The Emergence and Development of Association Football: Influential Sociocultural Factors in Victorian Birmingham

This article explores the interdependent, complex sociocultural factors that facilitated the emergence and diffusion of football in Birmingham. The focus is the development of football in the city, against the backdrop of the numerous social changes in Victorian Birmingham. The aim is to fill a gap in the existing literature which seemingly overlooked Birmingham as a significant footballing centre, and the ‘ordinary and everyday’ aspects of the game’s early progression. Among other aspects, particular heed is paid to the working classes’ involvement in football, as previous literature has often focused on the middle classes and their influence on and participation in organized sport. As the agency of the working classes along with their mass participation and central role in the game’s development is unfolded, it is argued that far from being passive cultural beings, the working classes, from the beginnings, actively negotiated the development of their own emergent football culture.

A critical examination of the involvement of Canadian high-performance athletes in the development of anti-doping policy

The use of certain perfonnance enhancing substances and methods has been defined as a major ethical breach by parties involved in the governance of highperfonnance sport. As a result, elite athletes worldwide are subject to rules and regulations set out in international and national anti-doping policies. Existing literature on the development of policies such as the World Anti-Doping Code and The Canadian antiDoping Program suggests a sport system in which athletes are rarely meaningfully involved in policy development (Houlihan, 2004a). Additionally, it is suggested that this lack of involvement is reflective of a similar lack of involvement in other areas of governance concerning athletes' lives. The purpose ofthis thesis is to examine the history and current state of athletes' involvement in the anti-doping policy process in Canada's high-perfonnance sport system. It includes discussion and analysis of recently conducted interviews with those involved in the policy process as well as an analysis of relevant documents, including anti-doping policies. The findings demonstrate that Canadian athletes have not been significantly involved in the creation of recently developed antidoping policies and that a re-evaluation of current policies is necessary to more fully recognize the reality of athletes' lives in Canada's high-perfonnance sport system and their rights within that system.

Human Resource Training and National Sport Organization Managers: Examining the Impact of Training on Individual and Organizational Performance

Within sport, a tremendous amount of effort is committed to the on-the-field performance of athletes and coaches, neglecting the off-the-field performance and development of sport managers. This study examines the impact of human resource training on the performance of five Canadian national sport organizations (NSO) and their managers (N=22). Data were collected on three outcome variables (learning, individual performance, organizational performance) and three mediating variables (motivation to transfer, training design, organizational climate) at three time measures (pre-training, post-training1, post-training2). Results indicate that training improves the learning and individual performance of sport managers, as well as the organizational performance of NSOs. Varying relationships were found at each of the three time measures, demonstrating that a progression to training-related performance change exists, while providing support for three levels of analysis (individual, organizational, systemic). Implications and future research directions are discussed and highlight the need for on-going training opportunities for Canadian sport managers.

Effects of Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) in the Development of Exercise-Induced Skeletal Muscle Fatigue and Changes in Biochemical Markers Related to Postexercise Recovery

STUDY DESIGN: Randomized crossover double-blinded placebo-controlled trial. OBJECTIVE: To investigate if low-level laser therapy (LLLT) can affect biceps muscle performance, fatigue development, and biochemical markers of postexercise recovery. BACKGROUND: Cell and animal studies have suggested that LLLT can reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in muscle tissue. But it remains uncertain whether these findings can translate into humans in sport and exercise situations. METHODS: Nine healthy male volleyball players participated in the study. They received either active LLLT (cluster probe with 5 laser diodes; A = 810 nm; 200 mW power output; 30 seconds of irradiation, applied in 2 locations over the biceps of the nondominant arm; 60 J of total energy) or placebo LLLT using an identical cluster probe. The intervention or placebo were applied 3 minutes before the performance of exercise. All subjects performed voluntary elbow flexion repetitions with a workload of 75% of their maximal voluntary contraction force until exhaustion. RESULTS: Active LLLT increased the number of repetitions by 14.5% (mean +/- SD, 39.6 +/- 4.3 versus 34.6 +/- 5.6; P = .037) and the elapsed time before exhaustion by 8.0% (P = .034), when compared to the placebo treatment. The biochemical markers also indicated that recovery may be positively affected by LLLT, as indicated by postexercise blood lactate levels (P<.01), creatine kinase activity (P = .017), and C-reactive protein levels (P = .047), showing a faster recovery with LLLT application prior to the exercise. CONCLUSION: We conclude that pre-exercise irradiation of the biceps with an LLLT dose of 6 J per application location, applied in 2 locations, increased endurance for repeated elbow flexion against resistance and decreased postexercise levels of blood lactate, creatine kinase, and C-reactive protein. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Performance enhancement, level 1b. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2010;40(8):524-532. doi:10.2519/jospt.2010.3294

Impact of social expectations on ethical governance of sport organisations

Sport business is different; one of these differences is the significant and important cultural role that sport plays in society. This paper investigates the social expectations of sport, and how these expectations impact on the management and governance of sport organisations. Interviews were undertaken with the directors and CEOs of the Australian Football League and its clubs, to examine the concept of social expectations and ethical governance. Five key themes of the social expectations of sport were found: scrutiny, sport business, sport context, social investment, and the historical development of the club. Each of these themes was identified through the data analysis as having a potential impact on the management and ethical governance of sport organisations. A clearer understanding of the social and cultural context within which sport organisations operate, enables sport organisations to implement sound policy and practices for ethical governance.

Sport development, systems, policies and pathways : an introduction to the special issue

Fundamentally sport development is about participation and promoting the opportunities and benefits of participation. Participation in sport and physical activity spans a wide range of contexts including the wholesomeness associated with the freedom of children’s play to the modification of sport to allow children to be children a little longer. The cycle of participation continues to junior and youth sport, where the rules, regulations and traditions of a sport become the foundation to protecting the “institution” of sport, to participation in senior competitions and ultimately, to elite and professional sport. Sport development research and practice therefore is concerned with all these manifestations of the sport experience. It logically follows that the purview of sport development is quite large and potentially complex. Moreover, it is possible to identify at least five themes that could be used to categorise sport development research. These themes include; policy, development through sport, development of sport, future patterns of sport delivery and marketing in terms of the relationship between professional sport and participation.

The history and development of trotting in Victoria to 1946

This thesis sought to explain the development of a code that has been under-represented in Victoria's sporting history. The pioneers of trotting built a foundation of experience, skills and bloodlines that was able to be built upon when the sport re-emerged from the control of John Wren in 1946.

Managing the career development of Australian coaches

The sustainability of the sport industry is dependent upon skilled coaches. This thesis has demonstrated that unlike the corporate setting, career development in the profession of coaching is missing from both policy and practice. This omission was found to have profound detrimental impacts on sport industry sustainability and coaches' lives.

The development of an accreditation scheme for accredited exercise physiologists

Background: Accredited Exercise Physiologists provide exercise services for people living with chronic disease, disability or injury and are recognised in Australia as Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEP) under a national certification system administered by Exercise and Sport Science Australia (ESSA). A major breakthrough occurred for the AEP in 2006 when the Australian Department of Health and Ageing approved the AEP to deliver clinical exercise services for people with chronic medical conditions under the taxpayer-funded national health scheme, Medicare Australia.

Aims: In light of these developments, the authors recognised the need for new accreditation criteria, and our report summarises the work that we did on behalf of the profession and ESSA in restructuring the accreditation system.

Methods and Outcomes: We first performed a background study that defined the scope of practice of the AEP and benchmarked the AEP against other allied health professions in Australia and Clinical Exercise Physiologists internationally. We then constructed a new set of accreditation criteria comprising sets of pathologyspecific knowledge and experiences, together with a set of generic standards including communication, professional behaviour and risk management. All participating Australian universities (18 out of 27 responded) and 29 practitioner experts were then invited to provide comment and input into the draft guidelines. There was strong support for the new system that was implemented nationally on 1 January 2008 and is now administered by ESSA.

Conclusions: This work has stimulated an unprecedented level of activity in the Australian university sector in developing new curricula in clinical exercise science and practice, and is intended to lead to improved standards of clinical exercise practice.

Challenges in the development of standards for synthetic turf for Australian football and cricket

Given the escalating drought conditions in Australia, synthetic surfaces have recently been explored as a viable surface option for community-level Australian football–cricket ovals. The vast majority of Australian football ovals are transformed into cricket pitches during the football off-season and hence the characteristics of both sports had to be duly considered in the development of standards that could be tested in a laboratory setting, for a synthetic turf surface. This paper describes the data collection and test methods undertaken in the development of the standards for synthetic surface use in Australian football and cricket. The paper also discusses the issues and challenges encountered during the development of standards for multi-sport synthetic surfaces to ensure player safety while maintaining the performance characteristics of both sports. Surface property and ball interaction tests were undertaken on natural playing surfaces, both in situ and in the laboratory to determine the properties of the current playing surface for each sport. This paper highlights the importance of careful consideration of the characteristics of both games and the use of equipment from both sports in the testing methods. The standards described in this paper have now been accepted by the Australian Football League and Cricket Australia and the product approval process and use of synthetic surfaces for Australian football and cricket is imminent.

More than a game : the impact of sport-based youth mentoring schemes on developing resilience toward violent extremism

This paper draws upon the findings of an evaluation of “More than a Game”, a sport-focused youth mentoring program in Melbourne, Australia that aimed to develop a community-based resilience model using team-based sports to address issues of identity, belonging, and cultural isolation amongst young Muslim men in order to counter forms of violent ex-tremism. In this essay we focus specifically on whether the intense embodied encounters and emotions experienced in team sports can help break down barriers of cultural and religious difference between young people and facilitate ex-periences of resilience, mutual respect, trust, social inclusion and belonging. Whilst the project findings are directly rel-evant to the domain of countering violent extremism, they also contribute to a growing body of literature which con-siders the relationship between team-based sport, cross-cultural engagement and the development of social resilience, inclusion and belonging in other domains of youth engagement and community-building.

Development of a valid and reliable video-based decision-making test for Australian football umpires

To develop a valid and reliable video-based decision-making test to examine and monitor the decision-making performance of Australian football umpires.

Segmenting initial fans of a new team: a taxonomy of sport early adopters

ABSTRACT
Marketers are interested in the first buyers of new products, given their important role in driving wider community adoption. This is especially the case for new entertainment products, like new or relocated sports teams who must quickly build fan connections and loyalty, given the importance of crowds and social networks in adding value to the entertainment experience. Fans choose to connect with sports teams for numerous reasons; however, fan development in the context of a new team has rarely been examined. This paper examines the diversity and similarity among inaugural fans of an expansion team. A large sample (n= 1724) was classified into five segments revealing how each varies in their brand associations, satisfaction, identification and involvement. By analysing key dimensions (relationship identifiers) that characterise how consumers connect with a new team, the authors provide new insights about the nature of consumers in the context of a new sports team. Furthermore, the five segments were found to be distinct cohorts, with sufficient variation between them to warrant variant marketing approaches to achieve the outcome of committed, long-term fans.