The Dream of Being a Professional Soccer Player: Insights on Career Development Options of Young Irish Players

Organizational Structures and Working Practices in Elite European Professional Football Clubs: Understanding the Relationship between Youth and Professional Domains

“…In line with the sentiments of Bourke (2003), Laurin et al (2008), Richardson et al (2004), and Williams and Richardson (2006), all clubs recognized other benefits of the development process, such as the player's personal development, and the potential for financial reward:…”

“…The public interest and the associated commercialism surrounding the game, has led to professional football clubs operating as service enterprises engaged in the business of performance, entertainment and financial profit (Bourke, 2003;Vaeyens, Coutts, & Philippaerts, 2005). The increased focus on an entertainment and business perspective by European football clubs was influenced by numerous opportunities to earn revenue from media, sponsorship and marketing contracts (Maguire & Pearton, 2000), and the new competition structure and large financial prizes recently made available in Europe (e.g., UEFA Champions League) (Ernst & Young, 2007).…”

“…The seasonal rights revenues, shared equally amongst all the professional clubs, have risen from £49 million in 1996Á1997 (Symanski & Kuypers, 1999) to £568 million in 2007Á2008 (The Political Economy of Football, 2008). As business enterprises (Bourke, 2003;Vaeyens et al, 2005), sport organizations (e.g., professional football clubs) must be very competitive on both a sport and a financial level in order to be effective and successful within the growing sports industry (Slack & Parent, 2006). The combined work of all relevant stakeholders of the organization appears to play a key role in achieving the aims and subsequent success of the organization (De Knop, Van Hoecke, & De Bosscher, 2004;Slack & Parent, 2006;Zink, 2005).…”

Sport or school? Dreams and dilemmas for talented young Danish football players

“…In their everyday involvement in education and semi-professional football, talented young players are nowadays expected to balance what are often contradictory demands coming from the fields of education and of elite sport (Bourke, 2003;McGillivray and McIntosh, 2006;Roderick, 2006). At the same time elite sportspeople in the top international sports are being placed under increasing pressure as a result of the performance optimization approaches that are now a fundamental part of competing at the elite level, and which have resulted in a significant rise in the time such sporting assets spend on sport.…”

The migration of Irish-born footballers to England, 1945–2010

“…Irish clubs are now compensated for the loss of players via compensation under a FIFA ruling implemented in 2001, although professional football in Ireland still struggles to compete with the interest levels given to Gaelic football and rugby as spectator sports or generate sufficient revenue to provide an alternative to the English Premier League. 5 Both Seamus Kelly (2011) and Anne Bourke (2002Bourke ( , 2003 have also looked at the recruitment process and the factors which influence young Irish footballers' career choices. 6 Major studies on Irish migration to Britain have given these players scant consideration.…”