‘Getting inside the wicket’: strategies for the social inclusion of British Pakistani Muslim cricketers

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are keen to increase the participation of British Asian groups, including those of British Pakistani Muslim (BPM) backgrounds, at mainstream levels of the game in order to meet their twin strategic aims of raising participation levels and fostering elite development. We argue that the potential to include BPM men in and through cricket is achievable, but strategies to engage them must address their social needs and circumstances rather than be superficial and tokenistic. Cricket agencies and bodies must be willing to adapt and change to become more inclusive, and indeed supportive of real meritocracy. Using research testimonies garnered from interviews with BPM men who play cricket at amateur mainstream and/or alternative formats of the game, we identify and forward strategies that can be activated by cricket development officers in order to create new possibilities for the social inclusion of BPM men

‘Women can’t referee’: Exploring the experiences of female football officials within UK football culture

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of female (association) football officials who officiate in amateur men’s and boys’ football matches in two UK counties (Warwickshire and Somerset). The research presents a view of men’s football from a position that has hitherto been overlooked in the social exploration of football culture. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork collected between September and December 2012, the findings provide insight into some women’s experiences of sexism and marginalization in predominantly male football contexts. Participant observations, formal semi-structured interviews and a range of informal conversations with four female match officials demonstrated a wide range of abuse that could generally be construed as sexist. The women used various strategies to overcome the hostile attitudes that often greeted their presence on the football pitch. Moreover, they continuously negotiated their identities as females and football officials in a space where men and masculinity are prevalent

British Asian females' racialised and gendered experiences of identity and women's football

This thesis provides a detailed analysis of British Asian females' expenences of playing women's football in England. Even though a growing number of British Asian girls and women are known to be playing the game in recent years, they have not generally been valued and/or accepted members of the field. Arguably, their positioning(s) as insiders/outsiders in relation to women's football is tenuous and involves different levels of belonging and non-belonging. This is an under-researched area of study and therefore I use ethnographic research methods - particularly interviews and participant observation - to prioritise the voices and experiences of British Asian female footballers. In this way I give the research participants the power to speak about their experiences in a way that makes sense to them as 'players' of the game. The research specifically examines how the subjective experiences of British Asian female football players is shaped by the material conditions of their lives, and also engages with how they actively respond to such forces. Acknowledging the heterogeneity of British Asian football players and illustrating both similarities and differences in terms of their everyday experiences have been central to the research processes. The findings of this study show how these females - in relation to their personal circumstances - carve out a sense of belonging for themselves through on-going forms of negotiation. Commonalities in their experiences signify the pervasiveness of gender, 'race'/ ethnicity, nation and class as well as other ideas about family, generation, style and consumption which construct , new articulations of 'femaleness' and 'Asianness'. Identities are becoming increasingly hybrid resulting in a wide array of experiences and positioning(s) which are not clear-cut or easy to decipher but are nuanced and complex. Engaging with the vicissitudes of British Asian females' football experiences this account provides a timely contribution to the sociology of sport as well as to the fields of gender, ethnic and racial studies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo