Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has an ever-increasing role in the way commercial businesses operate. Team sport organisations are not immune to this trend. CSR is a strategic issue for sport organisations, with professional teams across a range of sports and national contexts now modifying their organisational structure by establishing charitable foundations tasked with delivering their CSR content. These structural changes inevitably bring in new organisational actors who, in varying degrees, influence ̀the actual implementation of CSR in the professional sports team context. Organisational complexity is therefore increasing regarding CSR, as is the need to capture its elements at both cross-organisational and individual levels. This is especially important given that, unlike mainstream (corporate) foundations that deal directly with a ‘parent’ company, professional sport leagues often mandate the implementation of CSR through central funding mechanisms. This in turn emphasises the intricacy of the process and the dynamics amongst organisational actors at various levels. To date, no studies have attempted to address this complexity. The present thesis aims to help fill the gap by examining the managerial decision-making process in the organisational context of charitable foundations established by English professional football clubs. The current study employs a grounded theory methodology as it aims to develop a substantive theory of how managers responsible for the formulation and implementation of CSR-related programmes in English football make professional decisions. The research utilises the Straussian variant of grounded theory, which accepts that humans shape their institutions as much as institutions shape people. The study also seeks cognitive similarity, a concept that implies some form of similar attribution of meaning, understanding or interpretation amongst individuals in multiple organisations. Although its purpose was to develop an individual-based substantive theory grounded in the way managers make decisions regarding CSR, throughout the focus has been on decision-making itself rather than on the individuals who facilitate this process. The study is populated with the top two divisions of English football and employs two data collection techniques: organisational documents and semi-structured interviews. The fieldwork took place in three different phases, with the first ̀consisting of two sub-phases. Phase 1a emphasised the analysis of organisational documents (a total of 25 documents from 16 football organisations), while the following phases of the fieldwork were based on constant comparative data analysis from 32 interviews. The theoretical framework that emerged from this study is one of assessable transcendence; in a conceptually abstract fashion, ‘assessable transcendence’ concerns a process that, fortified ̀by passion, contingent on trust, sustained by communication and substantiated by factual performance, enables the formulation and implementation of CSR-related programmes in this context. The social process that emerged from this study, therefore, consists of an intrinsic (that is, passion) and an extrinsic (that is, trust) stimulus, both of which are central components of the micro-social process transcending. These two stimuli, however, require the support of both internal and external communication (abstractly expressed through the micro-social process manoeuvring), and thus all three together form a ‘coalition’ which can enhance both business and social performance (largely expressed by the first ̀two micro-social processes, namely safeguarding and harmonising). Accordingly, two interrelated aspects of the decision-making process constitute a common thread in this research: (a) the recognition that social consciousness stimulates the process of assessable transcendence in an indispensable and limitless way, and (b) an understanding that transcendence cannot occur without either continuous achievement or the dissemination of concrete ‘CSR impact’ in social and business forms alike (hence assessable). The significance of this doctoral thesis for the sport management literature is four-fold. First, it focuses on the individual level of analysis, thereby offering a framework that explains the decision-making of those individuals responsible for the application of CSR in professional team sport organisations. By doing so, it bridges the micro/macro divide by integrating the micro-domain’s focus on individuals (i.e., foundation managers) with those of the meso- and macro- domains. Second, it moves away from mono-theoretical approaches that have been mainly used for the examination of CSR in the sporting context. By doing so, it illustrates that different, and often opposing, theoretical approaches may be needed in order to fully capture and theoretically explain the way in which the CSR practice occurs. Third, it shifts the focus of scholarly activity away from CSR content-based research towards more process-oriented approaches. CSR content research does little to explain how professional teams achieve and maintain such positioning through deliberate and trial-and-error CSR actions initiated by the individuals therein. Fourth, an in relation to the previous point, it employs a process-oriented methodology (namely, grounded theory) whose utilisation in sport management research has been either non-existent or a ‘pick and mix’ practice. By doing so, the current thesis responds to calls for internal consistency and methodological coherence, thereby adding to the limited number of studies that have utilised this methodology in a rounded manner. The theoretical framework presented in this dissertation has emerged from exploratory study. As such, the four micro-social processes, their associative meanings and, more importantly, the four principal concepts that hold assessable transcendence are regarded as tentative and require substantiation through further research. To this end, a number of research propositions are offered that can serve as a starting point towards a continued exploration of those moderating and mediating factors on the formulation and implementation of CSR in team sport organisations.

This paper explores how changing various end game statistics effects a given teams probability of winning a game in the National Football League (NFL). Data from the 2000-2016 NFL seasons is split into two subsets, one for teams winning at halftime, another for losing teams. Using this data an empirical model is estimated to study how the determinants of a team’s success differ between the two sets of data. Overall, the factors which determine a team’s outcome are consistent between the two subsets, varying primarily by magnitude of the effect.

We, as authors, have noticed a paradox in today’s society. We often hear inspirational quotes such as “you have to fail in order to reach success” or “you learn from failure”. Thomas Edison himself said “I haven’t failed; I have just identified many ways that donot work”. Yet in society and within many organizations, there is a lack of discussion and acceptance when it comes to mistakes and failures, thus also a lack of the learnings from them. Failure is actually a neglected and feared topic, referred as “the Elephant inthe board room”, where mistakes are manipulated in hope of being forgotten and nevernoticed. Nowadays, we live in a society in which individuals are chasing perfectionism. Therefore, there is a fear of making mistakes which hinders followers to dare and take risk to progress. We believe that employees constantly suffer from this pressure and unhealthy environment within corporations. Therefore, we wished to go beyond this issue as we found ourselves astonished by the large number of quote present out there. In order to explore the concept of failure, we identified two kind of organizations in which the culture of mistakes and failures are different than in corporations. The two fields investigated are the orchestra and football team. Mistakes in these organizationsare not feared rather expected and accepted. We asked ourselves what do these leaders do differently and if managers could learn from the conductors and coaches in order to avoid or prevent. To answer these questions, we analyzed different major componentsof leaders such as their perspective about performances, their role as leaders, the communication and relationship with their followers and last but not the least their perspectives and way of handling mistakes. It appears indeed that organizational leadershave lessons to learn from coaches and conductors regarding the four main area we have analyzed such as considering mistakes as part of the past and source of learning as well as implementing a two-way communication.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This study explores the contours, dynamics and impacts of African football migration to South Africa. It argues that there has been a change in the international political economy of sport, and that this change is affecting world football migration. In addition to the study’s primary focus on African football migration, it also reviews substantial parts of the literature concerning the phenomenon of football migration, in order to explain which dynamics characterise football migration. The thesis also accounts for the incentives that motivate African football migration to South Africa, and the impact such players have on the South African domestic elite league. The study identifies which incentives exist for promoting football cooperation in the context of Southern Africa, and how football migration patterns correlate or contrast with general migration patterns to South Africa. The study makes use of two theoretical frameworks, by Paul Darby and Joseph Maguire, to understand and explain player migration. These frameworks provide an understanding of the different aspects and structures shaping player migration, and should be interpreted as complementary and not contrasting approaches. The examination of the frameworks’ theoretical deficiencies and implications provides the basis for further research in the conclusion. The conclusion argues that there exists a need to create a new theoretical framework within which future studies can be concluded. The study is motivated by the general lack of academic research on the specific subject and migration to South Africa. The latter is suggested by the body of literature, concerning African migration to South Africa, which argues for more research on the issue to get a better understanding of the current situation. This study is based on both primary and secondary sources, the latter being represented by e.g. academic journal articles and books. In addition it was necessary to conduct fieldwork to provide answers to the research questions. The study makes use of exploratory qualitative methods in order to provide a conclusion, and to answer the research questions. It can be characterised as exploratory because it will offer new insights into a specific issue which, until now, has not been researched extensively. The analysis of the data and desktop research revealed certain trends, and provides a basis for answering the research questions. The study concludes that football migration, like conventional migration, is very complex and influenced by several interwoven factors. Hence a broad scope is crucial to understand the phenomenon correctly and not exaggerate the importance of some factors above others. In the conclusion the current position of the PSL is explained in relation to the two theoretical frameworks and the work of Pierre Lanfranchi and Matthew Taylor. It is argued that the PSL, unlike most other African leagues, has managed to cope with the ‘enduring problem of African football’, and has transformed into a commercialised, commoditised league heavily influenced by corporate interests.

Football is one of the biggest sports in the world. Professional teams track their player's positions using GPS (Global Positioning System). This report is divided into two parts, both focusing on applying collective motion to football. % The goal of the first part was to both see if a set of cheaper GPS units could be used to analyze the collective motion of a youth football team. 15 football players did two experiments and played three versus three football matches against each other while wearing a GPS. The first experiment measured the player's ability to control the ball while the second experiment measured how well they were able to move together as a team. Different measurements were measured from the match and Spearman correlations were calculated between measurements from the experiments and matches. Players which had good ball control also scored more goals in the match and received more passes. However, they also took the middle position in the field which naturally is a position which receives more passes. Players which were correlated during the team experiment were also correlated with team-members in the match. But, this correlation was weak and the experiment should be done again with more players. The GPS did not work well in the team experiment but have potential to work well in experiments done on a normal-sized football field. % The goal of the second part of the report was to visualize collective motion, more specifically leader-follower relations, in football which can be used as a basis for further research. This is done by plotting the player's positions at each time step to a user interface. Between each player, a double pointed arrow is drawn, where each side of the arrow has a separate color and arrow width. The maximum time lag between the between the two players is shown as the "pointiness" of the arrow while the color of the arrow show the maximum time lag correlation. The user can change the metrics the correlations are based of. As a compliment to the lagged correlation, a lag score is defined which tell the user how strong the lagged correlation is.

This thesis seeks to analyse to what extent, in what ways and with what success does the Chinese government seek to manage its interaction with sport globalisation in Olympic Movement, football and basketball? Held et al's (1999) conceptualisation of globalisation provides the major theoretical framework for the analysis. In order to analyse the behaviour of the Chinese state we adopt Houlihan's (1994) concepts of 'reach' and 'response' which focus attention on global actors and pressures external to the country and state (reach) and the capacity of states to determine their response. A set of quantitative and qualitative indicators of globalisation have been identified. Data were collected from a number of sources including official government documents, news media, and a series of 32 interviews with Chinese officials. The analysis reveals that the Chinese government has demonstrated a desire and a capacity to manage the impact of the Olympic Movement, global football and basketball on domestic sport practices; and second, the Chinese government has attempted, with reasonable success, to manage the impact of commercial interests on Chinese domestic football, basketball and other Olympic sports practices, elite athletes and professional clubs. However, a number of tensions exist: first, between the priorities of commercial clubs and national teams' development; and second, between the highly paid and internationally mobile 'star players' and the centrally controlled elite development system.

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The essence of American women’s struggle to play sports at a competitive level is that for decades the power structure of American professional and scholastic athletics simply didn’t think they should be allowed to play. The various institutions governing athletics of all levels sought first to prevent women from participating in sports at all and later to keep women athletes segregated and barred from playing on men’s teams or competing against them. They have justified this discrimination by citing various outmoded ideas of women’s mental and physical abilities, their perceived frailty, and the erroneous belief that keeping women athletes segregated from men provides a more suitable and more enjoyable athletic experience for both sexes. This report and the accompanying video, Outlaws Rising, examine the legacy of gender inequality in sports and its impact on the Austin Outlaws, a women’s tackle football team. / text

Transfer spending among Premier League teams has increased drastically since the inception of the league. Over the past decade, extremely wealthy owners have begun purchasing majority stakes in clubs and spending recklessly to accumulate as much talent as possible. This paper aims to examine whether such exorbitant spending is effective financially and whether it improves the clubs competitively. Data is gathered from Deloitte’s Annual Reviews of Football Finance. I conclude that spending at such high levels does not improve on-field performance, which is consistent among clubs in the past decade and the elite clubs across all seasons.

Futbolas – patrauklus žaidimas, ugdantis ne tik gebėjimą bendradarbiauti, mąstyti, suvokti, prognozuoti, interpretuoti, valdyti stresą, bet ir, aišku savaime, lavina fizines žaidėjo ypatybes. Futbole vyrauja tiek bendrieji ugdymo aspektai, tiek specialusis ugdymas, kuris apima ir aerobinę ištvermę (Weineck, 2012). Literatūroje (Armstrong Welsman, 2000, cit. pagal Grajauskas, Čepulėnas, 2006; Karoblis, 1999) teigiama, kad vaikų ir paauglių amžius palankus aerobinei ištvermei ugdyti, todėl ištvermės ugdymui svarbu skirti dėmesį futbolininkų rengime. Tinkamų metodų parinkimas ugdant aerobinę ištvermę sudaro prielaidas žaisti sportininkui visą rungtynių laiką reikiamu intensyvumu, kas garantuotų sėkmingą rungtynių pabaigą. Tačiau mokslinėje literatūroje nepakankamai analizuojamas įvairių treniruotės metodų veiksmingumas ugdant jaunųjų futbolininkų ištvermę. Darbe analizuojamas dviejų skirtingų ugdymo programų poveikis 13 metų vaikinų ištvermės lavinimui. Tyrime dalyvauja penkiolika 13 m. futbolininkų vaikinų. Hipotezė: mes manome, kad taikant 3 savaites (pirmadienį, trečiadienį ir penktadienį) aerobinės ištvermės - jėgos ištvermės programą, ištvermės rodikliai pagerės labiau nei taikant aerobinės ištvermės ugdymo programą. Tyrimo tikslas – tris savaites (pirmadienį, trečiadienį, penktadienį) 13 m. futbolininkams taikant aerobinės ištvermės ugdymo programą bei aerobinės - jėgos ištvermės ugdymo programą nustatyti šių programų poveikį sportininkų ištvermės rezultatų dinamikai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Football is an atractive game that trains opportunity to communicate, contemplate, realise, suppose, interpret and control stress. In addition to this, game also trains physical features of players. Common training aspects and special training, involving aerobic endurance, dominate in this game (Weineck, 2012). According to the literature (Armstrong Welsman, 2000, cit. pagal Grajauskas, Čepulėnas, 2006; Karoblis, 1999), children‘s and teenagers‘ age is suitable to train physical endurance. In this case, is very important to keep attention on players‘ training. Appropriate choice of endurance‘s training could ensure to play all competition time with high intensity. As a result, it guarantees final victory. In fact, there are lack of various training methods analysis in scientific literature. Two various training programms‘ influance is analised in the task. Research involves fifteen 13 years old boys. Hypothesis: supposedly three weeks (weekly three times intensity) using aerobic endurance training programme together with aerobic power sport training programme, footballers endurance results will be better than using three weeks (three time a week intensity) aerobic endurance training programme. Research purpose - three weeks (three times a week intensity) using aerobic endurance training programme and aerobic power training programme find theese programs effect joung footballers on aerobic endurance exploring results using Multistage test. In fact, aerobic – strenght... [to full text]