The Dark Side of (Later-Life) Leisure: The Case of Walking Football

Abstract

Leisure is heralded as a channel for connection, belonging, and inclusion in later-life, particularly owing to a presumed threat of isolation and loneliness. Yet, such a framing of later-life leisure risks obscuring moments of conflict and marginalization. Drawing on interviews with 65 people who play walking football, this article explores how players praise its “inclusive” ethic by asserting and celebrating open recruitment policies, the participation of men and women from mixed social backgrounds, and the accommodations afforded to certain players. However, participants simultaneously highlight instances in which inclusion is compromised, such as players disturbing the “ethos” of the sport and mistreating others on account of gender and/or performance levels. Such transgressions, in turn, are navigated in different ways by players and organizers to preserve the sport’s inclusive reputation. To conclude, this article sketches out how the experiences of walking footballers can disrupt sentimental and idealized conceptions of older people’s leisure.

Keywords:

• Costs
• exclusion
• gender
• inclusion
• leisure
• older people
• walking football

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the study participants, all of whom were so eager and engaged with the project. It would not have happened were it not for your enthusiasm and generosity. I am grateful to the editors of Leisure Sciences, and the invited reviewers, for offering feedback on earlier versions of this article. The argument is very much improved, and any errors remain my own. Finally, a huge thank you to the British Academy for awarding me a Fellowship, which allowed me the time and space to write this article.

Disclosure statement

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 In this study, players described how walking football “feels very White” (Eric, 59), and there is “scope for increasing diversity” (Bob, 73). Whilst some reflected on an absence of racially minoritized players as a problem to be resolved (e.g. through targeted recruitment), others repaired any possible charge of racial discrimination by saying that it reflected the demographics of their local area and demographics of running football when they were young. Future research should attend to the experiences of racially minoritized older people seeking to participate, or currently participating in, physically active leisure.