Utopian community football? Sport, hope and belongingness in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers

Stone, Chris (2017) Utopian community football? Sport, hope and belongingness in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers. Leisure Studies. ISSN 0261-4367

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Abstract

Refugees and asylum seekers have become increasingly demonised as part of anti-migrant sentiment leading to social exclusion. Sport has been utilised as a tool for social cohesion though evidence as to its efficacy in such a task is limited. Based on a three-year research programme exploring the role of football in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in the U.K., this paper examines the concept of belonging, provides evidence for the role of community-based sport in social development and concludes with a call for practitioners to maximise their belief in concrete utopian ideals without losing the inherent critical approach needed to positively develop the industry in which they work.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Leisure Studies in May 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2017.1329336?journalCode=rlst20
Keywords:	Asylum seekers; belonging; football (soccer); hope; Lefebvre; refugees
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology > Liverpool Hope Business School
Depositing User:	Chris Stone
Date Deposited:	24 Jan 2018 09:36
Last Modified:	24 Jan 2018 09:36
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2198

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