The comments of participants above clearly illustrate that players understand the importance of how they are required to present themselves in the everyday life of their place of employment. As explained within the introduction, how individuals see themselves in the future is seemingly just as influential upon their identities. The idea of working towards a goal is something that is inherent in sport (Larsen and Engell, 2013; Weinberg, 2010; Sullivan and Strode, 2010; Weinberg et al 1993). These goals can be long or short term and such is the nature of a goal-setting milieu that it creates an atmosphere in which it is common (perhaps unavoidable) for individuals to picture themselves in the near or far off future. Participants spoke of picturing themselves in the future throughout their lives, during and after their football careers. As described within the introduction, in order to avoid burdening participants with the theoretical concept of possible selves, the theory was addressed in relation to the hopes and fears they held. Providing evidence that warrants the use of possible selves to interpret and understand participants’ identity management and construction, the hopes and fears held by participants during their time at Premier League clubs prior to their release will be discussed. The provision and discussion of such data will also further contribute to this chapter’s attempt to provide a description of the cultural environment within which participants’ footballing identities were constructed and managed.
The comments of Harry, Ian and Dave are considered as descriptions of some of the hoped for or positive possible selves that they held during their time at their respective clubs. Reflecting on their past experiences, these former positive future selves are representations of themselves in the (then) future that they wished to attain. Harry describes how during his time with his club he would often imagine himself playing with the first team, in Premier League fixtures. He very vividly describes how he pictured himself on the pitch. Such a vision is interpreted as being hoped for as Harry describes that this is what motivated him to keep training and working hard. Such a dedication to his professional craft would have only further reinforced his footballing identity. Ian describes how he had dreamed about following his father’s footsteps into professional football. Such a dream was realised for Ian when he had the opportunity to sign with the very same Premier League side his father had, a feat he had hoped for as young child. James describes how he was constantly contemplating his future at the club. His hoped for possible self lay with his ambition to make it, and this is matched with a feared possible self of being released. He describes how such hoped for and feared future outcomes influenced him everyday. It drove the fashion in which he approached his training and the manner in which he would go about his day at the club (in the case of this extract from the data, this was with an air of confidence).
“The whole time you are there as a player, you see the first team and you picture yourself there training with them and pushing for games. You have to have that idea in your head otherwise it will never become a reality…it’s that type of thinking that keeps you pushing at training and motivated in the gym and stuff. I thought about that everyday I was a professional player. Being in that atmosphere of professional football can be a bit intimidating at times, but that was my kind of calming or like motivating thought. Just to be there, training and knowing that you would be out with the best players in the world on match day with thousands watching…I think (about myself) coming onto a ball in the middle of the park and just laying off to XXXXX breaking down the wing or something like that….” (Harry)
“When I signed for my first club that was something you always dreamed about. It was a good moment…yes it felt brilliant, especially because my Dad had been my coach and at my games for so long. He had played at quite a good level for a while, so playing at the same club he did was something that was very special and a dream come true once I had signed. It was always something I had dreamed about and after going through the academy and then been offered your first real contract, well that was something I had been dreaming about since I’d say I was about 12.” (Ian)
“The dream was to make it. And then the fear was of being released. It motivated you every day at the club. What do I need to do? How do I need to play? Yes, it does motivate you, that type of thinking about all the success it can bring. Like there would be days when things were canny like (going well). Your football was tidy and you were doing well in training and it was fun. Those times you’d be (a)bout the place and feeling like you belonged (at the club) and being more confident because I could see myself with a real chance of getting in that first team squad.” (Dave)
Here we see clear examples of how each participant held hopes for themselves in the future. These pictures of signing a new contract or playing for particular teams were representations they held of themselves in the future that they hoped to attain. Thus we can consider them as hoped for or positive possible selves. Markus and Nurius (1986) describe how when hoped for possible selves are matched with feared possible selves, such notions effect the construction of an individual’s current identity. The fears or worries expressed by Andy, Ben and Dave describe events and situations that were common across participants during conversation regarding their times within the cultural environment of their clubs.
“Its on your mind all the time when you are in there [the football club]. You hope, am I going to make it? And you worry, are they going to send me home? Like you said, being released can be hard. I was just going to keep my head down and train like a mad man. I’d say that fear of being let go was probably
why I worked so hard on my fitness and in the gym all the time…” (Harry)
“Yeah I didn’t want to let my family down, they are so supportive and like drove us to all the training and matches when we was younger. They believe in whatever I do and I just wanted to do it for them. So like when you’re tired at training, I’d just be telling myself- think about letting them down. That would get us right up for it most days. It sounds a bit bad when you say it out loud haha…but yeah… that is in the back of your mind. I had like this picture of me mam and like me kinda letting her down or disappointing her and me Dad…depends on how I was playing but it was definitely there in the back of my head.” (Dave)
“You could see it in the club all the time…players are always trying to figure out where they are in terms of the pecking order, mangers plans, things like that. That’s where so much of the banter comes from. It’s jokes [meant and assumed as friendly humour] mind but there is a bit of seriousness to it that you need to know about it. It is passed off as just taking the piss and like if you’re mates with lads then it’s canny [fine] but players all know that there are players who are dicks. Someone either is trying to get in you, your head or put you down like so you don’t play well in training, then they move ahead of you. It just added to it [the fear of being released] for me. I was in and out of the first team selection…I would have good days then, I would have days where my touch was heavy or I felt knackered. I was always worried about getting the chop ‘cause of my consistency." (Ian)
Harry describes how prior to his release, he was constantly occupied by thoughts concerning whether or not he would be resigned or released. He describes how it was a fear of being released that influenced the way he approached his training. Dave describes a feared possible self that he held while still playing which was, like Harry, connected to the fear of being released. He describes a scenario in which following his release from the club, he experienced the shame of letting his parents down. Again sharing similarities with Harry, Dave explains that he often felt this motivate him. Ian speaks candidly about the cultural environment of professional football. Dave’s sentiments portray an environment in which
the majority if not all players are constantly seeking to affirm their place in either the first 11, first team selection or their job security as a player within the club. Such a discourse stems from an overarching feared possible self of being released or not being considered good enough to be resigned. He describes how players seek to use banter as a means of degradation to influence other players to underperform, thus advancing their own position further up “the pecking order” and contributing to their future job security at the club. Dave comments describe one of his own former feared possible selves was, like many other players, based on the fear of being release. Dave describes how he found it difficult to secure a starting place in the first team throughout his time with the club because of a lack of consistency he showed in training sessions. Here we see a clear illustration of how ‘possible selves’ as described by Markus and Nurius (1986) are social and are constructed from the social realms and experiences of individuals.
Providing examples of possible selves participants held as players prior to their release has helped establish the legitimacy of employing the work of Markus and Nurius (1986) in order to better understand player identity management and construction during career transitions. The data provided subsequently help depict the cultural environment of professional football in which players construct their footballing identity. However, it is important to highlight that the possible selves held by participants during their career transition are considered through the position of Markus and Nurius (1986) as Current Possible Selves. The examples of the hopes and fears participants shared with this study while they were still playing with their Premier League clubs are those that they held in the past, and are considered past possible selves. However apart from the two advantages just mentioned of these past possible selves, Markus and Nurius (1986) describe how they lend themselves to an additional and very important function.
Markus and Nurius contend that the current possible selves belonging to individuals are influenced heavily by the representation of their own self in
the past. As possible selves are social in their nature this implies current positive and negative possible selves derive from the very hopes and fears for the future individuals held in the past.8 Past possible selves influence current possible selves. This signifies the importance of the conversations regarding past possible selves, as they become a key element in understanding the construction of an individual’s current identity when considering the influence of how they see themselves in the future during their career transition. Whether negative or positive, as Robinson and Davis (2001) describe, possible selves in the past act as behavioural blue prints. Whether either of these selves were ever realised or not, does not diminish or lessen the impression that the current possible selves of participants have been influenced and shaped by their past possible selves. Possible selves are never found or lost if not realised, but rather, much like how identity is proposed within this project, are in a state of flux and constantly evolving and reshaping depending on the cultural environments in which they exist.
6.4: Banter and the Cultural Environment of Professional Football
In an attempt to demonstrate the characteristics of the environment in which participants construct and manage their identities prior to and during their career transition, it is important to gain an understanding of the cultural context in which such identities are formed. Considering the cultural context and environment within the professional game for players proves to be a difficult task for academics. The above sentiments provided by participants help however as these comments also relate to participants’ time spent as professional players prior to their release. The previous comments from participants relating to their past possible selves depict an environment in which the prevailing concerns of the players lie between a deeply emotional ambition to make it and a constant fear of being forgotten, undervalued or, worse, released. Other comments demonstrated how players tended to be acutely aware of the
8 Such an appreciation of past, present and future possible selves is offered as answer
to the ahistorical critique of Dramaturgy. Understanding the construction and management of the identities of participants in this fashion is to do so throughout their lives and time.
expectations of their audiences to give credible and socially acceptable footballing performances. Participants were all too aware of the presence of an audience judging not only their performances on the grounds of their physical and technical ability but on their actions as “good footballers” within the cultural environment of their respective clubs. Through conversations whereby participants referred to their past at clubs, participants continually highlighted the importance of banter as a cultural discourse within a footballing environment. Participants unanimously described how the giving and taking of banter was not only an accepted and expected performance. By understanding banter as an important signifier and legitimising part of what it meant to be a professional player for participants, this study offers an insight into the cultural environment of professional football.
Ed explains how he believed banter to be a key element of life as a professional footballer. He describes the different forms banter can take and what such discourses entail. Banter is understood in this study through the interpretation of data from participants, as it exists in the context of the professional football environments it refers to exchanges between players that seek to highlight reasons for a player to feel embarrassed or experience a form of cultural shame in front of peers. Ed alludes to the importance of being able “to take it”, meaning a player having the ability to withstand banter when he is subjugated to it with a performance that is deemed socially acceptable. Ed also highlights the importance of “giving it back”, meaning one’s ability to offer similar performances directed at other individuals.
“I do actually think it (banter) is an important part of being a footballer. You do see players sometimes, not almost get picked on, but if they've not got the banter and don't dish it out as much, they kind of seem to get sometimes a bit more of it than others. But I've always been up for it, I don't mind. I always took the banter, I could give it out too though which was important. Most of the time it is done for a laugh. It can be a joke at someone if they done something stupid in training or a match. We had a few lads who were keen into practical
jokes- though I think management didn’t like it too much. But most of the time it was just winding each other up. Trying to get a rise out of some one and get them angry or annoyed to the point were they’d blow their lid. But it is a big side to football now, I think. You see a lot of banter in the changing rooms and all sorts…with us it was pretty constant every day.
And could that knock a player and their confidence? (Interviewer)
Yes, I think it probably could. Depends on the individual you are, the personality that you have. Personally it wouldn't knock me because that's not the type of person I am. I have or had actually been around football my entire life so I know what the banter is about and how to handle it and how it works…but you could easily see a player getting stick all the time. Say their football was not going quite well and other things are on their mind. You see the confidence; it can knock them, yes. It hadn’t happened to me now but I have seen it happen, it definitely happens. We had a lad, might have made a few small mistakes in training, and the lads just give him abuse for it like cause it’s silly mistakes but then he lets it annoy him and he might try and have a go at one of the boys in the dressing room. Well then everyone just laughs at him, cause everyone knows that’s all the lad winding him up was trying to do. But that then affects his football and it plays on his mind even more and he will take even more abuse for it. It’s not abuse in like hurting him but just like jokes and stuff. But his confidence was definitely shot after that for a bit. (Ed)
Almost straight away Ed acknowledges the importance of banter within the cultural context of professional football. The significance of banter as a cultural discourse within this environment is evident from the sentiments of Ed when he describes how it happened on a regular basis, several times a day. He alludes to the importance of a performance in which players must “give it (banter) back” to their audience. Such a response from the recipient of banter is understood as a means of portraying to fellow professionals that the player accepts the social norms of their environment and is knowledgeable enough to offer what is accepted as the culturally correct response. Ed describes a former teammate who, instead of responding in the correct and expected manner to the banter
he received by giving it back, chose to vent his frustration and visibly get mad in front of all his teammates.
Ricky further reinforces notions that banter permeates the everyday activity within the cultural environment of professional football. His comments allude to banter being present in all clubs, but he concedes that the forms banter take can differ slightly from club to club and social standing regarding the seniority of players. According to the accounts of Ricky, players learn the correct way to negotiate and manage the use of banter during their time as academy players and as part of their first