. NRK offers statements from pilgrims, employees of the National Pilgrim Center and Pilgrim researchers. The latter’s analysis of the pilgrim’s renaissance in particular is interesting. Not unexpectedly (in the age of secularisation), the religious aspect is downplayed among the pilgrims. (Published in Norwegian 230813.)
Mot en fordummende fotballdiskurs: Meningsløs heing som siste skrik [Towards a dumbing down football discourse: Meaningless cheering as a last resort], by Mads Skauge
Disappointingly, the football discourse, at least in Norway, brings up completely absurd and stultifying discussions. Last in the series is the debate about whether supporters of other clubs should cheer for the Norwegian teams in Europe. The argument for this kind of heing is that it not only benefits Norwegian football in general, but also your club if Norwegian teams succeed in Europe. Firstly, this contributes to the Eliteserien’s coefficient ranking being improved, so that more Norwegian teams get better conditions in Europe at the next crossroads. Secondly, it is argued that the capital European success gives to the clubs that succeed will also benefit other Eliteserie clubs through player sales. The money is in a way drained downwards in the system, so-called trickle down economics. (Published in Norwegian 230824.)
New Issues of Scholarly Journals
(We rely heavily on journal publishers delivering on their promises of new issue alerts. Sometimes they don’t.)
Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Vol. 47, 2023, No. 2 (230828)- Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, Volume 36, 2023, Issue 3 (230828)
- Journal of Global Sport Management, Volume 8, 2023, issue 2 | The eSports Revolution (230829)
- Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, Volume 32, June 2023 (230830)
- Performance Enhancement & Health, Vol. 11, 2023, Issue 2 (230830)
- Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, Volume 28, 2023, Issue 4 (230901)
News items (calls for papers, vacancies, etc.)
- Call for Papers | “Unstructured entanglements of human leisure and non-human animal life”, Special Issue of World Leisure Journal. Call ends July 31, 2023 (230629)
- Call for Papers | “Sport Education for Sustainable Development: The Euro-Med Perspective”, the 16th ENSE Forum 2023 | Rome, Italy, September 21–22, 2023. Call ends August 15, 2023 (230629)
- Call for Book Chapter Proposals | World Cup! History, Politics, and Art of the Beautiful Game | Call ends November 1, 2023 (230702)
- Call for Papers | “The Politics of Sporting Mega-Events”, the 2nd SPRING Conference | Birkbeck College, University of London, October 27–27, 2023. Call ends July 30, 2023 (230702)
- Call for Book Chapters | A Critical Perspective on Parents and Under-Fives Pre-School Sport and Physical Activity | Abstract submission deadline July 14, 2023 (230703)
- Vacancy | Research Assistant (Doctoral Researcher Ph.D. Candidate) at the Institute of Sociology and Gender Studies at the German Sport University Cologne | Apply no later than July 25, 2023 (230717)
- Call for Papers | Setting the Table: Essays at the Intersection of Sport and Food, edited by Maria J. Veri, PhD | Call ends August 15, 2023 (230718)
- Call for Papers | Visual Culture and the Global Impact of Sport | Online Conference, December 1, 2023. Call ends September 30, 2023 (230728)
- Call for Papers | IACS 2024, the 16th Summit on Communication and Sport | Burbank, CA, March 14–16, 2024. Call ends September 29, 2023 (230801)
- Call for Participation | Challenges in Sport, an International Summit | September 27–29, 2023, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Hurry up and reserve your spot! (230803)
- Call for Book Chapter Proposals | World Cup! History, Politics, and Art of the Beautiful Game (Vernon Press). Call ends November 1, 2023 (230805)
- Call for Papers | “Teaching & Learning Physical Education”, 15th International Conference on Sport & Society | University of Granada, Granada, Spain + Online, June 13–14, 2024. Call ends March 13, 2024 (230806)
- Call for Papers | “Exploring the future of leisure experiences within the metaverse”, special issue of World Leisure Journal | Call ends October 27, 2023 (230817)
- Call for Chapters | 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Anthology | Call ends September 1, 2023 (230817)
- Call for Book Chapters | Digital Transformations in Sports | A Title in the Applied Data Analytics Series by Taylor and Francis. Call ends October 31, 2023 (230820)
- Call for Papers | “Sports and the Limits of the Binary: Trans and Nonbinary Athletes and Equity in Sport” | Special Issue of Sociology of Sport Journal. Call ends January 15, 2024 (230821)
- Call for Papers | “Race, Gender, and the Queering/ Querying of Sporting Cultures”, Special Issue of Women’s Studies International Forum | Call ends March 1, 2024 (230830)
- Call for Papers | “Global Sports”, Special Session at the 17th Annual International Conference on Global Studies | December 18–21 2023, Athens, Greece. Call ends September 12, 2023 (230831)
- Call for Papers | German American Sporting Encounters: Transatlantic Perspectives on Sport & Physical Culture in Germany and the USA during the 20th Century | Schwabenkademie Irsee, Bavaria, Germany, April 26–28, 2024. Call ends October 15, 2023 (230901)
