The sports agent has become a highly significant figure in contemporary sport business. The role of the agent is essential to our understanding of labour markets and labour relations in an increasingly globalised sports industry. Drawing on extensive empirical research into football around the world, this book explains what agents do, how their role has changed, and why this is important for future sport business. Offering analysis from economic, legal, social and historical perspectives, the book explores key topics such as: the history of sports agents including the emergence of the modern agent in US sport typologies and demographic profiles of agents in football valuations and organisational analysis of leading European agents and agencies relations between agents and clubs future directions for research into sports agents. Focusing on the major European leagues, this book goes further than any other in illuminating an important but under-researched aspect of contemporary sport business. It is a valuable resource for any student, researcher or policy-maker with an interest in sport business, sport management, sport policy, the economics of sport or labour economics.

In 1976, young Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Graham Tutt had the world at his feet. Then in an instant his dreams were shattered by a career-ending collision seen by millions on TV. What happened next has never been told before. Persistent double vision scuppered a comeback attempt, leading to hurt, depression and bitterness. Moving to South Africa, Tutt witnessed the horrors of apartheid while playing in the country's first mixed league. After surviving some hair-raising experiences, he settled in America and played professional soccer, ran soccer camps for thousands of young people and was inducted into the Georgia Soccer Hall of Fame. He also found love and contentment along with forgiveness after tracking down a figure from his distant past. Never Give Up: The Graham 'Buster' Tutt Story is both laugh-out-loud funny and heart-achingly sad. It speaks not just to athletes but to anyone who has suffered a major setback in their life.

Football is an incredibly powerful case study of globalization and an extremely useful lens through which to study and understand contemporary processes of international migration. This is the first book to focus on the increasingly complex series of migratory processes that contour the contemporary game, drawing on multi-disciplinary approaches from sociology, history, geography and anthropology to explore migration in football in established, emerging and transitional contexts. The book examines shifting migration patterns over time and across space, and analyses the sociological dynamics that drive and influence those patterns. It presents in-depth case studies of migration in elite men's football, exploring the role of established leagues in Europe and South America as well as important emerging leagues on football's frontier in North America and Asia. The final section of the book analyses the movement of groups who have rarely been the focus of migration research before, including female professional players, elite youth players, amateur players and players' families, drawing on important new research in Ghana, England, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Few other sports have such a global reach and therefore few other sports are such an important location for cross-cultural research and insight across the social sciences. This book is engaging reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, sociology, human geography, migration, international labour flows, globalization, development or post-colonial studies.

Football is the most widely played, watched and studied sport in the world. It's hard to develop a full understanding of the significance of sport in global society without understanding the significance of football. Studying Football is the first book designed specifically to guide and support the study of football on degree-level courses, across the full range of social-scientific perspectives. Written by a team of leading international football experts, and considering themes of globalization, corporatization and prejudice and discrimination throughout, it introduces key topics in football studies, including: media and celebrity identity, fandom and consumption gender violence racism corruption Every chapter includes up-to-date case study material, a 'Research in Action' section and features to aid student understanding and bring theory to life. Studying Football introduces all the key themes and facets of the social-scientific study of football, and is therefore an essential text for students on football studies courses and useful reading for any undergraduates studying the sociology of sport more generally.

Football is the most widely played, watched and studied sport in the world. It's hard to develop a full understanding of the significance of sport in global society without understanding the significance of football. Studying Football is the first book designed specifically to guide and support the study of football on degree-level courses, across the full range of social-scientific perspectives. Written by a team of leading international football experts, and considering themes of globalization, corporatization and prejudice and discrimination throughout, it introduces key topics in football studies, including: media and celebrity identity, fandom and consumption gender violence racism corruption Every chapter includes up-to-date case study material, a 'Research in Action' section and features to aid student understanding and bring theory to life. Studying Football introduces all the key themes and facets of the social-scientific study of football, and is therefore an essential text for students on football studies courses and useful reading for any undergraduates studying the sociology of sport more generally.

Since 1990, football history has become increasingly important within the field of sport science, yet few studies have centred on the Europeanization of the game from the interwar period onwards. This period saw the creation of a sovereign institution dedicated to European football, the establishment of specific rules about players' transfers and contracts and, in particular, the development of competitions. This book examines the development of European football between 1905 and 1995 from a transnational perspective. It offers a space for discussion to both early-career and established historians from a range of different countries, leading to a better understanding of the crucial turning points in the Europeanization of the game. The volume aims to promote valuable new reflections on the role of football in the European integration process.

There are few football clubs in the world that attract as much interest in the modern game as Chelsea. Whether it is the latest observations from former coach Maurizio Sarri, his successor Frank Lampard, big-money transfer targets, the style of play or results in Europe, everybody thinks they know what's happening – or at least has an opinion on it. The arrival in 2003 of Russian billionaire tycoon Roman Abramovich as owner turned a glamorous club with a long history of under-achievement, into an international powerhouse. After one championship in 99 years, the Blues have, in a dozen years, won five Premier League titles, plus the UEFA Champions League, two UEFA Europa League titles, five FA Cups and three Football League Cups. The club always was a magnet for well-known names – vaudeville legend George Robey played for the Pensioners in the club's earliest days – and, in the modern era, Stamford Bridge has become home to a dazzling array of world stars. From Ron 'Chopper' Harris and Ken Bates through Ruud Gullit, Roberto Di Matteo and Glenn Hoddle to Jose Mourinho, John Terry, Zola, Diego Costa and Eden Hazard, there is no lack of characters to draw on for quotes.

This book traces international developments in the hooligan phenomenon since the Heysel tragedy of 1985. The authors make special reference to the troubled European championships in West Germany in 1988 and look critically at political responses to the problem. The authors used 'participant observation' in their research on British fans at the World Cup in Spain, and at matches in Rotterdam and Copenhagen, and capture the authentic voice of football hooliganism in their interviews. In this analysis of patterns of football violence the authors suggest some short-term proposals for restricting seriously violent and disorderly behaviour at continental matches and put forward a long-term strategy to deal with the root causes of hooligan behaviour.

This book examines how football, as a mass spectator sport, came to represent a novel, unique cultural identity of Bengali people in terms of nation, community, region/locality and club, contributing to the continuity of everyday socio-cultural life. It explains how football became a viable popular social force with a rare emotional spontaneity and peculiar self-expressive fan culture against the background of anti-imperial nationalist movement and postcolonial political tension and social transformation. In the process, it investigates certain key questions and problems in the social history of football in Bengal, which have hitherto been ignored in the existing works on the subject. The author offers some original arguments in treating football as a cultural phenomenon, setting it squarely in the context of Bengali politics and society. It strengthens the premise that social history of South Asian sport can be meaningfully understood only by looking beyond the sports field. The study, using sport as a lens, has tried to consider some relevant themes of social history, and brings forth important issues of political and cultural history of 20th-century Bengal. Simultaneously, it highlights the transformed role of football as an instrument of reaction, resistance and subversion. It indicates that the football field of Bengal proves to be a mirror image of what society experiences in its cultural and political field, through a series of historical projections of identity, difference and culture.

From Herbert Chapman to Arsene Wenger, this is the definitive history of Arsenal's time at the famous Highbury stadium. After several years of sitting in Highbury's local pubs and cafes with a Dictaphone, Jon Spurling has pooled hours of interviews with fans, programme sellers, local publicans and even those who dug the foundations of the Laundry End (and later cleared rubbish from its terraces) to meticulously construct the biography of the ground and chart the ups and downs of one of England's greatest league clubs. Spurling has also spoken to numerous players: the late greats of yesteryear (Ted Drake, George Male and Reg Lewis), as well as legends of a more recent vintage - from Bob Wilson, Charlie George and Malcolm MacDonald to Anders Limpar and various legends of the Wenger era, including Patrick Vieira. Written in the year that Arsenal moved to the Emirates, Jon Spurling has produced the definitive account of the club's 93 years at Highbury.

This book examines the exclusion of British Asians from the football industry, drawing on a wealth of empirical work with players, coaches, scouts, managers, fans, anti-racist organisations, community officers, and key stakeholders. It adopts a critical race theory (CRT) perspective to offer a platform for excluded communities to discuss their experiences and offer their advice, guidance and criticisms. Notions of whiteness, intersectionalities and gender are explored and filter throughout. This book highlights historical and contemporary reasons for the British Asian exclusion from football, critically examines a number of tried and tested inclusion strategies, and offers recommendations for reform to help achieve equality and inclusion. The research aims to: dehomogenise British Asian football experiences offer the counter-narratives of British Asian male and females to challenge master-narratives comprehend the importance of intersectionalities understand identity shifts and cultural changes challenge socio-cultural stereotypes and racial myths highlight contemporary manifestations of racisms in football at all levels examine the role 'parallel football' environments have played in the exclusion cast a critical eye over inclusion initiatives promote recommendations for reform which are born out of empirical research As long as marginalized groups, such as British Asians, are excluded from a field of popular culture, in this case football, it is a topic that demands attention, deserves investigation and requires solutions. It is hoped that this book can be of use to students, researchers and policymakers who share an active interest in football, exclusion and equality.

2021 saw the centenary of the formation of the League of Ireland, the Republic of Ireland's primary professional association football league. This new collection draws on the work of a number of leading historians of Irish soccer and seeks to examine a number of previously under-researched aspects relating to the league. The book examines the initial growth of clubs in Dublin and the Free State League's early turbulent history, while the impact of Irish players and administrators on the development of soccer clubs at home and abroad is also assessed. Following the partition of Ireland in 1921, players continued to move from Dublin clubs to those in Northern Ireland and this is also discussed, particularly in light of the Troubles of 1968-1998. Despite the migration of many Irish-born players to Britain, the League of Ireland has also attracted internationally based players and the impact of this is also examined. The role of the league in the provision of players for the Irish Olympic team is also explored, as is the work of SARI in its attempts to eradicate racism from Irish sport. This publication aims to commemorate some of those who have strived to maintain the League of Ireland's presence against the backdrop of what has become the world's most attractive football league, located in Ireland's neighbour, England. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Sports, History, Sociology and Politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Soccer & Society.

England On This Day revisits all the most magical and memorable moments from the national side's rollercoaster past, mixing in a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable Lions diary - with an entry for every day of the year. From the first ever international match in 1872 to the Premier League era, England's faithful fans have witnessed decades of world domination and tragicomic failures, grudge matches, World Cup heroics, bizarre goals, fouls and metatarsals - all featured here. Timeless greats such as Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Paul Gascoigne, Steve Bloomer, David Beckham and Stanley Matthews all loom larger than life. Revisit May 12 1971, when England beat Malta 5-0 and Gordon Banks only got four touches - all backpasses! September 1 2001: Germany 1-5 England! Or July 12 1966, when the England team took a morale-boosting trip to the set of You Only Live Twice...

Estimated participation figures of almost 30 million worldwide make soccer the most prominent team sport amongst girls and women. However, making a living as a female player is only deemed possible in approximately 20 out of around 150 FIFA-listed women's soccer countries. This has led to a situation where highly skilled sports women have to migrate from their homelands to find employment with a professional team. Women, Soccer and Transnational Migration represents a substantial contribution to our knowledge on the development of women's soccer, to research into sports labor migration and sport and globalization more broadly. The book consists of three parts. Firstly, it provides an overview and an analysis of migration in women's soccer from its earliest forms until now. It then presents several case studies, delivered by scholars from around the world, illustrating how female players are increasingly being drawn to the USA, Northern Europe and Scandinavia due to their ability to support professional leagues. Finally, all the themes and patterns of these case studies are drawn together to be able to compare and contrast migration in women's soccer to sport migration and globalization more broadly. This study not only makes recommendations for future researchers, but may also serve as an important source of information for those in charge of policy. As such, it is essential reading for students, lecturers, researchers and practitioners involved in sports migration and women's sport.

Medievalism, the later reception of the Middle Ages, has been used by many writers, not just during the Victorian period but from the Renaissance to the present, as a means of commenting on their own societies and systems of values. Until recently, this self-interest was used to distinguish between Medievalism, a selective, often romanticised, view of the past, and medieval studies, with its quest for an authentic Middle Ages. The essays in this collection suggest that the search for knowledge of a "real" Middle Ages has always been a problematic one, and that the vitality of the vision of Medievalism is demonstrated by its constant adaption to current concerns.

This systematic historical and sociological study of the phenomenon of football hooliganism examines the history of crowd disorderliness at association football matches in Britain and assesses both popular and academic explanations of the problem. The authors' study starts in the 1880s, when professional football first emerged in its modern form, charting the pre and inter-war periods and revealing that England's World Cup triumph formed a watershed. The changing social composition of football crowds and the changing class structure of British society is discussed and the genesis of modern football hooliganism is explained by tracing it to the cultural conditions and circumstances which reproduce in young working-class males an interest in a publicly expressed aggressive masculine style.