Soccer History Research Articles

Football fandom, social justice and solidarity: the linguistic landscape of fans’ protests on the Kanjuruhan tragedy in Indonesia

ABSTRACT The tragedy at the Kanjuruhan football Stadium is the second worst in the world history of soccer. The excessive force and use of tear gas by the military officers led to hundreds of deaths and injuries, yet there have been inadequate responses from the authorities to investigate the case. The linguistic landscape in the forms of protest banners and posters responding to the Kanjuruhan tragedy provides a distinct arena - both in the stadium itself and wider discursive space - demonstrating that public space remains an area of contestation between civil society and the state. By drawing on the insights of linguistic landscapes (LL) and critical discourse analysis, we argue that an LL approach serves as an alternative mechanism to accommodate the subjugated voices and those seeking justice. Our findings reveal three alternative discourses, i.e. #usuttuntas, gas air mata vs. air mata ibu (tear gas vs. mothers’ tears), and humanity above football. The analysis draws attention to the importance of using LL research that can be harnessed to seek insights into broader issues, not just regarding multilingualism, but also issues relating to social change and social justice.

Lower flexibility and range of motion in prepubertal soccer players: a pilot study

PurposeEven if sport practice is essential for children’s health, in the last years, an increased number of studies recorded injuries from the age of 12 years. In the multifactorial nature of injuries, a reduction in flexibility and/or range of motion is hypothesized to play a role. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the flexibility and range of motion of soccer players in the prepubertal age.MethodsIn this pilot transversal study, we investigated through various mobility tests (ankle wall test, sit and reach test, and active straight leg raise test) a population of 78 prepubertal soccer players (male, 12 ÷ 14 years old, BMI 18.472 ± 2.18 kg/m2).ResultsThe results showed a significant reduction in their flexibility and range of motion compared to the reference values reported in clinical guidelines, and this decrement increased with the years of soccer history and age.ConclusionsThe lower flexibility and range of motion confirmed the importance of planning an adequate training to prevent their limitation with repercussions on body growth.

Prediction of ACL-tear by lower limbs muscle strength and flexibility: a prospective cohort study in 95 female soccer players

ABSTRACT The aims of the study were to build models using logistic regression analysis of flexibility and strength tests to prospectively predict risk factors for anterior cruciate ligament tear (ACL-tear) in female soccer (FS) players, and to determine training cut-off for risk factors of the predictive model built. A prospective cohort study of 95 female players (aged 14–33 years) was conducted. Age, anthropometric data, soccer history, lower limb range of motion (ROM) and hip maximal isometric strength (MIS) were measured. At the prospective follow-up after 12 months, 7.4% of the players had developed an ACL-tear. The model showed a significant relationship (χ2(93) = 30.531, p < 0.001) between the ACL-tear and the predictor variables (leg length, HAD-NH [hip adduction] MIS, asymmetric ROM [ankle dorsiflexion with knee extended (AD-KE) and with knee flexed (AD-KF), and HE (hip extension)], hip ROM [HIR (internal rotation) and HAB (abduction)]). The Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC) for model fit were 30.24 and 51.79, respectively. The value R2 showed good model fit, 76.5% for Nagelkerke´s R2, 71.4% for McFadden´s R2 and 67.5% for Tjur´s R2. For the screening test, cut-off for leg length of ≥0.40 m, for HIR ROM of ≤44º and for asymmetry of HE ROM of ≥5° were set, which have an acceptable (AUC ≥ 0.755) discriminatory ability for the development of ACL-tear.

Doing Ethnographic Research in the Fiji Islands: Research Method and Research Ethics Issues

The aim of this article is to consider research method and research ethics issues in the unique location of the Fiji Islands. After arguing that Eurocentric, Anglo-American ethics clearance processes, embedded into Global North Universities, are culturally inappropriate, in the Fiji setting, I go on to imagine alternative ethics clearance questions that pick up on and reflect adequately Fiji’s social and economic context. I discuss and explore why traversing relationships, relationships that traverse time and space through giving, receiving, obligation, reimbursement, and forgiveness, often emerge in the Fiji context, and how they can be a local, social equilibrium that benefits both parties. My own research on Fiji soccer history is used to provide illustrations and anecdotes throughout the article.

Multidisciplinary teams in high intensity medicine

When I was younger, I had the privilege of seeing the greatest player in the history of soccer play live: Diego Armando Maradona. Maradona was able to win matches and tournaments just on his own. In contrast, in third millennium medicine, no physician can expect to defeat complex diseases requiring high-intensity care without the support of a team.&#x0D; The inherent complexity of precision medicine, the abundance of treatment options, and the need to set up long-term treatment pathways with different intensities of care, are driving toward a win-win approach of patient management by Multidisciplinary Teams (MDT). This is the whole reason Acute Care Medicine Surgery and Anaesthesia (AMSA) was born: ranging from the name of the journal to the composition of the editorial board, our interest in critically ill and surgical patients is clearly visible. [...]

The introduction of the Video Assistant Referee supports the fairness of the game – An analysis of the home advantage in the German Bundesliga

The introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR) was a landmark in soccer history, yet it is not empirically examined whether the technology contributes to the most supreme value of the game: fair play. Because referees are said to be one driving cause of the home advantage (HA), the aim of this study was to examine whether the HA changed in the German Bundesliga since the implementation of the VAR in the season 2017/18. We examined a total of 2448 games during the four seasons before and after the implementation of the VAR with regards to the game outcomes (i.e., goals and points) as well as indicators of referee bias (i.e., fouls, yellow cards, 2nd yellow cards, red cards, and penalty kicks) for both the home and the away teams. Findings indicate that the VAR influences game outcomes to a fairer degree. Specifically, (i) we found statistical evidence for the HA before, but not after the implementation of the VAR. However, (ii) these results need to be interpreted with caution because direct assessments of the change induced by the introduction of the VAR are not statistically significant. Finally, (iii) with the implementation of the VAR, fewer fouls were committed by both the home and the away team.

“They Couldn’t Win and Didn’t Want to Lose”: The 1982 Inter-District Championship Final (Fiji Soccer)

In this article, we review one iconic match in Fiji soccer history, the 1982 Inter-District Championship Final, when bad light stopped play after ten kicks each in the penalty shootout with penalty goals tied at 6–6. In interviews with ex-administrators and players from the match, we learn that Ba reneged upon a “gentlemen’s agreement,” between the two team presidents, not to turn up for any replay match scheduled for outside of Nadi, the original venue. Ba turned up at the replay venue and claimed the trophy much to the disgust of Nadi supporters and officials. Because the Indo-Fijian community “controls” coaching and administrative positions in soccer, it is able to fashion and refashion how Indigenous Fijian men’s bodies are presented and administered within the sport. Significantly, race and class combine to make it difficult for Indigenous ex-players to move into coaching and administrative positions in soccer postretirement.

More Noble than War: A Soccer History of Israel-Palestine

More Noble than War: A Soccer History of Israel-Palestine

Néstor Curbelo: The Latin American Andrew Jenson

Néstor Curbelo: The Latin American Andrew Jenson

The (Not So) United Soccer of Atlanta: An Early History of Class Distinction and Racial Separatism in Organized Youth Soccer

During the late 1960s, Phil Woosnam and the Atlanta Chiefs developed and implemented a community programming model to enculturate local residents into the cultural practice of soccer. The model was immersed in the racialized urban politics of Atlanta, demographic changes of suburbanization, and emergence of middle-class lifestyles. This study merges local historical evidence on the advent of organized youth soccer with the theories of Robert Putnam and Pierre Bourdieu to investigate the role of bonding social capital in early youth soccer, and examines how the pedagogies of the Atlanta Chiefs were constituted around a particular class-based lifestyle known as cultures of busyness or hyper-parenting. In this process, the Atlanta Chiefs increasingly focused on affluent white communities and institutions and removed prior engagement with predominately black neighborhoods. The removal of programming reflects the urban politics in Atlanta regarding recreational spaces in black neighborhoods. More precisely, organized youth soccer emerged in Atlanta from the embodied history of racial separatism in park and recreational spaces. This had consequences for the history of youth soccer in the United States. Based on the findings, future research could examine urban and suburban youth sport in Atlanta, and closely interrogate local developments of community programming by the NASL.

The Names Heard Long Ago: How the Golden Age of Hungarian Soccer Shaped the Modern Game

The Names Heard Long Ago: How the Golden Age of Hungarian Soccer Shaped the Modern Game

Lower Limb Differences and the Center of Pressure Control Test with Visual Feedback for Junior Soccer Players

This study aimed to compare the COP (center of foot pressure) control ability of junior soccer players between the kicking foot and the supporting foot using the COP control test. The participants were 40 junior soccer players (133.6±5.4 cm, 28.8±3.4 kg, 9.1±0.6 years old, soccer history: 3.8±1.3 years) belonging to a local soccer team. The COP control test was carried out using the COP trajectory measuring instrument T.K.K5810 and COP adjustment software 1.1.0 (Takei Scientific Instruments Co., Ltd.) to examine the lower right and left lower limb differences in the COP control ability. Of the 40 participants, 35 who kicked the ball with their right foot according to the questionnaire took part in the COP control test. The target-tracking COP control test tracks the target that moves regularly on the monitor with the COP and measures the total error over time. Each participant randomly practiced one standing position on both feet and one standing position (kicking foot and supporting foot), took a 30-second break between trials, and then performed two trials. The evaluation variable was total COP errors made in 30 s with the moving target. Of the two trials, for each player, the data with the best record were included for analysis. The mean COP control test scores when standing on one leg were 602.8±163.2 cm for the kicking leg and 561.6±159.1 cm for the supporting leg. The COP control test score with both feet standing was 487.0±146.2 cm. The scores of one-foot standing (kicking foot and supporting foot) were significantly higher than those for participants standing on both feet (p < 0.05), and many participants had better scores for their supporting foot than their kicking foot. However, there was no significant difference in the mean value of the kicking foot and the supporting foot and of the symmetry index, the effect size was also small. The results indicate that the COP control ability of junior soccer players does not differ between their kicking foot and their supporting foot.

Picturing the Beautiful Game: A History of Soccer in Visual Culture and Art

Picturing the Beautiful Game: A History of Soccer in Visual Culture and Art

Defining moments in the history of soccer

As the most popular mass spectator sport across the world, soccer generates key moments of significance on and off the field, encapsulated in events that create metaphors and memories, with wider s...

Africa at the Football World Cup, 1934–2018: defining moments and memories on the field

ABSTRACTThis article looks at the memorable and defining moments that shaped the history of Africa’s participation in the World Cup. In this context ‘memorable’ refers to moments in the tournament that were attractive in terms of style of play, impact of the outcome and historical legacy. Closely related to memorable is the concept of ‘defining moments’. According to Badaracco (1997), defining moments have three characteristics: they reveal, they test, and they shape. Although this definition applies to leadership, it is used here to identify some defining moments that shaped the history of African soccer at the World Cup final tournaments preceding 1970 and in the subsequent tournaments till 2018. Although past performances by African teams have not yielded a championship trophy, there have been memorable and defining moments at each tournament that inspire hope for abreakthrough sooner than later.Abbreviations: CAF- Confederation of African Football; FIFA- Federation of International Football Associations

Where are we now? A review of research on the history of women's soccer in Ireland

ABSTRACTIt is a common fact that women's sport and leisure history, especially in male dominated spheres, and more specifically football, have been ignored by many academics. However, in recent years there have been major developments in digital technology that have changed the nature of the type of research that can be done. Access to tools to facilitate field research are relatively cheap and with the high volume of digitisation projects that have taken place over the last few years as well as the increasing number of born digital resources that have been published, there are new opportunities. In relation to women's soccer in Ireland, this paper asks the question – where are we now? The argument will review the current literature on this subject and outline potential approaches for future research.

Fiji soccer history 1980–1989: A philosophical and sociological analysis

We use theories from the philosophy of sport literature to contextualize and make conclusions in relation to two famous matches in Fiji’s soccer history: the 1982 Inter-District Championship Final ...

The Effect Of Soccer History On Tibial Strain During Load Carriage

The Effect Of Soccer History On Tibial Strain During Load Carriage

Soccer & Society Special Issue on Moments, metaphors, memories: defining events in the history of soccer

As the most popular mass spectator sport across the world, soccer generates key moments of significance on and off the field, encapsulated in events that create metaphors and memories, with wider s...

Footballers, migrants and scholars: the globalization of US men’s college soccer

US intercollegiate soccer is unique in world football by melding competitive amateur play with higher education and operating independently of FIFA. While immigrants have driven much of the 150-year history of college soccer, there has been an unprecedented foreign influx in the twenty-first century. We quantify the modern internationalization of men’s college soccer and assess factors driving this change via analysis of rosters from 1317 teams and a survey of coaches’ perceptions on foreign players and international recruitment. We estimate that 7600 players from 170 different countries played men’s college soccer in 2016, a 120% increase since 2000. Perceived growth drivers include expanding international recruiting by coaches, growing international awareness of college soccer as an option, a burgeoning industry of recruiting agencies, and technological globalization. Overall, US college soccer has become a globally attractive niche as an alternate pathway for players seeking quality competition while continuing their education.