Anika Leslie-Walker

The global soccer market has seen a growth in the professionalization of women’s teams and as a result, spectatorship and fandom have augmented. Women’s soccer was historically perceived as a taboo; however, stakeholder support has generated visibility and enhanced commercialization opportunities. The Football Association in England instituted the Women’s Super League (hereafter WSL) during 2010, and the first season commenced in 2011 with eight teams. Subsequently, in 2021 there were 12 professional women’s teams in the top-tier of the league and 11 teams in the championship. A qualitative case study approach is utilized, via the use of semi-structured interviews to explore the demographics and motives of women who watch soccer at the elite level and their socialization into fan communities. The study concludes by acquiring an understanding of the consumption of female soccer fans within the WSL and focuses upon the relationship between supporter clubs and fan socialization.

This paper examines the experiences of participants (n = 12) on the England Netball, ‘Walking Netball’ (WN) programme. Previous research has sought to explore participant experiences on programmes similar to WN, suggesting greater social engagement and an increase in desire for life were positive consequences from participation. Semi structured interviews explored the motivations held for participation in the programme with regards to social identity and the affective consequence of participation. Four themes emerged from data analysis; (1) WN as a form of physical activity, (2) collaborative identity, (3) group inclusion, and (4) regulatory routine. Findings suggest that participants on England Netball’s WN programme, are primarily motivated to continue attending WN by the collective identity they experience through being involved in the programme. Further research however on the construction of collective group identity is required to further enable project funders and deliverers in ensuring projects can effectively meet the motivations of their participants. Keywords: Physical activity, identity, relatedness

The coach plays an important role in the type and quality of motivation exhibited by soccer players. However, limited research exists investigating if a coach is aware of the motivations held by their players. As such this study investigated the motivations of semi-elite soccer players taking part in club coaching sessions and identified if coaches were aware of these motivations. Using a qualitative approach with 21 adult soccer players and two soccer coaches, findings from this study highlight a dissonance is apparent between the coaches understanding of their player’s motivational climate and the soccer player’s motivation. Although the players express their motivation focused on the development of a collective social identity and the consequence experienced from playing soccer, coaches were unaware of these motivations.