Sheffield

From Grassroots to hyper commodification

Sheffield is famed for its role in forging the beautiful game. Home to Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest football club; home to the world’s oldest, continually used ground, Hallam FC; home of the Youdan Cup, the world’s oldest football trophy; home of the first floodlit match at Bramall Lane; home to the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA, the largest local association; and home to one of the world’s largest grassroots leagues in the Sheffield and District Junior Sunday Football League. Not forgetting professional clubs Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

The 2019 Football Collective annual conference took place in this unique, special and footballing rich city on the 28th and 29th November 2019, bringing this collective of football researchers, practitioners and scholars together in Sheffield for the first time.

2019 marked forty years since Trevor Francis became the first footballer to break the £1million transfer barrier. It was a watershed moment in transfer history, signalling the beginning of more aggressive and expensive transfer spending. Four decades on, £1m transfer fees are almost non-existent at the top table, with some players exceeding £100m. Drawing on research undertaken by members of the Football Collective, the 2019 Annual Conference scrutinised the business of football to find solutions to benefit clubs, their players, their fans and their local communities.

Putting football’s lucrative ideologies aside, this year’s conference will also explore both the commercial and human benefits football can bring to the general population. The generation of wealth might be important to those at the very top of the game but supporting smaller projects is the lifeblood for the game’s growth. From grassroots to hyper-commodification, we will hear how we can shape the future of the ‘beautiful game’ by increasing participation from women, improving the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities as well as highlight the positive impact it can have on mental health.

The conference contained papers that addressed correlations between football and business, performance, grassroots, mega-events, fandom, social movements, diversity, gender, community, governance, migration, labour, conflict, sectarianism, identity, class, and health. The conference was designed to offer opportunities for all to present research, research ideas, potential projects, and innovative methods of data collection or public engagement.