Blacklisted: the young black male professinal footballer and education in England

Although much sociological attention has been given to black athlete’s experiences of oppression and subjugation in sport, little in depth investigation has centred on the restricting of educational opportunities encountered by young male athletes as they begin their careers. This is particularly important given that so few athletes make into professional sport. Accordingly, this research study was conducted to help gain a further understanding of the socio-cultural influences and standard of education received by young black male footballers within England. Sport is a site where the black man heavily identifies and sees opportunities to develop alternative forms of social and economic capital. However, consequently many young black male athletes become pigeonholed into believing their only viable future career path is in sport or in this study football. It is interesting to see how young black males are pigeon-holed into sport by the educational system once identified as having a talent within the sport. Taking an ethnographic approach, I analysed the experiences of 7 BME (Black Minority Ethnic) ex-youth players from professional football academies. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken investigating their playing and educational experiences and were analysed thematically. Findings revealed that the participants in question all incurred issues regarding to identity construction, career pathway restriction, racial