Sports clubs' contexts (and sports development)

With the points of departure that sport clubs are the main context for each other, and considering the establishment of private sport suppliers, this chapter pursues two research questions: (1) How do football clubs relate to other football clubs? and (2) How do football clubs relate to private football academies? Norwegian studies show that the relationship with other clubs is generally influenced by the association’s expectations about athlete development and other football clubs’ willingness to cooperate, but there are variations because urban football clubs experience many other – potentially competing – clubs. Regarding the emergence of private academies, a phenomenon most significant in cities, football clubs’ relationships to them are ambiguous; some club officials are positive, others sceptical or even negative. Considering Norwegian football as a field, these findings affirm that because clubs pursue the same currency (say, football competence), they experience professionalisation processes and new incidents of commodification. This commodification is not only in relation to products exchanged (e.g., player transfers); with the private academies – it is also the athlete development processes for sale.