University of Greenwich: Racism, fear and abuse- study looks at football academies
Researchers looked at the experiences of trainees at football academies and the difficulties in talking about mental health and wellbeing in the game.
Professor Sian Moore is Director of the Centre for Research on Work and Employment (CREW) at the University of Greenwich, and an author of the report.
She said: “Trainees describe the brutality of football, playing with fear of making mistakes and the reality of rejection from an early age. There are huge pressures placed upon them that they are not emotionally mature enough to cope with.
“Trainees are reluctant or unable to talk about stress, or to show vulnerability, in case they are perceived as both mentally and physically weak.
“The term ‘that’s football’ is used as the ultimate justification. However, to break the cycle of harm in academies, football needs to, and must, change.”
Researchers also found there was a lack of understanding of wider social pressures, including food poverty.
A sports psychologist who was interviewed described a “…15 year old kid who hasn’t eaten for maybe 40 hours. I ended up going out and buying him food once a week. I bet there were probably 10 or 20 in the same boat and I just managed to find someone who opened up.”
A trainee was interviewed who travelled a long way to get to training. Unlike those whose parents drove them to and from training, he had to leave school early to catch the train. “I’m going back and forth,” he said. “It’s easy for some of the others to just jump in the warm bath. If it’s raining, I’m going home soaked on the train late at night. How can the club doubt how much I want to go into football? It’s crazy.”
The findings suggest that while there was acknowledgment that racism was unacceptable, often little is done to address the problem because of a lack of knowledge of how to confront and deal with the issue.
A trainee said: “Imagine it’s your first team debut, you make a mistake and people start racially abusing you. You can’t talk about it with white people, they don’t understand because it will never happen to them. If they make a mistake, it’s more like ‘ah, you’re rubbish’. We’re going to get abused because of our skin colour.”
Homophobia was considered even harder to challenge. One coach said: “Some people who would be appalled hearing racist abuse are quite happy to use homophobic abuse.”
There were also positives in the report. Some clubs are providing workshops for parents, including covering psychological support, although consistent attendance from parents remains an issue.
There is also a perception that a new generation of younger coaches, who may not be former professional players, are more open to the issue of mental health.
Researchers also found:
Supportive parents could unconsciously put pressure on the players who, in turn, felt “responsible for improving families’ social or financial positions”.
Trainees avoided revealing injury, fearing losing their place in the team and status within their group.
Women in academies still struggle for recognition and respect.
Psychological support is often seen as purely supporting physical excellence, dealing with recovery from injuries and in terms of performance on the pitch. There is no understanding that emotional support is linked to and impacts on player performance.