Amidst China's escalating pursuance of placing football in the centre of its soft power propagation, Hong Kong has remained entirely excluded from the accompanying policy strategies of the Mainland. Following the 1997 handover and with it the return to Chinese sovereignty, the former British colony has retained its independent memberships in global governing bodies, such as FIFA or the IOC, making sports the last cultural and political arena in which Hong Kong and China compete as two - de facto equal - national entities. While the status quo of this framework is not necessarily controversial, the popularity of football in both locales has created a new public platform for identity politics. At the same time, Hong Kong's marginalization of sports development has raised questions over the value and expediency of sport within the local policy regime. Formerly known as the "Football Kingdom of the Far East", interest and investment in domestic football have declined since the late 1980s, evoking a sense of crisis and nostalgia. However, as a cultural practice football has shown resilience throughout the years, leading to a reform process and on-going debates over public subsidies. Drawing upon the fields of cultural studies, sociology of sport, history, and cultural policy studies, this dissertation argues for the conceptualization of football as a cultural resource that is not just a mirror of socio-political constellations, but also a productive force in shaping leisure, consumption, and everyday life in the city. The overarching, and seemingly simple research question of this dissertation is therefore: how is sport - and in particular football - a culture in Hong Kong? And, how can a cultural understanding of sport contribute to the challenges of sports policies? As such, this project takes on a holistic approach to frame an understanding of local football culture through and between four different themes: history, policy, fandom, and national identity. Starting from early colonial times, the dissertation first aims to trace the cultural resonance of football in local society by using the intellectual discourse around cricket's Indianness as a so called inter-Asian reference to reflect on the particular context that enabled the rise of another sport in Hong Kong. Instead of nurturing a regional identity, local football was turned into a trans-national project of Chinese modernity. From there the research delves into a policy analysis to investigate the institutionalization, governance, and reformation of local football until now, and how it evolved as a Bourdieusian cultural field. Eventually, the research draws on its long-term ethnographic fieldwork to investigate the agency of fans and how local football has attracted subcultural practices with entrepreneurial traits that function as cultural resources. This culminates in the discussion of localist and nationalist sentiments based on the (auto-)ethnographic experience at the two 2015 World Cup games between Hong Kong and China in an attempt to contextualize the politicization of the spectacle within the cultural framework of local football. By proposing a cultural argument along notions of cultural resource, and cultural field, this dissertation argues for a culturalization of sport in cultural studies and policy-oriented discourses, and hence a conceptual move towards a cultural policy of sports.

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Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-05-09T13:40:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alex Fernandes de Oliveira.pdf: 2714873 bytes, checksum: 367f2975d6287f6470f5da65aa904e31 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-09T13:40:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alex Fernandes de Oliveira.pdf: 2714873 bytes, checksum: 367f2975d6287f6470f5da65aa904e31 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-23 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The thesis study the figuration in the major policy Brazilian Football Clubs, having as a case study of the Santos Futebol Clube, Brazilian football team that, in many aspects, reproduces the general pattern characterized by the tendency to the formation of oligarchies in the leaders; where organized groups take the control of the electoral process and the administrative routine, staying for long periods in power. However, the Santos F. C. demonstrates in your history a series of points of the interest that relate to several factors: a) the fact of not being a leisure club and sociability where do other sports, which makes more complex membership, with consequences in the political process; (b) the fact that, among the great Major League clubs of Brazilian football, the one that stood out for long periods without being based in the State capital or large metropolis, which brought as a consequence a tendency to deterritorialization of your “fans” and their elites. These distinguishing factors are examined throughout the Club's history, particularly in recent decades, with focus on the latest power struggles within the Club. The research mobilized a theoretical framework of social sciences, in which classic and contemporary authors, like Weber, Michels, Elias, Bourdieu, served as support for the construction of the object and the main research issues, which revolve around forms of legitimacy of political representation and power; of the discipline; the process of bureaucratization that combine with processes oligarchyzation; the habitus of leaders; and the power in football clubs, seeing broadley, merges with traditional brazilian policy, as defined in the last half century. Research used both bibliographic sources on the history of Brazilian football, as documentary sources in the archives of the Club, the debate that echoes in the sports press, semi-structured interviews with representatives of leaders, as well as the participant observation in everyday life of Club / A tese tem como objetivo o estudo da figuração política nos grandes clubes de futebol brasileiro, tendo como parâmetro um estudo de caso do Santos Futebol Clube, agremiação que, em muitos aspectos, reproduz o padrão geral caracterizado pela tendência à formação de oligarquias nas camadas dirigentes, nas quais grupos bem organizados tomam para si o controle dos processos eleitorais e da rotina administrativa dos clubes, permanecendo por longos períodos no poder. No entanto, o Santos F. C. demonstra em sua história uma série de particularidades que dizem respeito a vários fatores: a) o fato de não ser um clube de lazer e sociabilidade onde se praticam outros esportes, o que torna o quadro associativo mais complexo, com consequências no processo político; b) o fato de ser, entre os grandes clubes da liga principal do futebol brasileiro, o único que se destacou por longos períodos sem estar sediado em capital de estado ou grande metrópole, o que trouxe como consequência uma tendência à desterritorialização tanto de sua torcida como de suas elites dirigentes. Esses fatores distintivos são examinados ao longo da história do clube, sobretudo nas últimas décadas, com foco nas últimas disputas de poder no interior do clube. A pesquisa mobilizou um referencial teórico das ciências sociais, no qual autores clássicos e contemporâneos, como Weber, Michels, Elias, Bourdieu serviram de apoio para a construção do objeto e dos principais problemas de pesquisa, que giram em torno das formas de legitimidade da representação política e do poder; da disciplina; dos processos de burocratização que se combinam com processos de oligarquização; do habitus das camadas dirigentes; e do campo de poder nos clubes de futebol que, visto de forma alargada, mescla-se com a política tradicional brasileira tal como se definiu no último meio século. Esta pesquisa se serviu tanto de fontes bibliográficas sobre a história do futebol brasileiro como de fontes documentais nos arquivos do clube, do debate que repercute na imprensa esportiva, de entrevistas semiestruturadas com representantes das camadas dirigentes, assim como da observação participante na vida cotidiana do clube

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This study focuses on the bidding for sports mega-events, their subsequent planning, and the politics surrounding these processes. The specific examples analysed here are those of the FIFA Football World Cup™ in Germany in 2006, and the forthcoming 2010 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa. The events are examined against a backdrop of increasing competition to host mega-events, spurred on by a widespread belief in the economic benefits that result from hosting, with a frequent disregard for the social and economic costs involved. Four central research questions are addressed in the course of this thesis. The first is the role of corporate actors and their influence on mega-events, the second is the question of what processes characterise both the bidding and planning stages of an event, including the main actors, agendas and discourses involved in both of these stages. Thirdly, the significance of hosting the World Cup in both the German and South African case is examined, and fourthly, the long-term implications of South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup, both for the country itself and for developing nations more broadly, is considered. The research methodology used for this thesis is predominately qualitative, and utilises mostly secondary sources, including books, academic articles, press articles, and information off the official websites of the football organisations involved. The main findings of this thesis are that while both countries in question had seemingly compelling reasons for hosting the World Cup, and while benefits can stem from the event, the longevity of such benefits is questionable, and the costs involved can be especially heavy in a developing context such as that of South Africa. Furthermore, those that stand to benefit the most from the events include transnational corporate actors, with the implication that significant financial gains never reach the host economy. Nevertheless, an ever-increasing willingness on the part of numerous nations to host mega-events means that the German and South African cases can provide lessons for future hosts, and South Africa’s World Cup has particular significance as a test case for mega-events hosted by developing nations. Finally, this thesis stresses the need for further research in this field. It also aims to break some new ground by examining the commonalities and contrasts to be found in the bidding and planning processes of a mega-event as carried out by a developed and a developing nation.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study attempts to determine if South Africa was actively attempting to boost its soft power or symbolic power during the country’s bid to host the Fifa 2010 World Cup. Preceding works dealing with mega-events identified a number of potential benefits to the hosting nation. Some of these benefits include opportunities for development (sport and socio-economic), nation building, urban regeneration, and marketing. Previous works have focused a great deal on economic and nation building aspects of mega-events. The marketing possibility for a host to develop as a tourist destination has also enjoyed some focus. There also exists a large amount of literature dealing with power – its nature, resources and types. There is for instance structural and relational power while, in the traditional sense, wealth and military might may be seen as power resources. However, the importance and maintenance of soft power – or symbolic or co-optive power, as defined in this study – has been greatly overshadowed by the traditional ideas of power and as a result, neglected by International Relations scholars. This study links the marketing potential of mega-events with the deployment of soft power. The case study specifically deals with South Africa’s World Cup bid as a marketing forum for enhancing the country’s soft power. For such an analysis it is necessary to investigate South Africa’s diplomatic status, global position, relationship with the North and South, and power resources. The importance of soft power being essential to South Africa’s specific situation, global position and future, is also investigated. Using the bid for the 2010 World Cup, this study concludes that South Africa was indeed projecting specifically chosen images of the country with the intention of enhancing the country’s soft power. It is furthermore argued that these images are both a reflection and in support of South Africa’s foreign policy and emerging middle power position. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie poog om vas te stel of Suid Afrika doelgerig probeer het om die land se sagte mag te versterk tydens die Fifa 2010 Wêreldbekerbod. Vorige studies oor grootskaalse gebeurtenisse meen dat dit sekere potensieële voordele inhou vir die gasheer. Dit sluit in geleenthede vir ontwikkeling (sport en sosio-ekonomies), nasiebou, en stedelike herlewing en bemarking. Vorige werke het ook meerendeels gefokus op die ekonomiese en nasie-bou aspekte van grootskaalse gebeurtenisse. Die bemarkingsvoordele wat dit inhou vir die gasheer se toerismebedryf is ook gereeld vehandel. Daar bestaan ook vele geskrewe werke oor mag. Verskillende bronne van mag is ondermeer ‘n gewilde onderwerp. Daar is byvoorbeeld strukturele mag en verhoudings mag. Tradisioneel word militêre en ekonomiese vermoëns gesien as bronne van mag. Die belangrikheid van sagte mag of simboliese mag, soos dit in hierdie studie gedefinieër word, is egter tot ‘n groot mate oorskadu deur traditionele idees van mag. Daardeur het Internasionale Betrekkinge akademici dit ook tot ‘n mate afgeskeep. Hierdie studie illustreer die bemarkingspotentiaal wat grootskaalse gebeurtenisse inhou vir sagte mag. Die gevallestudie handel spesifiek oor Suid Afrika se 2010 bod as ‘n potentieële bemarkingsforum vir die bevordering van die land se sagte mag. Die analise het vereis dat Suid Afrika se diplomatieke status, globale posisie, verhouding met die Noorde en Suide, en bronne van mag behandel word. Die belangrikheid van sagte mag vir Suid Afrika se toekoms word ook aangespreek. Die gevolgtrekking is dat Suid Afrika wel gepoog het om sekere gekose beelde na die buiteland te projekteer. Die spesifieke doel met die beelde was om die land se sagte mag uit te brei. ‘n Verdere bevinding is dat die beelde gelyktydig Suid Afrika se buitelandse beleid en ontluikende middel magsposisie gereflekteer het.

This study is a micro level case study which in addition to attempting to establish whether integration in sport lends itself to the integration of broader society, documents and analyses the integration experiences of two Durban amateur soccer clubs. Because soccer in most South African schools currently forms part of the school curriculum which is relatively neglected when compared with sports such as rugby and cricket, it was necessary to focus on amateur club soccer which caters for the soccer playing aspirations of the youth. Areas focussed on included the ways in which historical, race, class, cultural, ethnic and gender dynamics which operate within South African society influenced the integration process. The integration experiences of players and officials from both clubs were recorded and presented as findings. These findings were analysed against the background of local and international multicultural, sport and gender literature. The two key questions asked were: i) does integration in sport rend itself to integration in society; and ii) does the shared understanding of masculinities within male sports lend itself to integration within male dominated teams. It was established that although integration in sport can assist with the broader integration of South African society, important historical, cultural, class, ethnic and gender dynamics which operate within society have to be negotiated by all role players before a significant iintergation can take place. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban,1997.