Micropolitical Workings in Semi-Professional Football
in Sociology of Sport JournalClick name to view affiliation
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This paper seeks to illuminate the micropolitical strategies that Gavin (a pseudonym) used in an attempt to persuade the players, the assistant coach, and the chairman at Erewhon City Football (soccer) Club to “buy into” his coaching program and methods. Data for the study were collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews, and a reflective log relating to those interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim with the subsequent transcripts being subject to a process of inductive analysis. Ball’s (1987) micropolitical perspective, Kelchtermans’ and Ballet’s (2002a, 2002b) work on micropolitical literacy, and Goffman’s (1959) writings on the presentation of the self, are used to make theoretical sense of the specific strategies used by Gavin in an attempt to persuade the players to see the merits of his coaching.
Potrac is with the Dept. of Sport, Health and Exercise Science at the University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom. Jones is with the Cardiff School of Sport, at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, United Kingdom and the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
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