Inclusionary and exclusionary banter: English club cricket, inclusive attitudes and male camaraderie

Abstract

Sport has traditionally been a hostile environment for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people.More recently, however, research on a range of British sports has documented a considerable shift toward inclusivity for sexual minorities. Curiously, despite its global popularity, no research has yet measured attitudes in cricket. By drawing on 12 semi-structured interviews with a club cricket team in the South East of England, we show inclusive attitudes toward homosexuality in sport and society. We also explore how forms of 'banter' among members of the club are complex and multifaceted. Accordingly, we propose that banter in grassroots cricket can be conceptualized into 'inclusionary' forms (incorporating how a close team relationship can facilitate inclusive forms of banter) and 'exclusionary' forms (incorporating jokes which transgress acceptable forms of banter). This research therefore acts as a point of departure for further investigations of the operation of banter across different levels of sport.

It Can Be a “Very Fine Line”: Professional Footballers’ Perceptions of the Conceptual Divide Between Bullying and Banter

“…In line with the theoretical propositions of Benign Moral Violation theory ( McGraw and Warren, 2010 ), players outlined how this banter can be offensive yet also occurs in a situation among friends within a team. Thus, the present findings added further weight to claims banter is a complex and contradictory phenomenon in sport ( Lawless and Magrath, 2021 ).…”

“…Worryingly, players in some cases appeared to suggest that casual racism may even be accepted in some cases (Cleland, 2016;Hylton, 2018) suggesting a more extreme form of banter may be acceptable in professional football. This even contrasts with other masculine sporting contexts, such as cricket, where racism is seen to transgress acceptable forms of banter (Lawless and Magrath, 2021). It would appear that as part of professional football's established community of practice (Parker, 2006), players learn that diversity almost acts as an excuse for bullying behavior to be disguised as banter.…”

“…This revealed concerns that for some players, they may not recognize that banter can be offensive and cross the line of acceptability ( Steer et al, 2020 ) and also raised doubts around the extent to which they would reflect on their potentially inappropriate actions. The results are exclusionary forms of banter which “cross this line” ( Lawless and Magrath, 2021 ) being masked in professional football. Here, players seemingly appear to accept and reproduce a disciplinary form of humor ( Edwards and Jones, 2018 ) which previous research suggests ( Parker, 2006 ) they may have observed from their coaches.…”

“…As a result, the potentially prosocial aspects of banter in sport may be lost and a more severe version of this behavior is enacted. To lose this, potentially more “inclusive” form of banter may be unfortunate as banter has been found to be central to male friendships in sport, fostering a sense of community and solidarity, while increasing cohesion and bonding ( Wagstaff et al, 2017 ; Lawless and Magrath, 2021 ).…”

Analyzing the Presence of Homosexually- Themed Language Among Association Football Fans in the United Kingdom

“…Often, this is defended as 'banter' or whatHein and O'Donohoe (2014, p. 1299) refer to as the 'playful exchange of teasing remarks'. As outlined byLawless and Magrath (2020), 'banter' is a feature of sport amongst players, coaches, and fans, and can contain multiple meanings and ways in which it is interpreted, such as seeking to be dominant yet humorous through the communication taking place.…”