Professional Processes
A Mile Wide but an Inch Deep: Pervasive Racism in International Football, Symbolic Compliance, and a Substantive Path Forward
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shauhin Talesh
Despite football (also known as “soccer”) being the most popular and diverse game in the world, racism and discrimination pervade the sport. Racism and discrimination continue notwithstanding widespread recognition of the problem and continuous reforms and regulations implemented by international and regional bodies. To our understanding, this is the first study to systematically analyze the regulatory failures surrounding racism in football and explain why organizational efforts to respond have failed. While other studies have examined the long history of racism in football, documented how actors have diffused responsibility, and categorized anti-discrimination efforts into reactive and proactive categories, this research draws upon new institutional organizational theory to understand how, but also why, football organizations—at the international, regional, and club levels—have been ineffective at curbing racism. This paper explains why racism has persisted in football, why previous anti-discrimination efforts by European football governing organizations at every level have fallen short, and what can be done to curb this problem in the future. We offer a series of interconnected proposals that will likely move the sport closer to substantive compliance and transform anti-racism efforts from futile gestures to impactful initiatives. By identifying the organizational predicates that have allowed racism to reproduce in football, this study is critical for understanding the larger question of why so many industries—healthcare, education, banking, government, and financial institutions—fail to sufficiently address racism in the workplace. This paper, therefore, has implications for those interested in employment law, regulation, organizations, sports, and compliance.
Striving-to-Achieve Players
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Keilee Bessho
According to C. Thi Nguyen, there are two sorts of players: achievement and striving players. Achievement players focus on achievements or winning. Striving players take on achievement or winning temporarily to experience striving. This distinction has played a pivotal role in sparking new discussions in agency, autonomy, and the philosophy of games; however, I worry that the distinction does not seem to capture a common phenomenon in sports: shifting value from achievement to process or striving while retaining winning as an end. This paper investigates what resources Nguyen has to accommodate the case of the striving-to-achieve player. Ultimately, I argue that viewing the distinction as modes of engagement with values instead of types of players preserves the spirit of Nguyen’s distinction while capturing the case. I close by reflecting on the applications of the striving-to-achieve player in other professional contexts, like professionalized philosophy.
Featured Glocalizing Fitness : Les Mills Instructors’ Changing Discourse on Virtual Fitness
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Karin Andersson
This paper summarizes my PhD research, which examines how Les Mills (LM) group fitness instructors across eleven countries perceived and adapted to virtual fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research began with an initial survey, followed by 22 semi-structured interviews, and later focus group discussions conducted over sixteen months. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as the primary analytical framework, the study also engages with Serious Leisure and Healthism to examine how fitness professionals framed virtual exercise in relation to broader cultural understandings of commitment, discipline, and health responsibility. Findings reveal that, initially, LM instructors perceived virtual fitness as a “last resort” primarily suited for those they described as “afraid exercisers”—individuals who were overly cautious about COVID-19 and hesitant to return to in-person training. Simultaneously, resistance emerged among instructors and participants who strongly opposed gym closures and viewed digital fitness as an inadequate substitute for live group exercise. Over time, instructors’ discourse shifted. Through the linguistic analysis of their narratives, it became evident that virtual fitness was gradually reframed as a more legitimate option—though still associated with what instructors labeled as “non-normative exercisers” such as “new mums,” “busybodies,” and “introverts.” These categories reflect how instructors positioned digital fitness within existing social norms of fitness participation rather than an equivalent alternative to in-person training. As a case study of a globally recognized fitness brand, this research provides insights into how corporate fitness structures and global-local dynamics influenced the transition to virtual training and professional identity.
“Ambient Christianity”: The Continuity of Religious Presence in a Vancouver-based Evangelical Christian Soccer Team
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nicholas William Howe Bukowski
The paper addresses the following question: what is the religious nature of a Christian-founded yet now-secularised soccer team in Vancouver, Canada? The paper looks to understand the continuity of religious presence for a team founded as a Christian team that has become secularised to understand the remaining presence of the initial motivations of the team’s foundation. This is based on research from my dissertation fieldwork in Vancouver working with Christian soccer teams including Regent College FC. The team was founded by members of the theological college, Regent, as a self-described Christian team and desired to play with a Christian ethic. Over 20 years the team has lost most ties to Regent except the coach, Ben, who teaches part-time at the college. Ben still yearned for a Christian atmosphere, described by him as “ambient Christianity”, to pervade the team to continue the religious motivations of the team and motivate his coaching style. The paper looks to address whether the Christian foundation remains an animating presence for the collective team. Additionally, Regent College FC mirrors the early history of English soccer where many early teams (Aston Villa, Tottenham etc) were founded by churches and then secularised. Through Regent College FC we can understand the presence of a religious trace and history tied to a broader trend in global soccer. Resulting in the question: does Regent College FC retain a religious trace that mirrors a trace that can be found in other, now secularised and professionalised, clubs such as Aston Villa and Tottenham?
