Learning from the Lionesses: Transformative media and marketing for inclusive sport

Calling researchers of media, sport and inequality. You are invited to submit an EOI for our Project FIAS symposium 'Learning from the Lionesses'.

The Game On book, Netflix documentary blurb provokes an important question: “Sport has an extraordinary, unique capacity to challenge and change society – to bring joy and hope; to improve physical and mental health, reduce loneliness and build self-esteem and happiness. Why has half the population been deprived of access to something so culturally powerful?” The book and film also chart the ‘unstoppable rise of women’s sport’, focusing particularly on the collective embrace of women’s football we are experiencing, fuelling by the phenomenal performances of our women’s teams, and the growing media coverage that is seeing increasing numbers of spectators (of all genders and ages) and corporate sponsorship. Yet, inequality in sports participation persists, with often male gatekeepers influencing the lack of diversity in cultural representation.

Media practices are part of the representational nexus that construct sport for broadscale consumption. Media joins marketing (particularly advertising and promotions) and user generated social media content to form an important regime of meaning that inculcates consumers of sport into a shared sense of its ‘oughtness and rightness’ (Schatzki, 2001). It shapes societal understands of who is allowed ‘in’ to participate, what they should look like and what they should do. The practices constituting this representational nexus therefore have a vital role to play in the inequalities in sport and in their undoing.

We are interested in bringing together UK researchers with a critical interest in the representational nexus of sport, whose work seeks to understand and tackle inequalities, challenge injustice and have impact on the way sport is consumed. We are therefore inviting you to contribute to an in-person symposium in Bristol on March 13th 2024 where scholars will share their work. Research can be in any stage of development, from proposals to published works, and we are particularly interested to hear from researchers working with external stakeholders including policy, marketing, media and industry.

The purpose of the symposium is to connect, learn and co-develop a nascent collective of scholars and scholarship working in different ways, within different disciplines, towards a more inclusive future for sport. If you are interested in participating, please write a 500 word expression of interest with a brief note on what you plan to present. Send this by email to [email protected] by 12th Jan. We will confirm final acceptances by the end of Jan 2024. We will be able to offer a bursary for travel and, where necessary, accommodation for those who need it. Refreshments will be provided. The day will also include a screening of the Netflix documentary Game On, and a panel discussion hosted by Sue Anstiss MBE, CEO of ‘Fearless Women’, author of Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport and Director of the Netflix documentary of the same name.