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International Review for the Sociology of Sport 49(2)

development progress. Disappointingly, however, this book notably lacks attention to the
issue of gender, particularly with regard to the subject of empowerment of girls and
women, and gives little support to local voices in research findings. In a critique of SfD’s
inclination to disregard the complex system of social relationships within which any
changes in behaviour or social conditions take place, one might expect the issue of gen-
der relations to have received much greater attention in Coalter’s research findings.
Nevertheless, the informed scepticism of his book makes an invaluable contribution to
the intellectual and practical development of SfD as a movement. Through theorising the
limitations of SfD and inviting collaboration with a wider world of development knowl-
edge and research, Coalter offers permission to do so in the politically dominated context
of SfD research and evaluation. If you can push through the despondency, this book
encourages those engaged in SfD to resist the neoliberal results agenda – which simply
conceals unanswered questions – and inspires the pursuit of genuine understanding con-
cerning the complexity and depth of social, economic and cultural problems in our
world’s most disadvantaged communities.
These recent works of Darnell and Coalter are invaluable contributions to the rapidly
growing interest in sport for development. Both authors make the case for more theoreti-
cally informed analyses of programmes, albeit in different ways, and these texts will help
to shape future collective – and individual – research agendas. These texts speak to aca-
demics and practitioners alike involved in SfD and sports policy. The increasing numbers
of keen young students volunteering to work overseas with SfD programmes may also
find challenges from these authors, encouraging these students to question underlying
assumptions and personal ideologies concerning the power of sport. Coalter’s book is
perhaps most relevant to broader debates on international development; however, it is
unfortunate that neither text engages with recent discussions about gender empower-
ment, coverage of which we would like to see expanded.

References
Darnell S and Hayhurst L (2012) Hegemony, postcolonialism and sport-for-development: A
response to Lindsey and Grattan. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 4(1):
111–124.
Pain R (2004) Social geography: Participatory research. Progress in Human Geography 28(5):
652–663.
Sumner A (2006) What is development? Development in Practice 16(6): 644–651.

Kausik Bandyopadhyay, Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer. London and New York:
Routledge, 2013, 200 pp., ISBN 9780415518154, $49.95 CDN.

Reviewed by: John Vlahos, York University, Canada

Previously published as a special issue of Soccer and Society, Why Minorities Play or
Don’t Play Soccer is a collection of articles edited by Kausik Bandyopadhyay that
explores minority group involvement and/or disengagement in soccer. The articles in
this edited collection examine how the sport of soccer broadly serves as a continuing

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indicator of nationalism, race, ethnicity, religion, community, gender and cultural speci-
ficity amongst its minority participants and how it can act as a vehicle by oppressed
groups, in a variety of societies, to create identity(ies). Collectively, the articles highlight
how race and ethnicity alone are insufficient in explaining underlying difficulties that
ethnocultural and racialized minority individuals and groups face in relation to their
experiences in soccer. In accordance with this, the edited collection offers wide-ranging
analyses of minority involvement in soccer through the use of a variety of characteristics
used to delineate minority status. Soccer has long been understood as the most popular
mass spectator sport in the world (Bandyopadhyay, 2013), and its use to defy and combat
cultural constructions of existing hegemonic narratives, practices and codes is worthy of
exploration, as exemplified within this book.
Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer is primarily organized along geographical
lines. Each article in the collection examines the issue of minority involvement in soccer
in the context of a specific nation-state in five different continents (Europe, North America,
Asia, Africa and Australia). This analysis of minority involvement in soccer is accom-
plished through empirical research articles and socio-historical essays by contributors
from an array of disciplines including exercise and sport, education, history, sociology
and behavioural sciences. As a result of the inclusion of works from such a diverse pool
of contributors, this book is able to offer a broad range of perspectives on the topic of
minority group inclusion/exclusion. The book as a whole provides an expansive account
of soccer involvement at a variety of levels including recreational, professional, youth and
adult participation. The manner in which this book explores the intersectionality of a vari-
ety of minorities’ involvement in soccer should be acknowledged; in addition to focusing
on ethnicity and race, this book also explores religion, community and gender as they
contribute to minority status in soccer. Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer there-
fore makes a nuanced contribution to literature of minority involvement in, and exclusion
from, soccer.
Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer acknowledges that a linear understanding
of minority representation is not appropriate in describing individuals from different
regions and further explains how this can be limiting to a sociological analysis of minor-
ity participation in sport. As CL Lennox (2006) explains, it is problematic to take the
predominantly European concept of minorities and apply it to other regions, such as
Kenya (explored in Chapter 11), given the differences in social and political histories.
The understanding of what exactly constitutes being a minority varies according to
region: what may signify minority status in one instance may not be applicable in
another. This book also explores the idea of identity amongst socially oppressed partici-
pants in soccer. A main tenet shared amongst the articles is the acknowledgement of the
role that soccer plays in the articulation and creation of ethno-cultural identities. The
book explores several different aspects of how minorities use soccer as a means of inte-
gration into the societies in which they live. It is argued that soccer can assist minority
migrants in accessing the institution of the host society. The sport can act as an avenue
through which these migrants can appreciate nuances of the new societies they find
themselves in.
In Chapter Four, how identities are created and influenced is investigated through
player associations with their respected national teams. In this chapter, Hassan,

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246 International Review for the Sociology of Sport 49(2)

McCullough and Moreland explore Irish soccer players’ decisions to play either for the
Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, irrespective of which of the two jurisdictions
they were born in. They suggest that ‘sport offers a framework for people to build alle-
giances to their nation or nation-state and to each other’ (p. 55). It is argued that the
identity constructed through association with the Republic of Ireland soccer team is not
influenced by boundaries established along territorial lines; rather, it exists in the minds
of those who would attach themselves emotionally to its broader constituency. In Chapter
Nine, Hay and Guoth look at Australian migrant minorities and their allegiances to either
their native country or their newly adopted homes. It is explained that some migrant
minorities embraced soccer as an important element of cultural identification and dis-
tinction, while others used it as a way of finding ways into some areas of Australian
society. Others still have shunned the game altogether as being un-Australian. Both
chapters satisfactorily exemplify how soccer can be used to challenge the notion of a
single established identity by instead providing an opportunity for the players to create
new and constructed identities in an unrestricted fashion. The authors of both articles
contend that the static existing practices which constrain minority players from exploring
their identities can be overcome even when they are regarded as deviating from estab-
lished norms.
In Chapter Six readers are offered an in-depth look into the understanding of minority
involvement in soccer both from the view point of the socially marginalized as well as
those who, in part, impose the existing oppressive constraints. Agergaard and Sorensen
used interviews with elite youth level coaches to bring light to the existence of prevailing
stereotypes of ethnic minority players in Danish football clubs. The argument that
coaches contribute to the categorization of minority players as a uniform group is strongly
emphasized through the interview responses which offer a clear, albeit disheartening,
example of race inequity, a major theme amongst the articles in the book. Race is explored
further as a means by which hegemonic hierarchies both exist and are supported as social
constructions used to legitimize the power of privileged groups in soccer. Long and
Hylton’s (2000) reference to the normalizing process of whiteness in local sport suggests
that racialized privilege becomes so routine in these spaces that such a hierarchy is often
rendered invisible to those it empowers. This explanation is further exemplified in
Lusted’s work (Chapter Three) regarding the underrepresentation of black individuals
not only as players but also in other dimensions of the soccer industry, including coach-
ing, managerial positions and administrative roles. This chapter further explores the
experiences of minority ethnic youngsters using soccer as a setting with which they can
engage in a process of political and cultural resistance.
This edited collection has a number of strengths including its incorporation of works
that examine minority participation (or lack of) in soccer in several different countries.
As a result, the reader is able to gain a broader understanding of why, in certain countries,
‘minorities choose to take up soccer while in others they back away from participating in
the game’ (Bandyopadhyay, 2013: 2). Minority participation in soccer is also explored
from a cultural, racial and religious perspective throughout the articles. By not concen-
trating solely on ethnicity and race as the only viable markers of minority position in
sporting spaces, Why Minorities Play or Don’t Play Soccer is successful in introducing
readers to a wide range of examples of minority engagement in sport. This analysis,

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Book reviews 247

which observes minority inclusion in soccer from a broad sense, presents a fuller atten-
tion to minority life and culture through the exploration of significant issues revealed
through minority attitudes and participation in soccer. Another strength of this book is its
use of new language and terminology in its discussion. One such example is ‘self-
exclusion’ (p. 2), a term used in the book that defines deliberate withdrawal from sport.
It is explained that this ‘self-exclusion’ is practiced by some youths who are immigrants
in new countries in which soccer is considered to be unnationalistic; in other words, the
sport is not popular amongst local residents. This in turn allows these immigrant minori-
ties’ inclusion into the new society in which they live. This incorporation and explanation
of terminology offers a language with which to unpack the experiences of minorities in
their attempt to gain entrance into their societies.
A notable shortcoming of the book is the lack of in-depth attention to or analysis of
women’s participation – or lack of participation – in soccer. There is little attempt in the
book to examine the extent to which women are represented in the world of soccer and
although they, as a minority group, are discussed, it is done so in an undervalued and
problematic manner. Although women constitute a much underrepresented minority
group in the sport, the focus of analysis in this book is on the status of women as specta-
tors rather than players. Few of the articles included explore the oppression of women in
soccer and so the book lacks a genuine attempt to explore and articulate the oppression,
underrepresentation and obstacles that women face with regards to their involvement.
For example, the only mention of female participation in Burdsey’s piece (Chapter Two)
exclaims that ‘Whilst girls and women were present, their role was limited to that of sup-
porters and providers of nourishment, reflecting the wider, cross-cultural marginalization
of females in sporting spaces’ (p. 13). The only piece that focuses exclusively on female
participation comes in the very last chapter, by Ben-Porat, in which the lived experiences
Israeli women as soccer spectators are explored. This piece argues that, historically and
traditionally, women’s access to sport is not equal to that of men, specifically through the
lens of female involvement as spectators of Israeli soccer. Why Minorities Play or Don’t
Play soccer can be criticized for its inadequate (or lack of) exploration of female soccer
players. Attention to, and analysis of, this undervalued minority group would have
greatly advanced the discussion of gendered difference in the involvement of what this
book portrays as a male-dominated sporting activity.
Although the articles in this book were originally published in 2009, Why Minorities
Play or Don’t Play Soccer remains a timely and topical contribution to the greater under-
standing of soccer, given the approach of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It highlights a
variety of different minority statuses that centralize participation in or exclusion from
soccer; reminds us of the social and cultural significance of sport both in producing and
reproducing inequalities in society; how these inequalities have been combated through
involvement in soccer; and, most importantly, demonstrates that sport is a potential arena
for resistance and change. This book would be of value as a supplemental text for aca-
demics and students in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in a variety of disci-
plines, including the sociology of sport as well as cultural studies. It is also a very
interesting read for those who are generally interested in the sport of soccer because it
offers a glimpse at a portion of the subculture of the most played sport in the world. It
may be of interest/use to a general audience interested in gaining a foundational and

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248 International Review for the Sociology of Sport 49(2)

broad understanding of various categories of social constructions affecting minority par-

ticipation or lack thereof, in sport.

References
Lennox CL (2006) Who is a minority? Interests and identities in the international protection regime
for minorities. In: Annual meeting of the International Studies Association, San Diego, CA,
22 March.
Long J and Hylton K (2002) Shades of white: an examination of whiteness in sport. Leisure Studies
21(1): 87–103.

Brett Hutchins and David Rowe, Sport Beyond Television – The Internet, Digital Media and the Rise
of Networked Media Sport. London: Routledge, 2012, 237 pp. (including index), £90 (hbk), ISBN
13: 9780415887182 (hbk).

Reviewed by: Leon Weber, University of Glasgow, UK

As the global sports and new media industries continue to grow in popularity and eco-
nomic importance, their dynamic inter-relationship is also becoming increasingly sophis-
ticated. Indeed, for a considerable time now, the rapid developments within the
media–sport nexus have necessitated a thorough and up-to-date examination of its cur-
rent, uncertain state. With their research monograph Sport Beyond Television, Brett
Hutchins and David Rowe, two of the leading scholars in the field of sport, culture and
the media, respond directly to the need for a comprehensive analysis of the sport–media
complex at this pivotal juncture in the industry’s evolution.
According to Hutchins and Rowe, the basic idea behind Sport Beyond Television and
its key points of inquiry originated from a series of presentations and discussions at the
2010 Sports Broadcasting Summit in Sydney. Thus, the authors of this book set out to
investigate the complex relationship between sport and various transformative techno-
logical developments, emerging commercial opportunities and digital media trends. At
the same time, Sport Beyond Television considers the uncertainty and market unease that
the innovation of technology creates for industry stakeholders. In their analysis of how
and why contemporary media sport is changing, the authors supplement their discussion
of common issues in popular new media discourse, such as the illusiveness and anonym-
ity of online audiences, with the particular sets of challenges that these changes pose for
the various members of the media-sport industry.
Sport Beyond Television consists of eight main chapters; the final chapter addition-
ally serves as an epilogue in which Hutchins and Rowe consider the possible future
developments within the media-sport industry. Throughout the book there runs a con-
sistent thread which characterises in great detail the complex interconnections
between sport and its presence and representations across the various new media
platforms. Hutchins and Rowe support their comprehensive yet accessible theoretical
and conceptual analysis with the use of extensive case studies and primary evidence
collected through multiple in-depth interviews with workers and members of the

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