Chris Stone - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Chris Stone
Communication & Sport, 2017
The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent cr... more The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent critiques have challenged its media-centrism, ahistoricism, and conceptual clarity. In this article, we draw on the work of those who suggest that mediatization is best deployed as a means of understanding particular social domains and the ways in which institutions and actors orientate their activities towards media. Using association football, or soccer, as our focus we offer a bottom-up perspective using data gathered from research workshops with young people in England. These not only demonstrate the extent to which football is followed through a range of media platforms but also how broader understandings of the game are shaped by these engagements. Moreover, we adapt insights from recent phenomenological approaches to media to focus on the practical, embodied forms of knowledge and habit that shape how football is currently played, followed, and debated.
Sport in Society, 2022
The role of sport consumption, as opposed to sport participation, is often overlooked in debates ... more The role of sport consumption, as opposed to sport participation, is often overlooked in debates around sport and social inclusion, despite evidence supporting the importance of sports fandom in social con- nectivity. This paper explores the ‘inconspicuous beginning’ of a move to develop a refugee supporters club at a professional football club in the UK. Theoretically linking the notion of belonging with Zygmunt Bauman’s conceptualisation of society as one dominated by consum- erism it questions dominant discourses of football fandom, exploring the experiences of a small group of women and men who are refugees or seeking asylum in Sheffield, England. It concludes by questioning whether, as part of the social inclusion agenda, professional football clubs should be more cognisant of the possibilities for and their poten- tially interventionist role in developing a sense of belonging for forced migrants through the communal act of football fandom.
Soccer & Society, 2007
Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending ... more Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending live events and overlooks how sport is consumed within people's everyday lives.[1] Recent research into the nature of football fandom has offered ethnographic ...
Everton FC's charitable arm Everton in the Community (EitC) have a number of programmes aimed at ... more Everton FC's charitable arm Everton in the Community (EitC) have a number of programmes aimed at supporting young people in the city of Liverpool. This report examines, compares and contrasts two distinct programmes that are nationally funded: Premier League Kicks (PL Kicks) and National Citizen Service (NCS). Both are based on traditional youth work models that aim to provide development opportunities through non-formal approaches.
The research, based on participant observation and qualitative interviews with staff and participants, explores the following key aspects of what the programmes provide for young people: safe spaces, positive activities and social action, trusted relationships, non-formal and informal education, opportunities, aspirations and personal development, and support structures.
In 2017, Everton Football Club signed a £48 million sponsorship deal with Kenya based gaming comp... more In 2017, Everton Football Club signed a £48 million sponsorship deal with Kenya based gaming company SportPesa. The deal made SportPesa the first African company to be a primary sponsor of an English Premier League Football Club. As part of the five-year deal Everton agreed to play three matches in East Africa against local league sides to be decided by competition in the SportPesa Cup.
This report documents the social impact of Everton FC's pre-season trip to Tanzania in 2017 as part of the sponsorship deal. Based upon qualitative interviews with public service, commercial and community partners involved in organising the trip, the report examines the outreach activities falling into three categories: sport and business development, awareness raising, (potential) community development.
It concludes that there is an opportunity to develop the community engagement model used by the football club locally to be beneficial in international development. Recommendations revolve around three key factors: sustainability, mutuality, socio-economic growth.
Communication & Sport, 2017
The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent cr... more The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent critiques have challenged its media-centrism, ahistoricism, and conceptual clarity. In this article, we draw on the work of those who suggest that mediatization is best deployed as a means of understanding particular social domains and the ways in which institutions and actors orientate their activities towards media. Using association football, or soccer, as our focus we offer a bottom-up perspective using data gathered from research workshops with young people in England. These not only demonstrate the extent to which football is followed through a range of media platforms but also how broader understandings of the game are shaped by these engagements. Moreover, we adapt insights from recent phenomenological approaches to media to focus on the practical, embodied forms of knowledge and habit that shape how football is currently played, followed, and debated.
Final Report for Everton FC, 2018
Everton in the Community (EitC) is a charity located in Liverpool in an area rated to be in the b... more Everton in the Community (EitC) is a charity located in Liverpool in an area rated to be in the bottom 10% on the Index of Mass Deprivation. EitC is run independently of but closely associated with Everton Football Club. They have two programmes within the Employability & Education strand of their work with the aim of working with NEET young people to progress them into employment or further training opportunities.
This report is the product of a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of the social value of these programmes. The report acknowledges the contested nature of SROI as a methodology and provides qualitative evidence for the results. It reflects on the nuances associated with the social contexts in which NEET young people are living their lives and the benefits that such programmes can provide when associated with the delivery of wider social interventions by an organisation associated with a professional football club.
Refugees and asylum seekers have become increasingly demonised as part of anti-migrant sentiment ... more Refugees and asylum seekers have become increasingly demonised as part of anti-migrant sentiment leading to social exclusion. Sport has been utilised as a tool for social cohesion though evidence as to its efficacy in such a task is limited. Based on a three-year research programme exploring the role of football in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in the U.K., this paper examines the concept of belonging, provides evidence for the role of community-based sport in social development and concludes with a call for practitioners to maximise their belief in concrete utopian ideals without losing the inherent critical approach needed to positively develop the industry in which they work.
Soccer & Society, Dec 24, 2014
Football supporters are often projected as being obsessed, emotionally saturated and intensely in... more Football supporters are often projected as being obsessed, emotionally saturated and intensely involved with their club. This may be true for some, but much of the time, the consumption of football is mundanely incorporated with other routine behaviours and actions. Drawing on previous research on football and everyday life, this paper explores how it is both significant and insignificant through the relationship between spectacular and unspectacular consumption. The ‘everyday’ is used both descriptively and conceptually. The former is illustrated through examples of the ordinary ways in which football becomes entwined with other elements of everyday life. The latter, rooted in the works of everyday life theorists, provides the philosophical tools for contextualizing the meaning of the ‘everyday’. This is then put into perspective with contemporary understandings of living in a fragmented and fluid world which raise further questions about the ordinariness of football culture as part of people’s everyday lives.
Commissioned by Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), this report evaluates the value of anti... more Commissioned by Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), this report evaluates the value of anti-racism work carried out during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany by FARE and its partners. The report concludes that given the constraints, the work was overall successful but could be more focused in certain areas in the future. Recommendations are made for the following FIFA World Cup, the first to be held on African soil, where a unique opportunity may exist to utilise football's popularity to challenge racial prejudice.
The Football Foundation and …, 2006
Soccer & Society, Mar 26, 2007
Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending ... more Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending live events and overlooks how sport is consumed within people’s everyday lives. Recent research into the nature of football fandom has offered ethnographic accounts detailing more complex relationships between supporters and their clubs that indicate associations that go beyond match day scenarios. Forming the basis of a recent doctoral research project, this article offers a theoretical formulation of the embedded position of football as a part of the fabric of people’s everyday lives. In contrast to Robson’s work on embodied football identities, a more fluid exploration of how football culture affects individuals’ notions of self identity, belonging and interpersonal relations is offered through the theoretical ideas of Bauman, Butler and Maffesoli.
Books by Chris Stone
Managing and Developing Community Sport, 2018
In the 1980s, problems surrounding one of Britain’s most popular elite sports alongside changes i... more In the 1980s, problems surrounding one of Britain’s most popular elite sports alongside changes in society more widely encouraged the development of a more instrumental engagement between football clubs and particular communities. One way in which this was attempted was through Football in the Community (FitC) schemes. Since then, community football departments, which often operate as independent not-for-profit organisations but remain linked to their professional clubs, have become important parts of local service delivery. This chapter takes a critical look at these organisations to help shed light on the strengths and weaknesses they bring to community sport and physical activity.
This chapter has the following aims for readers:
• Understand the historical context of football clubs’ formal and informal relationships with various ‘communities of need’;
• Begin to be able to critically examine football as a community engagement and development tool;
• Differentiate between various aspects of the football industry’s communal responsibilities;
• Locate community sport engagement approaches and football within wider social, economic and political debates.
Communication & Sport, 2017
The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent cr... more The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent critiques have challenged its media-centrism, ahistoricism, and conceptual clarity. In this article, we draw on the work of those who suggest that mediatization is best deployed as a means of understanding particular social domains and the ways in which institutions and actors orientate their activities towards media. Using association football, or soccer, as our focus we offer a bottom-up perspective using data gathered from research workshops with young people in England. These not only demonstrate the extent to which football is followed through a range of media platforms but also how broader understandings of the game are shaped by these engagements. Moreover, we adapt insights from recent phenomenological approaches to media to focus on the practical, embodied forms of knowledge and habit that shape how football is currently played, followed, and debated.
Sport in Society, 2022
The role of sport consumption, as opposed to sport participation, is often overlooked in debates ... more The role of sport consumption, as opposed to sport participation, is often overlooked in debates around sport and social inclusion, despite evidence supporting the importance of sports fandom in social con- nectivity. This paper explores the ‘inconspicuous beginning’ of a move to develop a refugee supporters club at a professional football club in the UK. Theoretically linking the notion of belonging with Zygmunt Bauman’s conceptualisation of society as one dominated by consum- erism it questions dominant discourses of football fandom, exploring the experiences of a small group of women and men who are refugees or seeking asylum in Sheffield, England. It concludes by questioning whether, as part of the social inclusion agenda, professional football clubs should be more cognisant of the possibilities for and their poten- tially interventionist role in developing a sense of belonging for forced migrants through the communal act of football fandom.
Soccer & Society, 2007
Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending ... more Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending live events and overlooks how sport is consumed within people's everyday lives.[1] Recent research into the nature of football fandom has offered ethnographic ...
Everton FC's charitable arm Everton in the Community (EitC) have a number of programmes aimed at ... more Everton FC's charitable arm Everton in the Community (EitC) have a number of programmes aimed at supporting young people in the city of Liverpool. This report examines, compares and contrasts two distinct programmes that are nationally funded: Premier League Kicks (PL Kicks) and National Citizen Service (NCS). Both are based on traditional youth work models that aim to provide development opportunities through non-formal approaches.
The research, based on participant observation and qualitative interviews with staff and participants, explores the following key aspects of what the programmes provide for young people: safe spaces, positive activities and social action, trusted relationships, non-formal and informal education, opportunities, aspirations and personal development, and support structures.
In 2017, Everton Football Club signed a £48 million sponsorship deal with Kenya based gaming comp... more In 2017, Everton Football Club signed a £48 million sponsorship deal with Kenya based gaming company SportPesa. The deal made SportPesa the first African company to be a primary sponsor of an English Premier League Football Club. As part of the five-year deal Everton agreed to play three matches in East Africa against local league sides to be decided by competition in the SportPesa Cup.
This report documents the social impact of Everton FC's pre-season trip to Tanzania in 2017 as part of the sponsorship deal. Based upon qualitative interviews with public service, commercial and community partners involved in organising the trip, the report examines the outreach activities falling into three categories: sport and business development, awareness raising, (potential) community development.
It concludes that there is an opportunity to develop the community engagement model used by the football club locally to be beneficial in international development. Recommendations revolve around three key factors: sustainability, mutuality, socio-economic growth.
Communication & Sport, 2017
The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent cr... more The concept of mediatization has proved remarkably popular in the past decade, although recent critiques have challenged its media-centrism, ahistoricism, and conceptual clarity. In this article, we draw on the work of those who suggest that mediatization is best deployed as a means of understanding particular social domains and the ways in which institutions and actors orientate their activities towards media. Using association football, or soccer, as our focus we offer a bottom-up perspective using data gathered from research workshops with young people in England. These not only demonstrate the extent to which football is followed through a range of media platforms but also how broader understandings of the game are shaped by these engagements. Moreover, we adapt insights from recent phenomenological approaches to media to focus on the practical, embodied forms of knowledge and habit that shape how football is currently played, followed, and debated.
Final Report for Everton FC, 2018
Everton in the Community (EitC) is a charity located in Liverpool in an area rated to be in the b... more Everton in the Community (EitC) is a charity located in Liverpool in an area rated to be in the bottom 10% on the Index of Mass Deprivation. EitC is run independently of but closely associated with Everton Football Club. They have two programmes within the Employability & Education strand of their work with the aim of working with NEET young people to progress them into employment or further training opportunities.
This report is the product of a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of the social value of these programmes. The report acknowledges the contested nature of SROI as a methodology and provides qualitative evidence for the results. It reflects on the nuances associated with the social contexts in which NEET young people are living their lives and the benefits that such programmes can provide when associated with the delivery of wider social interventions by an organisation associated with a professional football club.
Refugees and asylum seekers have become increasingly demonised as part of anti-migrant sentiment ... more Refugees and asylum seekers have become increasingly demonised as part of anti-migrant sentiment leading to social exclusion. Sport has been utilised as a tool for social cohesion though evidence as to its efficacy in such a task is limited. Based on a three-year research programme exploring the role of football in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in the U.K., this paper examines the concept of belonging, provides evidence for the role of community-based sport in social development and concludes with a call for practitioners to maximise their belief in concrete utopian ideals without losing the inherent critical approach needed to positively develop the industry in which they work.
Soccer & Society, Dec 24, 2014
Football supporters are often projected as being obsessed, emotionally saturated and intensely in... more Football supporters are often projected as being obsessed, emotionally saturated and intensely involved with their club. This may be true for some, but much of the time, the consumption of football is mundanely incorporated with other routine behaviours and actions. Drawing on previous research on football and everyday life, this paper explores how it is both significant and insignificant through the relationship between spectacular and unspectacular consumption. The ‘everyday’ is used both descriptively and conceptually. The former is illustrated through examples of the ordinary ways in which football becomes entwined with other elements of everyday life. The latter, rooted in the works of everyday life theorists, provides the philosophical tools for contextualizing the meaning of the ‘everyday’. This is then put into perspective with contemporary understandings of living in a fragmented and fluid world which raise further questions about the ordinariness of football culture as part of people’s everyday lives.
Commissioned by Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), this report evaluates the value of anti... more Commissioned by Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), this report evaluates the value of anti-racism work carried out during the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany by FARE and its partners. The report concludes that given the constraints, the work was overall successful but could be more focused in certain areas in the future. Recommendations are made for the following FIFA World Cup, the first to be held on African soil, where a unique opportunity may exist to utilise football's popularity to challenge racial prejudice.
The Football Foundation and …, 2006
Soccer & Society, Mar 26, 2007
Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending ... more Research on the nature of sports audiences has been predominantly concerned with those attending live events and overlooks how sport is consumed within people’s everyday lives. Recent research into the nature of football fandom has offered ethnographic accounts detailing more complex relationships between supporters and their clubs that indicate associations that go beyond match day scenarios. Forming the basis of a recent doctoral research project, this article offers a theoretical formulation of the embedded position of football as a part of the fabric of people’s everyday lives. In contrast to Robson’s work on embodied football identities, a more fluid exploration of how football culture affects individuals’ notions of self identity, belonging and interpersonal relations is offered through the theoretical ideas of Bauman, Butler and Maffesoli.
Managing and Developing Community Sport, 2018
In the 1980s, problems surrounding one of Britain’s most popular elite sports alongside changes i... more In the 1980s, problems surrounding one of Britain’s most popular elite sports alongside changes in society more widely encouraged the development of a more instrumental engagement between football clubs and particular communities. One way in which this was attempted was through Football in the Community (FitC) schemes. Since then, community football departments, which often operate as independent not-for-profit organisations but remain linked to their professional clubs, have become important parts of local service delivery. This chapter takes a critical look at these organisations to help shed light on the strengths and weaknesses they bring to community sport and physical activity.
This chapter has the following aims for readers:
• Understand the historical context of football clubs’ formal and informal relationships with various ‘communities of need’;
• Begin to be able to critically examine football as a community engagement and development tool;
• Differentiate between various aspects of the football industry’s communal responsibilities;
• Locate community sport engagement approaches and football within wider social, economic and political debates.