Work

The school of hard knocks: systemic violence and the motivation to harm in boys’ youth academy football

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The ‘beautiful game’ of football may seem to be a curious artifact of study for this scholarly collection on violence. However, this article will highlight the need to explore the boys’ English youth academy (YA) football industry as a manifestation of systemic violence and, ultimately, a reflection of the pseudo-pacified neoliberal economy. Embedding our theoretical analysis within emerging literature on harm and violence, this paper will illuminate the dark underbelly of boys’ elite-level youth football in England, examining the culture and relationships between academy players, YAs as breeding grounds for neoliberal subjectivities, the common practice of granting false hope to a ‘supporting cast’ of boys, and the underpinning inequalities in the elite academy industry. Drawing on data gleaned from thirty-five semi-structured interviews with current professional football practitioners and officials, as well as two former YA players, the work will provide a multifaceted analysis of the baked-in violence of the boys’ youth academy system. We will argue that we ought to challenge the assumption of harmlessness that currently cloaks the systemic violence of the boys’ elite game and move beyond interventionitis, in favor of wholesale change.

Source: Frontiers in Sociology

DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1631118

Authors: Nick Gibbs, Daniel Briggs

Institution: Northumbria University

Language: English

Topic: Physical Education and Sports Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,418