What, if any, is the value of sport to processes of peace and reconciliation? After introducing the largely rhetorical arguments for and against the value of using sport as a vehicle to promote peace building in divided societies, this article makes a more detailed and forensic examination of the evidence based on: the role played by sport in South Africa before and after apartheid; and second, drawing upon the author’s own experiences garnered over more than two decades of conducting research and leading sport-based intervention initiatives in Northern Ireland and Israel. The article argues that sport is intrinsically value neutral and under carefully managed circumstances it can make a positive if modest contribution to peace building. The mobilization of an engaged sociological imagination in the context of a broader human rights agenda is central to this contribution. Drawing upon notions of pragmatism, left realism and praxis, the article concludes by presenting a ‘ripple effect’ model that illustrates the circumstances under which sport can make a difference in the promotion of social justice and human rights in deeply divided societies

Football for Peace (F4P) is a sport-based co-existence project, for Jewish and Arab children, organized by the University of Brighton in partnership with the British Council, which has been running in towns and villages of the Galilee region of northern Israel since 2001. This article examines this initiative, first, by placing it in its broader socio-economic and political context; and, second, by tracing its specific history and development. Third, the article draws upon interviews conducted in the field and records kept by student volunteers to identify some of the key issues that emerge when making sport-based social interventions in complex, divided societies like Israel. The article suggests that if projects such of this are locally grounded, carefully thought out, and professionally managed they can make a modest contribution to wider efforts to promote conflict resolution and peaceful co-existence. The conclusion raises some of the broader socio-political issues and controversies that continue to inform the Project’s development.

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Under the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) umbrella, an increasing number of sport projects are staged all over the world to improve the social, cultural, educational or psychological circumstances of marginalized and/or fractured communities. In research on such initiatives, only limited empirical examinations exist that focus specifically on garnering the perspectives of key players from local communities regarding value and impact of SDP. In addressing this issue, our study investigates the local lessons learnt from 13 Football for Peace (F4P) partnership projects that featured a mixture of Jewish, Arab, Bedouin and Circassian communities in Israel. Following an interpretive mode of enquiry, 30 interviews and two focus groups with key stakeholders were conducted, with an emphasis on exploring local experiences. Our findings highlight the diversity of community perspectives in relation to the following themes: values and delivery; engagement and commitment; and scope, regularity and sustainability. Specifically, our analysis illuminates the diverse interpretations and responses that exist in relation to the ethos, meanings and achievements of F4P, and calls for an appreciation of the intricacies, complexities and nuances in the way that the programme (and SDP work more generally) is received. Finally, the article demonstrates how the multiple theorizations and interpretations of community found within academic literature are reproduced and literally played out -but also contested, challenged, rejected and reformulated -in the practice of SDP.

The global migration of footballers to and within the top professional leagues in Europe has greatly accelerated in the last decade. Commercial interests in this “football business” have also grown prodigiously and the English leagues, especially the Premier League, have experienced an associated and pronounced increase in foreign player migration. The Premier League, supported by intensive commercial investment, has placed England on the career map of some top global stars. The globalization of football and its labor migrants can only be considered as part of a multifaceted and multidirectional process. This paper provides a model for understanding the globalization of football and the movement of its labor, but also probes beneath this model, drawing on findings from interview-based interpretative research conducted with foreign professional players in England (n = 22). A typology based on player experiences is established, explaining some of the key experiential dimensions of sports labor migration.

The idea of using sport for social, cultural and community development has been promoted for decades; however, only limited empirical research can be found that analyses the strategic potential of sport projects in contributing to conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace building in deeply divided societies. This study concentrates upon the experiences of a number of Football for Peace (F4P) projects operating in Israel in 2009. It identifies and investigates the inter-community sport management strategies employed in a particular project that featured Jewish, Arab, and Circassian communities in Northern Israel. The article focuses on and assesses the role played by external change agents in facilitating project delivery and development. Following an interpretive mode of enquiry, observations and focus group discussions with key project facilitators and sport coaches were conducted exploring participant experiences and using this information to develop practical recommendations for social development through sport. The following six strategic dimensions were elicited as critical elements for promoting positive inter-community relations, building local capacity and enhancing overall social development: greater emphasis on training for all volunteers; the provision of role model support; the development of local commitment and leadership; improvement of sport programming; the facilitation of wider community involvement; and project augmentation and extension. We argue that these practical suggestions have transferable implications for other grassroots organisations and NGOs that use sport projects in divided and/or disadvantaged communities elsewhere in the world.

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