This thesis explores the football fan rivalry between the fans of Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Football fan rivalries are unique and complex, with each one being underpinned by various social, historical and/or cultural factors. Therefore, each rivalry should be studied in-depth in order to understand the underlying factors that shape oppositions and social identities. This rivalry has previously received no academic attention, despite these two being the main clubs in Birmingham, England’s second largest city, with a long history of intra-city rivalry since the first fixture between the two in 1879. The constructivist approach adopted perceived people’s knowledge, opinions, interpretations and experiences as meaningful properties of social reality and, thus, this study aimed to gather data from those who actually experience the rivalry – the fans. An ethnographic study was undertaken in order to elicit rich, qualitative data and to gain a deep and reality congruent insight into the complex factors that underpin the rivalry. Participant observation was conducted at matches involving Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fans of the two clubs, with data being subjected to coding and a thematic analysis. Informed by a cultural studies framework that focused on the centrality of power, the analysis identified three central themes underpinning the rivalry. The first theme was the constant struggle between the fan groups over territory. Fans placed great value on being perceived to control certain areas, or even the whole city, in order to gain power (territorial capital) and become the dominant identity. This is particularly significant as a detailed exploration of territory has previously been absent from football rivalry literature. Secondly, tensions were based on the historical footballing success of Aston Villa, and on Birmingham City’s relative lack of success. Villa fans were perceived as the dominant group as the success of the team afforded them high levels of (sub)cultural capital. Thirdly, the contestation over power was informed by the perceived socio-economic status of each fan group, with Villa fans being perceived as more middle-class and Blues fans more working-class. These complex factors are continually contested and under negotiation, with the passion and intensity of the rivalry enduring as both fan groups battle for dominance. In addition to exploring this particular rivalry for the first time, this study has contributed to the limited but growing literature on rivalries, providing a clear methodological and theoretical framework for future research in this area, which was previously lacking.

The current body of research has used positivistic approaches to establish performance related variables emerging from various levels of play associated with technical and tactical parameters within elite football. However there is a dearth of knowledge considering how information derived from performance analysis (PA) techniques has been implemented within elite football environments. As a result the purpose of this thesis was to explore the focus of analysis by coaches and analysts and subsequently how PA techniques and approaches were utilised within sporting environments to facilitate this. In order to address this area of research, five chapters were completed to build upon the existing literature and create new knowledge in the area. In doing this a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches were developed in the studies identified below. Chapter One: The initial literature review investigated how the evolving role of PA and the associated proliferation of positions and internships within high performance sport have driven consideration for change, or at least wider use of PA. In order to explore the evolution of PA from both an academic and practitioner perspective this study considered the wider conceptual use of PA. The key aim of the chapter was to provide a critical review of the use of PA and considerations for practice. This section acts as a grand literature review to set the context for a number of key themes explored in the subsequent chapters of the thesis. Chapter Two included two parts, the primary aim was to investigate the PA tools and approaches employed by sports coaches and analysts and their perception of its value. Study One Part A focused on the coaches’ approaches. Method: A stratified sample of forty-six coaches were selected to complete an online-survey relating to their engagement with match, notational and technique analysis. Results: Most coaches (68%) were provided with a DVD or edited clips after every game, whilst 16% would receive this service following most games. 64% of coaches used PA tools to provide video clips for other coaches and their support staff, 68% provide a video of the opposition, 64% collate quantitative game data and 55% use PA to create video based motivational DVD’s. Just under half of the coaches (43%) would use some form of live coding and analysis during games, whilst 39% would also receive a written post report including game statistics. PA information informed the coaches’ short term planning (93%), medium term planning (80%) and long term planning (70%). 91% of coaches identified that their coaching philosophy would impact on their selection of KPIs, whilst 43% also identified that their ‘gut instinct’ would often impact on their selection. Discussion: The key findings from this study provided specific insight relating to how coaches engage with PA approaches. In particular, these findings inform specifically on how PA impacts on their coaching practices within a number of different contexts. Study One Part B, identified the role which performance analysts play within football clubs and how these roles differ within professional and academy settings. Comparisons were drawn between the two levels because of the potentially varied approaches. This study also addressed the dearth of research regarding the role of match analysts, in relation to the provision of feedback via match and notational analysis techniques and systems. Method: An exploratory study was conducted using an online questionnaire formed using knowledge collected from current match analysts working in elite football, academics working within the areas of PA (tutors who teach PA and interact with student and analyst employers within football clubs) and from the current literature. The questionnaire was completed by 48 match analyst practitioners working within elite football clubs. 32 of the analysts were predominantly working in a professional team setting, while 16 were predominantly working in an academy setting. Results: When comparisons were made between the two groups of analysts a number of key differences were identified in relation to the provision of pre-match feedback, post-match feedback and the value the analysts gave to certain PA approaches. Discussion: Further insight has been provided into the importance of the role that analysts play in enhancing the observation, analysis and feedback strategies employed by elite level football teams. The key findings established within Chapters One and Two provided a platform to establish themes which would be central in informing interview discussion points in the subsequent phase of data collection. Chapter Three: Study Two quantified and described player perceptions of PA. Despite the wider spread employment of PA within the coaching process little, if any, consideration has been given to the context in which PA delivery takes place and subsequently impacts on the players receiving such information. The objective of the study was to identify player perceptions of PA use within football environments. Method: A mixed methodology was employed, 48 male footballers from three different English Championship Football Clubs completed an online questionnaire. Following this 22 players were selected using an opportunistic sample to complete a semi-structured interview. Results: Individual perceptions and practical realities surrounding the different consumers’ interaction with PA were explored during interviews and the results were analysed and presented using hierarchical content analysis. Discussion: Through the systematic analysis three important features emerged, all of which were consistent across all clubs and standards of play: (1) the level of debate and player interaction differed greatly during video feedback sessions, (2) the use of video analysis is central to player self-reflection but the level of engagement with self-reflection varied across players, (3) The majority of players preferred some delay before receiving video feedback. These factors have provided further insight to the practical contexts in which PA is used and perceived by elite players. Only limited consideration has been given to how coaches might view performance and how this is translated into analysis, match insight and subsequent behavioural change. To address these shortcomings Chapter four (Study Three Part A) attempted to provide an understanding of the individual perceptions of coaches and analysts, how they view performance, and thus work jointly to conduct subsequent analysis. Reflecting these factors Study Three Part A aimed to: (1) Establish what factors elite coaches and performance analysts value in terms of their assessment of performance; (2) To examine the congruency between the values and philosophies of coach and analyst with specific reference to how they view and assess performance. Method: A sample of 25 coaches and 23 analysts from 5 clubs across the top 3 tiers of English domestic football were interviewed to establish the use of PA within their club. Results/Discussion: The hierarchical content analysis established 71 higher order themes and 287 lower order data themes from the results. Key themes which emerged suggested that central to congruence were factors related to role clarity, effective communication and discussion via the means of post and pre-match reviews. A central concept to congruence was the extent of the ‘buy in’ by each coach to the process and content associated with PA, and fundamental to this was the rapport and trust established within these relationship groups. A number of important concepts were also identified relating to what factors were valued in terms of their assessment of performance. In a number of instances dissonance was identified between a coach’s conceptual description of their philosophical approaches and their practical utilisation of PA and their analysts. / Currently little is known about the specific and effective integration of analysis in an applied setting within high performance football clubs. As a result Study Three Part B was primarily concerned with the practical issues and solutions coaches and analysts face when implementing PA techniques within their everyday practice within football clubs. Specifically this thesis was concerned with exploring how elite coaches and analysts employ PA techniques in practice and how their PA strategies facilitate feedback, planning and preparation for performance. Results/Discussion: Hierarchical content analysis established 72 high order themes and 308 lower order themes. PA clearly had an impact within a number of applied practices within football clubs, these included: pre and post-match planning, transfer of PA information into deliberate practices and the setting and monitoring of individual and team training objectives. Evidence also established that performance analytics were employed in reviewing a range of sports science related information to answer key performance questions each club might have. PA was central in the use of feedback, de-briefing and pre-match opposition meetings. Despite this the extent to which coach and analyst had an understanding of pedagogical issues surrounding the delivery of such sessions varied greatly. This model presented an overview of the factors impacting on the implementation of PA within the football environments investigated.

This thesis uses football as a case study to examine the identities of working-class boys and men in post-war Britain. As the most popular spectator sport in England for over a century, with a widely recognised status as a site for the expression, and tool in the construction, of collective loyalties and identities, football and the discourses around it provide a valuable window into working-class culture. Through the examples of Merseyside and North East football fans, this thesis re-evaluates the extent of cultural change in the post-war era, by demonstrating the persistence of long-standing traditions and bases of identification in relation to class, gender, age and place. It also, however, challenges popular and academic understandings of such traditional culture by presenting a complex narrative of coexisting and conflicting identities that differ from stereotypical images of the ‘working man’s game’.Drawing on a combination of retrospective personal testimonies from football fans and post-war public and press discourses, this thesis contributes to a number of debates that have emerged in existing historiographical literature of this period. Firstly, it builds on attempts to dispute the findings and predictions of contemporary social commentators over the impact of affluence on traditional working-class lifestyles, values and identities, by revealing the continuation of older community attachments and practices among football fans. Additionally, it intervenes in discussions of the emergence of ‘youth’ as a distinctive basis of identification capable of overriding identities associated with class, masculinity and place, or else as the subject of adult moral panic and a source of generational rupture and conflict. This thesis, in contrast, argues that football provided a means of inter-generational cooperation. The transmission of cultural values and identities across age groups, which football enabled, further emphasises the idea of cultural continuity presented throughout. This builds on growing historiographical reappraisals of the mythologised ‘swinging sixties’ as a decade of revolution.

The purpose of this research was to utilise a unique researcher vantage point (as embedded academy coach) to explore the experiences of male youth footballers (14-15 years old) at an English professional football academy. Participant observations and in-depth semi-structured interviews with twelve boys were used to generate data. The analysis focused upon (a) the competitive social organisation of the academy, (b) representations of masculinity (c) emotional proximity and what it means to be ‘friends’ in the academy setting, and (d) attitudes towards homosexuality. My findings highlight the limited ability of boys to develop trust and ‘deep’ friendships in this institutional context. These findings suggest that a hyper-competitive (neoliberal) market-driven rationality penetrates football academies and may play a role in altering the parameters of how ‘friendships’ can be lived and experienced for young people ‘on the inside’ of such institutions. Despite limitations on ‘friendships’ and emotional-proximity inside the academy, there was some evidence of inclusivity (c.f. Anderson, 2009), with regards to attitudes towards homosexuality. However, drawing on the concepts of complicity (Connell, 1987, 1995) and hybridity (c.f. Demetriou, 2001; Bridges, 2014), caution is maintained in describing these youth academy footballers as conclusively inclusive. Implications of these findings, limitations of this study and directions for future research are all discussed.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from waste and transportation are of environmental concern. Globally, every year, waste contributes an estimated 5% and transport approximately 23% of the total anthropogenic GHG emissions. Sport contributes to GHG emissions by spectators and participants travelling to/from sporting venues and generating waste. Whilst a small reduction in an individual’s travel and waste may be perceived as having negligible impact, if these are aggregated over a population, the resultant GHG emissions can be significant. Although there is scientific evidence of the environmental impact of major sporting events there is limited research on it at the grassroots level. In addition watching and participating in sport results in wellbeing benefits such as improved self-esteem and mood. This research quantitatively examined both the environmental impacts and wellbeing benefits of sport at the grassroots level focusing on both spectator-dominated and participant-dominated sports in England. Three studies were conducted examining spectator-dominated sport: 1) GHG emissions relating to travel to and from football games; 2) GHG emissions relating to waste at football games and 3) the effects of watching football on mental wellbeing. Two further studies were also conducted assessing participant-dominated sport: 4) GHG emissions from travel to and from running location; and the effects of sport (running) on mental wellbeing and connection with nature and 5) the effects of running outdoors on mental wellbeing (pre and post study). The research showed that both spectators and participants’ sport considerably generated GHG emissions from travel and waste when extrapolated nationally. However, engaging in spectator-dominated or participant-dominated sports resulted in wellbeing benefits. Watching football resulted in better mental wellbeing, while running particularly outdoors resulted in improvements in wellbeing such as improved mood and increase in self-esteem after participating in sport. This research suggests that participating in sport can initiate a positive change in a person’s relationship with the natural world. These findings on the environmental impact and wellbeing benefits of both spectator-dominated and participant-dominated sports have implications for individuals, private sectors, sporting organisations, policy makers and government authorities.

The current study focuses on understanding the lived experiences of male professional footballers during the process of career transition, specifically the transition out of professional football. The study was carried out over two stages. Within both stages of the research, the professional footballers found themselves within or, facing the possibility of career transition out of the game. Stage one used a focus group method with eight professional players facing the possibility of career transition. Stage two adopted face-to-face and online interviews with twelve players, being made up of professional players (some facing the possibility of career transition and some who at the time were in a rehabilitation centre for addiction and within career transition) as well as, a group of potential (Academy) professional players all facing the possibility of transition out of the game. The interviews allowed the players to express what it is like to anticipate or live through the experience of career transition out of football. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was used for stage one and elements of van Manen’s human science/hermeneutic approach during stage two. The analysis of the interviews produced a number of key themes, including experiencing ‘self and identity’, ‘help and support’, ‘the gaze of others’ and, ‘uncertainty and disempowerment’. Importance for professional footballers was laid on meeting the requirements and expectations of others within the world of professional football. For some, this was experienced as a need to put on a pretence to live up to requirements, whilst for others it meant accepting abusive treatment as part of their development. What is more, the players often felt constantly judged and assessed and this was something they lived even in the absence of others. The players’ experienced a need to portray the characteristics of hegemonic masculinity, especially physical and mental strength at all times. In addition, the players felt like commodities, as if they were machines. Therefore, some professional footballers’ experienced conflict between their public and private self, especially during difficult times and thus, a need to outwardly show to others that they were coping with things, when actually in private they were not. The research findings inform a number of recommendations to sporting organisations, professional football clubs and professional footballers to improve the current and future lived experiences of professional footballers. Principally, there is a need to educate and develop those within professional football, in particular those in positions of responsibility, about the ways in which their relationships are influential in the lives of professional footballers in the immediate and long term. Encouraging professional footballers to adopt different ways of being men, could be seen as beneficial to professional footballers’ lived experiences. Hegemonic masculinity ideals in the culture of professional football could be replaced by healthier scripts, such as pursuing holistic development and improving team spirit and cohesion.

Research on the role sport might or can play in a post-conflict environment has tended to focus upon sport’s ability to deliver wider development objectives through that known as Sport-for-Development and Peace (SDP) interventions. Such programmes are somewhat notorious for over-looking the wider influence of the pre-established domestic sporting milieus. An ethnographic study of the role sport – and in this case specifically football - plays in what is known as a ‘returnee’ village within the Bosnian Serb Entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina is herein presented in an attempt to understand the complex interplay of power between the village, their neighbours, the state and those who perform and deliver football. The relationships that are established across and within such entities and the negotiations required for co-existence are significant; in a variety of ways they influence the post-conflict processes. The interplay of the varied social and cultural groups that constitute post-conflict Bosnia requires a multi-disciplinary approach to elucidate the post-conflict processes. Utilising a neo-Gramscian approach what follows makes it possible to envisage the International Community, namely the supra-national institutions, international NGOs and funders, in the role of the dominant political group working to create its vision of a hegemony of peace. Concurrently the ethno-political indigenous elite are endeavouring to retain the status quo and have managed to create a period of permanent liminality, preventing Bosnia from creating a post-conflict hegemony. With historic links to nationalist impulses and intricate connections to the current political milieu, football provides a window through which the post-conflict processes of a community may be observed. As what we might best term the War of Position for the establishment of a post-conflict hegemony ensues, the research illustrates that whilst domestic football may be understood as a focal point for the promotion of civil society and carries many capabilities of political capital, there remains a tension between the ethno-political elite and the International Community. Both utilise the game for their own ambitions, but neither of their visions are accepted by the wider Bosnian population.

The thesis outlines a collaborative research project that was undertaken between the Malta Football Association (MFA), the Malta National Sports School (NSS) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Drawing on transition frameworks, models and contemporary literature (Schlossberg, 1981; Stambulova 2003; Wylleman & Lavalle, 2004; Morris, Tod & Oliver, 2015; Morris, Tod & Eubank, 2016; Richardson, Littlewood & Gilbourne, 2005; Richardson, Littlewood, Nesti & Benstead, 2012), the research adopted an action research methodology to examine the psycho-social and cultural challenges that young Maltese football players and parents experienced within migratory based transitions. The author adopted the role of practitioner-researcher to understand, plan and support a range of key stakeholders during the transition process. Specifically, Study One (Reconnaissance Phase) examined the challenges experienced by Maltese footballers that had migrated to European professional football. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 male Maltese players who had experienced migration to a foreign club. Results evidenced that players experienced homesickness and lacked psycho-social knowledge and skills for an effective transition. Players also experienced culturally based challenges. The findings are framed around a unique and deeply embedded Maltese cultural identity. Study Two (Reconnaissance Phase) utilised a focus group methodology with parents of players from the Maltese Football Association (MFA) Academy, parents of young players that had previously experienced migration, head coaches from top Maltese nurseries, and coaches from the National Sports School (NSS) and MFA. Findings of Study One were disseminated to facilitate reflection, discussion and to identify issues that required consideration in order to better prepare young players for future migratory based transition. Study Three (Action Planning) used focus groups to disseminate the findings of Study One and Two with the Headmaster of the NSS, and parent representatives of the school. A number of change strategies were developed to improve the school’s programme of preparation for students who may migrate to foreign clubs. A separate action meeting was conducted with the Technical Director of the MFA to discuss and highlight change strategies to improve the MFA’s programme of preparation for young footballers seeking a career abroad in professional football. The Implementation and Monitoring phases focused on applying the action strategies agreed. These were; (i) to experience migration and independent living, (ii) psycho-social and cultural support and development of young players, and (iii) parental education. Regular evaluation of change strategy activities evidenced positive change and also continued to enhance the efficacy of the strategies being implemented. Young players who have migrated overseas over the past year and who had engaged in a programme of preparation prior to migration have coped well with the challenges they have so far faced.

Football is widely regarded as the most popular sport in the world involving over 270 million people from different countries and cultures. It can be argued that the football is one of most important aspects of the game and hence the flight of the ball, if unexpected, can alter the outcome of the game. This thesis provides an engineering perspective and contribution to the continued understanding and improvement of the in-flight performance of FIFA approved footballs. Skilful players will impart spin onto a ball to induce a curve in-flight to try and deceive opponents. This flight is generally smooth, although subtle variations in the orientation and spin rate may cause conditions that affect the path and final ball position, in a manner considered to be unpredictable due to aerodynamic effects. Ball designs and manufacturing techniques are evolving and certain seam configurations are known to induce asymmetric pressure distributions resulting in lateral movement during flight. Aerodynamic research of sport balls has primarily focused on drag and the effects of high spin rates. Studies have shown the introduction of surface roughness affects the boundary layer state compared to a smooth sphere. Surface roughness on a football takes many forms including seam configurations and micro surface textures. The influence of changing the density, distribution and dimensions of the surface roughness with respect to the aerodynamic behaviour has been researched. The principle focus of this thesis is concerned with the influence on the lateral component as a result of applying surface roughness to the outer surfaces. The influence of the surface roughness on the drag and lateral components were determined using established wind tunnel techniques. Real balls and full size prototypes were tested. A mathematical flight model was employed to simulate realistic multiple flight trajectories based on empirical aerodynamic data. Mathematical and statistical techniques, including R.M.S and AutoCorrelation Functions were used to analyse the data. The results from this research showed how small variations in surface texture affected the complex nature of the lateral forces. Trajectories varied significantly depending on initial orientation and slow spin rate sensitivities. In conclusion, ball characterisation techniques were developed that identified lateral deviation and shape measures and considered a gradient profiling approach. Application of these novel parameters through multiple trajectory analysis allowed for an in-flight performance measure of footballs designs.

The aim of the current thesis was to critically examine the reflection and experience-based learning of professional football players and coaches at a football club. Specific attention was paid to the influence that the social environment had on players and coaches experiences and the extent to which they influenced each others experience-based learning and reflective practice. A case study approach using semi-structured interviews and ethnography including participant observation, informal interviews and audio/video recordings informed the current research. Schön's (1983) experience-based theory of learning and reflective practice was used to represent coaches and players reflective practice prior to the application of Foucault (1972, 1979, 1988, 1991a) as social theory. It was found that an institutionally reproduced discourse, which emphasized the importance of winning, governed both coaches and players experience-based learning at the club. Positive discourses of reflection were introduced by coaches and embodied by willing and docile players due to the added legitimacy that was associated with their knowledge. Players reflective practice represented a technology of power as it was dominated by their coaches presence and resulted in players interpretations being normalised to the extent that they became self-surveillant. Players compliance contributed to the construction and reproduction of an overarching disciplinary culture of surveillance that was initially introduced by the club s coaches and made possible through the constant assimilation of data and different forms of performance monitoring (i.e. GPS, video-based PA, physical testing).