Soccer - Free Essay Sample

Introduction

The Sports for Development Grant Project chosen was soccer, also known as football. It is a popular sport in the United States and the world over but is usually confused with American football due to similarities in the name but different gameplays. Soccer can be traced in its earliest form, known as cuju in the Chinese Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). It is the most developed game in the world to the extent of being called the World Game.

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Soccer is a versatile game, and as such, policies related to it are continually evolving, as in today's society, discrimination in this game is notwithstanding, especially gender discrimination. The international governing body is the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) responsible for policymaking in this game. Soccer was first played in the USA in 1862, and from then, its development has been on an upward trend.

Football is a highly physical and contact sport, and it has various positions and formations; thus, various player attributes fit specific positions, thus the versatility in the game. This project is particularly meaningful to me as it would enable better reception of this sport right from the grassroots to the major leagues, and it will help share with others the benefit of this sport. From this project, I hope to learn more about football as a game right from its gameplay to the various formations associated with it. Further, I would like to experience how the game can change the conventional thoughts in society to be more inclusive, equal, and reduce the discrimination associated.

Mission Statement

The mission statement of our Organization is as quoted in the title, Soccer against Gender Discrimination. Our mission statement is single-focused, we seek to address the larger issues associated with discrimination based on gender, where men in football get preferential treatment. We want to show that soccer is a game for everyone, not just for men

Key Components

Our Organization's key components would include a Resource Allocation and Planning department, a Procuring department, the Sensitization department, and a Coaching and Fitness department. The resource allocation and planning department would be core, as it would be integral in distributing the grant in the most efficient way towards the realization of our mission. It would also act as an overseer towards the actions of the other departments. It would also play the part of the human resource department, i.e., hiring and firing personnel. It will also be very important in planning the events within the Organization's calendar.

The procuring department will be responsible for accruing the various equipment required for soccer, including the balls, uniforms, and medical equipment, among others. The sensitization department would be key in educating the masses with the notion that knowledge removes bias. It would be tasked with developing frameworks against gender biases in soccer and teaming up with the coaching department to rid the game of these biases.

The coaching and fitness department will be directly related to the game. It will include like-minded veterans and coaches of the soccer profession to spearhead our mission as they directly contact the players. Their role will be to implement the sensitization department's frameworks with maximum precision while ensuring player fitness and well-being. This coaching role will require gender-sensitive experienced personnel and the majority being female as no one can better understand the challenges women face in football other than women.

Value Proposition

Our Value Proposition will be unique, as it will be all-inclusive, this in terms of gender inclusivity; even as we aim to promote the fairer gender into football, we also seek to coach and mentor the males understanding that everyone is equal and require equal opportunities and benefits. We will have programs for people of all ages and abilities and seek to develop a framework that looks into soccer as a game, not only business, then developing a framework where we consider the ability requirements for each of the 11 positions and thus ensure inclusivity in terms of ability. Therefore, our Organization will be key to the growth of the game while promoting equality.

Social Issues

We seek to address the issues of gender bias despite similar contributions, this is in terms of salary allocation, resources invested, among others; in the case of soccer, they are huge bias towards women soccer as they receive lower salaries and they aren't allocated enough resources. This issue is in the core of society where women are treated like porcelain dolls, where there is a somewhat miseducated notion that women can't be involved in physical games. To root out this problem won't be an easy feat as today's society is hugely sexist; thus, this problem will require a modern solution as well as an overhaul of current structures that favor males.

Some examples of misogyny include, in the case of national soccer teams, the women team is less equipped and poorly treated compared to the men’s teams. A case in mind would be the recent Women’s World Cup 2019 in France where the USA women's team won, but despite having better achievements than their male counterparts, their salaries and remunerations were still lower; this case caused a huge international uproar, especially among women rights activists who lobbied for changes in policies associated with the sport.

Archer and Prange view women's football as the fastest growing sport in the world but even so, according to a 2017 survey by the Sporting Intelligence Global Sports Salary Survey, the pay gap is very wide, especially in football where women in football receive as little as a hundredth of their male counterparts. The arguments in this paper are three-pronged, the first is based on labor rights where pay should be equal to the amount of work done, thus furthering equal pay between the two genders. Next, is the argument based on social injustices where the sports federations not only pay equally due to moral reasons but also because they have a moral obligation and political responsibility to give equal remunerations? The last argument is appealing towards the expressive power of equal pay; this is because it would act in expressing a valuable message about this issue.

Women's football should also be aptly supported in terms of training and even the allocation of resources. We as an organization seek to be drivers of this mission not only by empowering the women in football but also by teaching the males to be accepting and accommodating towards their female counterpart, for football rid of discrimination because if we are able to deal with this bias that is at the core of society, we will also be able to aptly deal with other issues.

Theoretical Framework

To determine the theoretical framework most suited to the project, we must first consider the connection of the social issues and discriminations with the framework. The theoretical framework most suited for this project is A Sports Participation Model based on Becker. According to Grima et al. (2017), the economical-time allocation theory of Becker (1965) prepared a groundwork for the general theoretical model of sports participation. The decision to participate in sports is based on monetary and time restrictions. The Becker based framework is able to relate the sociological with the increased sporting activities and thus a correlation with our subject matter, discrimination in soccer.

The main reason this framework is most suited to this project is that this theory has been further developed to include several demographic and social variables. Thus, it could incorporate the discrimination and societal issues addressed by our project.

This framework helps explain the social issue we are trying to address by theorizing that sports participation is based on financial ability and available time also predisposition. It backs that there is discrimination based on societal class and gender; the higher classes and those termed more suited gender are able to participate more in sports. It also provides demographics that further support the societal issue addressed by our project.

Conclusion

Becker (1975) defines discrimination as an unequal treatment of equally competent personnel. Discrimination appears in various forms, including; employer, co-worker, and customer discrimination. In sports, soccer notwithstanding, customer discrimination is rife, as Kahn (2000) describes it as the employer pays more money to the worker whom customers prefer to associate with. For instance, in soccer, women aren't treated equally compared to men. To solve these issues isn't an easy task as it includes a complete overhaul as such, the problem should be addressed right from the grassroots.

References

Archer, A., Prange, M. (2019). ‘Equal Play, Equal Pay’: Moral Grounds for Equal Pay in Football. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 46(3), 416-436, doi:10.1080/00948705.2019.1622125.

Becker, G. (1965). A Theory of the Allocation of Time. Economic Journal, 75, 495-513.

Becker, G. (1974). A Theory of Social Interactions. Journal of Political Economy, 82(6), 1063-1093.

Grima, S., Grima, A., Thalassinos, E., Seychell, S., Spiteri, J.V. (2017). Theoretical Models for Sports Participation: Literature Review. International Journal of Economics and Business Administration Volume V, Issue 3, 2017 pp. 94-116.