Suchergebnisse

In the case of the 2020 Union of European Football Associations European Championship in men's football ('Euro 2020'), this article investigates stakeholder perceptions on the 'policing' of fans. On a European-wide scale, the policing of fans is a contested topic. Meanwhile, the policing and security efforts required for sport mega-events like Euro 2020, uniquely planned to be staged in 12 different countries, require years of planning and enormous resources. Adding to this, the Championship's timeline was prolonged following the coronavirus disease-2019-related event postponement. Drawing from original insights from documentary research and qualitative interviews conducted before the postponement, this article argues that stakeholders strongly advocated for a communication and dialogue-based approach to fans. More specifically for Euro 2020, consistency in the policing approaches across all 12 countries was highlighted by stakeholders as being of paramount importance for fans' security perceptions. The study thus extends existing insights into football policing and the wider understanding of security and policing in the present-day world.

AbstractIt is well-established that sport mega-events remain highly relevant sites of enquiry for sociologists of leisure. Whereas sport mega-events are associated with a range of diverse and (un-)intended socio-spatial impacts, they can also have transformative impacts on children and young people. Against this backdrop, this article discusses the inter-relationship between sport mega-events and young people. By focusing predominantly on Olympic planning, participation and profits – which we call the '3Ps' – we argue that researchers may turn towards research methodologies that are underpinned by children's rights principles and which increasingly voice the perceptions of children and young people on the social impacts of sport mega-events. At the same time, we also reflect on exactly how children's rights-based methodologies in this context can push the boundaries of the sociology of leisure, events and sport. In this sense, we contend that this article makes an important contribution to the academic work on the nexus between sport mega-events and young people and to our understanding of mega-events' social costs.

On May 15, 2016, reports emerged of a "suspect package" inside Old Trafford minutes before kick-off in Manchester United's game versus Bournemouth. The "suspect package," causing a full-scale evacuation, and match postponement, turned out to be a "fake bomb" accidently left following a security exercise. Minimal social research investigates responses from supporters to "security" and "safety" at large sports events. Although the "suspect package," fortunately, never "materialized," it represents an important case in English football. Theoretically, this study adopts a frame analysis technique pioneered by Erving Goffman and it empirically examines supporters' responses to security during the chaotic hours of the "fake bomb" incident, as articulated on an interactive message board. Overall, supporters were satisfied with police and security management's handling of the incident, although it was questioned how the "fake bomb" was not detected. Importantly, supporters agreed that "safety comes first."

This book explores social and political issues and trends emerging around the UEFA European Football Championships. It presents a contemporary sociology of the European Championships which, despite its significance as a mega-event, has been largely overshadowed by the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in existing literature. At a time when both sport mega-events and Europe are undergoing dramatic transformations, this book explores a range of case studies and important topics such as changing consumption patterns, new types of sport media, social media, environmental policies and emergency politics, public opposition and co-hosting. It also situates the European Championships within wider European projects and discourses of European identities, integration and enlargement. Drawing on data from recent and historical European Championships, and looking ahead to the next tournament in Germany in 2024, this book serves to open up new debates within the sociology of sport and the study of mega-events. It is a timely and ground-breaking text which will resonate with students, academics and readers who are interested in football, the sociology of sport, megaevents, digital sociology, European politics and culture or sports business.