Negotiations of Being and Becoming

Abstract

This paper is based on new empirical, qualitative research with minority ethnic rugby league players in the South-West of France. Drawing on similar research on rugby league in the north and the south of England, the paper examines how rugby league, traditionally viewed as a white, working class male game (Collins, 2006;Denham, 2004;Spracklen, 1995Spracklen, , 2001) has had to re-imagine its symbolic boundaries as they are constituted globally and locally to accommodate the needs of players from minority ethnic backgrounds. In particular, the paper examines the sense in which experiences of minority ethnic rugby league players in France compare with those of their counterparts in England (Spracklen, 2001(Spracklen, , 2007, how rugby league is used in France to construct identity, and in what sense the norms associated with the imaginary community of rugby league are replicated or challenged by the involvement of minority ethnic rugby league players in France. Questions about what it means to be (provincial, national) French (Kumar, 2006) are posed, questions that relate to the role of sport in the construction of Frenchness, and in particular the role of rugby league (and union).

Sports Fans and Fan Culture: A Critical Reflection on Fandom as Communicative Leisure in a Commodified World

“…Its symbolic boundaries are constructed by a belief that we are all individuals, that metal is more authentic than pop. Just as rugby league fans wear Les Catalans jerseys and polo-shirts to demonstrate they are authentic fans who understand the importance of southern France in our history (Spracklen and Spracklen 2008), metal fans prove their level of belonging in the imaginary community by wearing obscure band t-shirts. 4 If one wears something associated with black metal, one indicates one is so committed to being an individual and being out of the mainstream that anything might be possible.…”

“…Hobsbawm showed that these states invented traditions they used to attempt to impose their hegemony other expanding populations at the time of the industrial revolution and the clash of European empires. When I read Kalman-Lamb's paper I was excited because I have been making the same use of Anderson and Hobsbawm to understand sports fandom and other forms of fandom ever since I started my PhD in 1993 (Spracklen 1995;1996;2007;2011a;Spracklen and Spracklen C. 2008;Spracklen and Spracklen L. 2021;Spracklen, Lucas and Deeks 2014;Spracklen, Timmins and Long 2010). But I was disappointed that Kalman-Lamb did not cite any of that work.…”

Sport and migration in the age of superdiversity

“…An increasing number of articles in IRSS have also examined sports in migration or the role of sports for minority ethnic and diaspora groups (e.g., Bradbury 2010, Burdsey 2010, Campbell and Williams 2013, Fletcher 2011, Krouwel et al 2006, Joseph 2012, Spracklen and Spracklen 2008, Thangaraj 2010). In the wake of the so-called refugee crisis around 2015, such literature has expanded further (e.g., Buser et al 2021, Dowling 2019, Kyeremeh 2019, McSweeney and Nakamura 2019.…”

Spaces of football and belonging for people seeking asylum: Resisting policy-imposed liminality in Italy

“…Scholars (Burdsey, 2011; Doidge et al, 2020a) have contended that belonging in sport is not only impacted by institutional policies but also by a sport organisation's own culture and practices. In this context, literature has shown that for racialised minorities in the Global North, belonging is not necessarily an outcome of sport participation (Burdsey, 2011; Spracklen and Spracklen, 2008). Burdsey, for example, has documented how colour-blind ideology and persistence of ‘racial microaggressions’ in first-class cricket in England contribute to the marginalisation of players from ethnic minority backgrounds.…”