Football for development, an arena for imperial hierarchies? Racism, the ‘white colonial frame’, and junior football in Belgium

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to critically examine the paradoxical coexistence of social benefits and the perpetuation of racism in Belgian club-organised junior football. In doing so, this article begins by providing a literature review of racism in junior football and describes the social, historical, and political context in which the research is taking place. Subsequently, we draw on 15 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in Belgian club-organised football about their personal experiences with racism to examine attitudes towards race, manifestations of racism, and its formative aspect. Based on the analyses, the article argues that the “white colonial frame” serves as a dominant attitude towards race in Belgian club-organised football. Ultimately, this cultural place does not inherently entail social progression or transformation, rather it reinscribes the dominant racial frame and sustains a status quo. Social progression seems only achievable through the decolonisation of ideologies and reform of social norms.

Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA), Association des Clubs Francophones de Football (ACFF), and Voetbal Vlaanderen (VV). We are thankful to Joris Corthouts and Ellen Huyge who contributed to the study design and data-collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Scheerder and Thibaut, Half a century of sports participation, 33–34.

2. Ibid., 96–99.

3. Information taken from the Royal Belgian FA Website visited January 19th, 2022: https://www.rbfa.be/en/about-us/football-social-responsibility-strategy.

4. Ibid.

5. For instance: Schulenkorf, Sherry and Rowe, ‘Sport for Development’, 22.

6. Ibid., 22.

7. Coalter, Sport for Development.

8. Ibid.

9. Giulianotti et al., ‘Rethinking Sportland’, 412.

10. Information taken from the Royal Belgian FA Website visited January 19th, 2022: https://www.rbfa.be/en/about-us/football-social-responsibility-strategy.

11. Spaaij, ‘Refugee youth, belonging and community sport’, 303; Spaaij, ‘Beyond the playing field’.

For studies on SfD success stories, see for example: Hoye, Nicholson and Brown, ‘Involvement in sport and social connectedness’; Vermeulen and Verweel, ‘Participation in sport’.

12. Scheerder, Huyge and Corthouts, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football, 12–20; Spaaij, ‘Refugee youth, belonging and community sport’, 304.

13. See for example: Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics; Darby, Africa and the ‘World’ Cup.

14. Mauro, ‘Tackling racism and discrimination’.

15. See for example: Farquharson et al., ‘Managing Racism on the Field’; Scheerder, Huyge and Corthouts, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football.

16. Bonilla-Silva, ‘The structure of racism’; Bradbury, ‘Institutional racism, whiteness and the under-representation of minorities’; Cleland and Cashmore, ‘Football fans’ views of racism’.

17. Cleland and Cashmore, ‘Football fans’ views of racism’.

18. Bonilla-Silva, ‘The structure of racism’, 1361–1363.

19. Bradbury, van Sterkenburg and Mignon, ‘The under-representation and experiences of elite level minority coaches’; Cashmore and Cleland, ‘Why aren’t there more black football managers?’.

20. For studies discussing the mythical belief that blacks are naturally athletic, see: Marjoribanks and Farquharson, Sport and society in a global age, 44–47; Peeters and van Sterkenburg, ‘Making sense of race/ethnicity and gender’; Spaaij, Farquharson and Marjoribanks, ‘Sport and social inequalities’, 402–404.

For studies on racial stereotypes as tactics, see: Burdsey, Racism and English Football; Coutts and Van Rheenen, ‘Racial Stacking’; Nobis and Lazaridou, ‘Racist Stacking in Professional Soccer’.

21. Bonilla-Silva, ‘The structure of racism’, 1361–1363.

22. Bradbury, ‘Institutional racism, whiteness and the under-representation of minorities’, 307; Hylton, Contesting ‘Race’ and Sport.

23. Bonilla-Silva, ‘The structure of racism’; Hylton, Contesting ‘Race’ and Sport.

24. Spaaij, Farquharson and Marjoribanks, ‘Sport and social inequalities’.

25. Farquharson et al., ‘Managing Racism on the Field in Australian Junior Sport’; Mauro, ‘Tackling racism and discrimination’; Rosbrook-Thomson, ‘Hybridity, confusion and contra-fusion’.

26. Burdsey, ‘Obstacle Race?’.

27. Ibid.; Burdsey, British Asians and football.

28. Agergaard and Sørensen, ‘The dream of social mobility’.

29. Scheerder and Huyghe, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football, 31–48.

30. Spaaij, ‘Refugee youth, belonging and community sport’.

31. Eime et al., ‘The contribution of sport participation to overall health’.

32. Information taken from the Royal Belgian FA Website visited January 19th, 2022: https://www.rbfa.be/en/about-us/football-social-responsibility-strategy.

33. Agergaard and Sørensen, ‘The dream of social mobility’; Farquharson et al., ‘Managing Racism on the Field’.

34. Information taken from the Belgium Website visited January 18th, 2023: https://www.belgium.be/nl/over_belgie/land/geografie.

35. The six governments in Belgium are: (i) a federal government, (ii) a Flemish government, (iii) a government of the French Community, (iv) a government of the German-speaking Community, (v) a Walloon Government, and (vi) a Government of the Brussels-Capital Region.

36. Deschouwer and Reuchamps, ‘The Belgian Federation at a Crossroad’.

37. Information taken from the Federal Public Service Home Affairs Website visited January 19^th, 2023: https://verkiezingen2019.belgium.be/nl.

38. Goddeeris, ‘Postcolonial Belgium’, 435.

39. Verbeeck, ‘Legacies of an imperial past’, 295.

40. Ibid., 304.

41. Information taken about Belgian’s economy from the International Monetary Fund Website visited January 19^th, 2023: https://www.imf.org/.

42. Information taken from the Our World in Data Website visited January 19th, 2023: https://ourworldindata.org/

43. Information taken from the Statbel Website visited January 23th, 2023: https://statbel.fgov.be/nl/themas/bevolking/migraties.

44. For a study on the democratized nature of football, see: Heim, Corthouts and Scheerder, ‘Black footballers and coaches’; Scheerder and Thibaut, The social stratification of sports practice, 83.

45. For a study on the contemporary attitude in Belgium towards a multicultural make-up, see: Billiet and De Witte, ‘Everyday racism as predictor of political racism’.

For an analysis of the social integration policy in Belgium see: Adam, Martiniello and Rea, ‘Regional divergence in the integration policy’.

46. Adam, ‘Immigrant integration policies’, 552–558.

47. Ibid.

48. Information taken from the Royal Belgian FA Website visited January 19th, 2022: https://www.rbfa.be/en/about-us/football-social-responsibility-strategy.

49. Scheerder, Huyge and Corthouts, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football.

50. Huyge & Scheerder, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football.

51. Allmark, ‘Should research samples reflect the diversity of the population?’.

52. Braun and Clarke, ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’.

53. For a study on how Grounded theory informed the inductive phase, see: Glaser and Strauss, The discovery of grounded theory.

For the studies on racism which informed the inductive phase, see: Bonilla-Silva, ‘The structure of racism’; Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics; Hylton, Contesting ‘Race’ and Sport.

54. White and Drew, ‘Collecting data or creating meaning?’.

55. Allen, ‘Trying not to think ‘straight’’, 173.

56. Butler, Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, 39–40.

57. Chadderton, ‘Problematising the role of the white researcher’.

58. Vargas, ‘Critical race theory in education’.

59. Kassimeris, ‘Football and prejudice in Belgium and the Netherlands’; Scheerder and Huyghe, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football.

60. Scheerder, Huyge and Corthouts, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football.

61. ‘Makkaken’ is a racial slur, especially uttered towards North African immigrants.

62. As emphasized by the following studies: Campbell and Williams, ‘Can ‘the ghetto’ really take over the county?’; Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics.; Burdsey, Racism and English Football.

63. Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics, 4–5.

64. Feagin, The white racial frame.

65. Lopez, Postcolonial Whiteness.

66. Verbeeck, ‘Legacies of an imperial past’.

67. Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics, 63–97.

68. Spaaij, Farquharson and Marjoribanks, ‘Sport and social inequalities’, 403.

69. Ibid., 402–403.

70. For a study in Belgian professional football on this, see: Heim, Corthouts and Scheerder, ‘Is there a glass ceiling?’.

71. Scheerder & Huyge, Research into discrimination in Belgian youth football, 112–116.

72. Ibid.

73. Chadderton, Judith Butler, Race and Education, 198.

74. Hylton, Contesting ‘Race’ and Sport.

75. Spaaij, Farquharson and Marjoribanks, ‘Sport and social inequalities’, 403–404.

76. Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics.

77. Fraiture, Unfinished Histories, 26.

78. Spaaij, Farquharson and Marjoribanks, ‘Sport and social inequalities’; Carrington, Race, Sport and Politics; Bradbury, ‘From racial exclusions to new inclusions’.

79. Spaaij, Farquharson and Marjoribanks, ‘Sport and social inequalities’.

80. Farquharson et al., ‘Managing Racism on the Field’, 185–186.