Soccer, Servitude and Sub-cultural Identity: Football Traineeship and Masculine Construction

Abstract

This case study analysis of Youth Traineeship within English Professional Football attempts to uncover the fundamental features of masculine construction within the lives of a specific cohort of male trainees aged 16-19. Locating the lifestyle behaviours of these individuals as the focal point of discussion, ethnographic evidence is presented via which professional football is identified as a key site for the demonstration and reinforcement of traditional working-class masculine values. Outlining the existence of a range of trainee masculinities, the article concludes that individual identities were shaped and constructed in accordance with a series of 'official' and 'unofficial' institutional norms, values and assumptions, many of which proffered contradictory messages.