Life at the edge: exploring male athlete criminality

Abstract

Involvement in sport is not a barrier to negative behaviours, and athletes, like others in society, become involved in criminality. There is a relative paucity of research into the experiences of athletes who commit crimes. Whilst previous links exist between involvement in sport and violent and sexual crimes, a more significant body of empirical evidence is lacking. This paper utilises the concept of elite interviewing to explore the stories of ten male athletes who committed criminal offences either during or immediately after their athletic careers. Key emerging themes include the restrictive nature of sport, the need for excitement, risk appetite, and the impact of social influence. Male athlete behaviour is considered within the model of edgework, and themes are analysed as potential paths to edgework activities. The findings suggest the nature of both sport and male athletes can result in them seeking edgework experiences, and committing crimes as a consequence.

Keywords:

• Crime
• edgework
• elite athlete
• elite interviewing
• athlete criminality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.