The Work of Professional Football: A Labour of Love?

by Roderick; Martin

• ISBN13: 9780415363723
• ISBN10: 0415363721
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

"The Work of Professional Football offers a sociological study of the working lives of 'ordinary' professional footballers. Based on extensive research, including in-depth interviews with players who have achieved varying degrees of professional success, it provides unprecedented insight into this 'closed' world, and a unique sociological exploration of a contemporary working culture." "The book focuses on career turning points, such as injury and transfer, and demonstrates how players' identities are built around basic needs for security and self-esteem. The Work of Professional Football will be of great interest to students and researchers working in the sociology of sport and the sociology of work, football studies, coaching studies, business and management."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Martin Roderick is Lecturer in Sociology at Durham University, UK.

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
Acknowledgements	xi
Football League descriptors	xii
Introduction	1	(14)
Professional football in context	15	(18)
Attitudes to work in professional football	33	(19)
Uncertainty and football injuries	52	(15)
Injuries, stigma and social identity	67	(16)
Transferring and the transformation of self	83	(17)
Transfer markets and informal grapevines	100	(13)
Control and the process of transferring	113	(34)
The fate of idealism in professional football	147	(23)
Conclusion	170	(7)
Notes	177	(6)
Bibliography	183	(11)
Index	194