Humour in Sports Coaching: ‘It’s a Funny Old Game’

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper was to investigate the use and manifestation of humour within sports coaching. This was particularly in light of the social significance of humour as a critical component in cultural creation and negotiation. Data were gathered from a ten-month ethnographic study that tracked the players and coaches of Senghenydd City Football Club (a pseudonym) over the course of a full season. Precise methods of data collection included participant observation, reflective personal field notes, and ethnographic film. The results demonstrated the dominating presence of both 'inclusionary putdowns' and 'disciplinary humour', particularly in relation to how they contributed to the production and maintenance of the social order. Finally, a reflective conclusion discusses the temporal nature of the collective understanding evident amongst the group at Senghenydd, and its effect on the humour evident. In doing so, the work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the social role of humour within sports coaching.

Humour, masculinities and youth sport coaching: ‘Good morning, ladies!’

“…In fact, boys mostly seemed to enjoy these simultaneously inclusionary put-downs and disciplinary moments of 'connection' with coaches (c.f. Edwards & Jones, 2018). This interplay between formality/informality and distance/intimacy in coaches interactions with boys functioned as a way to 'test the water' or carefully 'put out feelers' (Goffman, 1959, p.188-189), to hint at social demands, and 'include' boys in academy life through teasing and encouraging them to re-align with particular masculine practices.…”

“…Jones, Armour and Potrac (2002), utilising Goffman (1959), argue that humour enables coaches to communicate their individuality, while operating as a bargaining tool for achieving 'working consensus' from a group. Speaking to these ideas, Edwards and Jones (2018) highlight male coaches' use of 'inclusionary put-downs' and 'disciplinary humour' where teasing and disparaging comments are used in caring, friendly and 'unifying' ways but also as calculated attacks intended to alienate and re-establish compliance and hierarchy. Framed by Holmes andMarra's (2002, p.1707) suggestion that 'humour can provide insights into the culture which develops in different workplaces or communities of practice,' the current research examines sport coaches' use of humour to reconstruct masculinities in a youth sport setting: an English professional football (soccer) academy.…”

Complicity, performance, and the ‘doing’ of sports coaching: An ethnomethodological study of work

“…In turn, as a consequence of such theorising, sports coaching has come to be viewed as a bone fide work setting, possessing a particular intentionality and performance structure encased within a complex social process (Puddifoot, 2000). This was recently illustrated in Edwards and Jones's (2018) investigation of humour which portrayed coaching as a context where "power, interaction, and work-related 'social things' are both embodied and embedded" (p.759). Similarly, Roderick and Schumacker's (2017) tale of role occupancy and Potrac, Mellett, Greenough, and Nelson's (2017) expose of emotional labour within professional football among others, have reaffirmed the work necessary to make coaching happen.…”

Being a good sport: players’ uptake to coaches’ joking in interviews for the youth national team

“…Conversational joking in sports is seen as something that can be seen as part of an existential attitude of playfulness that is important for balancing stressful aspects of competitive game action and that enhances creative game performance (Ronglan & Aggerholm, 2014). Some other work in sports (Edwards & Jones, 2018) and other fields (Terrion & Ashworth, 2002) has similarly highlighted the bonding potential of humour, especially for group identity and the cohesion of groups. One aspect of this is that laughing together can be an important conversational device for glossing over trouble or equivocality.…”

“…Conversely, some scholars have foregrounded the disciplinary role of humor (Franzén & Aronsson, 2013; on its role in sports coaching, see Edwards & Jones, 2018). In line with work of Billig (2005) and his critical discussion of ridicule in humour, several scholars have problematized putdown humour (Edwards & Jones, 2018;Terrion & Ashworth, 2002). As yet, though much research on humor has primarily concerned coaches' joking, as reflected in interview data or ethnographic observations.…”