Leading from the Centre: A Comprehensive Examination of the Relationship between Central Playing Positions and Leadership in Sport

Abstract

Research aimsThe present article provides a comprehensive examination of the relationship between playing position and leadership in sport. More particularly, it explores links between leadership and a player’s interactional centrality—defined as the degree to which their playing position provides opportunities for interaction with other team members. This article examines this relationship across different leadership roles, team sex, and performance levels.ResultsStudy 1 (N = 4443) shows that athlete leaders (and the task and motivational leader in particular) are more likely than other team members to occupy interactionally central positions in a team. Players with high interactional centrality were also perceived to be better leaders than those with low interactional centrality. Study 2 (N = 308) established this link for leadership in general, while Study 3 (N = 267) and Study 4 (N = 776) revealed that the same was true for task, motivational, and external leadership. This relationship is attenuated in sports where an interactionally central position confers limited interactional advantages. In other words, the observed patterns were strongest in sports that are played on a large field with relatively fixed positions (e.g., soccer), while being weaker in sports that are played on a smaller field where players switch positions dynamically (e.g., basketball, ice hockey). Beyond this, the pattern is broadly consistent across different sports, different sexes, and different levels of skill.ConclusionsThe observed patterns are consistent with the idea that positions that are interactionally central afford players greater opportunities to do leadership—either through communication or through action. Significantly too, they also provide a basis for them to be seen to do leadership by others on their team. Thus while it is often stated that “leadership is an action, not a position,” it is nevertheless the case that, when it comes to performing that action, some positions are more advantageous than others.

Polar Coordinate Analysis of Relationships With Teammates, Areas of the Pitch, and Dynamic Play in Soccer: A Study of Xabi Alonso

“…We believe that this finding is interesting for two reasons. First, Alonso would appear to be the player of choice to receive the ball following a set play and second, it supports claims by Fransen et al (2016) that players in central positions are the most prominent players in the building of an attack due to their ability to coordinate the flow of information between the different members of the team. In this case, Alonso would appear to be responsible for triggering the flow of information that then diffuses through the other members of the team.…”

“…Midfielders are “permeable” to the flow of information from other players on their team; they are a central driving force, positioned at the crossroads between attack and defense. In a recent study on leadership roles in sport, Fransen et al (2016) showed that players with central positions had a privileged position, which combined with their high tactical responsibilities, positioned them as team leaders. Soccer coach Jürgen Klopp, referring to a Champions League match in 2014, said the following about rival midfielder Xabi Alonso: “Our plan was to take Xabi out of the game.…”

Standing out from the crowd: Identifying the traits and behaviors that characterize high‐quality athlete leaders

“…To identify the leadership quality of all players in the team in relation to the four leadership roles, previous research in sports contexts has measured indegree centrality . In network terms, this is a node‐specific measure (with nodes referring to the players) that captures the average strength of a node's incoming ties (ie, the average leadership quality of an athlete, as perceived by his or her teammates).…”

“…To identify the leadership quality of all players in the team in relation to the four leadership roles, previous research in sports contexts has measured indegree centrality. 28,37,38 In network terms, this is a node-specific measure (with nodes referring to the players) that captures the average strength of a node's incoming ties (ie, the average leadership quality of an athlete, as perceived by his or her teammates). Although the measure has become a standard measure of leadership quality in sport, 25,28 it does not take into account potentially confounding factors that might bias perceived leadership ratings.…”

Professional Rugby Coaches’ Perceptions of the Role of the Team Captain

“…For example, in some sports the captain has often been selected based upon one's individual performance level or one's technical ability, rather than based upon their leadership ability (Yukelson, Weinberg, Richardson, & Jackson, 1983). Also, the position the player occupies on the pitch/court has also been highlighted as an important determining factor in captain selection (Fransen, Haslam, Mallett, Steffens, Peters, & Boen, 2016;Lee, Partridge, & Coburn, 1983;Melnick & Loy, 1996). The general rationale for this approach is that occupying a central position within the team could maximize the individuals' ability to communicate the coaches' core messages to the team and to 'lead by example' (Fransen et al, 2016).…”