Ben Carrington - Race, Sport and Politics

Theory, Culture & Society caters for the resurgence of interest in culture within contemporary social science and the humanities. Building on the heritage of classical social theory, the book series examines ways in which this tradition has been reshaped by a new generation of theorists. It also publishes theoretically informed analyses of everyday life, popular culture and new intellectual movements.

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Roy Boyne, University of Durham

Nicholas Gane, University of York

Scott Lash, Goldsmiths College, University of London

Roland Robertson, University of Aberdeen

Couze Venn, Nottingham Trent University

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Recent volumes include:

Changing Bodies

Chris Shilling

The Body & Society

Bryan Turner

Peer to Peer and the Music Industry

Matthew David

Ordinary People in the Media

Graeme Turner

Globalization and Football: A Critical Sociology

Richard Giulianotti & Roland Robertson

Ben Carrington

Ben Carrington 2010

First published 2010

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For my mother, who made everything possible
Clare Anne Carrington (19552005)

I would like to thank all of those who have helped me over the years in what has been a somewhat strange and improbable intellectual journey from south London to Austin, Texas via the Midlands, the North and the south coast of England. Along the way many debts have piled up that I would like to recognize, if not quite fully repay, here.

I have had the privilege and good fortune to have studied and worked at some of Britains leading institutions for the critical study of sport and with some of the best minds at those places. It was as an undergraduate at Loughborough University in the early 1990s that I was first introduced to the field of sports studies and to the sociology of sport in particular. As a failed professional footballer I found the perfect substitute to continue my sporting interests, albeit with a keyboard and library card rather than a pair of Mizunos. Mike Collins, Tess Kay and Joe Maguire in particular helped to spark and develop my interest in sport and leisure studies. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Ian Henry whose expansive intellect, generosity of spirit and deeply humane approach to both scholarship and teaching is a model I try daily to follow. Without Ians initial guidance I would never have started on this journey, and for that I am eternally grateful.

At Leeds Metropolitan University I was fortunate enough to find a community of scholars where some of the best work on race, gender and sport has been (and continues to be) produced. In particular I would like to thank Jonathan Long, Mick Totten and Ann Flintoff for their support and encouragement over the years. Special thanks to my fellow student cohort at Leeds Met, now all accomplished academics in their own right, who have pushed me to do better work, especially Kevin Hylton, Karl Spracklen and Beccy Watson. If I owe Ian Henry a debt for helping me onto the academic path, then Sheila Scraton and Peter Bramham have to take full responsibility for keeping me on that path when I should, by all accounts, have fallen off many a time. I simply could not have had a better supervisory team for my Ph.D., so thank you both. You will hopefully see the imprint of your words of advice throughout this book.

For their friendship as well as academic support Id like to thank my former Chelsea School colleagues at the University of Brighton, especially John Sugden, Graham McFee, Udo Merkel, Gill Lines, Belinda Wheaton, Marc Keech, as well as my good friends Nigel Jarvis and Philippa Lyon. Special thanks must go to Alan Tomlinson from whom I learnt much over the years about both the importance of close reading and the craft of scholarship. Ian McDonald was then and remains today a close friend, collaborator and comrade. My work and thinking has developed over the years through the direct and frank exchanges we have had and for that alone I am deeply grateful.

Since moving to Austin, Texas in 2004 I have been supported by a wonderfully eclectic group of brilliant scholars, activists and intellectuals. For making me feel welcome and for always being around for advice on how to survive the U.S., thank you to Bob Jensen, Lisa Moore, James Wilson, Jan Todd, John Hoberman, Werner Krauss, Christine Williams, Javier Auyero, Simone Browne, Sharmila Rudrappa, Gloria Gonzlez-Lpez, Joo Vargas, Jemima Pierre, Michael Ray Charles, Ted Gordon, Omi Osun Olomo, Juliet Hooker, Shirley Thompson, Cherise Smith, Jennifer Wilks, Stephen Marshall, Craig Watkins and Neville Hoad.

I have also found a supportive community of sports scholars across the globe whose own work I readily steal from on a daily basis in both my teaching and writings, as theyll no doubt find in these pages. With that in mind I would like to thank Anouk Blanger, David L. Andrews, Peter Donnelly, Rick Gruneau, Brian Wilson, Michael Messner, Doug Hartmann, C.L. Cole, Alan Bairner, Garry Whannel, Jenny Hargreaves, David Rowe, Toby Miller and Jim McKay. Thanks are also due to a number of scholars whose critical work on race has informed my own thinking over the years and who have been supportive in ways both big and small at various moments in my career. In particular Id like to thank Les Back, Manuela Bojadijev, Jayne Ifekwunigwe, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, John Solomos, Barnor Hesse, Paul Gilroy, Brett St Louis and Joe Feagin.