Elite footballers are role models for skills, not lifestyle
By: News Archive
Young people aren’t likely to emulate how professional footballers behave – except when it comes to their skills on the pitch, according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
Despite a 3400 per cent increase in well-known football players being labelled ‘role models,’ young people tend not to see them that way, findings from the Connected Communities programme found. The research findings, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), were based on studies of 150 people between the ages of 14-18 in Sheffield and Norfolk.
According to a content analysis of all national newspapers in the UK, the use of the term ‘role model’ in relation to professional footballers increased from 5 mentions in 2000 to more than 170 mentions in 2014.
Still, despite differences in ethnicity, class, gender, geographic location and club affiliation, study participants almost universally reported they admire players’ on-field skills and aspire to be like them, but only in that respect.
Dr Michael Skey, a lecturer in media and culture in UEA’s School of Politics, led the project, which is published today as a ‘match day programme’ called FC Communities: A sport community research project.
Dr Skey said: “What we found pretty much across the board was that elite professional football players are regarded for their skills. There was no real evidence that football players are seen by young people as role models, beyond wanting to be as good as them at football.”
The research also found that young people follow footballers and matches through a range of media platforms. Some use Twitter and Instagram to keep up on what their favourite players are doing and saying, but all showed a healthy degree of cynicism towards what was done and said.
Dr Skey said: “This research demonstrates that young people don’t view professional players’ performances or lives as uncritically as many of the more hysterical role-model debates suggest.
“Young people are not easy to impress at the best of times. Combine this with an informed knowledge of the game derived from a range of sources and you have a group that is a long way from being the cultural dupes that purveyors of lazy clichés imagine them to be.”
The research found that three elite players – Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar da Silva Santos Junior – were consistently mentioned by the study’s participants, who regularly view their performances on satellite television and scrutinise YouTube clips of particular goals, tricks, skills and celebrations. These are endlessly poured over, Dr Skey said, and imitated, both in interactive gaming and physically on the pitch.
Dr Skey said: “We were told by more than one youth coach that the skills viewed and practiced in online environments were often transferred onto playing fields.
“Interactive gaming, notably FIFA, also seemed important in generating knowledge of both foreign leagues, clubs and players and in allowing young people to experiment with playing styles, such as the aforementioned goals, tricks, skills and celebrations.
“Young people aren’t stupid. They understand the rules of the game and the role of the media in hyping players and their indiscretions. Unless we find some actual evidence that a high-profile professional footballer smoking in a Las Vegas Jacuzzi is encouraging young people to smoke, then we should give up trying to pretend that footballers have this sort of power to influence young people – at least, when it comes to off-field activities.”
The AHRC-funded Connected Communities programme is a multi-disciplinary project designed to engage with current debates around football in the UK. In this instance, the project examines the relationship between young people and professional footballers, with recent media reports arguing that the latter are key role models in the contemporary era. More information can be found at: http://fc-communities.co.uk/
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