This content analysis was designed to investigate newspaper coverage of the desegregation of Mississippi State varsity football through the media coverage of the first Black football players at Mississippi State University, Robert Bell and Frank Dowsing. Two hundred and three articles from three newspapers (The Starkville Daily News, Mississippi State Reflector, and Jackson Clarion-Ledger) were examined using a three-tiered qualitative analysis. That analysis resulted in 426 frame instances and 686 theme instances, or a total of 1,112 codes. The resulting data were then interpreted using Critical Race Theory (CRT) to generate understanding of the desegregation of the football program. The CRT guided interpretation of the results of the content analysis contradicted the popular narrative regarding Mississippi State University desegregation and athletic desegregation, indicating that the varsity football team and the careers of Bell and Dowsing were reported in a way that supported the existing MSU power structure.

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According to conventional wisdom, football fans exhibit perpetual loyalty to the clubs that they choose to support. These prevailing beliefs are largely the product of the fanaticism and intense partisanship that fans display. However, in South Africa, the reality is that the majority of the football teams are either failing to harness this loyalty, or that the loyalty levels that their fans display, contradict conventional wisdom. Due to the important role that these fans play in revenue generation, there is a need for leadership at these clubs to better understand this lucrative market. The objective of this study was to establish whether the loyalty levels displayed by fans in South Africa correspond with, or contradict, conventional wisdom. The limited understanding of the matter within a South African context means that clubs lack the required understanding of their respective fan bases. This creates a situation, which stifles the efficacy of management to implement positive changes. This study was anchored in the model of Stewart and Smith (2007) of sport fans' motivations. There are three core dimensions distinguished by the model. These relate to psychological, socio-cultural and social motives, all of which facilitate the process of an individual becoming a fan; and then subsequently remaining loyal. A qualitative research approach was used to collect the data for this study. An interview guide was used to collect the information from the fans and the top management of Cape Town City Football Club through face-to-face interviews. Each interview was recorded with the aid of a voice recorder and all the data collected were then transcribed. The findings from the study show that fans demonstrate more support to Cape Town City Football Club when the team is winning, as opposed to when it is going through a rough patch. Conclusively, the lack of understanding of fans in football clubs means that it is difficult to communicate in an all-inclusive way, considering that not all fans are the same. Based on the findings, the study suggests that leadership at South African football clubs should allow for open dialogues to be created, in which the issues can be discussed; so that practices implemented would better serve the target population.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att jämföra Malmö FF:s och IFK Göteborgs fotbollsakademier på högstadie- respektive mellanstadie-/högstadienivå. Att skapa förståelse för vad en fotbollsakademi i Sverige kan innebära och problematisera företeelsen utifrån förhållandet mellan tidiga selekteringar och den ökande professionaliseringen. Malmö FF:s och IFK Göteborgs ungdomsverksamheter beskrivs kort och jämförs för att kunna sätta in akademiverksamheten i ett sammanhang. Frågeställning: Vad motiverar förekomsten av fotbollsakademier?Problemområdet närmas genom att ha begreppet profession som teoretisk utgångspunkt. Det handlar i stort om hur fotbollsverksamheten i Sverige har professionaliserats, vad det innebär, med följden att det idag krävs oerhört mycket för att som spelare (och tränare) nå elitnivå. Vidare behandlas tidigare forskning i anknytning till området, potentiella sociala problem med tidiga ungdomssatsningar lyfts fram och föregångare i Sverige till dagens fotbollsakademier beskrivs. Den största problematiken är det faktum att de som är tidigt födda på året vid tidiga selekteringar och satsningar i svensk fotboll i stor utsträckning premieras framför de sent födda på året. Metod: Intervjuer med de båda akademiansvariga, Roger Gustafsson och Richard Ohlqvist, är centrala för min undersökning. Insamling av statistiskt material för i vilken ålder spelarna i respektive A-trupp kommit till klubbarna de senaste tio åren används också som grund för vidare analyser. Övergripande slutsats: Det som motiverar fotbollsakademier är i huvudsak skolans viktiga roll och det sociala ansvar de båda akademierna tar. Detta eftersom fotbollsspelandet för killarna är en minst sagt oförutsägbar och liten möjlighet som framtida försörjningskälla i livet. Dessutom bör svensk fotbolls mål vara att ge så många som möjligt chansen till att få mycket kvalitativ träning, istället för att koncentrera sig på ett fåtal (genom ungdomslandslag) i hela landet. Detta är något fotbollsakademier kan bidra med om de sprids över hela Sverige likt fotbollsgymnasium och något som skulle ge resultat i form av riktigt bra fotbollsspelare i framtiden. Problematiken med att de som är födda tidigt på året premieras bör kringgås antingen genom uttagningsgrupper uppdelade efter halvåren eller att spelarna tas ut efter andra parametrar än fotbollskompetens i första hand.

This dissertation was centered on how the theory 'turning points' explained African American coaches ascension to Head Football Coach at a NCAA Division I FBS school. This work (1) identified traits and characteristics coaches felt they needed in order to become a head coach and (2) described the significant events and people (turning points) in their lives that have influenced their career. This study employed a Constant Comparative method in which participants answered interview questions designed for them to elaborate on their educational and athletic careers, and those events and people who were major influences in their careers. Commonalities and discords from participant responses resulted in the discovery of five major themes. The themes identified were: Faith, Family, Graduation from college and participation in sport, Joining professional associations, and Previous coaches/administrators worked for/under. The identification and explanation of specific turning points suggest a blueprint for African American assistant coaches aspiring to become a head coach while also providing opportunities for current athletic administrators to increase their attempts at expanding their own networks to include more African Americans as strong candidates for potential open positions for Head Football Coach.

The interest in football injuries has increased with the increased enthusiasm for the sport. The coach is finding it more and more important to have all of his players in the best possible condition to withstand the terrific strain under which they must compete. The public wants to see a well played, exciting game, but the days of brutality seem to be vanishing. The average fan would rather see the best players play in the game than to have them sit on the bench in plaster casts. This has led to a series of quite wide-spread investigations dealing with the problem during the past few seasons. The results, while not final, seem to show that a large percentage of the injuries are preventable. If this is true, further research will certainly be worthwhile. The inspiration for this present investigation came as a result of thirteen years' experience as trainer for athletic teams. During this period most of the games were played by a small squad, frequently further reduced by injuries. It is natural, then, to endeavor to discover hew to strengthen the squads by a study of the causes and treatment of these injuries.

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The Main Thing is that You did Your Best - a comparative study about how a male respectively a female failure from Swedish national teams in football is portrayed in tabloids aims to examine how Swedish tabloid is influenced by current societal ideologies in their portraying of failures performed by the male respectively the female national team in football. To examine this, the study uses three main theories with perspectives considering power-settings in society. Philosopher Antonio Gramscis theory about hegemony helps the study to understand how different social groups dominate eachother. Linguistic professor Norman Faircloughs theory about discourse gives tools to understand how this dominance and power is confirmed or challenged in language and in this specific study in text. The final theory that this study uses is sociologist Raewyn Connells ideas about that there is a patriarchal hegemony in the society and theories about how it arises. Rooted in these theories the study uses Faircloughs three-dimensional model as the method and tool to investigate the material for traces of power-structures between women and men. The main result of the study shows that the male failure receives far greater critique from the tabloids, despite the fact that the female failure based on pure performance was at least as big. The male failure was in that sense portrayed as more important than the female equivalent. The results also shows that when the female athletes got critique, their abilities were portrayed as amateurish. Another interesting result was that in our study there were no trace of objectifying the women. which opposes the result of other studies about the subject. These results add to the conclusion that there is a patriarchal hegemony surrounding the tabloid portrayal of failure performed by the Swedish national teams in football. A hegemony which to some extent is challenged.