Football Coverage Research Articles

Pleitbezorger van de voetbalkijker: Het discours over voetbal op televisie in de Nederlandse dagbladen tussen 1950 en 1980

Between 1950 and 1980, television in the Netherlands became a mass medium, which attracted a large audience, in part by broadcasting football matches and news. Scholars have theorised how the rise of a new medium creates anxiety and feelings of rivalry with established media as they are confronted with a new competitor. This paper focuses on this premise by examining to what extent and how such feelings of rivalry between television and newspapers are part of the metadiscourse on football and television within the ranks of Dutch dailies between 1950 and 1980. Based on the results of this qualitative discourse analysis, this paper argues that newspapers certainly discussed the rise of football coverage on television, but did not show any signs of being afraid that television would offer a harmful competition. Much rather, in defending the right to free news gathering as well as the interests of the audience, newspapers positioned themselves by and large as great supporters of football coverage on television.

The Dark Side of Indonesian and Malaysian Football News: Dysphemism and Learning

This article reveals the darker side of Indonesian and Malaysian football coverage, focusing on the use of dysphemistic language and its impact on Indonesian language learning. This study examines how mass media frequently employs dysphemistic expressions to convey football-related information and craft narratives laden with negative connotations. The primary objective is to delve into the manifestation of negative expressions, specifically dysphemism, in Indonesian and Malaysian football news headlines. The qualitative methodology adopts a semantic study approach, drawing data from Indonesian and Malaysian mass media covering 2023 AFF Cup football matches. Random data sampling provided a comprehensive overview of dysphemism in news headlines. The analysis revealed the utilisation of certain words and phrases in Indonesian and Malaysian news titles, where dysphemism is employed to convey a sense of defeat or victory for the Malaysian national team. Based on these findings, this study underscores the relevance of incorporating dysphemism into Indonesian language education.

A European Public Sphere United by Football: A Comparative Quantitative Text Analysis of German, Norwegian, Polish and Spanish Football Media

AbstractThe ability of the European community to respond to the multiple crises threatening the European Union and Europe depends in part on citizens' shared European identity giving legitimacy and support to communal action. Men's elite European club football is an example of a cultural practice that is highly Europeanised, reaches diverse audiences and is a known carrier of collective identities. This article examines the emergence of a European public football sphere through the convergence of football coverage across national media spaces, serving as a foundation for European identity constructions. It connects the concept of a European public sphere to the Europeanisation and mediatisation of football and its potential effects on European identity formation. Results indicate a convergence of football coverage around high‐profile and high‐status aspects of European football, creating a strongly aligned, homogenous but exclusive European public football sphere that leaves many parts of Europe on the sidelines.

The Art of Appreciation: Music and Middlebrow Culture in Modern Britain. By Kate Guthrie

The middlebrow is still a term very much defined by its unfashionable and denigrated status. When talking recently to a former TV critic about bringing together postmodern media theory and football coverage in an issue of Time Out magazine in the 1970s, I asked him whether it could be described as a ‘middlebrow’ initiative. ‘Yes’, was the answer, ‘if you exclude all the negative connotations of that term’! Kate Guthrie’s The Art of Appreciation is a book that, through careful scholarship and archival research, sets aside these tired connotations to examine with fresh eyes certain educational middlebrow initiatives to foster appreciation of classical music. A close focus is maintained throughout on their aims and the extent to which these were achieved in the context of the rapidly changing, class-bound and highly fractious cultural climate that existed in Britain between the 1920s and the early 1960s. According to Guthrie, recent scholarship on the middlebrow has tended to focus predominantly on social questions—this book tries to instead look at how the debates around cultural hierarchies shaped the aesthetic and stylistic forms and cadences of middlebrow cultural products, as well as the contexts of their reception. Guthrie builds upon the kind of work undertaken by Christopher Chowrimootoo on Benjamin Britten (in Middlebrow Modernism, 2018) but adopts a longer historical view and puts musical works ‘into dialogue with the institutions that played an increasingly powerful role in mediating cultural access throughout this period’ (p. 11). In doing so we witness the ‘elective affinity’ that emerged between musical appreciation and various forms of public service media, including interwar BBC radio (Chapter 3) and the documentary film movement (Chapter 4), given their intersecting aims and concerns to educate and widen access to culture.

Watch Netherlands vs Ecuador FREE Live Broadcast FIFA World Cup Football Coverage At TV Channel 25/11/2022

Watch Netherlands vs Ecuador FREE Live Broadcast FIFA World Cup Football Coverage At TV Channel 25/11/2022

Constructing ‘race/ethnicity’ and nationality in Spanish media: a content analysis of international football coverage

Televised football in Spain enjoys great popularity as it is watched by millions of people every year. It has also been suggested as a site where ideas about race/ethnicity are (re)produced and national football teams have been proposed as key elements in the formation and/or confirmation of national identities. In this qualitative research we analyse the transcripts of 11 televised football matches of the Spanish national team with the goal of understanding how football commentators contribute to the construction of meanings about race/ethnicity and its intersections with nationality. Results showed how football commentators constructed racial difference by describing football players of diverse backgrounds in different ways. Furthermore, commentators made use of warlike language and national heroes in their construction of a narrative about the nation. These results will be interpreted and placed within the larger socio-historical context in the Discussion section.

Journalistic Coverage of Football in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: A Comparative Analysis between the Brazilian Women's And Men's Team

Although football played by women has been growing and gaining more visibility, in Brazil the media is responsible for the neglect of football played by women since it does not stimulate, disseminate and encourage it, making the sport continue to be treated amateur form when practiced by women. Even in the period before major sporting events, few relevant reports are published about the modality practiced by women, and even when published, they bring negative aspects about the sport. The evolution in the number of reports on football played by women is still far behind those related to men's football. Taking this context into account, the objective of the present work was to analyze the publications about the Brazilian men's and women's soccer teams published in the news pages of the Lance and Globo Esporte (GE) newspapers during the period of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The present study has a mixed approach and an exploratory and descriptive purpose through documentary research. Data collection was carried out through reports available on the pages of the Globo Esporte and Lance online portals during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (July 21 to August 8, 2021). All the reports about the Brazilian women's and men's soccer teams' participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were collected. also to the fact that each team reached different stages of the competition. Regarding the content of the reports, it was found that in the male team, matters related to the technical and tactical analysis of the game stood out, while in the female team, the content on the behavior of athletes off the field had a more significant number.

X’s and O’s, Angles and Games

In 2017, NFL viewers complained when NBC Sports used the “Madden” camera for live play-by-play coverage of two Thursday Night Football games. Their comments indicated that they had a difficult time estimating yardage from the new perspective. Those games were just two recent examples of viewers complaining about changes in the visual presentation of live sports broadcasts—a phenomenon that has been happening with the Madden camera for more than a decade. The sports broadcasters’ inability to adjust its production technique for live football coverage, despite repeated attempts, provides important insights about the nature of mass communication. As sports broadcasters continue to look for new production techniques in a constantly evolving media landscape, these findings could help guide their production practices. Using game footage from four NFL broadcasts, the present study tested for differences in yardage estimations made from the traditional game camera (i.e., a stationary camera perpendicular to the field) and the Madden camera (i.e., a moving camera on wires positioned over the field). Participants (N = 473) were randomly assigned to watch 11 plays from either the traditional game camera angle or the Madden camera angle. No significant differences were found in estimates of yardage gains based on camera angle. Thehigh variance in the findings suggests that distance estimations are complex visual processes that may require specialized training to improve accuracy.

A new era? How the European ESPN covered the 2019 Women’s World Cup online

This study is a content analysis of Eurosport’s football coverage on its French, English, German and Spanish websites during the 2019 Women’s World Cup. It examines the place given to women’s football by leading sports news websites in Europe and explores cultural differences across those four countries while limiting corporate differences (as all four websites belong to the same company). Analysis found the women’s game represented up to 20% of coverage on two websites, much more than the usual 5% or less usually dedicated to women’s sports, but the tournament still took a back seat to offseason men’s club football. The production value also showed some sex differences with Eurosport’s staff resources seemingly more directed toward coverage of the men’s game – despite the Women’s World Cup being the only Europe-based senior tournament played by European nations during the study. Differences in coverage among the four countries studied suggest Spain is embracing women’s football more than its neighbours, and the vast colonial histories of France, Spain and the UK, and the international relations they shaped, are profoundly affecting the sex gap in football coverage.

The Role of High School Football Coverage in Resident Education.

Athletic team coverage experience varies widely across orthopedic surgery residency programs in the United States. There is a paucity of literature regarding whether serving as a team physician contributes to resident education and whether it can be performed within the bounds of current work-hour restrictions. Residents consider coverage of high school football games a valuable educational experience that does not adversely affect their 80-hour work week. Sixty-one orthopedic residents who served as high school football team physicians as part of their residency curriculum completed an 11-question survey. Responses ranged from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5) on a Likert scale. The majority of residents agreed that serving as a team physician was an overall valuable experience (85%), that it enhanced their orthopedic sports medicine education (89%), and that it increased their awareness of the role played by athletic trainers (97%). The majority of respondents disagreed only with the statement that serving as a team physician had negatively affected their 80-hour work week (54%), and an additional 26% neither agreed nor disagreed. The vast majority of participating orthopedic residents consider high school football team coverage a valuable experience that enhances education and can be performed within work-hour limitations. [Orthopedics. 2020;43(6):e574-e578.].

Football Without Football: Creativity in German Football Coverage by TV Broadcasters and Clubs During the Coronavirus Crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TV broadcasters and clubs were challenged to provide alternative formats and content for fans of Germany’s favorite sport, football [soccer]. Thus, they emulated matchdays and created a Bundesliga feeling in new ways. The authors focus on this alternative creative sports coverage during the Coronavirus crisis and consider the effect on the audience. TV broadcasters, for instance, recreated Bundesliga matchdays through broadcasting historical matches, sticking with the original fixtures from before the crisis, while offering renewed commentary. Clubs conducted the Bundesliga Home Challenge, that is, FIFA20 videogame matches with their professional and eSport players, covering these matches on Twitter and their website. The authors argue that these efforts of keeping up the beloved structure of daily sports events satisfy social and entertaining belongings that are normally continually recreated through watching and talking about live sports events. Moreover, they discuss the possible sustainability of these innovative ways of sport communication.

Jalgpalli populaarsus Eesti Vabariigi spordielus 1920–40 [Abstract: The Popularity of Football in the Sporting Life of the Republic of Estonia in 1920–1940

Jalgpalli populaarsus Eesti Vabariigi spordielus 1920–40 [Abstract: The Popularity of Football in the Sporting Life of the Republic of Estonia in 1920–1940

Virtual Patriot Games: American Football in The Times of London, 1888–1910

This study examines the American football press coverage in the Times of London from 1888 to November 1910. The time span covers the paper’s first mention of the game to the first game played in England. This period also coincides with increasing anxiety about the strength of the British Empire and unwanted American influences. During this time, athletic contests between the two nations turned into sites for the construction of national identities. Adapting the sport scholar Emma Poulton’s concept of ‘mediated patriot games’, the author argues that the American football coverage of the Times of London could be considered ‘virtual patriot games’, as the absence of domestic American football teams did not allow for direct competition. Two related narrative elements. The stories in the Times framed gridiron football as the pastime of the ‘other’, including translating rules and comparing the merits of rugby and American football. The reports also focused on the American game’s violence, confirming older traditions in British imaginations of America. Advancements in communication technologies, especially the telegraphic wire, were critical for the immediacy with which British readers consumed American sporting news. Contrary to current scholarship, British interpretations of American culture through gridiron football developed much earlier than the post-1970s information age.

‘French football needs more women like Adriana’? Examining the media coverage of France’s women’s national football team for the 2011 World Cup and the 2012 Olympic Games

As reflected by the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games, global women’s participation in sports seems to currently be at its highest levels ever. However, equality between men and women has not yet been reached when one examines how men and women involved in sports are represented in the media. Sportswomen have appeared to be typically portrayed as feminine individuals and not systematically referred to as ‘just athletes’. France’s women’s national football (soccer) team was followed during the 2011 World Cup and the 2012 Olympic Games through two different French websites: the official website of the French football federation and a website devoted to sports news. Using a feminist Foucauldian discourse analysis, this paper presents how these important websites for the media coverage of football in France portrayed the women’s national team and its players during two major international competitions, oscillating between gendered individuals and ‘real’ or legitimate athletes. It also highlights how cultural context and nationalism contributed to such (re)presentations of Team France.

Football Coverage in the Papers of theSheffield Telegraph, c.1890–1915

Football Coverage in the Papers of the<i>Sheffield Telegraph</i>, c.1890–1915

Political discourse in football coverage – the cases of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana

Football coverage in newspapers is both an arena for, and a mirror of, political discourse within a society. This essay argues that discourses within football coverage referring to political issues reflect dominant – and possibly contesting – ‘truths’, which themselves are linked to power relations and political struggles within a given society. The comparison of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, two neighbouring countries in very different conditions (particularly with regard to their historical trajectories and the degree of societal consensus), and more particularly, the comparison of dominant discourses on the topics of patriotism, peace and good governance related to the World Cup qualification of both national teams supports the hypothesis of a strong context‐relatedness of a politically loaded ‘football language’. For instance, whereas in Ghana, patriotism is, when football comes in, quickly merged with pan‐Africanism, the Ivorian team renewed the heated political debate about ‘Ivorianess’ by putting forward a notion of inclusive patriotism.

A Transnational View

A Transnational View

Running away from the circus

Professor Boyle bemoans the number of former sports stars now dominating sports journalism. He writes: "Over the last few years, sports broadcasting, from athletics to football, has become less journalistically driven and increasingly populated by former sports stars with little or no background in journalism. Framed by entertainment rather than journalistic values and with too many vested interests involved, football coverage on television tends now to be driven by soft opinion rather than hard analysis. Television often appears to see its role as promoting sport, rather than reporting, investigating and analysing." And he asks: "Surely sports broadcasting is too important to be left solely to ex-athletes and players at a time when, as sport becomes bigger and more complex, there has never been a greater need for journalistic rigour?"

Spinal Injuries in Contact Sports

Contact and collision sports such as American football expose the athlete to a wide array of potential injuries. Knee injuries garner much of the attention, but spinal injuries are potentially catastrophic and all levels of medical coverage of football must be knowledgeable and prepared to attend to an athlete with a neck injury. Of the other possible spinal conditions, some resolve on their own, others might require conservative therapy, and still others might require surgical intervention. The spectrum of potential injury is wide, yet the medical team must practice and prepare to treat the possible catastrophic neck injury.

Political Discourse in Football Coverage - the Cases of Côte D'Ivoire and Ghana

Football coverage in newspapers is both an arena for and a mirror of political discourse within a society. The paper argues that discourses within coverage referring to political issues reflect dominant - and, possibly, contesting - truths, which themselves are linked to power relations and political struggles within a given society. The comparison of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, two neighbouring countries in very different conditions (particularly with regard to their historical trajectories and the degree of societal consensus), and more particularly, the comparison of dominant discourses on the topics of patriotism, peace and good governance related to the World Cup qualification of both national teams supports the hypothesis of a strong context-relatedness of a politically loaded football language. For instance, whereas in Ghana patriotism is, when comes in, quickly merged with pan-africanism, the Ivorian team renewed the heated political debate about Ivorianess by putting forward a notion of inclusive patriotism.