The under-representation and experiences of elite level minority coaches in professional football in England, France and the Netherlands

Abstract

This article will examine the previously under-researched area of the under-representation and experiences of elite level minority (male) coaches in (men's) professional football in Western Europe. More specifically, the article will draw on original interview data with 40 elite level minority coaches in England, France and the Netherlands and identify a series of key constraining factors which have limited the potential for and realization of opportunities for career progression across the transition from playing to coaching in the professional game. In doing so, the article will focus on three main themes identified by interviewees as the most prescient in explaining the ongoing under-representation of minority coaches in the sport. Firstly, their limited access to and negative experiences of the high level coach education environment. Secondly, the continued existence of racisms and stereotypes in the professional coaching workplace. Thirdly, the over-reliance of professional clubs on networks rather than qualifications based frameworks for coach recruitment. Finally, the article will contextualize these findings from within a Critical Race Theory (CRT) perspective and will draw clear linkages between patterns of minority coach under-representation, the enactment of processes and practices of institutional racism, and the underlying normative power of hegemonic Whiteness in the sport.

Negotiating the coaching landscape: Experiences of Black men and women coaches in the United Kingdom

“…Organisational workshops on creating inclusive cultures should be mandatory for all staff including coaches, coach educators and leaders. Bradbury et al (2018) have previously advocated a package of positive action measures that included: educational programmes for key stakeholders in NGBs on institutional racism and its impacts, and the benefits of a culturally diverse coaching workforce; clear policy goals in relation to equity targets; and measures to increase recruitment opportunities for Black coaches. Such positive action measures are advocated by the commitment to social change endorsed by CRT and Black feminism in order to positively transform mainstream coaching agendas where ‘race’ and gender issues have been marginalised or ignored.…”

“…Studies focusing on the UK sporting context examining the interconnections of ‘race’, ethnicity and gender in sport have tended to focus on the experiences of participants, rather than coaches (Burdsey, 2007, 2009; Ratna, 2011, 2013). Though there is still a dearth of work on the Black experience of coaching in the UK, what has been completed has generally focused on men (Bradbury et al, 2018; King, 2004). Consequently, knowledge gaps remain, including a more in-depth understanding of the experiences of Black women in sport leadership and coaching and their negotiations of and challenges within the racialised and gendered structural practices and power relations embedded within sport organisations (c.f.…”

“…Contrary to the popular belief that sport represents a meritocratic and egalitarian space, we have previously noted that sport coaching remains an arena in which interconnecting disparities of ‘race’, ethnicity, and gender (as well as other social categories) create structured power relations that serve to reinforce patterns of inclusion/exclusion (Rankin-Wright et al, 2016). In particular, Black 1 coaches are underrepresented in sport leadership and sport coaching in the United Kingdom (UK), and we know little about their lived experiences (Bradbury et al, 2014, 2018; North, 2009; Norman et al, 2014; Sporting Equals, 2011). Research on racial equality in sport organisations lacks insight on the institutional discourses and power relations that embed racialised and gendered disparities.…”

Everyday racism and constructions of racial/ethnic difference in and through football talk

“…We recognize that our White skin colour usually remains invisible, unexplored and unquestioned, both in society at large and in relation to the possible impact it has on our research. We realize we may tend to use White-situated frameworks of interpretations in our daily lives and our research without being aware of it, and that we have not been the object of racial discrimination or (media-)stereotyping like some of our interviewees (Bradbury, Van Sterkenburg & Mignon, 2018). We therefore consider the primacy we give to our theoretical perspective of cultural studies as an important tool to avoid writing in ways that are automatically congruent with a White situated way of thinking (Van Sterkenburg, 2011).…”

Migrant athletes and the transformation of physical capital. Spatial and temporal dynamics in West African footballers’ approaches to post-careers

“…For instance, while specific forms of cultural capital, such as Scandinavian language skills, have probably more use-value in northern Europe than in West Africa, the reverse is often visible in relation to social capital. Given the multifarious structural barriers in European football that Black players are confronted with, namely general racial discrimination in sports, the lack of diversity among board members in European clubs as well as the widespread non-recognition of African coaching licences in Europe (Bradbury et al, 2018;Campbell, 2020;Mezahi, 2020), links to relevant people in the football milieu that lead to coaching jobs are often easier to utilise in African settings (see Ungruhe & Agergaard, 2020a). Further, in light of the economic disparities between West Africa and northern Europe, accumulated economic capital in the form of financial means has often more use-value in athletes' home settings than abroad.…”