Disengagement, de‐motivation, vulnerable groups and sporting inclusion: a case study of the Homeless World Cup

Abstract

The inaugural Homeless World Cup was held in July 2003 in Graz, Austria with 18 teams competing. Organized by the International Network of Street Papers, the tournament's aims were to encourage disengaged and de‐motivated people to participate in the sporting environment, to provide an inclusive football opportunity to raise personal dignity and self‐esteem, and to use football as a social inclusion tool to challenge stereotypical views, especially in the media, of homeless people. The researcher was coach to the Welsh squad and this article reflectively reports the experiences of the Welsh squad in relation to the tournament's three objectives of: encouraging disengaged and de‐motivated people, raising personal dignity and self‐esteem, and challenging stereotypical views.

Notes

1. Cashmore, Sports Culture, 2.

2. Rees and Miracle, ‘Education and Sport’, 278.

3. Kew, Sport, 12.

4. Horne, Tomlinson and Whannel, Understanding Sport, 141.

5. Houlihan, ‘Politics and Sport’.

6. Allison, ‘Sport and Nationalism’.

7. Social Exclusion Unit, National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.

8. Commission of the European Communities, Background Report.

9. Bailey, ‘Evaluating the Relationship Between Physical Education, Sport and Social Exclusion’.

10. For example Donnelly, ‘Approaches to Social Inequality in the Sociology of Sport’; Kremer, Trew and Ogle, Young Peoples Involvement in Sport; and Long et al., Count Me In.

11. DCMS, A Sporting Future for All, 7.

12. Kew, Sport, 111.

13. Bull, Hoose and Weed, An Introduction to Leisure Studies, 81.

14. Ensign, ‘Ethical Issues in Qualitative Health Research with Homeless Youths’, 46.

15. See www.homeless.org.au/glossary.htm

16. Ibid.

17. See www.homeless.org.au/glossary.htm.

18. See www.crisis.org.uk/page.builder/stats_factfile.html.

19. See www.streetsoccer.org/en/media/press/118/#dataset126.

20. See www.street-papers.org/what_is_insp.cfm.

21. Ibid.

22. See www03.streetsoccer.org/_pdf/streetsoccer_screen.pdf.

23. See www03.streetsoccer.org/en/press_area/press_releases/.

24. See www.streetsoccer.org/en/media/press/118/#dataset126.

25. See www03.streetsoccer.org/en/press_area/press_releases/.

26. Danedlion, ‘Insider Dealing’, 171.

27. Macbeth and Magee, ‘Insider Research in Sports “Fields”’.

28. See www.england.shelter.org.uk/home/home-4609.cfm.

29. See www03.streetsoccer.org/_pdf/streetsoccer_screen.pdf.

30. See http://www.streetsoccer.org/en/media/press/336/#dataset1691.