Abstracts Vol. 2 (No.2 / 2005)

Gyöngyi Szabó Földesi and János Egressy

Post-transformational trends in Hungarian sport (1995-2004)

The radical political and economic changes of 1989-1990 in Hungary affected all societal subsystems. In sport, there was no revolution from below, nor were there relevant reforms from above prior to the regime change. The aim of this article is to reveal the further development that is demonstrated by the post-transformational trends in Hungarian sport. The topic is approached from modernization perspectives. The information for the study was gained by various methods, such as the analysis of documents, in-depth interviews, and participant observation. The results are analysed in three major dimensions: over-politicization, re-centralization, and paternalism. The findings show that sport underwent changes in a very controversial manner, for they were incremental rather than discontinuous. Neither a modernized sport model nor a national sport strategy emerged, on the basis of which a new model should have been built. In Hungarian sport there seems to be an aversion and resistance to modernization. In conclusion the author states that Hungarian sport has won a few battles but lost the war. A more democratic and a truly modern direction in the institution of sport is still expected. The transformation of Hungarian sport continues.

Michał Lenartowicz and Adam Karwacki

An overview of social conflicts in the history of Polish club football

The history of Polish football is closely associated with the last two hundred years of Polish history. It is in this history where one may find major reasons for the enduring emotional attitudes of some Poles towards football clubs and players. In this article, we examine periods in Polish football history and focus on important developments, the social position of sport clubs and the enthusiasms and antagonisms of the sport audience or the media. We also seek to point out and underscore elements which have strengthened antipathies, stereotypical thinking and prejudices in the Polish Football League. The main contribution of this article is reviewing Polish football history from an uncommon “negative” perspective. We focus on moral weaknesses of the Polish football world and on football as a vehicle and mirror of social conflicts. In the article, we seek to present a social context for professional sport and to turn attention to the historical roots of enthusiasms and antipathies in Polish football. Social analysis of its history gives a great opportunity for revealing football’s role in various key social processes and institutions such as nationality foundation, social integration and disintegration, the politic system, education etc.

Lappas Kleomenis

Changes in socio-economic and demographic composition of Greek football spectators

Contemporary changes throughout Europe have deeply influenced Greece in many fields such as the economy (agriculture, cattle-raising, industry), politics, communications, sports and particularly football, which is considered to be the most famous and most popular sport in Greece. At the same time, many changes have occurred in Greek society, based on local factors. Sport as a societal subsystem reflects all the changes which have occurred in Greek society during recent decades. The socio-economic composition and the demographic characteristics of football fans have rapidly changed. The major aim of the study was to discover how the Greek football spectators’ behavioural patterns have changed and how the main social, political and economic changes in wider Greek society have affected this process. The methods which have been used for the collection of qualitative data were in-depth interviews with media experts, managers and coaches of football teams, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires answered by football spectators before, during and after matches of the premier league in Greece. In this article, the results related to the Greek football spectators’ major social and demographic characteristics and their opinions on the occurrence of deviancy in Greek football stadia are presented.

Ansgar Thiel, Hilke Teubert & Klaus Cachay

Linking top sports and schools to foster the next generation of athletes in competitive sports – reflections on the example of the German integrated systems

In order to provide the chance for athletes to obtain the prerequisites that allow them to become “world champions” without putting their scholastic success in danger, the German Sports Association conceptually embedded the connection between school and competitive sports in a national concept for the new generation of competitive athletes. Should this be successful, school has to be made more functional from the perspective of athletes in that the structures of a scholastic education do not impinge on efficient athletic training. The study shows that the coupling of top sports and school up to the present does not function particularly well. It is only marginally possible to formalize the connection, yet the informal regulation is confronted with a huge number of problems that make an efficient coordination for the best support of athletes in both school and sports even harder.