Football Star Research Articles

Flawed Sainthood in Popular Culture: Maradona’s Culture of Commemoration in Naples

There is currently a certain pressure from various mnemonic communities, animated by vernacular interests, to canonize new saints within what is regarded as the flawed saints’ cultural-political movement. Among these new, uncanonized saints, whose memory is commemorated unofficially in various cultural-political registers, there is also the football star Diego Armando Maradona, called by his millions of fans “the Hand of God” (La Mano de Dios). The commemorative culture that thrived around Maradona’s persona—materialized in artefacts, shrines, icon-like paintings, prints, graffiti, stencils, and other memorabilia—do not fit the customary narratives of sainthood, nor to the display and content of the recently inaugurated (2023) memorial to the new martyrs of both the 20th and 21st centuries at Saint Bartholomew Basilica in Rome. The article argues that the commemoration of Maradona by his fans in Italy, Argentina, and worldwide is enacted in pop culture formats aimed at addressing different sets of contemporary mnemonic and spiritual needs. The aim is to offer a fresh conceptual engagement with the contemporary cultural-political phenomenon of “flawed saints” commemoration through the lens of contemporary popular culture, taking the culture of commemoration of Diego Maradona as a case study.

Maradona’s death in Argentine media landscape: from class consciousness to group consciousness? A theoretical proposal to overcome conceptual nostalgia

ABSTRACT This article analyses certain Argentine media landscape’s reception of worldwide football star Diego Maradona’s death, on 25 November 2020. I focused on one specific national media (the left-wing or social-democrat journal Página/12) to scrutinize how certain both male and female writers and intellectuals depict Maradona, write about his football prowess and personal affairs, praise and remembers him. The underlying hypothesis of my article is that the perception – in that aforementioned coverage – of Maradona as a class consciousness holder because of his poor background and upbringing in the Fiorito shantytown is an example of conceptual nostalgia, while actually both his professional career and personal life are better graspable through the category of group consciousness. To deepen this theoretical disquisition, I draw upon the contributions of Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukács and English Cultural Critic Mark Fisher.

Does pro-gay messaging from a celebrity athlete work in conservative contexts? Evidence from the Republic of Georgia

ABSTRACT A growing consensus indicates that increasing visibility, awareness-raising, and positive media representations of gay people, through public advocacy and endorsements, contribute to tolerance and support. In particular, existing studies in the West show the promise of celebrity endorsements in promoting pro-gay attitudes. However, an emerging body of research, largely outside the West, points to potential backlash surrounding gay identity. We examine the efficacy of celebrity pro-gay endorsements. In an original survey experiment in Tbilisi, Georgia involving randomized pro-gay endorsements from a prominent Georgian football star, we find that a pro-gay celebrity endorsement reduces tolerance toward gay people. Our results have implications for the success of public messaging on gay identity in conservative social contexts.

The Effectiveness of Football Economy Empowers Socio-Economic Development: A Case Study of Cristiano Ronaldo

This article primarily used Cristiano Ronaldo's 2018 transfer to Juventus F.C. Club as a case study to analyze and summarize how the star effect brought about by Cristiano Ronaldo in this event promotes the development of the football economy while empowering socio-economic development. Through case analysis, this article concluded in three aspects. In the football industry sector, the signing of football stars had positive effects on both the team and the league. It was recommended that the league and clubs introduce players with strong personal abilities as needed and actively exert their social influence to promote the development and improvement of the club and league. In the social development sector, the joining of football stars will promote the development of related industries. It was recommended that all regions attach importance to the development of football and actively promote the empowerment of the football economy in the social economy. At the same time, there were certain shortcomings in the model of empowering economic development through sports stars. It was recommended that players establish a good social image and moral literacy.

The influence of football celebrity endorsements on the attention paid to advertising: eye tracker research related to amateur online poker players in Portugal

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to determine how football stars influence the attention paid to online poker advertising and whether a corresponding nationality might influence the perception of audiences between 18 and 24 years of age, which is the adult age group most vulnerable to this type of game. Using an eye tracking technique, a sample of 60 Portuguese young people who are amateur online poker players has been studied. The results suggest that affinity with a sports star increases the level of attention paid to the image of the star. Otherwise, the poker hand registers the greatest amount of attention. Sports stars who are currently playing attract more attention than those who are retired, and smiles make it possible to attract even more attention from the audience. These stars facilitate advertising brands in associating online gaming with a form of leisure.

Countering Islamophobia through Sports: Qatar's Initiatives during the 2022 FIFA World Cup

This paper examines how Qatar used the 2022 FIFA World Cup as a platform to address global Islamophobia. Taking place in the context of a conference on Islamophobia at Georgetown University in Qatar, the study analyzes the role Western media played in reinforcing negative stereotypes and biases against Muslims before and during the event. It highlights Qatar's wide-ranging efforts to educate the public, influence policy, and promote open discussions on how to counteract these prejudices. Special attention is given to the significant role of sports celebrities, particularly football star Mo Salah, in reducing anti-Muslim sentiment. Empirical data support the idea that Salah's public Muslim identity contributed to a decline in hate crimes and negative social media chatter. Additionally, the study explores the possible positive impact, known as the "Qatar effect," that hosting the World Cup could have on reducing negative attitudes towards Muslims. This is similar to how Mo Salah's presence and influence have positively affected public opinion, known as the "Salah effect." The paper also discusses how Qatar infused cultural elements, like Quranic verses and Bedouin traditions, into the event to foster a broader understanding and appreciation of its heritage. It further addresses ethical and human rights concerns such as the conditions of migrant workers and civil liberties, emphasizing the inconsistency in how the world reacts to these issues in different contexts. Overall, this research offers a comprehensive look at how the 2022 FIFA World Cup served as a stage for Qatar to influence global perspectives on Islamophobia while shedding light on the social and political complexities tied to hosting a world-renowned event.

Fan identification in football: professional football players and clubs competing for fan loyalty

PurposeIn the age of nine-figure transfer fees and football stars building their own brands and follower base, a shift in fan identification in football appears to be taking place as athletes can build strong connections with their followers. This paper examines the level of identification shown by football fans towards both their favourite team and their favourite player, in connection with the concept of fan loyalty.Design/methodology/approachA total of 4,707 international respondents participated in an online survey to examine the relationship between fan identification and fan loyalty, and to measure the impact of variables like country, player, club, on fan identification using multi-regression analyses.FindingsThe results underline the strong presence of team identification compared to identification of single players. Results have also revealed that the relationship between a fan's favourite team and player has a significant impact on identification levels towards both actors. Fans supporting a foreign club were found to show significantly stronger team identification than those who support a club from their own country or region.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the growing body of publications in the field of sports consumer research and underlines the importance of understanding the quality of relationships and thus the identification of fans with clubs and individual players for the stakeholders involved. International sports marketing is becoming increasingly important and an understanding of fan interests is essential for effective marketing, as information on trends in fan interests enables a more tailored strategy for clubs and sponsors.

Our Hero and That Kind of Woman: Imaginaries of Sexuality, Masculinity and Femininity in the Discussion of the Rape Allegation against Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal

Kathlyn Mayorga’s rape allegation against Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo was mostly met in his home country with disbelief, prompting a strong wave of support for the national icon. Mayorga was often perceived as a ‘gold digger’. This article explores how traditional gender norms, sex scripts and rape myths underpinned the resignification of the rape allegation into a case of extortion, naturalizing sexual abuse regarding ‘immoral women’. It examines how the intersection of local patriarchal traditions with the neoliberal order produced a morality which normalized the commodification of women’s and men’s bodies as a path to social mobility. It looks at the commodification of Ronaldo’s body, his key to success as a ‘super-body’ whose exceptional sports performance granted him respectability, an exceptional social status and access to women’s sexualized bodies. Then, it examines the construction of Mayorga’s body as a sexualized body with less moral and/or commercial value, operating in an area perceived as indecent (sex as a ‘gold digger’ or sexual transactions as a prostitute) and whose inflicted harm could be compensated through money.

Wealth production and millionaire footballers: wage-labourers or rentiers?

During the financial crisis that started in 2007–2008, the incomes of the most outstanding professional footballers increased exponentially in Spain. By contrast, most wage-labourers witnessed a drop in their wages. Professional football industry owners relied on professional advisory reports, such as one developed by the KPMG consultancy to justify the income increase. According to this report, each player is remunerated according to his contribution to social wealth. In this article, such a claim is questioned. Firstly, the notion of wealth developed and used by mainstream economics is criticized. Secondly, based on Marx’s concept of rent, an alternative explanation is developed. In doing so, a contrary conclusion is reached in that the incomes of football stars do not correspond to their contribution to social wealth and they, in fact, appropriate wealth that they themselves do not produce.

The 1990s and Anything Goes America

During the 1990s the nation witnessed the rise of a culture that this essay labels Anything Goes America. The seeds of this era had been planted in the 1970s with the development and expansion of women's, gay, and sexual liberation movements. Over the next generation those seeds slowly germinated until the 1990s when they bloomed with TV sitcoms, reality television, and shock jock radio that presented a barrage of obscenity, sex, and for the first time even the F-word. Added to this mix was the rise of the World Wide Web, internet, dot.com revolution, new networks, rap music, even the pharmaceutical development of Viagra. Anything Goes America was boosted primetime by two events that contributed to the rise of Infotainment--the "Trial of the Century" of football star O.J. Simpson and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Policy Solutions: It’s more than money: Supporting the Black school

Former NFL football star Deion Sanders set off controversy when he announced he was leaving his post as head football coach at Mississippi’s Jackson State University, a historically Black college or university (HBCU), to go to University of Colorado. Jonathan E. Collins discusses how the concept of HBCUs could be taken up by public schools that primarily serve Black students. This would be preferable to considering majority Black schools as segregation failures lacking in resources.

Supremely Influential: How The Man That Once Was Whizzer White Shaped My Career

Supremely Influential:How The Man That Once Was Whizzer White Shaped My Career Helen J. Knowles-Gardner (bio) "He graduated from Yale Law School; he served in the Navy in World War II; and he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University …" Introducing my "law and courts" students to the extraordinary biography of Byron R. White usually begins with these observations. Although this summary of his accomplishments is traditionally prefaced with a statement saying that White had a "résumé you pretty much can't beat," I still have not captured my students' attention. Yale Law seems several worlds away for them; World War II is ancient history; and they have no idea what a Rhodes Scholar is. So, I continue. "Deputy Attorney General during the presidency of John F. Kennedy; and then one of Kennedy's appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1962, serving on that Court until 1993." Some of the students are now impressed. "Oh," I then casually remark, "and he played in the N.F.L." Now I have the attention of all of the students, attention generally confirmed with numerous exclamations of "whoa" or "say what?" While I love bringing Justice Byron R. White to life in this manner, I always feel rather ashamed at doing so. Ashamed, because I have the distinct feeling that White is sitting in the corner of the classroom politely trying not to roll his eyes in frustration that yet another person has capped off their description of his lifetime of accomplishments with reference to his athletic achievements. In 1935, a Denver Post journalist "saddled" the rising college football star White "with a name he did not seek, did not like, and could not shake."1 Much to White's dismay, [End Page 95] the name "Whizzer White"—and all that it embodied—stuck with him, through thick and thin. Far too frequently journalists were wont to undermine (not necessarily deliberately, sometimes just carelessly) the man's legal, political, and judicial accomplishments by reminding their readers of the notable fact that "Whizzer" White had once been a standout on the gridiron. My shame does not last long, however, for the simple reason that "Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and N.F.L. player" is a unique biographical description that has, over the years, etched itself into the memories of my students, and captivated their attention, just like it did for me during the winter of 2000. I was in my first year of graduate school, and had very quickly reached the conclusion that studying Supreme Court politics and history was my educational raison d'être. At the end of my first semester, I sought out suitable winter break reading material at the local bookstore. Little did I know that one of my purchases was a book that would have a truly significant influence on my career. The book captivated my attention and burned one of its central arguments (and a good many anecdotes and useful pieces of information) into my memory in a way very few books have ever done (and likely ever will). That aptly titled biography of White—The Man Who Once Was Whizzer White—(hereinafter referred to as Whizzer White), written by one of the Justice's former clerks, Dennis Hutchinson, is the book in question. At the end of the Prologue to that volume, Hutchinson recalls White's mid-career observation that, "[j]udges have an exaggerated view of their role in our polity."2 I do not have an "exaggerated view" of the "role" that Whizzer White has played in shaping and influencing my own research, scholarship, and teaching. It has been, and always will be supremely influential. An Influence On My Researching My original marginalia, circa January 2001, begin to appear in the pages of chapters eleven and twelve of my well-thumbed copy of Hutchinson's book (back then, I was less prone to extensive annotation and page corner-folding of volumes). There is one noticeable exception, however. A solitary, pencil-written exclamation point appears next to the paragraph at the top of page three. And it is there that we find the second thing...

Vladimir Vinek's dribbles

The paper attempts to shed light on the biography of Vladimir Vinek, a popular Zagreb football player during the early 1920s and one of the first real football stars in Croatia. It also attempts to explain his professional and private life, deeply connected with the contemporary social upheavals marked by repressive regimes of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and later of the Independent State of Croatia. After considerable success with football Vinek became completely dedicated to his police career, first serving to the regime of Yugoslav king Alexander Karađorđević and later on to the Ustasha regime of Ante Pavelić, which would ultimate lead to his demise.

One Night in Miami (2020)Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali (2021)Muhammad Ali

<i>One Night in Miami</i> (2020)<i>Blood Brothers: Malcolm X &amp; Muhammad Ali</i> (2021)<i>Muhammad Ali</i>

Racism, Activism, and Integrity in College Football: The Bates Must Play Movement

This book focuses on the massive student protest at New York University (NYU) in 1940–41 against the administration's refusal to allow the football team's African American star, Leonard Bates, to accompany it to play at the University of Missouri, which did not admit Blacks. It was standard practice for northern universities to withdraw their Black athletes from competitions at southern schools. If the southern school requested the withdrawal when they were the visiting team up north, their northern opponent often complied. In this case study, Donald Spivey provides insight into racist practices in college sports and how a student movement challenged them in the period and emerged as a potent force.Spivey's interviews with Bates, conducted in the 1980s, and later with six members of the “Bates 7,” the NYU students who initiated the challenge to the administration's decision to comply with southern/border state Jim Crow requirements, are an important feature of his work. Bates discusses his youth in Depression-era Harlem, supporting his siblings and mother by toiling on the docks, and his adjustment to college life and sports. The Bates 7 activists explain how they waged a grassroots campaign against racism in a period before the rise of a mass civil rights movement. The initiator was African American; most of the other six appear to have been Jewish or of Jewish background. The university imposed severe punishment on the seven activists, suspending them for the remaining three months of the spring 1941 semester.The student protestors used a wide range of innovative tactics, many of which were adopted by campus activists a quarter of a century later. These included mass leafleting; petitions with vast numbers of signatures; rallies attended by as many as 3,000 persons; picketing; and a sit-in at a dean's office. Buttons with the slogan “Bates Must Play” were distributed. Protesters coined poignant slogans, such as “No Missouri Compromise,” drawing a parallel between the NYU administration's complicity in maintaining the color line and Congress's unwillingness to acknowledge the immorality of slavery in 1820. The protestors emphasized that northern universities helped solidify Jim Crow by scheduling games with segregated southern and border state universities. The “Bates Must Play” movement persisted for several months after the November 2, 1940, NYU-Missouri game, focusing attention on the administration's withdrawal of its African American athletes from track meets and basketball games below the Mason-Dixon line.Spivey demonstrates the larger impact of the protestors’ campaign by noting the support it received from prominent Americans. These included Eleanor Roosevelt; Paul Robeson, Black activist and world-renowned singer and actor; esteemed Jewish anthropologist Franz Boas; Bayard Rustin, an organizer of the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation; labor leaders Mike Quill and Joe Curran; and Jewish football star Benny Friedman.Spivey emphasizes that the African American press provided considerably more coverage of the protests than mainstream newspapers. He does report that New York Mirror sportswriter Dan Parker was an exception in backing the protests. Spivey should also credit Jesse Abramson of the New York Herald Tribune, who during the Bates campaign blasted the NYU administration for “being dictated to by Southern schools” for more than a decade.The author could contextualize this work by giving attention to the bitter conflicts between students and administrators at New York colleges and universities in the 1930s, which doubtless energized many of NYU's protestors. For example, Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler expelled undergraduate Robert Burke in 1936 for leading a picket line challenging his decision to send a delegate to celebrate the 550th anniversary of Nazi Germany's Heidelberg University, a carefully orchestrated Hitler regime propaganda festival. The expulsion precipitated a wave of student demonstrations and rallies at Columbia the next semester. Boas was active in the unsuccessful campaign to have Burke's expulsion rescinded. In 1934, Butler also fired instructor Jerome Klein for circulating a petition protesting Columbia's invitation to Nazi Germany's ambassador to deliver a speech extolling Hitler's policies. The academic careers of both men were permanently destroyed. To this day, Columbia's administration refuses to issue an apology, despite repeated appeals for it to do so.Moreover, Spivey might have compared NYU students’ fierce challenge to their administration's capitulation to Jim Crow with the lack of response from students at Boston College. The Jesuit institution barred its African American player, Lou Montgomery, from participating in the 1941 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans against Tennessee and even from games against southern schools in Boston. The Sugar Bowl took place just two months after the NYU-Missouri contest.Nevertheless, Spivey should be congratulated for bringing to light an important but neglected episode in civil rights history and for locating and interviewing nearly all the Bates 7 and Bates himself. He describes this process in the book, which finally led to the NYU administration acknowledging wrongdoing in 2001.

Corona XLVII – flash

Corona XLVII – flash

Effect of a football-based mass media campaign intervention on awareness and knowledge of neglected tropical diseases in Nigeria: a propensity score matching analysis

ABSTRACT Nigeria accounts for the largest burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in Africa with over 128 million people requiring treatment. In the fight to end NTDs, influential football stars with large followership have been used to support campaigns targeted at eliminating NTDs. END Fund supported a mass media campaign featuring William Troost-Ekong, an influential Nigerian footballer to promote uptake of NTD preventive treatment. The goal of the campaign was to ensure that more people seek treatment for these devastating diseases. The study was aimed at evaluating three intermediate outcomes of The END Fund NTD mass media campaign: knowledge, awareness and ideation. The evaluation was based on a cross-sectional study design using propensity score matching methodology. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on exposure to the mass media campaign; and a multi-stage stratified random sampling approach was used to select households across study locations. We estimated the effect of the campaign on awareness, knowledge, and ideation between exposed and unexposed respondents based on the average treatment of the treated. Participants who were exposed to the campaign were more likely to have a high level of awareness, this was 14pp higher than among the unexposed; and it was statistically significant. Similarly, exposure to the NTD campaign resulted in a high level of knowledge by 13%, this was also significant. For ideation, there was a moderate increase, and this was significant. In conclusion, this study reinforced the effectiveness of using influential football stars to deliver public health campaigns.

The HUAC Othello

Paul Robeson was a remarkable singer, a brilliant actor, and an engaged political activist. In his college years he was a football star. Throughout his life he campaigned for the rights the poor, the disadvantaged, and the oppressed. His most famous theatrical role was Othello; when he played the part in London and in New York he was one of the first black actors to do so. The New York production ran on Broadway longer than any other William Shakespeare play had done. But Robeson’s life, which included political and racial attacks, the loss of his US passport, and claims that he was “un-American” (he visited the Soviet Union and compared its treatment of minorities favorably to that of the United States) led to a series of encounters in which Othello, both the role and the play, was in effect reenacted in public, culminating in Robeson’s eloquent testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. This essay traces the connections, and the sometimes-uncanny crossovers, between Robeson’s life and Shakespeare’s play.

Talent development and labour market integration in European football

AbstractIn this paper, we argue that altered incentives for clubs to develop star players after the Bosman ruling can explain why European football has seen lower competitive balance in the Champions League but more competitive balance at the national level. By having a profound impact on the transfers of players within the European Union (EU), the Bosman ruling led to stiffer bidding competition over football stars. We show that this spurred talent development primarily in EU countries without established top clubs having a positive impact on their junior and senior national teams' performance. However, the stiffer bidding competition also led to a lower competitive balance in the Champions League, as non‐established clubs prefer to sell their star players instead of challenging the top clubs. We provide empirical evidence consistent with these findings.

Football legend, role model, cultural ambassador, and true Canadian? A critical reading of the mediated legacy of Norman Kwong, the ‘China Clipper’

Norman Kwong was a Chinese Canadian football star with a ground-breaking career in the Canadian Football League in the 1950s before he reached unprecedented success post-retirement, most notably appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta in 2005. Acknowledging Kwong’s significant accomplishments, this paper offers a critical reading of Canadian mainstream media’s celebratory representation of Norman Kwong and his legacy, highlighting how his life stories, as constructed in the media, served to reaffirm the myth of Canadian multiculturalism. The paper concludes by pointing to an alternative interpretation of Kwong’s legacy, one that foregrounds the Chinese diasporic communities’ complicity and obligations in the settler colonial state.