Sports Psychology in the English Premier League: ‘It Feels Precarious and is Precarious’

Abstract

This article gives a rare account of the working life of a sports psychologist in the English Premier League (EPL), the elite division in English professional football. It shows how members of emerging professions such as sports psychology are a new precariat. Martin is more successful than many sports psychologists, but his job security is dependent on his continued ability to navigate managerial change: using his skills as a psychologist in the defence of his own employment but simultaneously keeping the (potentially sensitive) 'psychology' label of the work he does hidden until circumstances are propitious.

A Commentary and Reflections on the Field of Organizational Sport Psychology

“…McDougall et al, 2015), such alignment can prove professionally and ethically problematic. Consequently, practitioners must at times resist cultural assimilation, despite the risk of team alienation and possible employment termination (Gilmore et al, 2018;McDougall et al, 2015). In sum, while practitioners should be part of the culture, they must also be apart from it, ensuring that one's support remains congruent with one's personal beliefs, values and wider professional philosophy.…”

“…Arnold et al's data contribute to the growing evidence that working as a member of support staff in elite sport is precarious (see Gilmore et al, 2018). Indeed, these individuals are typically poorly remunerated in comparison to managerial or playing staff, work undesirable hours, spending substantial time away from home, and are often at the mercy of questionable employment practices (see Waddington, Rodderick, & Naik, 2001;Wagstaff et al, 2015).…”

“…Yet, clearly not enough of this work has been translated into changes at the coalface in elite sport. This might be because of the nature of elite sport organizations, which are complex, turbulent, and volatile social systems (see Wagstaff, 2017) in which individuals have an often chaotic and precarious existence (Gilmore, Wagstaff, & Smith, 2018). The failure to prevent organizational dereliction of duty of care may also reflect poor regulation of organizations and their leaders who ruthlessly pursue "winning at all costs".…”

Precariousness on the Green: The Labor Situation of Chinese Golf Trainers

“…To a lesser degree, the study of precarious workers has become more popular among sport sociologists, particularly (but not exclusively) in France where Pierre Bourdieu's concepts have been extensively re-used by sport studies experts (Fleuriel, 2016a(Fleuriel, , 2016bFleuriel & Schotté, 2008;Loirand, 2016). In other countries as well, original research has depicted the precarious conditions of "students-athletes" (Brackpool & Neil, 2017) or "elite sport team psychologists" (Gilmore et al, 2018). However, most of this research mainly focuses on the elite segment of the sport industry which is symbolically dominant, but which does not represent the majority of the sport industry labor's force.…”

Sensemaking as ‘Self’-defence: Investigating spaces of resistance in precarious work

“…Experienced by a growing body of workers and leading to multiple insecurities, precarious work has had a de-skilling impact on labour, reducing access to meaningful levels of pay, progression, health and safety legislation, protection from harm and so on (Bourdieu, 1998; Fevre, 2007; Gilmore et al., 2018; International Labour Office, 2016; Prosser, 2016; Standing, 2011). Going beyond the detrimental impact on the working experience, precarious contexts are also an arena of alienation, underscored by the ‘inhumanity of capital’ and obscured by ‘adjustment’ activities such as job enrichment workplace schemes (Braverman, 1998; Spencer, 2000).…”