This study explores how watching international sports is related to the identity of overseas Chinese. Starting from the social significance of mediated sports, the article constructs its conceptual framework through the symbolic power of sports, media events, imagined community, networked publics, and characteristics of the diasporic community. Based on this, the study carried out 10 interviews on the Chinese diaspora in the United Kingdom, summarized the mechanisms and ways of linking mediated sports with national unity, and revealed the factors that will probably cause change to this connection. The results show that the symbolic power of sports and the consciousness as Asian are ties of diaspora identity construction and form patriotism in sporting contexts. Meanwhile, the degree of integration into local society and their community preference are influencing the status of collective identity enhancement brought by mediated sports.
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Champion of the Country: Mediated Sports Game Watching and National Identity Construction for the Chinese Diaspora
Xiaotong Liu
Examining Gendered Experiences in Sport Management: An Introduction
Scott Tainsky and Shannon Kerwin
Five Overtimes: The Habs and the Leafs in the 1951 Stanley Cup Finals
Tanya K. Jones, Olaf Stieglitz, John Wong, and Brett Anderson
An Imperfect List of Eminent Sport and Exercise Psychology Researchers
Allison Smolinski, Olivia McIntyre, Drew Martin, and Jeffrey J. Martin
The purpose of the present study was to identify eminent sport and exercise psychology researchers, based on citation count, and their most highly cited papers. Men (n = 121) and women (n = 32) from 17 different countries (e.g., the United States n = 47 to Ireland n = 1) were identified. Researchers were selected if their h-index was 60 or greater for Google Scholar and Web of Science combined. This criterion reflects Hirsch’s (2005) characterization as follows based on h-index: a successful scientist (20), an outstanding scientist (40), and truly unique (60), for one database. Our criteria of 60 for two databases are equivalent to a designation halfway between successful and outstanding. The results indicate an h-index mean of 103, median of 94, mode of 105, and range of 60–346. Top-cited publications leaned toward more sport psychology than exercise psychology topics. Prominent journals included the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (n = 24) and Psychology of Sport and Exercise (n = 15). Other publications were in related fields (e.g., Psychology and Health). In summary, we have identified the most highly cited researchers in sport and exercise psychology and their single most-cited papers. We hope this information is of both heuristic and practical value to readers.
Does He Make a Difference? Analyzing the Role of Men Athletes in the Framing of Elite Women CrossFit Athletes in Sportswear Retailers’ Marketing Materials
Alexandra Gibson and Andrea N. Geurin
This study examined the role of men athletes in framing women athletes in marketing images, and CrossFit was used as the sport-specific context. The purpose was to understand how consumers perceive women athletes, whether the presence of men athletes influences these perceptions, and if consumers perceive women athletes to be represented more accurately when pictured alone or with male counterparts. Using a mixed-methods approach involving both quantitative and qualitative analysis, questionnaires (n = 389) and interviews (n = 19) were utilized to gather participants’ perceptions on videos featuring all women CrossFit athletes and/or those with men and women CrossFit athletes. Results showed that consumers’ perceptions began to shift when looking at their athletic competence, although a focus on appearance remained. While the results of the questionnaires revealed no clear correlation between the presence of men athletes and the perception of women athletes, the interviews suggested a relationship, highlighting the complex role that male athletes play. Overall, the study indicates that consumers perceive women athletes to be framed more accurately when pictured alone and offers valuable insights into how men athletes affect consumers’ perceptions of women athletes.
Nationalism and Anti-LGBTQ+: Exploring the Role of Nationalism in Soccer Fans’ Protests Against LGBTQ+ Equal Rights
Mateusz Grodecki, Dagmara Szczepańska, and Barbara Pasamonik
This paper examines the role of nationalism in Polish soccer fans’ protests in resistance to LGBTQ+ equal rights. Drawing on data from semistructured interviews with 22 nationalist activists, namely ideological leaders of hard-core soccer supporters’ community, who shape the ultras’ nationalist discourse, the study explores their rationalizations behind anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations. By recognizing nationalism as an ideological background, our study goes beyond theories of masculinity, a dominating way of explaining discrimination against sexual minorities in sports (fandom) to date, and it identifies a wider set of rationalizations, conceptualized in two broader models: (1) naturalist rationalizations, and (2) the counter-counterhegemonic rationalizations, which include three more specific themes—(2a) anti-antihegemonic masculinity (2b) anti-Western and (2c) anti-leftist.
Sport and Transnational Indigenous Solidarity From Turtle Island to Palestine? Examining Iroquois Nationals’ 2018 Trip to Israel
Chen Chen
The Iroquois Nationals’ participation in the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship was welcomed by the hosting Israeli state despite the call for boycott from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and pro-Palestinian groups’ appeal for Indigenous solidarity. This paper discusses the historical/geopolitical contexts of this event and examines the responses from multiple parties, including the team representatives, pro-Israel groups, and Indigenous media/activists. By bringing together literature in Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, Palestinian studies, and critical sport studies, it highlights the challenges for transnational solidarity in the sport industry as well as the urgency for deepening an internationalist anticolonial/anti-imperialist political consciousness among athletes and sport organizations, Indigenous or non-Indigenous alike.
Throwing Them Under the Bus: The Framing of a Critical Incident at the Tour de France
Ryan Snelgrove, Laura Wood, Larena Hoeber, and Orland Hoeber
In the context of sport events, several stakeholders’ reputations could be impacted by critical incidents, including event organizers, athletes, teams, countries represented by athletes, and sponsors. The purposes of this study were to develop an understanding of (a) how an event organizer, media, and the public framed a critical incident in a rhetorical arena and (b) how frames were connected with the reputations of event stakeholders immediately following a critical incident. A three-phase approach was employed that involved collecting and analyzing data from X/Twitter about a bus crash at the 2013 Tour de France. The critical incident was framed in nine different ways, many of which were emergent. Findings demonstrated that critical incidents at a sport event are interpreted and framed in multiple ways and can have an impact on the reputations of the event and other event stakeholders.
Research Across the Female Life Cycle: Reframing the Narrative for Health and Performance in Athletic Females and Showcasing Solutions to Drive Advancements in Research and Translation
Kelly L. McNulty, Bernadette C. Taim, Jessica A. Freemas, Amal Hassan, Carly Lupton Brantner, Chimsom T. Oleka, Dawn Scott, Glyn Howatson, Isabel S. Moore, Kate K. Yung, Kirsty M. Hicks, Matthew Whalan, Ric Lovell, Sam R. Moore, Suzanna Russell, Abbie E. Smith-Ryan, and Georgie Bruinvels
Over the last few decades, there has been an unprecedented growth in the number of females in sport and exercise, including an exponential rise in female participation, alongside an increased interest and investment in female sport. This success in many aspects underscores the demand for and importance of female-specific research to optimize health, participation, and performance of athletic females. It has also brought awareness to the numerous inequities that exist between females and males. Indeed, the prevailing narrative within sport and exercise science focuses on the disparity of research in females compared with males, which has led to a lack of a critical mass of high-quality data on athletic females. While acknowledging the current gap and the need for further higher quality data, there is still a body of knowledge pertaining to athletic females spanning over a century. This existing literature, amid its criticisms, offers a valuable foundation to build upon for current translation and to inform future research. Thus, it is essential to acknowledge, interpret, and apply prior learnings from previous work, while also considering any limitations. This commentary proposes a reframing of the current narrative that there is an absence of useful data in athletic females, to one that recognizes both the strides made and how past findings can be integrated into practice today as well as inform future research directions. It also addresses the opportunities that remain, and how a more comprehensive and pragmatic body of knowledge can be developed and translated to better serve athletic females in the future.
Driving Change? Field Containment of Gender Equality Committees in International Sports Governance
Lucie Schoch and Madeleine Pape
This study investigates the ability of Gender Equality Committees (GECs) to drive change in the governance of International Federations, particularly in the overrepresentation of men in leadership roles. We situate GECs within the gendered fields of strategic action, whose change efforts must engage diverse actors beyond the immediate organizational context of a given International Federation. In examining the GECs of two gender-progressive International Federations through semistructure interviews, we develop the concept of “field containment” and show that the political and material conditions of the GEC constrain its ability to perform impactful work and particularly to achieve field-wide change, ultimately resulting in the containment of the GEC. The article concludes with practical implications.