Talent Identification and Development in Women's Football:
Integrating Australian Insights in Jordan
By
Nehad Mohammad Makhadmeh
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health, University of Canberra
For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
31 July 2015
iii
Abstract
This thesis investigates the possibilities for sustainable girls’ and women’s participation in
football in Jordan. These possibilities are explored with insights gained from fieldwork in
two cultural contexts: Al ramtha, Jordan and Canberra, Australia. The research reported here
uses a mixed methods approach to data collection about talent and identification systems. It
combines desk study, semi-structured interviews with teachers, coaches and administrators
and participant observation in teaching and coaching contexts. There were two phases in the
research process. Phase 1 explored talent identification and development pathways in
women’s football and involved preliminary fieldwork in Canberra and Al ramtha. Phase 2
investigated the teaching of football in two Jordanian schools with the context of the King
Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness. This phase included fieldwork in Canberra with my
participation as a volunteer coach in a community football club. The thesis concludes with a
discussion of sustainable talent identification and development in women’s football in Jordan
and considers opportunities to integrate insights gained from women’s football in Australia.
vii
Acknowledgements
I present this effort to all who supported Nehad to be Nehad, since my birth to my death,
thank you.
To everyone who believes they are close to my heart, I appreciate your support.
I appreciate every second spent on this research since August 2011 to July 2015.
It was precious and unforgettable time.
My appreciation.
31 July 2015
ix
Table of Contents
Page
Abstract
Certificate of Authorship
iii
v
Acknowledgements
vii
Table of Contents
ix
List of Tables
xiii
List of Figures
xv
Chapter 1: Introduction
1
1.1 Background
1
1.2 Developing sustainable women’s football in Jordan
10
1.3 Cultural contexts
14
1.4 Aims of the research
18
1.5 Research questions
18
1.6 Structure of the thesis
19
Chapter 2: Themes From The Literature
21
2.1 Introduction
21
2.2 Gender
23
2.3 Putting girls and women in the foreground
25
2.4 Talent identification and development
28
2.5 Relative age and relative age effect
33
2.6 Test protocols
36
2.7 Contextualising the literature in an emerging women’s football system in
Jordan
39
x
Page
Chapter 3: Methods
41
3.1 Introduction
41
3.2 Fieldwork
47
3.2.1 Canberra, Australia
47
3.2.2 Jordan
48
3.3 Topics discussed with teachers and coaches in both countries
49
3.4 Topics discussed with administrators in both countries
49
3.5 Data analysis
50
Chapter 4: The Canberra Experience
61
4.1 A brief history
62
4.2 National context
65
4.3 Women’s football in Canberra
72
4.3.1 Capital Football
73
4.3.1.1 Heather
75
4.3.1.2 Aroon
81
4.3.1.3 Rae
86
4.3.2 Becoming a qualified coach
91
4.3.3 Observations as a volunteer coach
93
4.4 Issues to consider for football in Jordan
97
Chapter 5: Jordan
101
5.1 Fieldwork
102
5.1.1 Phase 1
102
5.1.2 Phase 2
111
5.2 An introductory coaching project
116
xi
Page
5.2.1 Background
116
5.2.2 The introductory program
119
5.2.3 Data
124
5.3 Current practice and opportunities for development
129
Chapter 6: Sustainable Development of Women’s Football in Jordan
133
6.1 Thinking globally acting locally: literature and fieldwork
135
6.2 Teachers and coaches
136
6.3 Governance
139
6.4 Identifying athletes
140
6.5 The art of the possible
141
Chapter 7: Conclusion
143
7.1 Aims and research questions revisited
143
7.2 Sustainability
151
7.3 Making visible women’s football in Jordan
153
7.4 Conclusion
159
References
163
Appendices
183
A Ethics Approval University of Canberra
185
B Participant Information Sheet
187
C Participant Consent Form
191
D Letter of Introduction from the Ministry of Education, Al ramtha Directorate
193
E Semi-structured Interview Questions for Jordanian Coaches
195
F Semi-structured Interview Questions for Heather Reid, CEO Capital Football
197
G A transcript extract from a semi-structured interview in Canberra
199
H An interview transcript from a national football coach
201
xiii
List of Tables
Table
Title
Page
1
Place in birth year for national league players
108
2
Place in birth year for national team players
108
3
Scores in the kicking and running tests
125
4
Scores in the timed running with the ball test
125
xv
List of Figures
Figure
Title
Page
1
The geographical location of the city of Al ramtha in Jordan
4
2
Ready for football. Schoolgirls in the Year 3 class at the Al Bowaida
School, Al ramtha
6
3
An example of a research diary entry from 2012
57
4
Notes made during an interview with a national coach in Jordan
58
5
Building Blocks of the National Football Curriculum
69
6
Girls’ football in Canberra
74
7
My first Australian coaching qualification
92
8
A playground football lesson at the Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
102
9
Teaching football skills at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
115
10
Dribbling the ball 6 metres at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
118
11
Dribbling and shooting at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
118
12
Penalty on its way at Zainab School, Al ramtha
119
13
A football lesson in a mixed class during the Award scheme at Al
Bowaida School
120
14
Dressed to play at the Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
120
15
A physical education football lesson at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
130
16
A playground football lesson at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
134
17
In the playground at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
141
18
Women take to the pitch as female footballers wow Jordan
154
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
This thesis reports an investigation into the possibilities for a systematic and sustainable
approach to girls’ and women’s participation in football in Jordan. The original motivation
for the research was a desire to explore how my community in Al ramtha might establish,
support and sustain a talent identification and development pathway for those who want to
play football. This desire to find a pathway that is sensitive to a specific cultural context is at
the core of this thesis. Such a pathway is enmeshed in other issues and contributes to other
discussions.
My research is presented as a contribution to a literature that is providing more empirical
insights into Arab girls’ and women’s experience of physical education and sport (AlHourani & Atoum, 2007; Memari, Kordi, Panahi, Nikookar, Abdollahi & Akbarnejad, 2011;
Al-Hazzaa, Al-Sobayel & Musaiger, 2011) and to a wider discussion about gendered
experience of physical activity in Muslim societies (see, for example, Benn, Pfister & Jawad,
2011; Benn, Jawad & Yousra, 2013). It is a contribution to discussions about equity and
empowerment. I hope too that it is a contribution to a sensitive discussion of personal
experience that goes beyond an homogenous approach to Arab girls and women (Phillips,
2013). It is a modest attempt to explore “contested discourses and practices” (Benn, Pfister &
Jawad, 2011) in a particular cultural context. It is an affirmation of the value of physical
education, physical activity and sport in the lives of Arab women (Dagkas, Jahromi & Talbot,
2011).
2
Football
Throughout the thesis I use ‘football’ as the name for an activity that is known also as
‘association football’ and ‘soccer’. I use it to refer to informal, playful games as well as an
organised sport (Taylor, 2008). The codified form of football is described in The Laws of The
Game. The most recent version of the Laws came into force on 1 June 2014 (FIFA, 2014).
Williams (2003) provides a detailed insight into the development of women’s football. Her
exploration of women’s football culture seeks to capture “what is evident at women’s
matches, be they tournaments and league fixtures or impromptu games” (2003:3).
In 2013, the Federation Internationale de Football (FIFA) estimated that 29 million women
were playing football (FIFA, 2013). FIFA’s mission for women’s football (2015) includes a
commitment to “overcoming social and cultural obstacles for women with the ultimate aim of
improving women's standing in society”. FIFA seeks to increase and develop:
● The number of players who have access to the game.
● The quality of women’s football.
● Player pathways from grassroots to elite.
● Female opportunities in football, both on and off the pitch.
Agergaard and Tiesler (2014) point out that “making a living” as a women’s football player is
only possible in 23 out of the 136 FIFA-listed countries. Some of Jordan’s leading female
players have pursued careers outside Jordan.
Jacobs (2014) has investigated the impact of FIFA’s targeted policy and development efforts
for women’s national football programs. Her research explores “how governance, training,
3
youth development and early introduction to the sport are associated with a country’s
international performance” (2014:522).
Jordan
The cultural context of my research is Jordan. It is my home. Altorki and El-Solh (1988) have
noted the constraints and the possibilities that arise from being a female researcher in Arab
society. They share the stories of female researchers who “have become more involved in the
production of knowledge about their own societies and about women in these societies”
(1988:2) (and include Steney Shami’s (1988) experiences of fieldwork in Amman).
The timing of this research has a political context too. Discussions about Arab Springs and
Arab Winters (Valbjørn, 2015), the Syrian refugee crisis (Balsari, Abisaab, Hamill &
Leaning, 2015; McKenzie, Spiegel, Khalifa & Mateen, 2015) and the emergence of ISIS
(Sekulow, Sekulow, Ash & French, 2014; Susser, 2015) are disturbing the cultural fabric of
my homeland.
I include sixteen photographs in this thesis of girls and women playing football. I have one
photograph from Canberra with the others taken in Jordan. I thought it was important to share
the contexts within which my research took place in Jordan. I provide some information
about each of the Jordan photographs I have used in the thesis.
Jordan became an independent sovereign state in 1946 and was known as the Hashemite
Kingdom of Transjordan. In 1948 the country’s name was changed to the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan. The country’s official gazette refers to Jordan as a constitutional
4
monarchy (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2015). The country’s present constitution was
ratified in 1952. The most recent amendment was in 2014.
The indigenous population “are Arabs descended from the various tribes that have migrated
to the area over the years from all directions” (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2015).
The Government website affirms:
Jordan values its diverse population, and has consequently provided for the cultural
rights of all its citizens. All of Jordan’s ethnic and religious groups have full freedom
to form and participate in their own clubs, associations, schools or places of worship.
Ethnic groups are also free to teach their own languages. The tradition of tolerance
and appreciation for diversity has long been a hallmark of Hashemite Jordan and it
has helped to provide a stable social foundation on which to build the country. (The
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2015:np)
The country is divided into 12 regional governates (muhafazat). There are 54 departments
(nawahi) in these 12 governates. Each governate “is headed by a governor, who is appointed
by the King through the Ministry of the Interior” (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,
2015:np). Mayors of towns and cities are elected (with the exception of Amman) and
supervise the running of their communities. My home is in the city of Al ramtha in the Irbid
Governate. It is in the north of the country, near the border with Syria (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: The geographical location of the city of Al ramtha in Jordan (Source: Wikipedia,
CC-BY-SA-3.0-DE)
5
Demographic data from 2014 suggest that in that year the country’s population was estimated
as 7,930,491 (CIA, 2015). 2015 estimates report the presence of almost 3 million refugees in
the country (2,097,338 Palestinians, 89,741 Iraqis, and 629,128 Syrians) (CIA, 2015). A 2010
estimate indicates that 97.2% of the population are Muslims (CIA, 2015). The official figure
quoted by the Government of Jordan is that “more than 92% of Jordanians are Sunni
Muslims” (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2015). 2014 estimates point to 1,457,174
females under the age of 14, and 788,950 aged between 15 and 24 (CIA, 2015). The
estimated median age of the female population is 22.1 years (CIA, 2015). In 2012, it was
estimated that mothers’ mean age at first birth was 24.7 years.
Climate plays an important role in settlement patterns. 83.4% of the Jordanian population live
in urban areas (CIA, 2015). Many of these are concentrated in the northern highlands and
Jordan Valley (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2015).
Fleming (2015:1) notes of Jordan:
Many scholars and observers have been consistently confounded by the stability, and
even the continued existence, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. While the
destruction of the perceived artificial nation, whose borders were drawn arbitrarily
and whose transplanted leaders were put in place by a foreign British power in order
to fulfil a promise, has been predicted time and again, Jordan has endured and
remained one of the most stable states in the Middle East.
This “stable state” has been able to reconcile “the country’s different tribal, monarchical,
Arab, Islamic, ethnic, sacred and religious, civic, popular, and local elements that are all
contained within its borders” (2015:1). (See also Hager (2015) on a negative case in a
tumultuous region.)
6
School Sport in Jordan
Figure 2: Ready for football. Schoolgirls in the Year 3 class at the Al Bowaida School, Al
ramtha
School sport underpins women’s sport in Jordan. As in other cultures, it provides the
foundation for long-term
term involvement in high performance sport (Stafford, 2011). The
Jordanian Ministry of Education determines the content of physical education for schools.
Football was included in the curriculum for girls in the 2007
2007-2008
2008 school year. A curriculum
document
ument was produced to act as a guide for teachers’ lesson planning.
The Ministry of Education has worked closely with the Jordan Football Association (JFA) to
create football competition opportunities. There has been an annual football competition for
7
girls since 2005. Teams from Al ramtha schools compete within the local Directorate
competition and in regional competitions.
Female physical education teachers employed by the Ministry of Education have undertaken
many years of teacher training. My own career as a physical education teacher involved
undergraduate and postgraduate study. I was fortunate to have had some experience of
football but many of my colleagues in state and private schools have limited experience of
football. My research is intended to support these teachers and those who have had some
football playing experience.
In Jordan, as in many other cultures, female teachers introduce girls to sport. This research is
dedicated to supporting these teachers’ pedagogy and to boosting their confidence to teach
football. It is intended to be a direct support for the partnership between JFA and the Football
Association of Norway (NFF) that aims to support female teachers and that has been in
progress since 2008.
The partnership between the two governing bodies has led to the provision of new facilities.
In 2014, two football pitches were made available in Northern Jordan. One of the hopes for
these new facilities is that they will provide opportunities for Jordanian schoolgirls and
Syrian girl refugees to play football together in the most difficult of times (Asian Football
Development Project, 2014).
The Jordanian School Sports Federation was established in 1992. It is an independent body.
The Federation organises and manages annual schools’ competitions throughout the school
year (September to June).
8
Each Jordanian geographical region has a number of educational directorates. These
directorates oversee school sport departments. Each school sport department plans a
competition program. There are two important annual regional competitions: Alestequal and
Prince Faisal.
After his accession to the throne in 1999, King Abdullah II placed importance on youth
issues. Physical education and sport are a significant part of his interest. As a consequence,
Jordanian organisations have developed long term strategic goals to support a young nation
(the 2012 Census reported that 70% of the population are under 30 years of age. 40% of
these under-30 year olds are women). He launched the King Abdullah II Award for Physical
Fitness in the 2005-2006 school year. This embedded daily physical activity in the school
curriculum (King Abdullah II, 2015).
The Award has six objectives.
● Build and enhance self-confidence, competitiveness and the student's desire for selfdevelopment.
● Inspire public awareness of physical fitness and its relationship to sports and nutrition,
and encourage the habit of regular exercise.
● Boost students’ physical fitness.
● Tap students’ special capabilities and potential; develop their skills.
● Realise opportunities for safe social integration and protect students from
contemporary social dangers.
● Encourage the constructive use of free time.
In the first year of the project, there 19,057 participants in 148 schools. A year later the
project involved 69,732 students from 307 schools. All Jordanian schools were eligible to
participate in the award in 2014. The Award aims to boost pupils’ physical fitness. There is
9
an hour of athletic activity each day in each school week. The Award is a six-week program.
Guidelines for the Award note:
Participants may exercise individually or in a group and must document their daily
routines. At the end of the six-week period, they are invited to test their physical
abilities in five activities – curl-ups, shuttle run, sit and reach, push-ups and
endurance – against standardised benchmarks. A committee (comprising the school
principal, physical education teacher, an IT teacher, an individual in charge of school
health and another student) evaluates each participant's performance. Three levels of
achievement are awarded. (King Abdullah II, 2015)
There are three phases: Pre-test; Training; Post-test. Pupils are measured in five exercises:
push up; sit up; flexibility test; shuttle run; and endurance run. In the first phase, there is a
pre-test for the five exercises. This pre-test can take up to two weeks for all pupils in a
school. Thereafter physical education teachers train the students on these tests and provide
free activities that can promote the physical qualities required for the tests. A committee from
the Ministry of Education visits each school to test the students to allocate them to one of the
three achievement levels (Gold, Silver, and Bronze).
During my research, I had an opportunity to connect with the Award scheme. Despite the
involvement of other national football organisations in Jordan, the schools in Al ramtha had
not included any testing of football skills as part of their curriculum activities. I provide more
information about my work with teachers in Al ramtha in Chapter 3 and Chapter 5. As such,
my work was the start of a conversation in my home city about curriculum content and
assessment. This conversation had not taken place previously in the context of football.
10
1.2 Developing sustainable women’s football in Jordan
Despite the Jordan being one of the more conservative of Arab countries, there were
opportunities to play women’s football within the country as a social activity. The first
women’s team was formed in 1997, a decade before football was introduced into the school
curriculum for girls. The first team was a futsal team at Jordan University. Dr. Nihad Al
bathekhy and the coach Healmy Tahaa were the founders of this team.
From this point on, and with the Federation Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA)
support, the Jordanian Football Association (JFA) encouraged local football clubs to adopt
women’s football. This led to a number of teams beginning to play competitive games against
each other: the early examples were the Amman, Arthoduxy, Shabab Al-Ordon and Aljazeera
teams. Amman was the first female only club. Many of the women who played football at
this time were active in other sports. The first clubs in Jordan emerged in and around
Amman, the capital.
In 2005, under the auspices of Her Highness Princess Reem Al Ali, JFA announced the
establishment of a women’s football league. The first national team was formed at this time
too. The formation of a women’s national team met FIFA’s requirements for national
football organisations. The foundational women’s national team in 2005 has been joined by
four more national age group teams. The national women’s competition in Jordan is divided
into two ability groups.
All eight clubs in the national competition encourage female participants to take on many
roles in the clubs including refereeing, coaching, administration and supervision of other
11
playing activities. Efforts are being made to enable these clubs to be sustainable. This has led
to a growing interest in talent identification and player pathways to excellence.
The visibility of women’s football in Jordan has been helped by media coverage of annual
championship games in Amman and the neighbouring regions. The establishment of thirteen
Prince Ali Centres for Women’s Football has extended this visibility. There are twenty-six
coaches in these Centres with thirty girls aged 10 to 15 in attendance at each centre.
The senior national team has taken part in Asian Cup, World Cup and Olympic, qualification
tournaments as well as playing in the Asian Games and the West Asian Championships.
Some of the country’s best players have secured contracts to play overseas.
The growth of the sport in the last decade has witnessed the emergence of national
representative teams for Under 19, Under 17 and Under14 women’s football. The JFA has
established regional centres of excellence for the women’s game. It has signed a
memorandum of understanding with the Bavarian Football Association (BFV) in 2015 with
specific reference to girls’ and women’s football development, coaching, and refereeing. The
first workshop was held in Jordan in May 2015 (JFA, 2015a).
A FIFA Beginners’ Coaching Course was held for female schoolteachers in April 2015 (JFA,
2015b). Twenty-three teachers attended the course to learn about technical and tactical
aspects of football. Carolina Morace facilitated the course.
Jordan will host the FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup in October 2016 (FIFA, 2015b).
The organiser of the tournament, Samar Nassar, has pointed out the role the tournament will
12
play in raising awareness in Jordan about girls’ and women’s football. He is quoted as
saying:
We are taking our message to the community and hope the community accepts it...But
we believe they will. We don't just want the regular football crowd; we want women,
children and families to be encouraged to come. You don't see a lot of women
attending local matches in Jordan, and we want to change that mindset. We want
people to support the women's game. (Collett, 2015:np).
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein is the President of JFA. One of his initiatives within FIFA has
been the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP). One of the themes of the AFDP is
‘women’s empowerment and inclusion through football’:
Here priority is given to: coaching at all levels (including elite); promotional
campaigns and marketing for women's football; women's football strategic
development; development of leagues and clubs; establishment of international
tournaments; networking with clubs in other continents; talent scouting; management
courses and organizing conferences; exchange programs; promotion of women's
representation in football entities; delivery of coaching and education material; and
ambassador visits and services, etc. (Asian Football Development Project, 2015:np)
Prince Ali was involved in moves to allow women to wear hijabs in international
competition. The availability of a sport hijab added to the momentum for change in FIFA
regulations (Ryan, 2012; Bahfen, 2012). The hosting of the Under 17 World Cup in Jordan
added to the momentum for change. Hamzeh (2015) has provided an ethnographic account of
five Jordanian players and their experience of the ’hijab’ ban in 2011.
Any attempt to develop a sustainable system of female involvement in sport in Jordan must
address the role socialisation plays in girls’ and women’s lived experience. Dixon, Warner
and Bruening (2008) point to an expectancy-value model that:
socializing agents’ values, expectations, and role modeling behaviors influence a
child’s choice of academic and co-curricular activities, and his or her choice in
continuing such activities. (2008:539)
13
They use a life course perspective to investigate long-term participation. This perspective
addresses ”social change, political events, age and education in order to locate human
development within the historically and socially situated roles and contexts that shape
preferences … and opportunities” (2008:544).
Pedersen and Seidman (2004) report on the development of positive self-esteem among
adolescent girls participating in team sports. Their research cohort comprised “girls at risk for
low tem sports engagement because they are from low-income urban neighborhoods and/or
ethnic/racial minority backgrounds” They conclude “higher levels of achievement in team
sports predicted higher self-reported global self-esteem” (2004:419).
Efforts to develop a sustainable system for women’s football in Jordan that is sensitive to
self-esteem and the benefits of participation can build upon the insights offered from research
within Jordan (Khasawneh, 2015) and other cultures such as Qatar (Knez, Benn & Alkhaldi,
2014).
Michiteru (2015) notes how this sustainability will need to look carefully at the transition of
identified players from the Prince Ali Centres:
The players graduate from our centres at age 15, but if they are not selected to the
youth national team, there is no environment where such players can continue
training. It is a big issue to establish another place for them. (2015:np)
14
1.3 Cultural contexts
This thesis reports my research undertaken in two different cultures. I am a resident in one
(my hometown is Al ramtha, Jordan) and a student in the other (Canberra, Australia). I have
provided some contextual information about Jordan in this Chapter of this thesis. I write
about my fieldwork in Jordan in Chapter 5. I provide details about my Australian experiences
in Chapter 4.
Fida Adely’s (2012) account of educating Jordanian women juxtaposes her secondgeneration American experiences with her visit to Jordan as a researcher. I share Adely’s
observation about contemporary Jordan:
The world that young women face today in Jordan, and the region more broadly, is an
ambiguous one, in which the gendered expectations and norms are openly debated by
politicians, religious leaders, media pundits, representatives of nongovernmental
groups, and the like. They are also negotiated in the day-to-day practices of women,
young and old (2012:15).
Our perspectives are inverted. She has travelled to Jordan to research; I have left to do so.
The country I left is described by Allaf (2008:1) as “a country of social, political, and
economic advancement”. Ironically, the completion rate for female tertiary students is
reported as 31% of the male completion rate in 2005.
In Jordanian and Australian cultures there is a strong tradition of men’s football. There is
almost a century of women’s football in Australia and less than two decades of organised
women’s football in Jordan. In both cultures women and girls have and are negotiating spaces
to participate in sport.
15
Some researchers have explored the implications of male sport for female participation.
Klein’s (2004) investigation into performances at the 1999 Women’s World Cup and the
2000 Sydney Olympics led him to propose that the performance of a country’s women in
international sporting events “is related to the economic opportunities afforded them as
measured by the ratio of the labor force participation rate of women to the labor force
participation rate of men” (2004:227).
Congdon-Hohman and Matheson (2011:12), in their discussion of international women’s
football and gender inequality, suggest that strong Muslim affiliation in a country “has a
significantly negative association” with a country’s women team “while having no effect on
the men’s team”. They conclude that this result “is most likely rooted in the cultural
differences in regard to the freedoms of women in many Islamic countries” (2011:12). Their
discussion of other factors that impact on equality notes “men’s national team sporting
performance alone may not be a good indicator of human development in a country to the
extent that women’s sporting success is driven by a partially different set of factors”
(2011:17).
Cho (2013) has investigated the impact of male football traditions on success in female
football. He reports, “my findings do not support the widespread perception that male
tradition determines female soccer attainments” (2013:1). His research does lead him to
propose, “women’s empowerment can be a driving force for the success of female soccer”.
He concludes that “female soccer is not a byproduct of male soccer, rather it has developed
its own path alongside with overall women’s advancement” (2013:10).
16
Agar (1996) notes the discipline required to manage “the paradox of professional distance
and personal involvement” in cultural contexts. In my research I was mindful of Sparkes and
Smith’s (2014:16) observation:
To understand the meanings that people construct, researchers need to understand the
particular contexts in which they act, and the influence that this context has on
thoughts, beliefs and actions.
They add, “qualitative researchers adopt an ideographic rather than a nomothetic approach”
(2014:16). This leads them to study “a relatively small number of individuals or situations
and try to preserve the individuality of these analyses, rather than collecting data from large
samples” (ibid).
Walseth and Fasting (2003) present an example of this ideographic approach in report of
Egyptian women’s involvement in physical activity and sport. Their research involved four
months of fieldwork and compiled twenty-seven qualitative interviews.
I had undertaken a Masters by Research project in Jordan. I wanted to build upon this
research and started to research options for further study. My involvement in football in
Jordan enabled me to look carefully at a variety of football systems. I became particularly
interested in developments in Australia and learned more about the work of Capital Football,
in Canberra, and the role its Chief Executive Officer, Heather Reid, had played in the
emergence of a vibrant women’s game there.
From this preliminary research, I started to consider if a game development approach and a
talent identification and development model from Australia might be adaptable in Jordan.
Canberra’s population of 300,000 suggested that whatever system was developed there might
17
be relevant to my home city, Al ramtha and the northern region of Jordan. I did not expect a
system from one culture to be transplanted unproblematically into another culture. I did think
that I might approach such adaptation in the spirit of Max Weber’s ideal types (Gerth &
Mills, 2009) and use whatever I discovered in Canberra as a stimulus to adapt insights gained
in northern Jordan. Capital Football’s relationships with the national sporting organisation,
Football Federation of Australia, would be informative too about the governance issues to be
addressed in Al ramtha in relation to the Jordan Football Association.
These thoughts about cultural location led me to identify six aims and six research questions.
18
1.4 Aims of the research
The aims of this research are to:
● Explore talent identification and development pathways in women’s sport in general
and football in particular. (Aim 1)
● Contribute to the flourishing of women’s football in Jordan, particularly in the north
of the country. (Aim 2)
● Introduce an Australian inspired talent identification and development process in a
Jordanian community. (Aim 3)
● Investigate the relative age effect on selection processes in Jordanian sport. (Aim 4)
● Establish talent selection criteria for women’s football in Jordan. (Aim 5)
● Recommend long-term strategies for athlete development in women`s football that
can inform other sports in Jordan. (Aim 6)
1.5 Research Questions
Six research questions guide the conceptual and empirical focus of the thesis.
● What does the extant literature tell us about talent identification and development
pathways in women’s sport in general and football in particular? (Research Question
1)
● What are the opportunities and constraints in establishing a female club team in Al
Ramtha? (Research Question 2)
● What is the potential of an Australian talent identification and development process
for the development of women’s football in a Jordanian community? (Research
Question 3)
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● Is there any evidence of the prevalence of a relative age effect in selection process and
on athlete retention in Jordanian sport? (Research Question 4)
● What are the most appropriate talent selection criteria for female football players in
Jordan? (Research Question 5)
● What culturally sensitive, long term-strategies for athlete development in women`s
football can inform other sports in Jordan? (Research Question 6)
These research questions formalise some of my a priori research interests. Chapter 2
indicates how the extant literature has helped me focus on these questions in an informed way
and connect with research in epistemological, ontological, methodological and empirical
orientations.
1.6 Structure of the thesis
This thesis has seven chapters. Chapter 2 presents a review of themes from the literature.
Chapter 3 discusses the mixed methods approach used in this study. Chapter 4 presents
information about football in Canberra and identifies the approach taken by Capital Football
as an inspirational and operational guide for women’s football in Jordan. Chapter 5 discusses
my fieldwork in Jordan. Chapter 6 reviews the research presented in this thesis and refers
back to the themes discussed in Chapter 2. There is a concluding chapter, Chapter 7, that
synthesises the contribution this research seeks to make to the discussion of the development
of women’s football from an Arab woman’s perspective.
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Chapter 2: Themes From The Literature
2.1 Introduction
There is a growing literature in the English language that discusses women’s and girls’
experiences of sport and physical education in predominantly Muslim societies. Some of this
refers explicitly to Jordan. As with my thesis, a number of authors have shared their ideas in
English as a second language.
I empathise with Aman Khasawneh’s (2015) approach to sharing of ideas in his paper on
female futsal players and their self-esteem in Jordan. He writes:
the problem emerges when the female's body shape doesn't fit what is relevant in our
western societies. As we know, football sometimes requires somehow rough bodies
when compared to other sports practiced by girls on one hand, and the western society
acceptance of such a sport on the other. (2015:104)
I am aware that sometimes I may not have understood the nuances of the English language in
reviewing the literature. I am conscious too that constructs from my own language are
sometimes not evident in the English language literature.
For the purposes of this review, I use ‘sport’ and ‘Muslim women’ in the inclusive ways
Benn, Pfister & Jawad (2011) have done so in their anthology. I am determined to discuss the
Arab context of these discussions. My work is a contribution to attempts to “offer rich
descriptions of the lives of people who are normally silent and of histories not previously
written” (2011:2).
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Mahasneh (2001) reported in a study of 267 Jordanian women aged 18 to 45 years of age that
63% of them did not engage in any physical activity. Ammouri, Neuberger, Nashwan and AlHaj (2007:346) note a “significant gender difference” in reported physical activity. They
conclude “women desire activities that are not very exhausted and prefer interaction with
other participants” (ibid). Berger and Peerson (2008) provide data about the physical activity
profiles of Muslim women in the United Arab Emirates and identified “perceived barriers to
daily exercise”. Bawadi, Khader, Haroun, Al-Omari and Tayyem (2011) of female and male
patients in Jordan reported that low physical activity levels and a poor diet were
“significantly associated with increased odds of periodontal disease”. Al-Hazzaa, Al-Sobayel
and Musaiger (2011) have investigated the dietary habits of boys and girls in private and
public schools. Their research includes 349 female students.
Der-Travitian (2011) has provided a much more detailed picture of Jordanian women’s
nutritional and exercise practices.
She notes:
● The prevalence of Jordanian adult females older than 15 years who are obese is
16.2%.
● 47.5% of women in Jordan have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of equal or higher than
25kg/m2. (2011:6)
Her study reports the analysis of data collected from survey responses of 99 women aged 18
or over who lived in Amman (mean age 30.7 years). Her findings include a discussion of the
impact of age and marital status on physical activity. Her investigations into nutritional
behaviour found no correlations or relationships between nutritional behaviour scores and
any demographic variables (age, education, income or marital status). She concludes:
23
Women have different and distinctive roles in the Jordanian culture, they are key
players in the health of their families and finding ways and interventions that are
rooted in culturally-accepted behaviour is essential step in the process of improving
general wellness in Jordan. (2011:32)
2.2 Gender
There is a growing literature on gender issues in sport that has built upon the emergence of a
formalised, women in sport movement in the 1990s (Meier, 2005). The variety of empirical
contexts reported in the literature has helped me to think critically about my own cultural
contexts, particularly when meta-reviews of the literature on gender and sport development
(see, for example, Meier, 2005; Saavedra, 2005) have explored women’s sport and Islam.
The recent literature includes discussions of: women’s American tackle football (Knapp,
2008); Maori sport leadership (Palmer & Masters, 2010); gender identity in Australian
women’s football (Jeanes, 2011); Muslim women footballers in British football (Ahmad,
2011); Kenyan sport leadership (M’Mbaha, 2012); Iranian university sport participation
(Heydarinejad, Boushehri, Saemi & Amraei, 2012); Canadian rugby (Hardy, 2013); Canadian
football (Krawec, 2014); gender conventions in English football (Themen, 2014); South
African football (Ogunniyi, 2015); and Basque pilota (Fernandez-Lasa, Usabiaga, MartosGarcia & Castellano, 2015).
Whilst my research does not focus explicitly on the socio-cultural construction of gendered
identity, I am mindful that the existing literature offers excellent, diverse insights into girls’
and women’s experiences of and in physical education and sport.
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My review of this literature alerted me to the potential of disciplined, qualitative insights into
women’s and girls’ lived experience. I was encouraged to think critically about gendered
identity and the social construction of reality. The literature took me to uncomfortable places
in my own experience as I contemplated the over-determination of life chances and the
political forces at play in the availability of play opportunities for girls and women in Jordan.
In Section 7.2, I discuss some of the sustainability issues that arise from the literature with
regard to gendered sport. In that section, I mention Knez, Benn and Alkhadi’s (2014:1768)
discussions of “gender reconstructions within culturally sanctioned boundaries”. I note there
too, Adely’s (2012) exploration of the support young girls need to develop football as a life
interest. In addition, I include in my discussion of sustainability in section 7.2 insights shared
by Maral Yessayan’s (2015) with regard to modesty and womanhood in the context of folk
dance in Jordan. I mention Julie Droebner’s (2005) discussion of gender, class and social
transformation in Jordan as well. I note in section 7.2 that her engagement with the microlevel of Jordanian life helped me feel confident about choosing a small number of schools
and contemplating transformational change. Droebner notes, “it is the quiet, but constant
working of individuals on a daily basis that gradually bring about changes in attitudes”
(2005:298).
My most profound learning from the literature mentioned here is that research can challenge
conventional wisdom and tradition. I have immense admiration for the courage of researchers
who have explored gender relations in Arab and Muslim cultures. Their work has helped me
25
understand the socio-cultural contexts of my work. It has reassured me that I am not alone in
my thinking. Their methods and empirical examples have given me exemplary insights.
Whatever may be possible in Jordan for female involvement in football is embedded in
cultural expectations. Even in Australia, the model for my work in Jordan, Jeanes (2011:402)
points out:
whilst playing football was considered ‘acceptable’ the way girls played was heavily
restricted by traditional notions of femininity. Girls had to look ‘feminine’ and be
committed to cultivating a slim idealized body. The ‘way’ they played was also
limited by discourses of acceptable female embodiment.
Jeanes’ research reported work with 10 and 11 year-old girls. It indicates the support young
girls need to continue their engagement with football in the face of significant cultural forces.
2.3 Putting girls and women in the foreground
Much of the existing literature on talent identification and development is based on male
sport. This scholarly astigmatism is not a new phenomenon (Boutilier & Sangiovanni, 1983).
There are comparatively few accounts of female sport and virtually nothing about women in
Arabic sport cultures. Benn, Jawad and Yousra (2013), for example, have looked at the role
of Islam in the lives of girls and women in physical education and sport. Azizi and Hassan
(2014) have looked at the challenges facing Iranian women in sport. It is difficult to find any
examples of scholarly accounts written in Arabic on this topic.
In section 1.2, I noted Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein’s current role in reversing FIFA’s decision
to ban the wearing of the players’ hijab. Azizi and Hassan (2014) report that Iranian women
26
footballers were unable to wear the hijab in Olympic football qualification games against
Jordan in 2012. Iran is a regular opponent of Jordan in the West Asian Women’s
Championships. They point out that football is very popular in Iran for women insofar as “to
be involved in such sport means that they can be visibly equal to men in terms of rights and
freedoms” (2014:497).
Any attempt to propose a sustainable participation and engagement pathway for girls and
women in football in Jordan must recognise, as Siraj (2012) suggests, that there are multiple
expectations placed upon them including mode of dress. Harkness and Islam (2011), amongst
others, note that stereotypical expectations of female behaviour constrain participation. They
observe:
While female athleticism is widely encouraged in many parts of the world, in the
Middle East it is widely regarded as an affront to traditional Arab values. (2011:64)
Harkness (2012a), in his study of Iraqi Kurdistan women footballers, provides an excellent
example of what an enlightened approach to female participation might look like.
These young females come from socially moderate families that support their
daughters’ efforts to gain higher education, participate in sports and assume a role in
society that was not enjoyed by the previous generation of women. As Muslims, they
negotiate matters of religion in a flexible, tolerant manner that gives wide berth to a
range of opinions and ideas. (2012a: 735)
He concludes (2012a: 735):
On the field, these female athletes are taught to express themselves, to fight for
equality, to strive to achieve their goals and to overcome obstacles. These experiences
carry over into their daily lives, where they apply what they’ve learned on the field to
the larger social forces that impact them. For these young women, soccer symbolizes
far more than athletic competition, it represents a new generation, one that is
increasingly prepared to confront the shifting social, political and cultural tides
sweeping through the Middle East.
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Dixon, Warner and Bruening (2008) report on female participation in sport and note the role
parental influence plays in enduring involvement. If there is to be a sustainable pathway for
girls and women in Jordanian football then it will be essential to address, from a female
perspective, how this parental influence can be energised to support players through a
number of stages of their sporting career:
● Preparatory sampling
● Initiation
● Development and specialisation
● Perfection, mastery and investment
● Maintenance
● Discontinuation of competitive sport
I am hopeful that my research can contribute to the transformation of cultural expectations
reported in Harkness’ (2012a) research in Iraqi Kurdistan. I am aware that this is not a
straightforward undertaking. However, I do wish to address the problem of participation from
the perspective of a female researcher who is prepared to question much of the taken-forgrantedness of a literature that tends to extrapolate female behaviours from male studies.
One way to do this might be to explore football as a ‘hobby’ (Stewart, 2012). Her research
explores how football as play creates a space “where Palestinian women can safely act
outside the prescribed norms of Palestinian womanhood inside Israel” (2012:739).
Without the sociological sophistication evident in much of Jennifer Hargreaves’ writings, my
research is also an effort “to bring women’s sports more centrally on to the agenda” (1994:1).
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2.4 Talent identification and development
There is a substantial literature on talent identification, and development. The growth of sport
systems that seek to optimise the demographic characteristics of their populations have
nourished research into athlete progression from early identification and the provision of
development pathways. For reviews of the literature in this field see, for example,
Wolstencroft (2002), Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams and Philippaerts (2008), Meyers (2015).
Australia has been one of the early adopters of talent identification schemes. A Clearinghouse
for Sport (2015) resource provides an overview of some of this work. There are some notable
examples of gender-specific approaches to identification and development.
For the purposes of this thesis, I use the Clearinghouse for Sport’s (2015) approach to the
discovery or observation of talent in a specific sport. In this approach talent identification has
three principal strategies: selection; detection; and transfer. In this rubric:
Selection is the process “whereby talented athletes are selected from within a sport
based on their performance, physical and psychological testing and coaches’ expert
opinions on their skill, technique, attitude and potential” (2015:np).
Detection involves “recruiting athletes from outside the sport who have physical and
physiological attributes associated with success at the high performance level in that
sport” (2015:np).
Transfer is “the process of identifying athletes with extensive and adaptable training
backgrounds and transferable skills which assist them in transitioning and succeeding
in a sport with a comparable athlete profile” (2015:np).
There is an International Olympic Committee (Bergeron et al., 2015) consensus statement on
youth athletic development. This statement makes recommendations “for developing healthy,
resilient and capable youth athletes, while providing for all levels of sport participation”. The
29
approach taken in this statement is to emphasise individual differences and to value inclusive
approaches to talent development.
One of the general principles discussed in the consensus statement resonates strongly with
educational approaches to talent identification and development, namely:
Encourage children to participate in a variety of different unstructured (i.e., deliberate
play) and structured age-appropriate sport-related activities and settings, to develop a
wide range of athletic and social skills and attributes that will encourage sustained
sport participation and enjoyment. (2015:np)
The Clearinghouse for Sport (2015) observes that “identifying sporting talent is a lot easier
than realising it”. This talent development process requires “a deliberate programming
approach, incorporating well planned/strategic input and support to best develop potential
talent” (2015:np).
One of Australia’s landmark detection projects was focussed on female rowing (Hahn, 1990).
This project combined anthropometric measurements with physiological tests to assess
school students’ suitability to row and compete in high performance sport. Some 500
schoolchildren were tested from whom 24 were selected to join an elite program at the
Australian institute of Sport.
A second example of a detection program was undertaken by the head of the Australian
Sports Commission’s Talent Search program, Deborah Hoare (Hoare & Warr, 2000) into
women’s football. Changes in organisation at the Australian Institute of Sport saw the
restructure of the Talent Search program into the National Talent and Identification program.
In 2010, the program became the Athlete Pathways and Development program. This program
guides national sporting organisations in their planning for and delivery of athlete pathways.
30
Gulbin, Oldenziel, Weissensteiner and Gagné (2010) provide insights into 673 Australian
athletes’ talent development experiences across 34 sports.
The growth of research into talent development elsewhere is exemplified by the growing
number of PhD studies linked to this area of study. In her introduction to her thesis, Louise
Storm (2015:10) observes:
The increasing commercialization, professionalization and globalization of sport have
stimulated a growing interest in talent development. Increasing numbers of sport
clubs, organizations and institutions have developed strategies for talent identification
and development in order to streamline and optimize their operations. And this
burgeoning interest has spawned an interest in research in this area.
Her research in Denmark provides an overview of the literature and explores talent
development as “a social practice embedded in specific cultures” (2015:4). I found her
approach particularly helpful as I moved into the final part of my fieldwork. I noted her
critique of the quest for “a universal ‘best practice’” that focuses on “similarities between
athletes’ developmental trajectories and environments” (original emphasis) (2015:11). She
argues:
The differences between individual trajectories taken by elite athletes, between their
influential relationships, and between the environments significant for their
development are less explored. In order to understand the diversity and complexity of
behaviours and motivation in talent development, it is useful to adopt a reflective
cultural perspective that can contribute to understanding experiences as being
contextually contained within socially and culturally available resources (original
emphasis) (2015:11).
Storm, like Benn, Pfister and Jawad (2011) and the contributors to their anthology, provides
an excellent example of a female researcher exploring trajectories in sport that are observed
closely.
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Abbott, Button, Pepping and Collins (2005:62) in their review of the talent identification
literature argue that many talent identification models “are underpinned by an inappropriate
conception of talent and are therefore unlikely to be as effective as they could be”. They add:
The problem is often manifested in a reliance on discrete, genetically driven,
performance measures that place a large emphasis on the (‘unnatural’) selection of
talented individuals rather than the development and monitoring of potential.
(2005:62)
Their focus on developmental opportunities is explored in their paper through a number of
case studies. This interest in a dynamic talent identification is linked to subsequent work by
the research team into talent development environments (Martindale, Collins & Abraham,
2007). The authors report their investigation of thirteen sports and the identification of five
characteristics of effective talent development environments:
● Long-term aims and methods
● Wide-ranging coherent messages and support
● Emphasis on appropriate development not early success
● Individualized and ongoing development
● Integrated, holistic and systematic development
Ivarsson, Stenling, Fallby, Johnson, Borg and Johansson (2015) have reported on talent
development environments in football in Sweden. There were 83 female players in their 447
participants. These players were aged 13 to 16 years. Ivarsson et al conclude:
it is of great importance for clubs to develop high quality environments with a longterm and individualized focus and emphasize development rather than early success,
in order to not simply facilitate players' football skill development but also facilitate
the athletes' health and well-being (2015:20)
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Mills, Butt, Maynard and Harwood (2014) have examined factors “perceived by successful
coaches to underpin optimal development environments” within English football academies.
They conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 academy coaches.
Abbott, Button, Pepping and Collins (2005) argue that consideration should be given to
conceptualising ‘talent’ as a complex dynamical system. They recommend a macroscopic
approach that can “help us understand that talented performers develop a range of different
behavioural qualities in a nonlinear fashion in order to eventually produce consistently
effective movement patterns” (2005:63). Uehara (2015) has used this approach to explore
these issues in the context of Brazilian football.
This brief review of the literature highlights the need for a dynamic understanding of what
constitutes talent, how it might be developed and the specific issues that face female athletes
in high performance pathways.
When I started my research, I was focussed on anthropometric and psychometric approaches
to talent identification in football. The English language literature has encouraged me to
adopt a much more nuanced approach. My interest in Australian models has encouraged me
to think about talent identification and development and how these might be channelled
through athlete pathways sensitive to personal differences.
In the next section I look specifically at the literature on relative age effect as part of a
nuanced approach to talent identification and development that goes beyond a limited
chronological age model for athlete pathways.
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2.5 Relative age and relative age effect
Historically, junior sport has been organised into chronological age groups (Romann &
Fuchslocher, 2014). Musch and Grondin (2001:147) point out that the difference of age
between individuals in the same chronological age group “is referred to as relative age, and
its consequence is known as the Relative Age Effect”. Müller, Hildebrandt and Raschner
(2015:16) argue that a relative age effect occurs when “the relative age quarter distribution,
of a selected sports group, shows a biased distribution” in which:
more relatively older athletes whose birth months are close to the cut-off date for the
competition categories within the selection year, compared to an equal distribution of
births months in the general population. (2015:16)
There is a growing research interest in this area specifically linked to women’s football from
a range of countries and continents.
Helsen, Van Winckel and Williams (2005) investigated the relative age effect in youth
football in Europe. They included female players in this study but these made up just 72 of
the 2175 observations made. Helsen, Van Winckel and Williams suggest:
At 18 years of age, most of the female players are fully mature physically, and
consequently the relative age differences are much less pronounced in this age group.
In addition, it may be that the technical component of soccer is of greater importance
in the women’s compared with the men’s game, and consequently it may be more
appropriate to select female players who are technically rather than physically
impressive. (2005:364)
In a United States study, Vincent and Glamser (2006) reported that data revealed “only a
marginal relative age effect” for female US Olympic Development Program and national
34
team players and “no relative age effect” for female US Olympic Development Program state
players. They conclude:
The gender differences in the relative age effect of 17-year-old elite female and male
soccer players could be explained by a complex and dynamic interaction of
biological, maturational and socialization issues. The results of this study and the
theories that are offered as explanations of the gender differences in the relative age
effect have important implications for the coaching and scouting staffs of sporting
national governing bodies and the increasing number of soccer academies whose
mission it is to identify, train and develop talented female and male youth athletes.
Selection criteria for elite female and male youth soccer programmes should take into
consideration gender differences in the interaction of biological maturation and sport
socialization (2006:412).
Delorme, Boiché, and Raspaud (2010) report data on 57,892 female players affiliated to the
French Football Federation. Their research indicated, “it appears that among females, the
higher the level, the lower the RAE is” (2010:513). They contemplated the reasons for this
finding and sought a social explanation for this. They suggest:
The physical characteristics needed for athletic accomplishments are sometimes
opposite to the representation of the ideal female body … such role conflicts could
lead outstanding female players to drop out from soccer or to renounce to an elite
practice. Because of the physical differences due to relative age, the pressures, and the
associated embarrassment would be particularly high for players born at the beginning
of the year, which may explain why the birthdate distribution reveals no RAE among
elite players. In brief, if an early physical development acts as an important advantage
for young males in many sports, it also acts as a socially constructed disadvantage for
young females that could facilitate their dropout from sports activities. (2010:513)
Nakata and Sakamoto (2014) found no evidence of a relative age effect for Japanese female
players. However they make an important point about the success of the senior national team:
In a future study, it would be interesting to examine whether RAEs in Japanese
female athletes change with time. Japan won the women’s soccer World Cup in 2011
and the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2014. We infer that if female soccer becomes
popular, RAEs will occur in the future. To test this hypothesis, a longitudinal study
will be needed. (2014:470)
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Sedano, Vaeyens and Redondo (2015) provide comprehensive data sets of age profiles of
female football players in their study of Spanish teams. Their analysis has some important
implications for any proposal to stratify talent identification processes in Jordan. They report:
● A relative age effect was not found at the lowest level of competition (this level
supports universal enrolment and no great competition for limited places in the team).
● Coaches at some competitive levels may tend to select relatively older defenders and
goalkeepers because of physical maturity. (2015:135)
One of the important issues for my work in Jordan is to clarify how to encourage universal
enrolment in the foundations of the participation pathway whilst monitoring carefully the
social pressures upon young players to withdraw from the pathway. An important opportunity
would appear to be to find enough experienced players who can support and mentor younger
players. The literature has sensitised me to relative age and the relative age effect and I do
propose to monitor this as part of a prospective study recommended by Nakata and Sakamoto
(2014).
The volume of research into relative age and the relative age effect mandates that careful
attention be given to strategies in talent identification and development in women’s football
in Jordan to address the issues that arise. Romann and Cobley (2015:np) note that relative age
effects “reflect a type of development barrier; one which is preventable if appropriate
solutions can be implemented” (my emphasis). Given the relatively small number of female
participants in football in Jordan, sensitivity to relative age should guide identification,
development and selection processes.
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2.6 Test protocols
One of the drivers for this research was my interest in how it might be possible to identify
girls who would like to develop their involvement in football through the use of valid and
reliable test protocols. The literature on relative age and the relative age effect had
encouraged me to think about tests that might be sensitive to developmental stage as well as
chronological age. In section 2.5, I noted that Sedano, Vaeyens and Redondo (2015) reported
that the relative age effect was not present in Spanish football at the lowest levels of
competition. Their research provided additional evidence to think about how any testing
procedure might be inclusive rather than solely exclusive.
Many of the discussions with my primary supervisor in the early days of my PhD studies
were about the relevance of test protocols within an athlete pathway. We used Vänttinen,
Blomqvist, Luhtanen and Häkkinen’s (2010) paper as the starting point for our tutorial
discussions. This paper raised two important questions for my research: is it ecologically
valid to use tests designed for male players to assess female players?; is it necessary to test
general perceptual skills on a large scale?
Hoare and Warr (2000) helped me clarify some of these issues. They reported on their
approach to identify and develop potentially talented female football players. They used a
two-day program to test anthropometric, physiological and skill attributes of junior athletes
whose mean age was 15.4 years. Day one of the testing procedures included: the recording of
some anthropometric data; and vertical jump, sprints, agility and multi-stage fitness tests. At
the end of this first day, athletes were ranked according to their overall ability in the day 1
tests. On day 2, athletes took part in skill tests and small-sided games. I found the explicit
37
description of these tests particularly helpful. Four qualified football coaches oversaw the
skill assessments.
Skill assessment included juggling, dribbling, ball control and passing and receiving;
the athletes were assessed as excellent, good, average or poor. (2000:754)
The small-sided games involved 3v3 and 6v6 scenarios and were designed to enable the
panel of selectors to “subjectively assess foot-eye coordination, match-play ability and game
awareness” (2000:754). The second assessment day concluded with full-size games in which
the basic rules of football were introduced.
The assessment days led to the selection of 24 athletes to be involved in a 6-week trial.
Thereafter this group was reduced to 17 athletes. In their reflections on this approach to talent
selection and identification, Hoare and Warr (2000:757) concluded:
● A minimum 12-month commitment to the sport is required if athletes are to develop
the requisite skills and game awareness.
● There is a need to develop specialized selection tests for the identification of
goalkeepers.
● An objective test to measure ‘game sense’ requires development.
● A trial period of 2-3 months is necessary for coaches to make a true assessment of
athlete potential.
My reading of this seminal paper is that any talent identification process must take place over
a longer period of time. This would enable the development of game understanding. I noted
too that the authors advised, “It is important not to underestimate late developers”
(2000:757).
38
Hoare and Warr’s approach resonated with a number of researchers. Assessment approach
have been developed for female players in the US Collegiate system (Vescovi, Brown &
Murray, 2006); US footballers aged 12 to 21 years (Vescovi, Rupf, Brown & Marques,
2011); in Norway (Haugen, Tønnessen & Seiler, 2012; Haugen, Tønnessen, Hem, Leirstein
& Seiler, 2014); in England (Taylor, Portas, Wright, Hurst & Weston, 2012); in New Zealand
(Manson, Brughelli & Harris, 2014); and in India (Sharma, 2015).
The flourishing of research into the characteristics and demands of women’s football is
illustrated in Martinez-Lagunas, Niessen and Hartmann’s (2014) meta-review. The authors
note:
The information presented in this report provides an objective point of reference
about player characteristics and game demands at various levels of women's football,
which can help coaches and sport scientists to design more effective training
programs and science-based strategies for the further improvement of players' football
performance, health, game standards, and positive image of this sport. (2014:258)
There is no mention of women’s football in Arab countries in this review.
My experiences in Canberra (discussed in Chapter 4) encouraged me to think further about
appropriate tests to identify talented players. Capital Football uses four core skills, amongst
other measures, to identify young players who will progress to a Skill Acquisition Program.
The four core skills are: 1v1; first touch; running with the ball; and striking the ball. These
skills are assessed in the context of Football Federation Australia’s national curriculum.
I discuss the test protocols I used in my Jordan fieldwork in Chapter 5. A fundamental
question for me to address was how any test protocol might be delivered in a school setting.
There are some specific contextual issues to address in Jordan. One of the options I pursued
39
was to nest my protocol within the delivery of the King Abdullah II Award for Physical
Fitness in schools (see section 1.2). The Award scheme aims to encourage young people,
aged 9 to 16, to be physically active and lead healthy lifestyles. The Award was established
as a Jordanian version of the President’s Challenge in the United States of America.
The Award is organised over a six-week period. Schools allocate one hour per day to the
Award during the six weeks. At the end of the six-week period, participants are tested in five
activities: curl-ups; shuttle run; sit and reach; push-ups and endurance. The Award has
benchmarks for performance. Each child in the Award is assessed and receives one of three
levels of achievement.
2.7 Contextualising the literature in an emerging women’s football system
in Jordan
This chapter has explored some of the literature that investigates women’s football.
Throughout my literature search, I have been fascinated by the diversity of research available
to me. I see enormous potential in this literature for the development of football in Jordan.
When I read of the social inclusion possibilities created by football for Muslim women within
Australia (Maxwell, 2012), my energy for my project is renewed. I am aware of the cultural
constraints in my homeland but do not see these as an impenetrable barrier. I do understand
the need for sensitivity in promoting participation in football. O’Neill, Calder and Allen
(2014) have indicated how difficult it can be for athletic, female athletes in school settings
here in Australia.
40
I am hopeful that my sensitisation to possibilities created by Australian approaches to talent
identification and development can be translated into the cultural contexts of Jordanian
schools and sport clubs. My review of the literature has focussed my attention on how I might
think globally and act locally to produce a supportive and sustainable environment for girls
and women to play football in Jordan.
The literature has enabled me to think much more clearly about the appropriateness of testing
procedures and how these may occur in Jordan. Prior to my research, I was preoccupied with
the adoption of anthropometric, physiological and psychometric protocols for talent
identification. As a result of my literature search I am now much more reflective about
chronological age and developmental stage issues. I am keen also to explore how inclusive
approaches to talent identification might be adopted in Jordan.
I indicate in Chapter 5 that there are a number of initiatives underway in Jordan for girls and
women in football. As more young girls experience football, we will need to think carefully
about how we identify and support those who choose football as a life interest whether that is
at a social level of play or within high performance pathways.
In the next chapter, I outline the methods I used in my research to help me explore how
football might flourish in Jordan.
41
Chapter 3: Methods
3.1 Introduction
In this research I have used a mixed methods approach to data collection (Camerino, Castañer
& Anguera, 2012). These methods have enabled me to collect quantitative and qualitative
data. This approach applies to the whole research process: aims, questions, data collection,
analysis and presentation. Denscombe (2008), amongst others, has identified the potential of
this “third paradigm” to “produce a more complete picture by combining information from
complementary kinds of data or sources” (2008:272).
I report quantitative data collected in my research. These data include information about
relative age in Jordanian club and national representative teams (section 5.1.1.1) and a
preliminary analysis of pupils’ performance in football skills tests (section 5.2.3). I have
made extensive use of qualitative methods to provide data from my fieldwork.
Appendices A, B and C in this thesis present, respectively: notice of the Ethics approval
given to my research by the University of Canberra’s Human Ethics Committee; a participant
information sheet; and a consent form.
My research has necessitated that I combine English and Arabic texts. It has involved
communicating, conversing and interviewing in both languages too. Throughout the research
process I have been mindful of Denscombe’s cautionary observation:
42
The mixed methods approach can be seen as offering a third paradigm for social
research through the way it combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies on
the basis of pragmatism and a practice-driven need to mix methods. As such, it is
framed by a whole variety of practical issues and demands (rather than being guided
by some overarching philosophy) and, almost inevitably, this means that the manner
in which the elements of quantitative and qualitative methodologies get combined is
liable to be fragmented and inconsistent. (2008:280)
I have been aware too of Sparkes’ (2015) reflections on mixed methods research. In
particular, I have noted the challenges posed by integrating quantitative and qualitative
findings “in a valid and effective manner” (2015:52).
This thesis used qualitative methods to gather data from two communities, one in Australia
(Canberra) and one in Jordan (Al ramtha). Sparkes and Smith (2014:14) note, “qualitative
research is a form of social inquiry that focuses on the way people interpret and make sense
of their experiences and the world in which they live”. I was guided by an approach evident
in Denzin and Lincoln’s (2011) perspective on life stories:
Today we are trying to live ever closer to the lives about which we write … we are
trying to show not that we can live those lives but that we have lived close enough to
them to begin to understand how the people who live those lives have constructed
their worlds. (Quoted in Benn, Pfister and Jawad, 2011:1).
I prepared for both fieldwork settings with Crang and Cook’s (2013) exhortations in mind.
by dispensing with that linear model and, instead, mixing up reading, doing and
writing from the very beginning of a project, surprises are still encountered but they're
often much smaller, easier to respond to and should help to shape research that's
simultaneously interesting, relevant and doable. (2013:2)
I did identify gatekeepers in both communities and developed a wide range of contacts and
“cast my net wide” (Crang and Cook, 2013:18). The participants in my research, having cast
my net wide, formed a purposive sample (Patton, 1999). I was aware of the issues
43
surrounding such an approach (Coyne, 1997; Higginbottom, 2004) but like Glaser (1978:45),
I chose participants I believed would “maximize the possibilities of obtaining data” and
enable me to determine “where and how to locate oneself for a rich supply of data”.
My research is a participant observation study in which “the observer participates in the daily
life of people... observing things that happen, listening to what is said, and questioning
people, over some length of time” (Becker & Geer, 1957:28). This approach has been used in
a variety of field settings that include: players’ performance in ice hockey (Gallmeier, 1988);
male coach/female athlete relations in athletics (Tomlinson & Yorganci, 1997); windsurfing
(Wheaton & Tomlinson, 1998); coach education strategies (Gilbert & Trudel, 1999); activity
and women’s body perceptions (McDermott, 2000); Maori girls’ experiences of physical
education, sport and play (Palmer, 2000); boxing (Mennesson, 2000): lawn bowls (Heuser,
2005); the sporting experiences of refugee women in South Australia (Palmer, 2009); Maori
women’s experience of sport leadership (Palmer & Masters, 2010); climbing (Dilley &
Scraton, 2010); roller derby (Finley, 2010; Breeze, 2013); playing golf (Wood &
Danylchuck, 2011); dog agility (Hultsman, 2012); co-gendered football (Wagler, 2013);
pilota (Fernandez-Lasa, Usabiaga, Martos-Garcia & Castellano, 2015); tackle football
(Liechty, Sveinson, Willfong & Evans, 2015); and women’s football (Pielichaty, 2015).
I found this diverse literature helped me think carefully about my research methodology.
Palmer (2000), for example, argued for a blended approach that used critical ethnography,
document analysis, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and self-reflective
diaries. Finley (2010) enabled me to think about the way a researcher might move from an
observer to a participant observer in a sport setting. Her engagement with roller derby gave
me a way to understand the distinction between an emic approach to observation and an etic
44
one. The former would lead me to the meanings participants give to their actions whilst the
latter would be characteristic of scientific objectivity. Fernandez-Lasa and her colleagues
(2015) helped me reflect on the skills required for a participant observer in sport training
environments over a long period of time in a sport that is construed as a male activity. Their
research encouraged me to think about the social dimensions of sport participation too.
Mennesson (2000) led me to think about how I might use participant observation and
interviews to probe entry into and continued engagement with sport in the context of personal
identity.
The qualitative approaches explored by these authors led me to consider my own relationship
to the research process. Jessica Richards (2015) has discussed the relationship between a
researcher’s gender identity and their research environment. She observes, “Working in
qualitative research, reflexive engagement is imperative to understanding the key role and
voice researchers have in how the data is ultimately shaped and analysed” (2015:394).
Unlike the research project with Qatari female football players reported by Knez, Benn and
Alkhadi (2014), I was the sole researcher. Although my supervisory panel gave advice about
methodological protocols, I was the fieldworker throughout the project. I found myself
caught between different worlds. My growing reflexivity had to address my status as a
student and the access I might gain to fieldwork settings. I had to reconcile the insights
offered by an Australian university with my socio-cultural experiences as an Arab woman.
Whilst recognising the freedom academic research might offer me, I understood that at some
point I might be required to negotiate this freedom within cultural practices in both countries.
In Australia, I was a female researcher who wore a hijab and spoke English as a second
language. In Jordan, I was a university lecturer pursuing a PhD in another country and raising
45
some fundamental questions about induction into and engagement with football. My
experience of both cultural settings enabled me to realise that I could be Agar’s (1996)
‘professional stranger’ process.
These reflections encouraged me to develop my research with these methods:
● Desk study (documentary analysis and literature review).
● Semi-structured interviews with coaches and teachers in Jordan and Australia.
● Participant observation as a community football coach in Canberra, Australia.
● Evaluation of a coaching program in two female primary schools in Al Ramtha,
Jordan.
My research plan for the duration of the PhD included the following phases:
● AFC/FFA C Licence course, Canberra (October 2013 to August 2014)
● Jordan fieldwork 1, Al ramtha and Amman (December 2013)
● Jordan fieldwork 2, Al ramtha (February 2014 to May 2014)
● Volunteer coaching U-16 girls’ team, Canberra (February 2014 to August 2014)
● Canberra fieldwork, Canberra (August 2014 to December 2014)
In this introductory section, I have identified a number of methodological approaches. In this
conclusion to I affirm the reasons for the choices I have made.
My PhD studies introduced me to qualitative research. Until my arrival in Canberra, all of my
work in physical education and sport had a statistical component. The mixed methods I
discuss here point to my learning journey. On reflection, I see that I have incorporated a
number of qualitative approaches in my research. What I have reported in this thesis is an
attempt to blend ethnography and action research framed by participant observation into what
46
is a case study of two football communities. The literature I have mentioned in this section
gives a feel for the epistemological and ontological strands in my research design.
I am cautious about adding another label to this methodological mix, but I do want to
mention how I think my work in Canberra and Al ramtha is characteristic of a grounded
approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1994).
Throughout my fieldwork I attempted to gather information systematically and analyse what
I was finding. Although my activities aspired to constant comparison, I realise that my efforts
might be described best as taking advantage of “latitude and ingenuity” as “an aid to
creativity” (Strauss & Corbin, 1994:273). I found this grounded approach reassuring as I tried
to learn about the meanings people attached to their actions and reflected on my own
interpretations of these meanings.
I did not have a theoretical outcome in mind at the start of my research and so I did find the
emergent characteristics of a grounded approach attractive. My exposure to qualitative
methods occurred during my PhD studies and once again I found myself trying to learn a new
research language. I do understand that my work is only starting to address a continuum that
extends from plausibility to conceptual density (Strauss & Corbin, 1994:278). I see this as an
ongoing journey. I have much to consider about identity, gender and power that would be
characteristic of a grounded theory emerging from my data. Throughout the thesis, I do try to
extend my thinking. In sections 5.1.2 and 7.3, I do make an explicit attempt to engage with
these issues.
I am hopeful that my ongoing reflection of my work will help me to think critically about the
fluidity of the situations within which I find myself. Strauss and Corbin (1994:279) say of
this fluidity:
Grounded theories are very “fluid” … Because they embrace the interaction of
multiple actors, and because they emphasize temporality and process … They demand
an openness of the researcher, based on the “forever” provisional character of every
theory … they are systematic statements of plausible relationships.
The possibilities engendered by qualitative methods that resonate with a grounded approach
are very attractive to me. The spirit of this kind of approach informs my thesis.
47
3.2 Fieldwork
This research had two geographical locations for fieldwork with two distinct cultural
contexts. I am a Jordanian citizen registered for a PhD in an Australian university. I sought to
combine my experiences in Jordan with the disciplined insights offered by my supervisors at
the University of Canberra. English is my second language. The fieldwork gave me
opportunities to develop my English in Australia. Arabic is my first language and this was
vital in my work in Jordan.
I spent four years familiarising myself with the Australian sport system in general and with
the Canberra football community in particular. I drew upon my experiences as a participant
observer in community coaching when I returned to Jordan for a six-month fieldwork visit in
2013.
3.2.1 Canberra, Australia
I invited a number of coaches and administrators to participate in my fieldwork. Those who
agreed to take part in my study (n=6) were asked to consent to a semi-structured interview
with the researcher at a time and venue that convenient for the participants. The interview
was audio recorded with the participant’s permission. Participants received a copy of the
questions to be addressed in advance of the interview. These interviews were transcribed
subsequently.
The interviews focused on Australian talent identification, development and performance
pathways models. Permission was sought from participants to undertake further semi-
48
structured interviews to explore any issues arising from the first interviews should there be a
need so to do. These second interviews were for clarification. Participants received question
topics in advance of these second interviews and had access to transcriptions of the audio
recordings if they wished.
As I indicated above, the other dimension of my fieldwork in Canberra was my involvement
in the football community as a volunteer coach of an Under 16 girls’ team.
3.2.2 Jordan
The interview procedures were replicated in two Jordanian communities. Interviews focused
on existing practice in Jordan and the exploration of the Australian experience. Interviewees
included officials from the Ministry of Education and the Al ramtha Education Directorate as
well as the administrators and coaches from the two communities. The interviews in Jordan
were in Arabic and transcribed in Arabic. Appendix D contains my letter of introduction from
the Ministry of Education, Al ramtha Directorate.
My fieldwork in two schools is described in Chapter 5.
49
3.3 Topics discussed with teachers and coaches in both countries
My conversations with teachers and coaches explored seven topics. My choice of these seven
topics was guided by my experience of football in Jordan and themes that arose from my
literature review. I thought that if I could learn more about each of these topics I would be in
a much better position to support long-term, sustainable engagement with football in Jordan. I
wanted to be able to compare responses from participants in both countries to inform my
research.
● Current and future pathways to identify and develop female football players in Jordan.
● Selection criteria for players (anthropometric, physiological, psychological, social).
● Test protocols.
● Coaching female players.
● Coaches’ playing experiences.
● Relative age of players in the selection process.
● Support for female physical education teachers to engage in talent identification
initiatives.
3.4 Topics discussed with administrators in both countries
My conversations with teachers and coaches explored four topics.
● Historical context and current practice in women’s football.
● Talent identification, development and performance pathways.
● Programs to increase female participation.
● Plans to develop career development opportunities for women coaches.
50
3.5 Data analysis
I transcribed my interviews in Canberra in English and in Jordan in Arabic. I used a thematic
analysis to analyse the data I had collected. Mills et al (2014:140) note that this approach
enables the researcher to identify any meaningful units of information that can be aggregated
into themes that locate personal experience in a wider structural and cultural perspective.
I had a relatively small number of transcript to analyse and, in line with suggestions from the
literature, I engaged in a three level process with these transcripts: initial analysis; emergent
categorisation; and identification of unifying themes. I found myself working and thinking
aloud in English and Arabic during this process. At each stage of my analysis I spent time
with my supervisor discussing any semantic issues in English with him and explaining some
of the Arabic concepts to him to check my cultural (in)sensitivity.
I spent lots of time writing notes to myself. These were mainly in Arabic. Hard copies of my
English language transcripts were covered in marginalia. These notes were the prompts for
my own reflection and opportunities to clarify my thinking. Many of these became questions
for my supervisor. I tried to audio record all my conversations with my supervisor so that I
could return to our conversation subsequently to confirm that I had understood our
discussions. I did find this particularly difficult at times. He and I had robust conversations
about anthropometric approaches to talent identification and development. I do believe all of
these experiences helped me to become more fluent in my thinking about the thematic nature
of my research and findings.
51
My initial analysis of the transcripts, and with reference to my field diary, encouraged me to
think about the place of football in Australian and Jordanian cultures. This led me to think
about the place of games as central life interests. I thought too about the role of teachers and
coaches in both countries. Overall this preliminary phase stimulated my thinking about
occupational cultures and the place of structured knowledge in the development of football. I
was mindful too about governance and gender issues. I made extensive use of the highlight
function in my transcripts to sift for initial ideas. This is an example from a Canberra
interview transcript:
Q. Do you remember when was the first women`s league launched in Australia? What
are the current programs to develop female participation in football? Female players
and female coaches?
A: We do not have any specific strategies to increase women’s participation, My
background was always in the women`s game (I was part of the team that formed the
ANU club – and the ACT Women`s Association), I also worked for Australian national
soccer for seven years as the national executive director in the 1990s and through to 2002.
I think these were a hard years convincing clubs (interviewee’s emphasis) and
particularly convincing men that the women deserve a fair to go play the game. We just
wanted to have the opportunity to play, so were playing on Sundays because nobody
plays on Sundays, the juniors and men are on Saturday. Over the years it should not be an
issue the women`s and girls can play, our clubs have stressed the concept of women and
girls playing, if we do not have them to play it is a way of discriminating against them.
There are very few clubs that are just men`s teams, I think particularly here in Canberra
we have a very intelligent community that understand fairness and equity. We have had
girls only competitions initially but we also now have mixed competition. Girls can play
with boys, and better players can play in men`s team, nothing specific in terms of playing,
but what we are looking is increasing number in coaching and refereeing and leadership
(such as myself). So we provide some financial assistance for women’s who wanted to do
coaching courses, almost like a scholarship, and appointed for Canberra United. The
players simply need to see there is a female as a coach, and experience the coaching with
the female, the invisibility of women is often a deterrent to other women putting
themselves forward, if you do not see a role model, if you don’t have somebody to aspire
you the it makes it very difficult to encourage women to get in coaching. We need to
make sure that the courses are accessible, we will provide financial support and some
mentoring, actively mentoring young women in coaching roles, so that is very important.
‫‪52‬‬
‫‪This is a very brief translation from one of my Jordanian interviewees about teaching football‬‬
‫‪in school:‬‬
‫‪The Physical Education teacher is the beloved teacher for the schoolgirls, we believe‬‬
‫‪she is the key for sustainable football culture, and the schools are the best‬‬
‫‪environment to create this culture.‬‬
‫‪An example of an Arabic transcript with similar highlighting of content:‬‬
‫• ‪&'()*)+‬؟אو‪$
#‬אن‪"#‬ن لאمو
‬
‫אم‪7-/.:‬א‪9‬א‪78‬؟‪2345/6.4‬א‪-./0/1‬א‪),‬‬
‫‪/‬؟‬
‫أجابه مطلقه‪ ،‬ال‪ .‬ولكن يفضل بدرجه‪%٩٠‬ان يكون العب عاش وضع الالعب وتعامل مع الظروف‬
‫والبيئة ذاتھا وخضع لذات الضغوط التي يرغب بانشائھا لالعبيه‪.‬وان يكون على دراسه تامه وقد جربھا‬
‫وعاشھا‪.‬‬
‫كمدرب منتخب باالتحاد االردني قمنا بعمل ورشات تدريبية لمعلمات التربية الرياضية على مستوى‬
‫المديريات "طرق لتدريب الفتيات على كرة القدم "النه معلمة التربية الرياضية اغلبھن غير العبات "المدرب يجب ان‬
‫يكون العب "او حتى قد مارس اللعبة او حتى قد لعب لسنه النه ھذا سيسھل عليه التعامل بالتدريب‪ ,‬الخبرة العلملية السابقة لھا‬
‫دورھا ومطلوبة‪.‬‬
‫))ﻫﺬا ﻛﻼﻣﻲ (( ﺣﺎل ﻣﻌﻠﻤﺎت اﻟﺘﺮﺑﻴﺔ اﻟﺮﻳﺎﺿﻴﺔ اﻗﻠﻬﺎ ﻻزم ﺗﻮﺧﺬ ﻣﺴﺎق ﺑﺎﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﻪ ﻣﺜﻠﻬﺎ ﻛﻤﺜﻞ ﻛﺮة اﻟﺴﻠﺔ واﻟﻴﺪ‬
‫استغرب حال بعض الدول حيث يجب ان يكون مدرب كرة القدم للفئات العمرية الصغيرة من افضل‬
‫المدربين واكثرھم تاھيال النه سيبني المھارات االساسية ويؤسس الالعبين بطريقة صحيحة وما يؤكد‬
‫كالمي ھو ان من سياخذ دورة التدريب االسيوية يجب ان يكون المتقدم مرشح من احد االندية الرياضية‬
‫او المؤسسات الخذ مثل ھذه الدورات‪.‬‬
‫• ‪$4‬א'زא‪-7;<*1‬א‪ I1‬א‪7‬א‪FG6H‬א‪D"E‬و‪"A"'B$C"6‬د"‪@<4‬د؟'>‬
‫{א>‪:‬و'"‪ JK‬א‪"M‬لא"زنא‪A""G{ J-/‬وذ‪{*4‬א‪{-A‬و‪,‬وא‪E‬‬
‫بالتاكيد ھي امور فنية بحثة‪ ,‬مھاره عالية كونه من المتبع عند الرغبة باكتشاف المواھب نبدا بعمل‬
‫مھرجان او اي نوع تنظيمي لفتح الفرصة امام الموھوبات باللعب ونترقب اداء كل العبه كونه المھارة‬
‫ھي ما يظھر من الالعبة وھو ما نبحث عنه بالنھاية‬
53
PM(+9‫'א‬K‫א‬7-/1B6Q"6$4R>+‫)א‬,6‫ل‬STU<B6Q"6 •
‫؟‬B‫ذ‬D‫؟و
אدא‬7<V‫א‬#W‫د‬5‫א‬
‫بالدرجة االولى للوزارة‬
,‫زياده عدد حصص الرياضة بالجدول الدراسي خالل االسبوع وتفعيل دورھا‬
‫مراقبة اداء ويفضل وضع خطة وبرنامج تدريبي‬
‫اكاديميات مراكزواعدات اندية‬:‫االھتمام بقطاع الناشئات‬
‫تنظيم الدور واالداء بينھم للوصول لنتائج تفيد قطاع الناشئات‬
The initial analysis gave me some overarching ideas about how my respondents construed
football. At a meta-analysis level it was fascinating to learn about the differences Australian
and Jordanians talked about football. This phase stimulated my thinking about governance
and curricula too.
I provide examples of my transcripts in Appendix G (an interview in English in Canberra)
and Appendix H (an interview in Arabic in with a national football coach).
Throughout this process, I was mindful of the potential dangers of attention narrowing in my
thematic analysis. I did not engage in any analyst triangulation (Patton, 1999). I mean by this
that I did not have multiple observers working with me on the data analysis. The use of
analyst triangulation is one of the four kinds of triangulation discussed by Patton (1999) with
regard to the verification and validation of qualitative analysis.
I was a single researcher with interview transcriptions and participant observer field notes in
Arabic and English. The triangulation I did undertake was that described by Denzin
(1978:301) as “within-method”, namely, using a variety of data points to enrich the thematic
analysis I was undertaking.
54
This process led me to use some heuristic categories with which to interrogate the transcripts.
I hoped I was able to remain open to the emergence of categories that is discussed in the
qualitative research literature. These categories included:
•
Opportunities to play football
•
Structured and unstructured play
•
Teaching and Coaching
•
Governance models
•
Curriculum design
•
Socio-cultural contexts
•
Evidence based practice
My approach to assuring the quality and credibility of my analysis was to discuss the
identification of themes with my supervisor. We shared transcript material in confidence. I
did make a determined effort to ensure that participants in my research had opportunities to
see the transcripts of my interviews. In the case of my Arabic transcriptions I had a number
of conversations about them with the participants in Jordan.
Patton’s (1999) guidelines were very helpful in framing my approach to the integrity of my
thematic analysis. I did test rival explanations. I considered, for example, whether I had
misconstrued the material and revisited the audio recordings of my interviews. I looked for
negative cases in all my transcripts and field notes. I did recognise that my English might
lead me to make errors in transcription or misread intonation and emphasis. My field diary
helped to document these concerns, as I tended to keep an Arabic account of my fieldwork
and my emerging thoughts.
55
I saw my use of mixed methods as one form of triangulation of my data. My literature search
afforded opportunities for source and theory triangulation. They were my attempt to reduce
bias in my analysis.
I did use a purposive sample in my research. Patton (1999) cautions against over-generalising
results from such an approach. Throughout my analysis and discussion phases of this
research I have been alert to the place of purposeful sampling in “understanding and
illuminating important cases rather than in generalizing from a sample population” (Patton,
1999:1197).
Like many researchers before me, I was aware that as a participant observer in two settings I
did interact with those settings and the people in them. I did make notes in my field diary
about potential reactive effects of my presence as recommended by Denzin (2009). These
notes formed part of my reflection on my research. I was particularly sensitive to those events
where respondents either were or had become friends or key informants. The notes were in
many cases excellent aide-memoirs (Gray & Smith, 1999).
I tended to write up my diary in Arabic. I found this a very comfortable way to progress my
research. Nadin and Cassell (2006) have discussed how field diaries can facilitate reflexivity
in the research process. I found myself thinking about the act of note making and tried to be
consistent in my compilation of the diary. I was able to make notes about interviews pre- and
post-event as well as using my diary to help organise my research.
56
I share two examples of my diary here. The first is of a record in English of a meeting early
in my research with my primary supervisor (Figure 3). The second is an example of notes
made during an interview with a national coach in Jordan when we were discussing the
impact of the Prince Ali centres of excellence (Figure 4).
57
Figure 3: An example of a research diary entry from 2012
This is an example of a diary page with a number of reflections in Arabic.
58
Figure 4: Notes made during an interview with a national coach in Jordan.
59
The questions I am asking are in black and my notes are in blue. I have some times in the
note to help me recollect key temporal moments within the interview. There is a reflective
note on the top left of the page.
My methodological approach has encouraged me to be modest about my findings. Thanks to
the work of Patton (1999) and others (see, for example, Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Markula &
Silk, 2011) I am acutely aware of the limitations of my approach. These include: the
situations I have sampled; the time periods within which my research took place; and the
participants I chose to be in the study.
There were some major themes that emerged from all this activity. I discuss these themes in
Chapter 6 under the heading of sustainability. All my work has brought me to sustainability
as a significant macro theme in my research. Entangled within this theme are the issues of
gender, power, governance, knowledge, pedagogy and lived experience.
I am mindful that I have synthesised two different cultural contexts in this research. My
exposure to the insights gained from Capital Football in Canberra did lead me to be sensitive
to cultural forms of expression in Jordan. My data from Jordan tended to be much more
formal and in many cases were terse in their expression. I was welcomed into Canberra
football and I did find myself caught between two cultures.
Although I did find some important cultural differences in my research, I did find some
common themes too. In both cultural contexts I found people who were passionate about
supporting girls and women to experience and engage in football. I met people who were
keen to transform cultural expectations. In both cultures, I found teachers and coaches who
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loved football and saw their vocational calling to share this with others. In both cultures,
respondents thought that football was the world game that connected all of us.
My move from initial analysis to sustainability as a macro theme has encouraged me to be
reflexive about my learning journey. In Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, I described parts of this
journey in Canberra and Jordan.
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Chapter 4: The Canberra Experience
This chapter discusses the Canberra context of my research. In Chapter 1, I outlined my
interest in the governance of football in Australia in general and in Canberra in particular. In
this chapter, I provide some detailed information about Canberra, locate this information in a
brief history of the game (section 4.1) and an present account of football’s connection with
the Australian sport system (section 4.2). I mention the role of the Australian Sports
Commission and the publication of the Winning Edge Strategy in 2012 as a template for high
performance sport (both in section 4.2).
Section 4.3 reports my fieldwork in Canberra. It includes a section on the governance of
football (section 4.3.1). I believe Capital Football has benefitted enormously from having a
female chief executive officer, Heather Reid. I introduce Heather as a key informant in my
research (Payne and Payne, 2004).
I provide an account of my role as a volunteer coach in this chapter. I include it here as an
example of my role as a participant observer in the research project.
I conclude the chapter (section 4.4) with a discussion of the links between my experiences in
Canberra and Al ramtha.
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4.1 A brief history
1921 is an important year for women’s football in Australia. There were association football,
Australian Rules and rugby league games played in this year. Trove, the National Library of
Australia’s online resource, provides extensive information about this year and subsequent
years (Trove, 2015).
The Argus reported on 15 June 1921 that the Principal of the Church of England Grammar
School in Sydney regarded the formation of a women’s football league as “absurd”. She
asserted “football is quite an unsuitable game for girls … I strongly disapprove of women
playing any game that is likely to bring them into the public eye” (The Argus, 15 June 1921).
The Sydney Metropolitan Soccer Football Association had received applications from 120
women “anxious to take up the sport almost immediately” (Warwick Daily News, 21 June
1921). A Queensland Ladies’ Soccer Football Association was formed in Brisbane on 8 July
1921 (The Brisbane Courier, 9 July 1921). The Daily Mercury carried an account of “the
ladies’ first public game” in Brisbane at the Brisbane Cricket Ground on 24 September 1921.
North Brisbane defeated South Brisbane by 2 goals to 0. “A record crowd of about 10,000”
spectators watched the game (Daily Mercury, 26 September 1921). The teams were selected
from a “Reds” and “Blues” trial game the week before at Toowong Sports Ground (Brisbane
Courier, 19 September 1921). In South Australia, the Council of the Football Association
prohibited the use of its grounds by women’s teams “and has expressed its strong opinion that
the game of football is quite unsuitable for women” (The Register 7 December 1921).
Women’s participation in football in Tasmania was the subject of debate too (The Examiner,
15 October 1921).
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The controversy that surrounded women’s participation in football was still causing alarm a
decade later. In England, Football Association affirmed “Football is not a suitable pastime for
women” (The Cairns Post, 4 June 1932).
More recent Trove online resources give a feel for the emergence of women’s football
governance and the provision of competition opportunities. The Canberra Times, for
example, reports on the work of Elaine Watson, President of the Australian Women’s Soccer
Association (AWSA) from 1977-1989 (The Canberra Times, 22 September 1989). The first
women’s national championships were held in 1974 and at this event a meeting was held to
form the Women’s Soccer Association. This meeting established a constitution for the
governance of women’s football. Elaine Watson (1994) provided an historical overview of
the emergence of women’s football and an account of its development as an organisation
from 1974 to 1994.
More recently, Rosso (2010) reported on the development of women’s football in South
Australia:
in the last 30 years, women’s soccer has evolved from a geography of foundation,
defined by informal organisation and localised scope, to a geography of achievement,
characterised by an institutionalised focus on the production of players, the
introduction of higher-profile ‘sportscapes’, a broader pattern of clubs distribution,
and a new set of connections with global women’s soccer. (2010:np)
Heather Reid was appointed the Executive Director of AWSA in 1990 and was part of the
global campaign to include women’s football in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (The
Canberra Times, 13 December 1991). During her tenure at AWSA: the first Women’s World
Cup was held in China 1991; and women’s football was included in the World University
Games 1993. In 1993, it was confirmed that eight women’s teams would compete in the 1996
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Olympic Games (The Canberra Times, 21 September, 1993). (The nations that competed in
1996 were: Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States
of America.) In that report, Dennis O’Brien, President AWSA, was quoted:
Over 20 years Australia has developed a sound competitive structure. We have wellestablished state associations and a number of development programs are in place.
Despite the advances made, Heather Reid wrote to the Canberra Times in 1995 to draw
attention to the “overt and indirect discrimination women involved in soccer have faced since
the 1900s” (The Canberra Times, 9 April 1995). She noted in her letter:
Soccer provides a classic case whereby women’s involvement, particularly as players,
was regarded as a threat … To counter the rise in popularity of women’s participation,
the Football Association of England used (or abused) its authority by banning women
from the sport in 1921. This ban wasn’t lifted until the 1970s...
Twenty years after her letter to the Canberra Times, Heather Reid was quoted in another
media story about women’s football (Sami, 2015). In discussions following the performance
of the women’s national team, the Matidas, at the 2015 World Cup in Canada, she observed:
We've come a long way from the days when in fact I was the one executive director of
Australian women's soccer, handing out the Australian emblems for the players to
sew onto their tracksuits. We've come a long way since then but you know, we've still
got a long way to go in terms of media recognition, in terms of sponsorship, in terms
of commercial backing. So that women can be true professionals in their sport without
having to have a second or a third job ...
This brief historical review identifies how contested the emergence of football has been in
Australia. My aim has been to locate discussions about the governance of the game and its
flourishing in the context of a century of struggle for equity.
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4.2 National context
Independent Soccer Review 2003
The governance of football in Australia was the subject of an independent review in 2003
(Crawford, 2003). The object of the review was to:
establish a best practice management structure and governance framework for the
sport of soccer in Australia, to enable the sport to maximise its potential at all levels
from community participation to international performance. (2003:37)
My research in Canberra took place in the context of outcomes of this review. Although I
have mentioned a brief history of the game in section 4.1, most commentators agree that the
current status of football in Australia is structured by the response to the review and the new
governance structures put in place.
The preamble to the Review report notes “strong growth in female participation” (2003:2).
Recommendation 4 of the Review proposed the establishment of a women’s standing
committee “to ensure broad advice is available at the national level” (2003:9). This
recommendation appeared in part because of the “slow response” of Soccer Australia “in
addressing the interests of referees, women and indoor soccer” (2003:14).
Fay Dower is quoted in stakeholder comments of the report (2003:50):
I have been involved [with soccer] since 1979 … throughout this whole time
women’s soccer has had to fight gender inequality in the sport at club, state and
national level.
Janet Kanef, another stakeholder, observed, “girls deserve a better deal in coaching and
development” (2003:55).
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Heather Reid is quoted too:
There is little evidence that individuals within Soccer Australia and some of its
member associations are committed to changing the status quo in order to facilitate
gender equity and embrace diversity in the future. There is no obvious leadership or
authority for women’s soccer within Soccer Australia and this situation has presented
problems at state level. (2003:60)
Elaine Watson noted:
The Australian Women’s Soccer Association has been declared insolvent over unpaid
debts and placed in liquidation a mere two years after Soccer Australia assumed
responsibility for AWSA finances in what was to be a lead-up to full integration.
(2003:63)
Lisa Whitaker and Lorraine Scicluna asked for importance to be attached to “securing the
future of women’s involvement in soccer” (2003:65).
The Independent Review provided an opportunity for the game of football in Australia to
modernise its governance structure and to address directly issues of gender equality. I do
believe that the changes initiated as a result of the Review offer insights into how an ‘ideal
type’ football system might be developed in Jordan. This system gives hope for a matriarchal
approach to governance that can support sustainable involvement in sport and encourage girls
to be part of a world game.
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Review into the sustainability of football 2011
The Australian Government announced in April 2011 that there would be a review of the
changes brought about in response to the 2003 Independent Review (Australian Government
Department of Health, 2013). The preamble to the report of the 2011 review noted:
The challenges that confronted the newly established Football Federation Australia
(FFA) in the aftermath of the Crawford Review should not be underestimated and
neither should the achievements since its formation. While challenges remain,
principally financial, the game is strong and a foundation exists for a bright future.
Governance reform has largely been achieved in accordance with the Crawford
Review recommendations and constructive discussions are ongoing about how further
reform and efficiencies can be made for the betterment of the game. (2013:np)
The 2011 review reported that “the Australian Capital Territory was the first federation to
adopt a compliant constitution” in response to the 2003 recommendations (2013:np).
The review comments directly on support for women’s football:
It is worth noting that FFA is required to invest heavily in the women’s (including the
Matildas) national team program compared to the men’s program (including the
Socceroos) because the Matildas are not able to match the commercial revenue
generated by the Socceroos. The growth in women’s participation and the continuing
excellence at the elite level suggest this particular investment is worthwhile. To the
extent national teams are required to be prioritised, and with consideration of the
importance of strengthening elite women’s sport and providing pathways from
grassroots to elite levels, government should encourage continued investment in
women’s football. (2013:np)
The review mentions Football Federation Australia’s high performance program. This
program includes:
● Increased number of State institute and academy programs
● Introduction of a National Football Curriculum
● Recruitment of staff responsible for the technical development of players at national
and State and Territory level
● Implementation of a skills acquisition program for 8-12 year olds
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● Small Sided Football program to improve the technical ability of young players
● AFC-approved, elite coach development courses
The 2013 review reported that growth in women’s and girls’ football (between 2000 and
2009) “was the largest of Australia’s major sporting codes” but noted that facilities’ provision
had lagged behind the increase in participation. The review found evidence of “a lack of
gender-appropriate facilities” (2013:np).
National Football Curriculum
The sustainability review (2013) made explicit mention of Football Federation Australia’s
National Curriculum. There have been two versions of this national curriculum, 2009 and
2013 (Football Federation of Australia, 2013). The 2013 curriculum explains “the mental and
physical characteristics of children and young adults during the various developmental stages
and how these stages are linked” (2013:1). The national curriculum presents a framework for
training and playing (see Figure 5 below).
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Figure 5: Building Blocks of the National Football Curriculum. Source: FFA National
Curriculum (2013)
The National Curriculum document makes a number of explicit mentions of girls and
women. Whilst the Curriculum is intended to be a practical guide for coaches and players of
all ages and gender, considerable use is made of data from senior men’s football to underpin
the Building Blocks itemised in Figure 5 above. At the time of the publication of the
Curriculum, the FFA was undertaking a review of the elite female performance pathway and
the national competition structure. Subsequently, a Strategic Plan for Women’s Football for
2014-2016 was published (Football Federation of Australia, 2014). The vision statement for
this document is “to establish football as the most appealing and successful women’s sport in
Australia”. The Plan has four components: increase the number of girls and women in
football; improve elite player pathways to build a successful Matildas team; to grow the
women’s football fan base; and to develop the W-League into a world class football league.
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I found this curriculum model particularly helpful when thinking about how I might support
the development of football in schools in Al ramtha. Teachers have few curriculum resources
to support their teaching. I did see opportunities to adapt the FFA’s National Curriculum in a
Jordanian context. My translations of the document and the identification of activities for the
teachers were a contribution to extending the resources available to them.
The Australian Sports Commission
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) was established in 1985. The Australian Sports
Commission Act 1989 (Australian Sports Commission, 2015) identified the objects of the
Commission. These include:
● To provide leadership in the development of sport in Australia.
● To encourage increased participation and improved performance by Australians in
sport.
● To provide resources, services and facilities to enable Australians to pursue and
achieve excellence in sport while also furthering their educational and vocational
skills and other aspects of their personal development.
● To improve the sporting abilities of Australians generally through the improvement of
the standard of sports coaches.
The ASC website (Australian Sports Commission, 2015) affirms that the ASC is:
Australia’s primary national sports administration and advisory agency, and the
cornerstone of a wide-ranging sports system. On behalf of the Australian
Government, the ASC plays a central leadership role in the development and
operation of the Australian sports system, administering and funding innovative sport
programs and providing leadership, coordination and support for the sport sector.
Two of the ASC’s actions in the last decade have had an important impact on my research.
The Independent Soccer Review (Crawford, 2003) was held under the auspices of the ASC.
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This review has been discussed above in this section 4.2. The second was the announcement
of the Winning Edge strategy in 2012.
Australia’s Winning Edge strategy 2012
The introduction in the Winning Edge document asserts:
the world is changing. International competition is intensifying and improving all the
time. Many other nations have now replicated our innovations, tapped into our
expertise and made strategic investments, and, as a result have become strong
competitors in international sport. (Australian Sports Commission, 2012a: 2)
The Winning Edge strategy for the decade 2012-2022 outlines how Australia will meet this
international challenge. One of the priority actions in the strategy is to renew focus on
“unearthing and nurturing Australia’s talent” (2012a:8). This focus will include:
● Annual ‘Sport Draft’ and ‘Second Chance’ programs for Olympic sports.
● Opportunities for women in high performance sport, dedicated national sporting
organisation (NSO) pathway managers, and talent enrichment teams for pre-elite
athletes.
The Winning Edge document presented a framework for Athlete Pathways (Talent)
Development Initiatives (Australian Sports Commission, 2012b:1). This signalled a
commitment “to support athlete development pathways for sports that have the potential to
contribute to the national high performance targets” identified in the Winning Edge
announcement. The sum of $2 million per annum was noted as additional funds “to support
the development of athlete pathways and new initiatives to grow our talent pipeline”
(2012:2).
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Within the Australian Institute of Sport there had been a number of organisational approaches
to talent detection identification and development (Clearinghouse for Sport, 2015). The
current Athlete Pathways and Development program builds upon the work of the Talent
Search and National Talent Identification and Development programs (Stewart, 2011;
Gulbin, Weissensteiner, Oldenziel & Gagné, 2013). This approach is now making explicit
use of a Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery Framework that seeks to integrate “general
and specialised phases of development for participants within the active lifestyle, sport
participation and sport excellence pathways” (Gulbin, Croser, Morley & Weissensteiner,
2013:1319). The documentation of the Foundations, Talent, Elite and Mastery Framework is
presented in a gender-neutral language of ‘participants’ and ‘athletes’.
4.3 Women’s football in Canberra
I did not realise how fortunate I was to have chosen Canberra as the location for my
fieldwork in Australia until I started to explore the governance of the game in the city. In this
section I look at this governance model. I introduce three females who were having a
significant impact on football for girls and women at the time of my research.
I find it hard to overstate the important role Heather Reid plays in the flourishing of football
in Canberra. Her role as the Chief Executive Officer of Capital Football has enabled her to
champion the place women can play in leadership roles.
I introduce two other female post holders in this section. Both offer young women role
models as coaches. One of them, Aroon Clancey, is responsible for the development of young
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players at the early stage of their pathways to high performance. The second, Rae Dower, is
the coach of Canberra United and head coach of the Australian Capital Territory Academy of
Sport (ACTAS) program.
4.3.1 Capital Football
Capital Football is responsible for the governance of football in the Australian Capital
Territory. It is a member federation of FFA (Football Federation Australia, 2010). Section 1.3
of the Football Federation Australia Member Federation Charter (2010) delegates
responsibility to Capital Football to: (a) conduct, develop and promote football: (b)
implement FFA strategies, policies, programs and regulations for the playing, development
and promotion of football in Australia. Section 1.4 of the Charter mandates that Capital
Football as a member federation: (a) builds participation and sustained involvement in
football at all ages and playing levels; (b) develops the skill levels of all players that
participate in football; (c) provides development pathways and opportunities for talented and
elite players and teams; (d) provides development pathways and opportunities for coaches,
referees and administrators.
The Capital Football website (Capital Football, 2015a) provides additional information about
the role of Capital Football. The services offered by Capital Football include: the
organisation and management of football competitions; the administration of referees and
support for their development; and provision for coach education and development. There is
a Technical Department within the organisation that supports an integrated athlete
development pathway (2015a) and does so in the context of Football Federation Australia’s
National Curriculum.
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The coherence of Capital Football’s vision for football in the community and for
opportunities for young players to flourish provides an excellent template for my research.
The Technical Department has a model for women’s football (2015b) that includes three
pillars: the elite; best of the best; and the best. These pillars connect players in teams who are
under eleven years of age through to the senior women’s international team, the Matildas.
I liked the inclusion of this photograph on the ‘About Us’ page of the Capital Football
website as a contribution to the explicit visibility of girls’ images as participants and athletes.
Figure 6: Girls’ football in Canberra. Source: Canberra Football About Us (2015a).
Capital Football has the only female Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in an FFA member
federation. Heather Reid has a long history of involvement in women’s football locally and
nationally. Throughout my fieldwork, Heather encouraged and supported my research. She
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has been the CEO at Capital Football for a decade. Her insight, knowledge and experience
meant that I had an excellent key informant (Payne & Payne, 2004).
I did not know about Heather’s experience until I arrived in Canberra. My informal
conversations with her led to a formal request from me to conduct a semi-structured
interview with her for my research. I identify her here in the thesis with her consent. In
August 2014, I conducted a semi-structured interview with Heather. I sent her my guide
questions (see Appendix F) in advance of our meeting in her office in Curtin, Canberra.
4.3.1.1 Heather
Origins of Women’s Football in Canberra
Women started playing organised football in Canberra in the late 1970s. Heather was a
founding member of the Australian National University’s women’s team in 1977. The club
became a member of the ACT Soccer Federation. At that time there were ten women’s teams.
Many of the players had been involved in lunchtime games in and around the city. A
substantial number of them were looking for a winter team sport to play as an addition to
their summer activities of softball and cricket.
The ACT Women`s Soccer Association was formed in 1978 to support the growth of
women’s football. A senior representative team was selected for the first time in 1980 and
took part in the National Championships. Heather became the team manager for the national
women’s team at that time. In the 1990s, a national women’s league replaced the National
Championships. This national league was a precursor to the current W-League.
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The formal organisation of women’s football in the Australian Capital Territory followed the
path of other states. Ten clubs were founding members of the ACT Women`s Soccer
Association. Thirty-five years later, there are 3,500 girls up to the age of 18 playing football
in Canberra football clubs. There are 70 women’s teams playing in a variety of competitions.
Some of these play in mixed teams too.
Funding is available to support female coaches who would like to become accredited
coaches. There is an established support and mentor program for female coaches.
Athlete Pathways
Whilst there are opportunities for girls as young as five years of age to play football, the first
time young girls (and boys) enter formal development opportunities is at the under 10 years
age group. From this age onwards, girls have access to Capital Football’s Technical
Department’s Skill Development Program (2015c) and to the Skill Acquisition Program
(2015d). The Capital Football website provides details of the Technical Department’s work in
general and of both these programs in particular. Whilst access to the Skill Development
Program is open, there are explicit selection criteria for the Skill Acquisition Program. Girls
who have the potential for selection to Under 13 and Under 15 National Championship teams
are considered for the Skill Acquisition Program.
The content of both Skill Programs is guided by the FFA’s National Curriculum (Football
Federation Australia, 2013). This Curriculum identifies four phases:
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●
Discovery (under 6 to under 9)
●
Skill Acquisition (under 10 to under 13)
●
Game Training (under 13 to under 17)
●
Performance (age 17+)
The best female players have access to the ACT Academy of Sport from the age of 15. Some
of these players progress to Canberra United, the W-League team, through the National
Training Centre United and ACT Academy programs. The pathway available to talented
young female players includes selection for the Junior Matildas (Under 17 years of age), the
Young Matildas (Under 20 years of age) and the senior team, the Matildas.
Boosting Female Participation
Capital Football works closely with Football Federation Australia to bring a strategic
commitment to the increase of female participation in football. Capital Football has received
funds from the world governing body of the sport, FIFA, to appoint an officer specifically to
develop female participation. In 2015, Aroon Clansey, a former W-League player for
Canberra United, held this post.
Aroon has direct responsibility for the Skill Acquisition Program for girls in the Under 11
and Under 12 age groups. She coaches one of these age group teams. Aroon is involved in
another program to increase female participation. She co-ordinates Capital Football’s United
7s program for schools in Canberra. There are opportunities for girls in Australian school
years 7 and 8 to play together and then in years 9 and 10. The aim is to make it possible for
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all schools to form small teams rather than relying on large numbers of players to commit to
an 11-a-side game or competition.
This approach has given many Canberra schoolgirls the opportunity to sample football as a
sport experience. The aim is to encourage and support some of these girls to make football a
sustainable, central life interest. Capital Football recognises that such commitment needs the
support of families and schools.
Capital Football has thought carefully about how to support primary school physical
education teachers. 90 percent of these teachers are females so they have a very important
opportunity to be role models for active lifestyles for their pupils. Heather emphasised the
importance of playground football and the introduction of rules. She noted Capital Football’s
encouragement of the fun aspect of football in the discovery phase of their access to the
game. She felt strongly that the experience of the game as a fun activity was an important
opportunity to connect girls with community football clubs.
Some of these football clubs have lots of junior members. One club, Woden Valley, has 1300
junior members (female and male). At present Capital Football’s competitions at different
age groups use every available playing field in the Australian Capital Territory.
Heather thought there could be better use of indoor spaces in the Territory and that access to
such spaces was an ongoing discussion item with the Australian Capital Territory
Government’s Education and Community Services Departments. There are some legal and
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logistical issues that have to be resolved for expanded use of indoor facilities during
Canberra’s winter months. One of the high schools in the Territory, Melrose High School,
has invested in a synthetic football pitch that can be used jointly by the school and
community.
Capital Football is mindful of offering long-term social football opportunities to girls and
women. There are competition structures for junior and senior football. The over 35 women’s
competition has proven particularly popular. There is a six-a-side summer league and an
eleven-a-side winter league. One of the features of these competitions is the number of
women who take up the game for the first time and are supported by other players as they
learn the games.
Gender Equity
Heather has been committed to gender equity with Capital Football and in the wider football
community nationally and internationally. My transcript of our conversation has this
verbatim observation from Heather:
Gender equality, or opportunity for women in sport, is a sport issue, it is not a
women's issue. If we are going to make change for women in a sport, then the sport
organisation has to take a responsibility for it. This means that Capital Football has
responsibility for all the sport, and we need to do the best that we can, to make sure
that all women, men, juniors, are treated equality.
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She added:
FIFA has responsibility for the whole sport. It is not a separate women's FIFA, it
should not be women’s football, it should be football played by women, the game is
the same, so the leadership and the organisation needs to look at it the same. The girls
under 5 years should have the same opportunity as the boys under five years, and all
the way through as much as possible, … administrative obstacles can be overcome by
the leadership, giving more resources to the women's game.
Discussion
I felt very fortunate to spend time with Heather. My informal discussions and more formal
interview emphasised for me the role women can play in bringing about change in
organisations and in local contexts.
I noted her close working relationship with the national sporting organisation, Football
Federation Australia. She had a very clear sense of the world game of football. She had been
able to give global FIFA programs a local focus, particularly in relation to encouraging
female participation. I was impressed by the consideration given to mentorship and the
support for a long-term vision of gender equity in the game.
I see enormous opportunities to develop Heather’s approach in my community in Jordan. Her
explicit mention of Aroon Clancey encouraged me to seek an interview with her to explore
some of the issues around athlete progression pathways for talented players.
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4.3.1.2 Aroon
I met with Aroon Clansey a month after my formal meeting Heather Reid. This gave me time
to learn more about Aroon and her journey from player to coach. I include her here with her
permission.
Aroon has played international football as a goalkeeper. She represented New Zealand as an
Under 20 years of age player at the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Championships and
then the senior team in 2010 and 2011. She joined Canberra United for the 2011-2012 WLeague season and was a member of the championship winning team that season. Aroon
retired from football due to injury at the age of 26. She returned to Canberra to work as a
video analyst for Canberra United and was subsequently appointed head coach of the
Emerging United Under 13 team (for girls in the 2002 birth year) and coach to Under 11 and
Under 12 years-of-age girls in Capital Football’s Skill Acquisition Program. She is an
assistant coach at the ACT Academy of Sport too.
Aroon’s coaching responsibilities are funded in part by grant provision from the world
governing body of football, FIFA. Aroon agreed to a semi-structured interview. I audiotaped
the interview with her permission.
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Increasing female participation
My first questions to Aroon were focussed on her role in increasing player, coach and referee
participation. In her current role she works with: the Skill Acquisition Program; Miniroos
players (Capital Football, 2015e) in modified games that emphasise enjoyment and freedom
of expression; the United 7 schools’ competition; and female coaches and referees who
would like to pursue accreditation pathways as well as involvement in grassroots sport.
Female coaches
I was very interested in Aroon’s thoughts on female coaches and how we might encourage
more women to coach. This was a priority for her. She had noticed that a number of senior
players who had left the game were keen to return as coaches. At present there were very few
full-time coaching roles available. Many of the coaches she worked with recognised that their
roles would be voluntary with minimal remuneration.
Aroon was meeting a number of people who would like to coach but had not played the
game. She was keen that this group understood the options available to them in the coaching
pathway. Aroon was working with female football clubs to encourage mums of young
players to think about coaching.
I asked Aroon about her views on whether it was essential to have played the game to be a
coach. Her views were equivocal. She had grown up in high performance sport and so for her
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the pathway was from within the game. She did not think all former players had the potential
to be good coaches. She was keen to support any coach who watched games carefully in
order to understand the game and develop their knowledge of the game.
Athlete pathways
I was keen to find out about Aroon’s view of the athlete pathway model and practice. She
was very close to the delivery of a number of components of the talent and identification
process.
She thought there was a very clear pathway for talented players. The various opportunities
available were linked to chronological age groups. A young player keen to play football
could progress from the Under 11 years-of-age Skill Acquisition Program through to the
Under 15 ACT Academy of Sport program and then on to the senior Canberra United squad.
There is a rigorous trials program within this pathway. Progression within the pathway
requires athletes to perform well in these trials, as there are an increasing number of junior
players competing for a small number of places.
In the earliest trials for places, Aroon focuses on each player’s technical ability in each of the
four core skills outlined in the FFA’s National Curriculum: first touch; 1v1; running with the
ball; and striking the ball (Football Federation Australia, 2015a). She is interested too in
whether the players are “naturally fast”. As the players become older and have more
experience, Aroon starts to look at their mental state as well. These skills are contextualised
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in the trials in small-sided games (4v4 and 5v5) for younger players and 11v11 games for
older players in the Under 15 years age group.
Positional understanding
I was interested to learn about Aroon’s views of positional play. She indicated that the focus
of the Skill Acquisition Program is the four core skills. These are position independent.
Players are encouraged to rotate through all the on-field positions. She was clear that in
Canberra there was a commitment in the formative years to skills rather than positional play.
This is how she coaches.
In older players, Aroon starts to look for these qualities:
Forwards: To be quick, can hold up the ball, strike the ball very well, good in linking up
play, very good in 1v1 as well.
Midfielders: comfortable on the ball, receive the ball, good positioning, first touch,
strong on the ball so can use their physical, willing to make a challenge, good at passing
long and short.
Defenders: physically strong, good in challenge with the ball, good positional sense, very
good communicators, especially the two centre backs. Fullbacks able go forward, very
attacking, quick as well, good in distributing the ball.
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Relative age
Aroon and I spoke briefly about relative age in the football squads. She observed:
You can see differences between year groups but not within the same year group.
I did not press her on this and assumed that it was the skill of players that interested her rather
than a focus on physical presence alone.
The role of the physical education teacher
I asked Aroon about the role physical education teachers might play in supporting a girl’s
choice of football. She thought teachers should promote the benefits of football in the school
curriculum. She encouraged teachers to make sure girls played with their friends rather than
boys as they started to learn the game. She emphasised football as a fun activity for those
starting out in the game.
I wondered about Aroon's thoughts on the detection of players. These were young girls who
had not played football but might choose it if offered to them as a way of using their talent.
Aroon looked for players who had played multiple sports and who demonstrated some level
of coordination.
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4.3.1.3 Rae
One of the features of Capital Football’s pathway for female players is the link with the ACT
Academy of Sport (ACTAS). Rae Dower was appointed head coach of this program in
February 2014. At the time she was also the assistant coach of the senior women’s W-League
team, Canberra United. She became the head coach of the team in March 2015. She will
continue to be the head coach of the ACTAS program too at the time of writing this thesis.
I was keen to meet Rae to discuss her coaching career. She had played the game from the age
of seven and had played international football with the Matildas. During her senior playing
career in the Brisbane Women’s Premier League, Rae became a player-coach with her team.
This nurtured her interest in coaching and when she retired as a player she pursued coaching
qualifications. In Queensland she coached girls’ state teams at Under 13, Under 17 and Under
18 levels.
At the time of my semi-structured interview with Rae, she was one of the highest qualified
coaches in Australia. She had been a physical education teacher and had been a police officer
too. We discussed a number of issues.
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Player pathways
Rae thought that Capital Football is one of the most enlightened football federations in the
country. There is a commitment to a pathway that guides players from the Under 11 age
group through to the ACTAS program for players who will compete in the national
championships at Under 17 age level. This leads through the United pathway to the WLeague team. The Skill Acquisition program is an integral part of this pathway.
Rae suggested that a point of difference for the Canberra program compared to other
programs was whilst “a lot of teams are picked on how they are now”, Canberra looked at
“what they might become”.
Selecting players
Rae’s point about how players will be led us to a discussion of relative age effects and what
she looked for when she selected players. She made a clear distinction between the longerterm talent development process and the pressure some coaches felt to pick winning teams.
Rae looks for players who are developing as an all round athlete who has “desire,
commitment and technical proficiency”.
I asked Rae to share what she saw were the positional attributes of talented players. She
monitored outfield players’ performance in the four core skills (1v1, first touch, running with
the ball, striking the ball). Her summary of positional play was:
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Goalkeepers: fearless, skilful, ability to be in the right place at the right time. Tall,
agile, good game reading ability, able to use their feet under pressure.
Defenders: outside backs are good tacklers, able to attack and defend, intercept
passes. Their characteristics are “good in the air, heading, good passers, good short
passing game, long passing, good tacklers, reading the game to get into the right
positions, playing under pressure, good first touch”. Central defenders, agile, good
sense of balance, tend to be taller players who have speed.
Midfielders: mobile, agile, disciplined, know their role. These players “keep the ball
under pressure, good passing, good in the air, coming out, able to link up short
passing, creative in their passing the ball, moving in angles, No 10 need to be more
creative, a lot of individual skill 1v1, play killer pass, able to read the game, having
good striking on the ball”.
Forwards: play under pressure, good first touch, ruthless finisher and perhaps selfish
at times. Ready to take opportunities. Good in 1v1, has speed, good shooting ability,
brave.
I was very interested in Rae’s sense of players. I returned to the topic of player selection at
the end of the interview. She added these thoughts to the earlier player characteristics she had
identified.
Midfielders:
Creative players, with the ability to take on a player, and play that killer pass and
defend. Read the game well, discipline and know their role. Hold their position
effectively rather than chase the ball out and leave a big space. Good engine, have
good passing range, accurate passes, the ability to dribble, win the ball in the air,
strong in tackling. Arrive in the right time; strip the ball well under pressure. Good
first touch, good passing range, good in the air in defence. They are good
communicators, we need them to coach on the field, and we need them to take
responsibilities to coach each other.
Forwards:
Can they read the game? Look up and move to the right space to be in an active
position. Checking where the defenders are. Athletic enough to cope with the
demands of these positions, the strength they have, ability to play many positions.
Strike the ball well, dribble and run with the ball at speed.
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I followed up these points about positional characteristics with a question about the tests Rae
used to select players for the ACTAS squad of 14 outfield players and two goalkeepers. Her
starting points are: performance in the four core skills; reading the game, attitude, punctuality
and their interpersonal skills.
Rae does not use a specific test protocol. Although she does have an interest in players’
heights and weights, she does not require specific anthropometric tests. She does not use
endurance running or sprint tests either. In her coaching at Canberra United, she does do a
diagnostic pre-test and then follows up with a second test six weeks later to see if there have
been any adaptations to training. Rae uses GPS data for older players. She is keen to use
game play with younger players to develop their understanding.
Playing experience and coaching
Rae has had extensive experience in the game. She has played to a high level and has
coached a variety of teams from junior to senior age groups. In January 2015, she was
included as one of six coaches in the Football Federation of Australia’s coach mentor
scheme. The aim of this program is “to increase the number of advanced accredited female
coaches who possess the necessary knowledge and experience to coach at the highest level”
(W-League, 2015).
In my interview with Rae, I was interested to find out her thoughts about the importance of
playing experience prior to being a coach.
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She thought that for younger age groups it was not essential to have played the game. At the
early age group level, it was very important for players to have fun. Community coaching
courses provided the framework for these sessions and did not require prior playing
experience. She did think that older age group teams would gain from the insights coaches
had from playing themselves. She thought that playing experience in high performance
football gave coaches the opportunities to empathise with players striving to be the best they
can.
We concluded our conversation with a discussion of the role physical education teachers play
in girls’ interest in football. Rae had been a teacher herself and thought that teachers had a
vital role to play in encouraging healthy lifestyles and an interest in fitness as a life choice.
She thought that success at school gave girls confidence in sport outside school.
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4.3.2 Becoming a qualified coach
As part of my learning journey in this research, I chose to pursue coaching awards organised
and certified by Football Federation Australia.
My first step was to enrol for the Grassroots Football Certificate in the Federation’s
community coaching pathway. This is a short, three-hour course that emphasises the coach’s
role in creating practices for players aged 5 to 9 years of age. The course explains the basic
laws of the game. This turned out to be an excellent introduction for me to the FFA’s views
on how to develop a football culture at grassroots level with young players. I attended and
passed the course in April 2013.
In October 2013, I was immensely grateful that the Football United (Football United, 2015a)
organisation nominated me to participate in an Asian Football Confederation and Football
Federation of Australia C Central Licence course. This qualification is for coaches of talented
players aged 9-17 years. The course is organised for coaches who are interested in becoming
professional coaches. The course introduces Football Federation of Australia’s National
Curriculum, their coach expertise model and team model. Course attendees were given tasks
in advance of the course for completion within the course. The course is run as an eight-day
intensive learning experience.
I found the course invaluable. It gave me a detailed insight into the national curriculum and
enabled me to be involved in coaching practice with the age group players that would be
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central to my approach in Jordan. The course boosted my confidence as a coach. I did find
that my background as a physical education teacher was very helpful in the pedagogy parts of
the program. My certification as a C Licence coach is for four years.
My involvement in the course led to me contacting a Canberra football club, Gungahlin
United/ANU, to ask if I could be involved in coaching at the club. To my delight, the club
asked if I would like to be involved with their Under 16 girls’ team.
Figure 7: My first Australian coaching qualification.
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4.3.3 Observations as a volunteer coach
Club Trials
I became a volunteer assistant coach for Gungahlin United/ANU’s Under 16 girls` team from
February to August 2014. When I met the head coach of the team his suggestion was “Give
them confidence through improving their skill, they will enjoy the game, if they enjoy the
game they stay in sport”.
Gungahlin hold team trials each year in February. These trials are announced in the
community media, in the schools and shared by word of mouth. Parents are invited to attend
the trials if they wish. The head coach makes it clear to all participants before the trials what
selection criteria he will be using in an attempt to make the process as transparent as possible.
These include aspects of the Football Federation of Australia’s National Curriculum such as
first touch play. Players are encouraged to have fun as they participate in football. The
national curriculum aspires to offer female players a caring environment that encourages and
supports long term participation and friendship.
Training Sessions
Most of the Gungahlin training sessions aim to develop all players’ skills and understanding
in a team context. Coaches spend time creating a positive environment where players are
happy, able to take risks, keep fit, learn about the game and have fun. I had an opportunity to
talk informally with the coaches at the club about their coaching. This enabled me
subsequently to request more formal, semi-structured interviews.
The Under 16 team trains three times a week (two hours each session). One of the sessions is
an 11v11 game with other club teams to sensitise the players to competition. In these
sessions, the coach discusses performance at half time and at the end of the game. Subsequent
training sessions address any performance issues.
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Training sessions take place after the players’ school day. Each session comprises four
components: warm up, positioning game, game training and training game. Parents pick their
daughters up from school and bring them to the sessions. At Gungahlin (and elsewhere) this
parental involvement is seen as crucial to girls’ continuing participation in football.
Being a Coach
Considerable emphasis is placed on a coach’s playing experience in the selection of coaches
at the Gungahlin club. Former players are particularly valued. Many of these former players
are, or have been, teachers in Canberra schools.
During my time at Gungahlin, I was encouraged to develop the girls’ game understanding.
One coach suggested:
Get players to develop a good first touch, left and right foot, competent in small
spaces ahead of the season. Cover "Structured build up from keeper" as a major game
training strategy. When we nail that we give the girls flexibility to pass longer, make
our own decisions. The goalkeeper needs to become competent in this area very
quickly.
Playing out from the back in game play is crucial to players’ game understanding. The team’s
head coach works on players’ 1v1 and attacking skills, gives them strategies to think about.
The players are encouraged to be fit to attack with skill and pace. Almost all of the Gungahlin
sessions are ball focused. The girls are intelligent and pick up pressure play quickly. The
coach mentioned above observed:
Football is about skills, how to be developed, touches, were you get more touches, is
when you play age in your own gender, More touches you got on the ball, the better
you are going to be, If she plays with boys she will get less touch, so I believe it is not
that effective, if she want big challenge, she can play with older age girls -higher level
girls.
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Coaches’ Voices
During my participant observation at the Gungahlin club, I met a number of dedicated
coaches. One of them was the head coach of the Under 16 team, Eamonn Flanagan. I asked
permission to interview him in a more formal way to find out more about his coaching. I
conducted this semi-structured interview at the end of my time at the club in August 2014.
My timing of this interview meant that I had had seven months of observation and coaching
experience to inform my questions.
I present Eamonn here with his permission.
Eamonn
Eamonn is the head coach of the Under 16 girls’ team. He had played football at a high level
and has been a physical education teacher.
Eamonn uses his experiences as a teacher to create a learning environment for the team that is
fun and skill focussed. He works hard to support players’ confidence. He coaches within a
club pathway for girls that takes them from informal play with friends through club trials and
grading to the Under 16 team.
In our conversation, Eamonn noted that his talent development model supports players who
are athletic and skilful. He is keen for his players to have experience of all playing positions
to enrich their game understanding and build versatility into their game playing. He monitors
players’ performance in four core skills and looks carefully at their game understanding.
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We spoke at length about Eamonn’s views about the experience of football a coach might
have. For the Under 10s he thought “it is fine to be one of the parents and able to follow the
FFA coaching guidance, without that if you have not played or have not got coaching
courses, you will not be able to provide positive environment”.
Eamonn suggested the absence of playing experience for coaches of older players might
create problems. Eamonn focussed on pedagogy for these age groups and thought a teaching
background was particularly helpful.
the best coaches around town generally are teachers; the teachers know how to break
things down, cooperate with the kids, motivate the difficult kids ... they understand
how to educate ...
He noted the role teachers play in girls interest in football away from the club environment.
He was concerned that “if the teachers don’t like football there is no football”.
We concluded our conversation with a discussion about mixed games. Although the club
mixed teams from the under 7s to the under 11s, Eamonn made these points:
● “The more touches you get on the ball, the better you are going to be.”
● “If she plays with boys she will get less touches, so I believe it is not that effective. If
she wants a bigger challenge, she can play with older age girls with higher ability
levels.”
● “Football is about skills, how to be developed, touches, were you get more
touches, is when you play age in your own gender
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4.4 Issues to consider for football in Jordan
I indicated in the introduction to this chapter that I soon discovered the serendipity of basing
myself in Canberra. Fine and Deegan (1996:437) suggest that serendipity is “the unique and
contingent mix of insight coupled with chance”. They add:
Qualitative research inevitably contains such "good fortune," but serendipity consists
in how we transform our fortune into substantive discovery. (1996:438)
I did set about transforming my good fortune into substantive discovery.
The integration of Capital Football as a dynamic federation within a national sporting
organisation has encouraged me to think carefully about governance models for football at a
local, regional (territory) and national level. The leadership offered by Canberra Football’s
CEO, Heather Reid is, I believe, exemplary. Through her leadership a number of exceptional
female coaches have been able to connect with young girls to provide role models for females
coaching females.
I was struck by the impact a national curriculum for football can have on a community. I
observed Capital Football’s commitment to this curriculum and the explicit investment made
in supporting skill development and skill acquisition. Registrations in football clubs are
blossoming. My fieldwork took place in a club with 1350 active members (female and male).
My fieldwork in Canberra has encouraged me to think much more carefully about playful,
fun activities as the introduction to football for young girls. Conversations with coaches have
prompted me to think about how teachers and coaches who have not played football can
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contribute to early years’ participation. My own enrolment in coaching courses has pushed
me to think in detail about pedagogy in Jordan.
In Chapter 5, I note that many young girls in Jordan have their first experience of football
through physical education lessons taught by female teachers. I have taken from my Canberra
experience the importance of these teachers feeling confident about what they are doing in
their lessons.
Football in Canberra has pushed me to think about the role a formal curriculum can have in
players’ technical proficiency and tactical understanding. A curriculum does not leave
process and content to chance. I continue to work through how this curriculum might be
sensitive to developmental stages rather than solely chronological age.
My interview with Rae was particularly helpful in clarifying my thoughts about selection
criteria and relative age effects. Her insights have encouraged me to think how I might
advocate and champion long-term development within playful contexts that support
everyone’s self-esteem.
The size of the football community in Canberra is much bigger than in Al ramtha. Both cities
have similar population sizes although Al ramtha continues to grow with refugee intake. I
take away with me from Canberra the possibilities for a gender-sensitive governance
structure that gives a community a powerful sporting experience. Capital Football has shown
me what is possible and I am hopeful that despite some cultural constraints, what can be
achieved in Al ramtha is a scalable version of Canberra.
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I am hopeful that the friendships and acquaintances I have made in Canberra will connect Al
ramtha with a vibrant football culture. I think it would be wonderful if my connections with
Canberra might lead to Jordanian players meeting their Canberra sisters either in Canberra or
in Jordan. I think they would discover that they had a great deal in common. Football United
has shown me how this magic might occur (Football United, 2015b).
I admire immensely the social development focus of Football United’s advocacy and
fieldwork. I recognise the importance to be attached to creating partnerships with schools and
community groups. Connecting Al ramtha girls and women with the refugee groups within
the city resonates with Football United’s vision and statement of intent. Football United have
had a decade of experience in connecting communities and their National Development Plan
shares the strategic and operational dimensions of this work. I have learned to that hard work
and dedication are essential to realise the magic evident in social development processes
(Football United, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c).
One of the very important outcomes of my research in Canberra has been my introduction to
a governance structure within Capital Football that makes female participation in football
more possible. I indicate in Chapter 6 that I think this is an ideal type that could inform the
development of a gender equity approach in any cultural context. It is enriched by what I
regard as a respectful matriarchal approach.
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Chapter 5: Jordan
This chapter discusses my fieldwork in Jordan. I provide information about two distinct,
formal phases in my fieldwork. In Phase 1 (December 2013), I returned to my home city of
Al ramtha in the north of Jordan. I visited Amman in this phase too in order to meet national
football coaches (see Section 5.1.1). Phase 2 comprised a school-based program, January to
June 2014 (see Section 5.1.2).
I have included some photographs from two schools in Al ramtha in this chapter and in
Chapter 6. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief description of the school, class and
teacher type (discussed in section 5.2.1).
My informal contact with my family and friends continued throughout the research period.
This informal contact gave me an everyday account of life in Al ramtha (and to a lesser
extent in Amman). I was aware of significant change to the social fabric of Al ramtha in the
light of the arrival of hundred of thousands of refugees fleeing from Syria. The Al ramtha I
left in 2011 was not the Al ramtha I write about in 2015.
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Figure 8: A playground football lesson at the Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
(Note: this is a Year 6 class working on running with the ball for 3 metres and shooting. This
lesson is being taught by a Type 3 teacher described in section 5.2.1.)
5.1 Fieldwork
5.1.1 Phase 1 Fieldwork
In Phase 1 of my fieldwork (December 2013), I met with seven football coaches (five male
and two female coaches). There were four national coaches in this group (two males and two
females). I met six administrators who were involved in sport and education. As I indicated in
Section 3.1, these thirteen participants formed a purposive sample for my research.
The seven topics that were discussed in semi-structured interviews with the seven coaches
were:
● Current and future pathways to identify and develop female players in Jordan.
● Selection criteria for players (anthropometric, physiological, psychological, social).
● Test protocols.
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● Coaching female players.
● Coaches’ playing experiences.
● Relative age of players in the selection process.
● Support for female physical education teachers to engage in talent identification
initiatives.
The six administrators who agreed to participate in the semi-structured interviews had
extensive experience of sport and education. Three of the administrators worked for the
Jordan Football Association, one was a former head of department of physical education at a
University, and two were members of the Al ramtha Education Directorate.
My choice of six administrators enabled me to explore:
● The historical context for female participation in football in Jordan.
● Educational policy, practice and initiatives in Al ramtha.
● Grassroots participation programmes for girls and women.
● Biographical information for girls and women in Jordanian national teams and
programs.
● Strategic plans for the development of women’s football in Jordan.
The three topics discussed in their semi-structured interviews were:
● Current and future talent identification pathways to identify and develop talented
female players in educational institutions.
● Programs to increase female participation in the educational institutions.
● Plans to develop female coaching pathways.
The responses to the semi-structured interviews in Phase 1 resonated strongly with Vrljic and
Mallett’s (2008) research with football coaches in Queensland. Their study of five coaches
provides “an in-depth understanding about how some football coaches conceptualize key
qualities associated with football talent” (2008: 24). Vrljic and Mallett (2008) identified 165
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meaning units from their interviews with coaches. They noted four dimensions in these units:
physical skills; technical skills; cognitive-perceptual skills; personal qualities. I was
particularly interested in their report of the importance of observing performance in authentic
playing situations.
It was evident from Phase 1 that I needed to work closely with teachers to develop their
understanding of and support for the emergence of talented players. I saw opportunities here
to connect coaches and teachers to support athlete performance pathways. It was evident
from these interviews that it will be female teachers who will be responsible for the
emergence of a sustainable pathway for women’s football in Jordan. These insights led me to
think carefully about how I might develop an introductory project with teachers that might
share insights from Australia modified for Jordanian contexts.
Some of the observations made in these Phase 1 interviews included (these are translated
from Arabic):
The role of the physical education teacher
My interviews raised some important issues about teaching and coaching. I see these as
indicative of Vrljic and Mallett’s (2008:26) exhortation for researchers to be sensitive to the
“ontogenesis of individual’s coaching knowledge”.
The physical education teacher is the beloved teacher for the schoolgirls, we believe she is the
key for sustainable football culture, and the schools are the best environment to create this
culture. (Local football coach in Al ramtha)
We as coaches depend on the school’s role in developing women`s football, so we in the
Jordan Football Association have to develop physical education teachers’ coaching
knowledge, and this is what we already starting to do. (Former player and national coach)
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The more she has played, the easier it is to transfer the information in her sessions. (National
coach)
It is not enough just to be a former player. The important qualification is to be a Sport faculty
graduate. You can then do a coaching course. (Former player, coach and university tutor)
Providing opportunities for young girls to play
There was some reservation before we started but after we started I noticed that the girls and
parents were motivated. (Prince Ali Centre coach 1)
We started in 2005 with four centres. Some of these players are now playing clubs. Our hope
is that some of them will represent the national team. (Prince Ali Centre coach 1)
We should start with girls aged 5 to 6 like other countries. We could have a long-term athlete
development pathway. (Prince Ali Centre coach 2)
The media have helped us publicise football for girls. (Prince Ali Centre coach 1)
Talent identification
We are seeking the minimum basic qualities. We do not have a large number of players.
(National coach 1)
Each position has its own qualities. (National coach 1)
I think skills are more important than physical stature. Skills first. (Former player, coach and
university tutor)
I tend to select younger players … it is harder to develop skills with older players. (National
coach 2)
Throughout these interviews, I was mindful of my role as a researcher within my own
culture. I did know a number of the interviewees and I did try to manage my knowledge of
them in order to engage in meaningful conversation. I was conscious of the status of the
interviewees. I was determined to listen carefully to what they had to share with me and as a
qualitative interviewer was keen to enable the respondents speak for themselves. I was
determined not to make assumptions about their responses or over-read what they said. I was
106
conscious too of probing what they thought rather than what they assumed I would want them
to say. The more interviews I conducted the better this process became. I was very aware of
these issues when I analysed the data from these interviews.
I did audio record the interviews with everyone’s permission. I transcribed these in Arabic
and my primary record of them remains in Arabic. I provide an example of the questions I
posed in interviews with coaches in Appendix E.
My Phase 1 interviews were the first interviews I had conducted in my research. I had tried
out the questions with three friends in Jordan, one of them was an experienced coach, a
second was a physical education teacher and the third was a sports administrator. We were
able to speak in Arabic and this helped me clarify how I could phrase the questions.
The interviews provided much less detail than my corresponding interviews in Canberra
(discussed in Chapter 4). They did provide invaluable background information and enabled
me to be up-to-date about current events in football locally and nationally. I have reflected on
why this difference occurred. I do think that my respondents in Australia were used to talking
about football. I sensed that they were keen to help me understand their work as a visitor and
student. In Jordan, my respondents knew me and were aware of my studies in Australia. They
knew me but my studies had taken me away from the day-to-day interactions in Al ramtha. I
was hopeful my respondents in Jordan would not see me as judgemental and was particularly
sensitive and deferential in my fieldwork in Jordan.
However, I was left with two vital directions for the next phase of my research. I mentioned
above that I needed to look carefully at the role of female physical education teachers in
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inducting girls into football. A second direction related to a strategic opportunity created by
the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness.
One of the participants identified in my purposive sample in Jordan was the Coordinator of
the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness in the female schools in the Al ramtha Education
Directorate. The Coordinator was very interested in a project to connect football with the
Award for Fitness. In our conversations we explored the possibilities of undertaking some
measurements pre- and post-Award program and to explore the impact female teachers have
on girls’ engagement with football.
5.1.1.1 Relative age of female football players in Jordan
Aim 4 of this thesis is “to investigate the relative age effect on selection processes in
Jordanian football”. The associated research question is “Is there any evidence of the
prevalence of a relative age effect in selection process and on athlete retention in Jordanian
football?”.
I have provided a review of some of the relative age literature in section 2.5. In my fieldwork
in Jordan and Australia, I have discussed relative age with coaches and administrators. In this
section, I report some data I researched in my Phase 1 fieldwork in Jordan.
Through my contacts at the Jordan Football Association, I was able to find the birth dates of:
all the registered national first division players (n=141) for the 2013-2014 season; and
members of four national teams (n=111) in the 2013-2014 season.
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National league players
The birth years of national league players ranged from 1977 to 1996. For each player in this
cohort, I allocated a place in the quartile of the year. The profile of this group of players was:
Quartile 1
January - March
Quartile 2
April - June
Quartile 3
July - September
Quartile 4
October - December
29
46
26
40
Table 1: Place in birth year for national league players.
There were 93 players within this group that were born in 1992 or later. 10 of the players
were born in 1987.
National team players
The birth years of players in Jordan’s women’s football teams ranged from 1987 to 2003. The
oldest national player born in January 1987. The youngest player was from the under 14
cohort. She was born in April 2003.
Team
Quartile 1
January March
Quartile 2
April - June
Quartile 3
July September
Quartile 4
October December
Senior
10
12
11
6
U19
4
9
11
7
U16
6
9
8
5
U14
3
4
3
3
Table 2: Place in birth year for national team players.
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Discussion
The relative age data presented here are very basic. I share them as the start of a monitoring
process that looks explicitly at the relative age effect. It is the first time these data have been
reported for Jordan. I am hopeful they will contribute to discussions about transparency of
selection criteria as well as stimulate conversations about personal performance pathways.
Tables 1 and 2 present data from 242 registration documents. The total number of players in
these data is less than 242, as national team players are registered league players too. For the
purposes of analysis here I consider the data as two separate databases.
In section 2.5, I reviewed some of the literature and noted Helsen, Van Winckel and
Williams’ (2005:364) observation:
At 18 years of age, most of the female players are fully mature physically, and
consequently the relative age differences are much less pronounced in this age group.
In addition, it may be that the technical component of soccer is of greater importance
in the women’s compared with the men’s game, and consequently it may be more
appropriate to select female players who are technically rather than physically
impressive.
From the data available to me, only 22% (n=29) of the national league players had a date of
birth in the first quartile of the year. It is interesting to note the number of players born in the
second (n=46) and fourth (n=40) quartiles of the year. I am apprehensive about applying
statistical tests to such a small dataset that covers twenty-nine different birth years.
With regard to the place in the birth year of national team and age group players, I reported in
section 2.5 that researchers in France (Delorme, Boiche & Raspaud, 2010), Japan (Nakata &
Sakamoto, 2014), Spain (Sedano, Vaeyens & Redondo, 2015) and the United States of
America (Vincent & Glamser, 2006) found little, if any, evidence of a relative age effect in
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women’s football. Sedano, Vaeyens and Redondo (2015) do add a note of caution about
coaches’ tendencies to pick relatively older defenders and goalkeepers. I do not have any data
to indicate whether this is the case in Jordan but this does warrant attention in subsequent
research.
From the data available to me about national team and age group players, 21% (n=23) of
these players were born in the first quartile of the year. There was no evidence of a relative
age effect in any of the four age cohorts I examined. 31% (n=34) of the players were born in
the second quartile, 30% (n=33) in the third quartile and 19% (n=21) in the fourth quartile.
The dataset is so small that only a small number of players are present in each of the quartiles
for each of the four age groups.
I am hopeful that this is the start of a conversation about relative age in Jordan football and
one that continues to follow the legacy of the FIFA Under 17 tournament in 2016. Even small
datasets create opportunities for coaches to consider and discuss how the identification and
development of players can occur in Jordan. Such discussions might explore different rates of
physiological maturation and how the system in Jordan can support personal differences that
challenge conventional wisdom about chronological ages and developmental stages. This will
require the kind of longitudinal study proposed by Nakata and Sakamoto (2014).
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5.1.2 Phase 2 Fieldwork
Phase 2 of my fieldwork, the Introductory Coaching Project, was an emergent outcome
(Given, 2008) of the interviews conducted in Phase 1. Throughout my research, I was
mindful that my qualitative enquiries would require me to be flexible in my response to what
I discovered. This extended to methodological flexibility too that saw my approach range
from observer to participant along a continuum of engagement (Atkinson & Hammersley,
1994).
I understand that I need to be clear about how my experiences in Phase 1 connected with
Phase 2. Although I struggled with some of the language for conceptualisation in English, I
was clear that whatever I undertook in Phase 2 needed to address some fundamental issues
about pedagogy and cultural contexts. My participants in Australia helped me understand
how a coherent approach to the teaching of football skills and game understanding can have
short, medium and long-term outcomes, particularly in sustaining engagement in football.
Although there is debate about the prescriptive nature of the FFA’s national curriculum, there
is no such documentation to act as a guide in Jordan. My conversation with the Coordinator
of the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness provided the bridge between two cultural contexts.
The location of an introductory coaching project within schools’ annual involvement in the
Award Scheme gave the project quasi-official status. I saw opportunities for such connections
to stimulate discussions about participation and engagement in the Al ramtha schools.
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In section 1.3, I noted that I did not expect a system from one culture to be transplanted
unproblematically into another culture. I was helped in thinking about the process of
adaptation by contemplation of Max Weber’s ideal types (Gerth & Mills, 2009).
Conceptually, I was attracted to the potential of an ideal type to help me formulate thoughts
about leadership, governance, teaching and coaching within the context of gendered relations.
Like Manning (2014), I came to think about how ideal types and life histories cohere and
contemplated how to use whatever I discovered in Canberra as a stimulus for better practice
northern Jordan. Manning (2014:221) suggests that there is an ethnographic spiral that
interweaves “the ethnographer’s categories with his or her life-historical investigations”. This
process helped me understand the potential connections between my conceptual thinking and
“the messiness of fieldwork” (Manning, 2014:221).
Nickelsen (2009:np) notes, “there has been a growing awareness in social science that
ethnography and intervention are not distinct, but intermingled practices”. In his study of
organisational behaviour in a Danish hospital he draws attention to his efforts “to interfere, as
an intentional act, in order to make a difference to those being observed” (2009:np). Like
him, I see ‘interference’ as a way to describe reciprocal relationships between teacher,
coaches and myself. This notion of interference:
provides a more humble description and metaphor of the relations between the social
researcher and the field of actors he or she tries to influence. (Nickelsen, 2009:np)
This kind of interference resonates with participatory action approaches discussed by Farias,
Hastie and Mesquita (2015). They note the iterative nature of participatory action and
identify four research cycles: planning, acting and monitoring, reflecting, and fact-finding. I
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thought their use of action research in four different team sport settings (basketball, handball,
football and volleyball) was very informative. Their conclusions about the ways inclusion in
team games might be operationalised were of particular interest. They suggest:
A focus should be placed on effort but also on competence improvements. If it is not
clear to students how they can benefit directly from their participation they will not
invest themselves in the fullest sense in cooperative work and hence, learning and
well-being within teams may be jeopardized. (2015:15)
I think this has profound implications for pedagogy in Jordanian schools. An understanding
of competencies can enrich the interaction between a teacher and pupils in football. The
insights used by teachers in their physical education classes can induct children into physical
activity in a caring and welcoming environment. The availability of technical and tactical
understanding in an invasive game played in an authentic way would add another dimension
to these learning environments in school and perhaps stimulate involvement in football as a
central life interest.
In constructing my interference approach, I was mindful of the work that Anne BundeBirouste and her colleagues undertake in the Football United organisation. Her leadership has
demonstrated that “people’s love for football” builds “opportunities for belonging, racial
harmony and community cohesion” (Football United, 2015b). Nathan, Kemp, BundeBirouste, MacKenzie, Evers and Shwe (2013) report quantitative and qualitative indicators of
the success of the Football United approach to support and develop young people’s peer,
prosoocial and cross-cultural relationships. In an earlier review, Nathan, Bunde-Birouste,
Evers, Kemp, MacKenzie and Henley (2010) discussed the plasticity of the Football United
approach. This plasticity requires an ability “to adapt and alter to accommodate the everchanging conditions of possibility in which interventions are implemented and play out”
(Nathan et al., 2010:np).
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My interest in Football United’s approach was strengthened further during my fieldwork. My
home city of Al ramtha is close to the Syrian border. The population of the city in 2011 was
approximately 131,000 inhabitants. By the end of 2014, the United Nations Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) had registered 623,112 refugees who had made journeys from the conflict in Syria
to Jordan. Many of these are living in Al ramtha and camps in the region. There were 44,575
Iraqi refugees also (UNHCR, 2014).
My home city has been transformed by the arrival of Syrian refugees. The city’s population
has doubled. Many of the refugee children attend schools in the city. I see this as an
enormous opportunity to develop Football United’s vision in general and to explore how a
strong woman strong world approach (Football United 2015c) might flourish in the most
difficult of circumstances. This approach uses football to focus on “community driven longterm interventions which empower, protect, educate, and nurture girls and women, providing
them with equal rights and opportunities” (World Vision, 2015). Football United has
partnered with the One World Play organisation in Australia to provide opportunities to play
football in Sydney (One World Play Project, 2015). One of the participants in the Sydney
project, Shegofa, illustrates the impact football can have on personal life choices. She is
quoted in a One World Play Project blog post:
I am the first female soccer player in my family history. I wasn’t allowed to play
soccer because I was a girl, so I tried out for a boys’ soccer team, got selected, then
told my parents. That was seven years ago. Now, I am involved with coaching
programs at school and with Football United, hoping to inspire other girls like myself
to get involved. I am now playing for a women’s state league team in New South
Wales. (One World Play Project, 2015)
My aspirations in planning Phase 2 of my fieldwork were to offer opportunities for girls to
play football in Al ramtha schools and to provide a safe learning environment that might
encourage girls to grow their interest in football as a central life interest. I felt that such
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modest beginnings might make a contribution to a sustainable talent identification and
development pathway in Jordanian football.
My experiences in Australia prompted me to think that the Coaching Program in the schools
could be a local adaptation of some of the ideas of FUn (Football United, 2011),
FUNdamentals (Balyi, Way & Higgs, 2013) and the content of Football Federation
Australia’s national curriculum (Football Federation Australia, 2015a). The FUn program
uses schools as a focus for football activity to provide “a convenient, supportive and trusted
location” (Football United, 2011). The program runs over an extended period of time (20
weeks) and offers different ways to participate (as player, coach and organiser). The
FUNdamentals approach recommends a staged approach to long-term engagement with
sport: Active Start; FUNdamentals; Learning to Train; Training to Train; Training to
Compete; Training to Win; Active for Life (Balyi, Way & Higgs, 2013).
Figure 9: Teaching football skills at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
(Note: This is a year 6 class taught by a Type 1 teacher described in section 5.2.1.)
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5.2 An introductory coaching project
5.2.1 Background
Participants’ responses to my questions in the semi-structured interviews in Phase 1 of my
fieldwork in Jordan raised a fundamental question about support for female physical
education teachers’ continuing professional development in Jordanian schools.
There are three types of female teachers in Jordanian schools, each type requires a different
kind of support for their personal learning in football:
● Type 1: a former player who has followed a coach education course.
● Type 2: someone who has not played but has followed a coach education course.
● Type 3: someone who has not played and has not followed a coach education course.
The identification of each type of teacher in each school has enormous importance for the
long-term flourishing of women’s football in Jordan. Young girls must attend school and so
developing a curriculum for their involvement in football is a priority if there is to be a
sustainable approach to the women’s game. Their induction into and experience of football
will be defined for them by the type of teacher they meet.
With this in mind, I developed an introductory project in two Al ramtha schools. My aims
were to broaden female participation in the Al ramtha district and to create opportunities for
young girls (at grassroots, junior level) to discover football, have fun and motivate them to
engage in football as adults. I was interested too in whether it would be possible to identify
talented girls and encourage them to join the school team. This approach was a direct support
for the Asian Football Development Program (AFDP) in Jordan.
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I met with teachers in two schools and invited them to be participants in the introductory
project. Subsequently, I met with the coordinator of the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness
in the female schools in the Al ramtha directorate. Together we agreed on how the project
might support teachers and contribute to the development of women’s football.
There was one Type 1 teacher in the Al Bowaida Mixed Secondary School, a Type 2 teacher
in the Zainab bint Alrasool School, and a Type 3 teacher in the Al Bowaida Mixed Secondary
School.
My experiences of the Australian national football curriculum approach guided my proposals
for a modified approach in the two Al ramtha schools. My volunteer coaching role in
Australia (see, for example, sections 4.3.2 and 4.3.3) highlighted for me the kind of
adaptations I might make. I felt able to adapt the curriculum to local circumstances for the
teachers and pupils.
I understood that the Al ramtha schools would have a minimum of equipment and that
lessons would be conducted in the school playground rather than on the grass surfaces so
familiar in Canberra. The girls had little or no access to sport clothing or footwear.
The modifications of the curriculum I recommended to the teachers were designed to enable
them to teach some football skills and facilitate game play. The curriculum provided
guidelines that gave us all some confidence to teach football.
The introductory project comprised two training phases (Discovery and Skill Acquisition) for
pupils aged 5 to 13 years. It took place over twelve weeks in the second semester of the 2013-
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2014 school year and ran at the same time as the King Abdullah II Award Program for
Physical Fitness.
Three football skills were tested before and after the program: dribbling with the ball between
two cones for a distance of 6 metres (Figure 10); dribbling the ball 3 metres and shooting into
a goal (Figure 11); a penalty kick from 6 metres into a goal (Figure 12).
Figure 10: Dribbling the ball 6 metres at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
(Note: This is a year 6 class taught by a Type 1 teacher described in section 5.2.1.)
Figure 11: Dribbling and shooting at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
(Note: This is a year 7 pupil practicing in a class taught by a Type 1 teacher described in
section 5.2.1.)
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Figure 12: Penalty on its way at Zainab School, Al ramtha
(Note: This is taken from a class taught by a Type 2 teacher described in section 5.2.1.
Zainab School uses a multi-purpose playground for its physical education lessons. There are
numerous court markings in the playground that can be adapted for skill tests. This example
uses the volleyball court markings.)
5.2.2 The introductory program
The two schools in the introductory program were the Zainab bint Alrasool School and the
Albowaida School in the Al ramtha directorate. The Coordinator of the King Abdullah II
Award for Fitness supervised the program. The aim of the project was for teachers to
introduce basic football skills to two age groups, 5-8 years and 9-13 years within the context
of the Award for Fitness. Football would be the activity focus of these schools during the
award for Fitness school year. Both groups met twice each week for their football lessons.
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Figure 13: A football lesson in a mixed class during the Award scheme at Al Bowaida
School. (Note: this is a class taught by a Type 1 teacher and includes boys and girls in Year
3.)
Most of the lessons took place with whatever footwear and clothing the children had at the
time.
Figure 14: Dressed to play at the Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha
(Note: in this picture the girls are waiting their turn to try out their skills. This is a mixed
Year 3 class taught by a Type 3 teacher.)
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The macro-issue that arose from Phase 1 semi-structured interviews was the support teachers
needed to introduce football into the school curriculum. As a consequence, a primary aim of
the introductory program was to support teachers and monitor their coaching of football. I
supported the teachers in this process and shared with them my experience of Australian
teaching and coaching. This gave opportunities to look at micro-issues raised by each
teacher’s experience of delivering the program.
Three teachers were involved in the introductory program (one of each Type of teacher, 1, 2
and 3). After my meetings with them in December, I prepared a coaching plan for them. Each
teacher worked with approximately thirty-five girls in each class. All groups contained
refugees from the Syrian conflict.
I shared some ideas with the teachers about how they might conduct their classes. I used my
experience as a community coach in Canberra to inform these suggestions. These ideas
included doing some benchmark measurements before the start of the program and then
repeating the measurements at the end of the program.
The number of female pupils in both schools was 797. Of these 180 were monitored in the
introductory program (60 pupils for each teacher). It was agreed that this number was
manageable for each teacher, given their other responsibilities. The program occurred within
school time so no special arrangements had to be made for the girls’ participation. The
program took place within each school’s physical education lessons. Both playgrounds were
set up for handball and volleyball rather than football. The goals that were used in testing
procedures were handball goals (when available) or cones.
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The pupils aged 5 to 8 years took part in an eight-week ‘Discovery’ program. The 9-13 year
olds followed the ‘Discovery’ course and had an additional four weeks of a Skill Acquisition
component. The first classes were in the week of 16 February 2014 and the final lessons were
held on the week beginning 4 May 2014.
The essence of the Discovery phase was to encourage teachers and pupils to enjoy
opportunities to play football. In Australia, the FFA emphasises trial and improvement in this
phase as a way to encourage game playing. The FFA curriculum encourages fun through
organised exercises. My support for the teachers drew upon these ideas for lesson plans that
included game playing and the teaching of kicking, running with the ball, and shooting. I
suggested the teachers use the FFA’s lesson format of beginning (activation), middle
(training activities), and end (small-sided games).
The Skill Acquisition phase provided an opportunity for teachers to focus on the three
technical skills (kicking, running with the ball, and shooting). I encouraged the teachers to
see these as foundation skills for game playing. The FFA recommends that this phase offer a
more structured approach to the lessons. I used their three-part approach to support the
teachers in their lesson formats and delivery. This approach has an introduction of a
foundation skill then moves to the training of that skill and concludes by using that skill in
the context of a small-sided game. I encouraged teachers to end their lessons with a summary
of the lesson’s aims and objectives in preparation for the next time the children came to play
football. In some of the lessons this led to conversations between teachers and pupils about
dribbling the ball as well as running with the ball. Teachers were able to explain and, in some
cases, demonstrate how to control the ball when there were other players nearby.
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I was in contact with the teachers throughout the introductory phase. We spoke each week on
Skype and on an ‘as need’ basis should any issues arise. We exchanged emails regularly. The
three teachers knew each other. It helped having two teachers in one school. All three
teachers grew in confidence by being connected and sharing a pedagogical process. It is very
easy for teachers to feel isolated and question their own ability. I do see this as better practice
for others who may be contemplating this kind of work.
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5.2.3 Data
The Coordinator of the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness in the female schools in the Al
ramtha Education Directorate suggested that the introductory program answer three
questions:
1. Are there any statistical differences in the students’ performance before and after the
program?
2. What is the impact of a teacher’s prior experience of football in delivering Discovery
and Skill Acquisition classes?
3. Are there any relative age effects evident in skill acquisition?
I thought these were very helpful suggestions. I integrated them into my research plan.
My investigations into these questions are best described as introductory and exploratory.
With the help of the three teachers in the project, I was able to gather some baseline data. I
was not present at all the pre-test and post-test opportunities in both schools. These data are
clearly open to the threats to internal and external validity (Campbell & Stanley, 1963;
Schmidt & Hunter, 2015). I believed these threats raised issues about the application of
operational definitions to assure accurate and reproducible measurements (internal validity)
that might be the subject of statistical analyses. The absence of such assurance in terms of
intra- and inter-observer reliability studies compromise confidence in and relationship
asserted between independent and dependent variables. As with other investigations of this
type, history and maturation have the potential to limit the validity of the investigation. The
particular circumstances of my fieldwork settings raised the external validity threat of
whether my findings are applicable to other contexts. This was a purposive sample and I was
mindful that such an approach has important generalisability constraints. I was aware too that
there might be some ecological validity issues in terms of the design of the project and the
impact that the teachers might have upon the data collected (“experimenter effects”).
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I am presenting my work here as an example of the formative nature of my thinking. I do see
enormous benefits in analysing valid and reliable data. Given the importance attached to
performance against standards in the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness, this will be for me
an important area for personal, professional development.
The modesty of my approach here leads me to talk about suggestions and resonance rather
than assert statistical significance in the data. However, I do have these data to share for the
testing procedures.
Pupils were scored on a three-point scale for two of the skills. A score of 3 indicated that they
were very proficient.
Skill
Participants
Median
Kicking the ball
Pre-test
180
1.59
strongly toward the Post-test
180
1.97
goal.
Penalty kick
Running with ball
Pre-test
180
1.57
3m and score
Post-test
180
1.95
Table 3: Scores in the kicking and running with ball tests.
Standard
Deviation
.537
.573
T
Value
-9.316
Statistical
Significance
.000
.608
.572
-8.992
.000
The third test, running with the ball, was timed in seconds.
Skill
Running with the ball
between 2 cones
Participants
Pre-test
180
Median
6.47
Post-test
180
6.06
Table 4: Scores in the timed running with the ball test.
Standard
Deviation
5.463
T
Value
3.485
Statistical
Significance
.001
4.488
These measurements do suggest statistical significance (at the 0.05 level) but I am extremely
wary of attaching too much importance to these as a one-off measure with a small cohort of
pupils without any explicit intra- and inter-observer reliability studies.
The results are encouraging but do require more rigour in their design and measurement. This
would include, for example, careful consideration of how to support the teachers in their
scoring of pupil performance. It might lead to some substantial in-service teacher training
about systematic observation, data capture and analysis. This could lead to further
conversations about how to align such testing with the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness. I
discuss some of these issues later in the thesis to consider this potential alignment.
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Question 1: Are there any significant statistical differences in the students’ performance
before and after the program?
I was aware that the sample size was small from which draw any statistical significance.
Pupils (n=180) in year groups 1 to 8 were tested over a two-week pre-test period that
coincided with the Fitness Award tests.
There was evidence that the children who underwent a post-test measure improved their
performances in each of the three tests. This was not a rigorous statistical experiment and it is
likely that there were individual differences with the tests that limit any detailed response to
question 1. I am confident, however, that from the data available to me that there was a
change in the girls’ football skills … for the better.
I am keen to return to this test in future years and design a statistical test that has rigorous
pre- and post-test protocols and that uses a control group to compare the monitored pupils
with the whole class cohort.
Question 2: What is the impact of a teacher’s prior experience of football in delivering
Discovery and Skill Acquisition classes?
This was a small sample of teachers (n=3) that has a single case for each of the three teacher
types, namely:
● Type 1: a former player who has followed a coach education course.
● Type 2: someone who has not played but has followed a coach education course.
● Type 3: someone who has not played and has not followed a coach education course.
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Raw data from the pre- and post-test parts of this project revealed that there was some
evidence that pupils in classes taught by the Type 1 teacher were more successful in
improving their performance with the penalty kick and running with the ball 3 metres and
shooting. There appeared to be no difference between pupils in the dribbling the ball test.
I am not making any statistical assertions about these data. Clearly, there needs to be a much
more rigorous design for any attempt to assert differences between teacher type. However,
the data do suggest an interesting line of enquiry. The apparent impact of a Type 1 teacher in
the two tests might link to the kinematics of kicking a ball. This is worthy of further
investigation, I believe. It might mean that young girls playing football and kicking a ball for
a first time do need access to someone who understands the coordination to strike a ball,
particularly if it is moving.
As with the response to Question 1, it is clearly unsound to make any statistical inference
from the data until a much more detailed study with controls is put in place.
Question 3: Are there any relative age effects evident in skill acquisition?
I had access to pupils’ date of birth records during this research. For the purposes of this
study, I looked at place in the birth year in two six-month blocks (first half of the year,
second half of the year). The school year in Jordan starts in August.
Of the 180 pupils that teachers monitored in the project, 106 were born in the first half of the
calendar year and 74 in the second half. My research did not reveal any significant difference
between pupils in the first half and second half of the year. This is to be expected, I suggest,
given that many of the girls were playing football for the first time. This finding resonates
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with Sedano, Vaeyens and Redondo (2015) in their data on lower levels of Spanish female
football.
5.2.4.1 Discussion
The data reported here bring together two fundamental issues raised in Phase 1 in my Jordan
fieldwork: the role of teachers’ experience of playing football in the delivery of their physical
education lessons; and the opportunities to introduce football within a national fitness award.
I see the approach presented here as the start of a conversation and a pointer to a much more
rigorous approach to the observation and analysis of game playing behaviours in school.
Within the constraints of a very limited design, three suggestions have emerged:
● Pupils appeared to improve in three skills during a relatively short period of time.
● Perhaps teachers with some experience of playing football can help beginners to
understand the mechanics of kicking.
● There is no evident relative age effect for players beginning their football journey.
These results have encouraged me to think about the approach that can be taken to inducting
young girls into football and offering a sustainable approach to their long-term involvement.
I have not had access to other data from the two schools in question. I would be interested to
explore if the motivational aspects of being involved in football at both schools elevated their
Fitness Award scores in the current and subsequent years. I understand that access to these
additional data would have enabled me to have a much more comprehensive view of the
connections between my introductory program and the established measurement process for
the Fitness Award. It was important in an Al ramtha context to have some quantification of
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the children’s performance in the skills tests. I wanted to make this task as easy as possible
for the teachers and chose the three-point scale to make assessment as straightforward as it
could be. The skills and tests were new to the schools involved and, as I have indicated
elsewhere in the thesis, inspired by the Australian national football curriculum.
The three teachers in my project gave up an enormous amount of their time to assist me with
this project. I see enormous opportunities for continuing professional learning for these and
other teachers in Jordan who are keen to contribute to the flourishing of girls’ and women’s
football.
5.3 Current practice and opportunities for development
My analysis of Phase 1 fieldwork interview transcripts uncovered what Mills et al (2014:
140) characterise as a “higher-order theme”. Coaches and administrators were clear about the
role female teachers must play in the development of football. Compulsory education
provides a perfect opportunity for teachers to engage girls’ in football within the school
timetable.
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Figure 15: A physical education football lesson at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha.
(Note: this is a lesson for Year 8 girls taught by a Type 1 teacher.)
It is evident that these teachers need professional development support to grow their
confidence in teaching and coaching football. My research has identified three types of
teacher experience of football in Jordan. My hope is that insights from Capital Football in
Canberra and from the Football Federation of Australia’s national curriculum can support the
personalisation of support for each type of teacher experience, namely: a former player who
has followed a coach education course Type 1); someone who has not played but has
followed a coach education course (Type 2); and someone who has not played and has not
followed a coach education course (Type 3).
My analysis of the pre- and post-program test data acknowledges that I have a very small
sample population. I am mindful of Patton’s (1999) exhortations to be modest about
purposive sampling outputs particularly when the sample is so small. He notes:
Findings will be limited based on selectivity in the people who were sampled either
for observations or interviews, or on selectivity in document sampling. (Patton, 1999:
1197)
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Patton acknowledges that these samples are information-rich. In such samples there is a focus
“on understanding and illuminating” cases (Patton, 1999:1197) and an awareness that the
temptation to generalise must be resisted.
In the introductory program in the two schools, I note the performance of a Type 2 teacher.
She is a very experienced teacher. Her teaching of football resonates with Football
Federation of Australia’s support for non-football players as community coaches. I suggest
that a sustainable talent development environment for girls and women in Jordan requires a
pedagogical approach that emphasises enjoyment through guided discovery. This approach
requires confidence to adapt a curriculum developed in Australia to Al ramtha cultural
contexts.
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Chapter 6: Sustainable Development of Women’s Football in
Jordan
One of my hopes in this research project is that I can contribute to the discussion of and
practice in ‘sustainability’ in football. I understand that this term is used in a variety of ways.
My use is related directly to a process that links the sampling of a game as play to more
organised sport structures. My hope is that young girls who are introduced to sport in schools
can have a lifelong interest in football.
My understanding of applying an Australian talent and identification model in my Jordanian
community is that I need to be clear about the overarching governance of football within a
community context. In Chapter 4, I identified some of the characteristics of a dynamic
football federation, Capital Football, evident in Canberra. In Chapter 5, I introduced part of a
Jordanian story from Al ramtha.
In Chapter 6, I draw together some of the arguments made earlier in the thesis. Like Spaaij
(2009), I am interested in the social capital possibilities of adopting an inclusive approach to
sport involvement. In Al ramtha at present, and in the foreseeable future, sport will have a
very important role to play in connecting communities. I understand from Spaaij’s (2009)
investigations of a rural community in Australia that opportunities for linking social capital in
and through sport are limited. This potential must not be overstated for Al ramtha too.
However, I am keen to explore the place of voluntary organisations “as vital community hubs
fostering social cohesion, identity, and a shared focus and outlet” (Spaaij, 2009:18)
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The simplicity of football makes it an excellent game form through which to contemplate the
sustainability of sport opportunities. I am mindful, as Vail (2007) has suggested, that
sustainable sport-based development requires: a community’s readiness; champions to
support the process; stakeholder partnerships; and processes to develop the community.
My research is dedicated to this kind of sustainability. It requires me to think about how the
world outside Al ramtha can impact on our everyday lives. My thesis is an attempt to
integrate themes that emerge in the literature (Chapter 2) with my fieldwork in two
communities (Chapters 4 and 5) separated by some 14,000 kilometres.
Figure 16: A playground football lesson at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha.
(Note: This is a mixed Year 3 class taught by a Type 3 teacher.)
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6.1 Thinking globally acting locally: literature and fieldwork
Pedersen and Seidman (2004:420), in their study of the contribution of achievement in team
sports to adolescent girls’ self-esteem development, concluded:
Our findings emphasize the importance of maintaining or increasing opportunities for
young people to participate in team sports. Further, greater athletic opportunities may
be most urgently needed among those young people, including urban girls, who
perceive themselves as less interested in and less skilled at such activities. Finally,
structuring team sports activities so that opportunities for participants to achieve
mastery are maximized, whether through awards or through positive verbal feedback
from a respected coach, appears essential to producing the positive psychosocial
benefits of sports participation among young women.
In Chapter 4, I outlined how approaches to football in Canberra were producing these
“positive psychosocial benefits of sports participation among young women”. In part, perhaps
a large part, these benefits were being facilitated by female leaders.
My research in Jordan has highlighted the role female physical education teachers can play in
this leadership process. My introductory project involved three teachers with different
experiences of football.
In Chapter 5, I identified three types of teachers.
● Type 1: a former player who has followed a coach education course.
● Type 2: someone who has not played but has followed a coach education course.
● Type 3: someone who has not played and has not followed a coach education course.
In all my semi-structured interviews, I have been keen to explore people’s perceptions of
teachers’ experience. My findings suggest some equivocality about this issue.
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In the next section I discuss this issue explicitly.
6.2 Teachers and coaches
LaVoi and Dutove (2012:17) note “Female coaches are a statistical minority in nearly all
sports, at all levels, across the globe”. They add:
A dearth of female role models in visible positions can lead to many unfavourable
outcomes for girls and women, including devaluation of abilities and self-perceptions
(Lockwood, 2006), failure to realize sport career aspirations and potential (Hums et
al., 2007), and an inability to challenge or resist negative stereotypes regarding gender
and leadership. (ibid)
In their work, careful consideration of the personal and socio-cultural dimensions of
becoming a female coach ranges from the individual to interpersonal to organisation to the
socio-cultural level. At the socio-cultural level, female coaches have had to deal with
constraints on their choice of occupation:
The socio-cultural barriers for female coaches are primarily related to dominant
gender ideologies and stereotypes. Dominant ideologies and the ‘association of
authority with men underpins the patriarchal control of sport and coaching’, which
subsequently serves to ‘repress resistance and oppress diversity’ (Norman, 2008:448).
Elsewhere, Norman’s (2010) notes of women’s coaching experience.
women’s experiences as coaches are often affected by more micro, everyday
interactions and experiences. The cultural values of sport instil a belief in some men
that practices such as coaching are their property. Women who want to succeed in
such occupations carry a burden of doubt and suspicion. Consequently, female
coaches often feel as though they have to prove themselves as effective coaches to
men who question or trivialize their presence. (2010:513)
My fieldwork in Canberra connected me with two coaches (Rae and Eamonn) who had been
physical education teachers. I was interested to learn about their perspectives on experience
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of playing football. From my conversations with them, I started to think about the
expectations we might have of female teachers in Jordan.
Each of the three teachers in my study in Jordan holds a Masters qualification in Physical
Education and Sport. They are very well qualified teachers. One of them is a former player.
The presence of three types of teacher in my study has really encouraged me to think about
how we support teachers with varying levels of experience of football. All three teachers
have created fun lessons for the girls in their classes.
My exposure to the national football curriculum in Australia and the identification of four
phases in the curriculum has focussed my attention on the courses that might be facilitated in
Jordan. The curriculum model has challenged me to think about how such an approach might
work in Jordan. I am aware that other models are being proposed in Jordan at the present
time. As I indicated earlier in the thesis, experts from Norway and Germany are offering
coach education opportunities.
My discussion of the data collected from testing pupils in three schools (see section 5.2.3) has
encouraged me to think about a coherent approach to the profiling of performance. There is a
system in place to collect cohort data in the King Abdullah II Award for Fitness. I do see
considerable opportunities to align the testing of football skills (and perhaps even tactical
understanding) with the Award process. This would provide some long-term data about
children’s performances in the tests and generate conversations about normative data. Any
such alignment would need rigorous attention to systematic observation protocols and the
development of intra- and inter-observer reliability studies. There are procedures in place to
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monitor the reliability of Fitness Award data and I hope that the sustainability of football in
Jordanian schools might be linked to this annual event.
These kinds of opportunities will increase as the FIFA Under 17 World Cup draws near. I am
hopeful that discussions about pedagogy and process will thrive. My research is the start of
this journey for me. I am thinking about how I might create resources in Arabic for female
teachers and coaches and perhaps stimulate discussions about a self-organising group of likeminded teachers and coaches interested in talent identification and development.
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6.3 Governance
In the last decade, football in Australia has undergone a radical governance overhaul. My
exposure to the Australian sports system in general and Capital Football in particular has
encouraged me to think about governance processes. One of my big lessons has been how
well Capital Football articulates with Football Federation Australia. Heather Reid has
demonstrated for me just what can happen when an insightful leader is prepared to challenge
gender inequality.
This local/national interaction has made me think about how any initiative in Al ramtha needs
to connect with the national sporting organisation, JFA, and the Ministry of Education. There
is a clear need for strategic thinking and operational delivery.
Jacobs’ (2014:534) research affirmed that economic development, equity, talent pool and
men’s soccer legacy are “important macro-level determinants of women’s success on the
international stage”. She notes that her study “has highlighted that dedicated governance
staff, training and youth development are also key correlates of successful football nations”
(2014:534).
She adds:
in the case of governance and youth development investments, the potential impact of
these investments may extend well beyond the initial investment period. Both of these
factors were shown to be significant correlates of international outcomes 6 years after
the initial investments. (2014:534)
I understand that there is a fine line to tread between the energy of local action and strategic
direction at a national level. My research has led me to think about how long-term athlete
development can be guided by the correlates Jacobs mentions supported by a thoroughgoing
discussion of a national curriculum for football that is sufficiently sensitive to changes in the
world game as well as local evolution.
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6.4 Identifying athletes
At some point the training of teachers and coaches and good governance converge on the
athlete to be. In my research, I have been keen to explore the tacit knowledge coaches have
about players in order to address these issues with teachers, some teachers have not played
football.
Elsewhere in the thesis, I have mentioned my early preoccupation with athlete testing. My
journey in this thesis has been about, in part, my own development. I see real merit in
adopting an inclusive model for young girls starting out on their journey in sport. My
research in Canberra has indicated how a pathway model can use progressively more rigorous
protocols for testing. I do think Canberra’s skill development and skill acquisition programs
that monitor and test four core skills and observe game understanding provide an excellent
framework for consideration in Jordan.
The introductory program I mentioned in Chapter 5 used just three basic tests in school
settings in Jordan. I am keen to emphasise that this was an introductory study. I have made
clear the limitations of this approach but am hopeful it provides an early contribution to
discussions about what we might test and what significance we might attach to the results
which themselves are, of necessity, a much longer-term discussion about athlete
identification and development.
I have been keen to look at the concept of relative age in my research. It is an important issue
in the literature. I have presented some very basic data from Jordan in section 5.1.1.1. I am
hopeful that the insight my fieldwork has given me, and the lessons from a variety of cultural
contexts position me to discuss this coherently in any conversation about athlete pathways.
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6.5 The art of the possible
There are many stakeholders in football in Jordan. My research has taken me in a particular
direction. I am a qualified teacher and one of Jordan’s early futsal players. I am a football
referee and a coach. I have a young daughter who is interested in playing football. In a few
years I might be a mother coach if my daughter chooses to play football. In sha'Allah
Figure 17: In the playground at Al Bowaida School, Al ramtha.
(Note: this is a class taught by a Type 1 teacher and includes boys and girls in Year 3.)
Now that I have seen what is possible in Canberra, I am thinking about the art of the possible
in Jordan. I think there is a model for a sustainable talent identification and development
approach that can be negotiated between two different cultural contexts.
I do feel privileged to have had access to Canberra football. It has given me real hope for the
future of football in my community of Al ramtha. I would like this to be sustainable and this
sustainability does require, as Jacobs (2014) points out, investments in governance and youth
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development. It requires too, I believe, unequivocal support for teachers and coaches who
will be the guides for young people in football.
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Chapter 7: Conclusion
7.1 Aims and research questions revisited
I am passionate about football. This research project has been driven by my desire to
contribute to the flourishing of football for girls and women in an Arab country. I have
written about sustainability throughout this thesis. I do not underestimate the challenge facing
a vision for long-term, female athlete identification and development in Jordan. However, my
experiences of being embedded in a football culture in Canberra have encouraged me to
believe that a commitment to equity through strong leadership within a strategic vision for
the sport makes sustainability more rather than less likely.
For me, this sustainability means that girls can move from sampling football as an activity
within their physical education lessons in school to a community based club network that
supports football becoming a central life interest. For those girls who show a particular talent
in football, there should be a pathway that takes them from the playground to the national
stadium. There is evidence that this pathway is emerging in Jordan. I believe hosting the
FIFA Under 17 World Cup offers a very special moment in Jordan’s football history. That
Jordanian and other players may wear a hijab in football games is a very important moment
in the development of football in Jordan. It addresses directly one of the multiple
expectations of Muslim girls (Siraj, 2012). I return to the theme of sustainability in section
7.2.
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In Chapter 1, I identified six aims and six research questions that operationalised my
philosophical commitment to football. The six aims were to:
● Explore talent identification and development pathways in women’s sport in general
and football in particular. (Aim 1)
● Contribute to the flourishing of women’s football in Jordan, particularly in the north
of the country. (Aim 2)
● Introduce an Australian inspired talent identification and development process in a
Jordanian community. (Aim 3)
● Investigate the relative age effect on selection processes in Jordanian football. (Aim
4)
● Establish talent selection criteria for women’s football in Jordan. (Aim 5)
● Recommend long-term strategies for athlete development in women`s football that
can inform other sports in Jordan. (Aim 6)
The six research questions that arose for me from these aims were:
● What does the literature tell us about talent identification and development pathways
in women’s sport in general and football in particular? (Research Question 1)
● What are the opportunities and constraints in establishing a female club team in Al
ramtha? (Research Question 2)
● What is the potential of an Australian talent identification and development process
for the development of women’s football in a Jordanian community? (Research
Question 3)
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● Is there any evidence of the prevalence of a relative age effect in selection process and
on athlete retention in Jordanian football? (Research Question 4)
● What are the most appropriate talent selection criteria for female football players in
Jordan? (Research Question 5)
● What culturally sensitive, long term-strategies for athlete development in women`s
football can inform other sports in Jordan? (Research Question 6)
Research Question 1
What does the literature tell us about talent identification and development pathways in
women’s sport in general and football in particular?
In Chapter 2 in section 2.4, I discussed some of the themes that are evident in the literature.
There is an absence of an Arabic literature in this field, particularly in women’s sport. From
the English language literature, there is a growing debate about the relationships between
sport systems and personal performance pathways.
There is a sense in which Jordan benefits from the advantages of backwardness in planning
for athlete pathways. My research has enabled me to consider what an evidence-based
argument for a personal performance might look like as we use better practice models from
around the world. My experience in Canberra has encouraged me to think carefully about
how a planned system that integrates local actions in a national framework can deliver and
outstanding talent identification and development outcomes over a long-term time horizon.
Chapter 4 provides the details of the Canberra approach.
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Research Question 2
What are the opportunities and constraints in establishing a female club team in Al ramtha?
When I started my research project in 2011, I had in mind that a community club connected
to the city’s schools could provide a pathway for girls into social football as well as part of an
elite pathway. It is evident that such an aspiration requires me to be in my community to
facilitate this. My research has underscored how important individuals are in supporting and
driving change in a community. Teachers and coaches passionate about the life-changing
nature of sport need to be present for the essence of an idea to become a negotiated reality.
Change has to be driven rather than left to chance. This process needs advocates and activists.
This is characteristic of Football United’s work, I believe.
I have started conversations in two schools about connections with a community club but
these are long-term conversations with strong advocacy required within the community.
What this community comprises has changed enormously during my PhD registration in
Canberra.
Al ramtha has been overwhelmed by refugees fleeing from conflicts in Syria. During my
absence from the city, the social fabric has changed substantially. Inevitably, my thoughts
about a club have been challenged by a larger issue of how to support people who are
displaced. I am mindful that I need to think more about the experiences Anne Bunde-Birouste
and Assmaah Helal have had at Football United (Football United, 2015a). I see enormous
synergies between their work and my vision for Al ramtha. I do understand that I have only
started to comprehend the scale of what they do. I am excited that my research might
contribute, in some small way, to their energy and vision.
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In four years of my research, the founding of a community club connected to schools has
taken even more significance. I do need to be at home in Al ramtha to address this issue in
person.
Research Question 3
What is the potential of an Australian talent identification and development process for the
development of women’s football in a Jordanian community?
My experience in Canberra leads me to be very positive about the translation of an Australian
system into Al ramtha. There is an obvious need for cultural sensitivity in undertaking this
translation.
I provide details in Chapter 4 of the Canberra system within the context of the FFA’s national
curriculum. I did mention in section 1.3 that I would approach any system in the spirit of Max
Weber’s ideal types (Gerth & Mills, 2009) and that I would use whatever I discovered in
Canberra as a stimulus to adapt insights gained in northern Jordan.
My research has provided me with an ideal type to consider. My literature review, fieldwork
in Canberra (interviews and participant observation) and documentary analysis have given
me a privileged insight into the characteristics of an ideal type system. I am particularly
interested in the gender equity evident in Canberra and how I might go about facilitating
respectful, matriarchal approaches to participation in football. I am hopeful that sections 1.2,
2.2 and 2.3 in particular have indicated some of the issues to be addressed in championing
this matriarchal approach.
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Research Question 4
Is there any evidence of the prevalence of a relative age effect in selection process and on
athlete retention in Jordanian football?
Throughout my research, my supervisor and I have had many conversations about
chronological age and developmental stage in talent identification discussions. One of the
outcomes of these conversations is my interest in relative age and the relative age effect.
I have discussed some of the English language literature in section 2.5 and I have shared
some preliminary data in section 5.1.1.1. I think my approach to relative age is still at a
formative stage. However, I have addressed this issue explicitly in this thesis. As with other
parts of my learning journey, I feel I need more time to reflect on these issues particularly as I
contemplate strategic approaches to talent identification and development.
Relative age has proven to be an excellent topic of conversation with coaches in Canberra
and Jordan. At present, my thought is that there is no prevalence of a relative age effect in a
small community of players in Jordan. I am wondering how the young player with a birth
year of 2003 in the Under 14 Jordan team will experience her development pathway. Perhaps
she could become a fascinating case study of the inclusiveness of the system. She was born in
the second quartile of her birth year.
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Research Question 5
What are the most appropriate talent selection criteria for female football players in Jordan?
I indicated in earlier parts of this thesis that some of my early thinking about talent selection
was focussed on anthropomorphic, physiological and psychometric measurement. Gradually
my thoughts about selection have mellowed to take in more skill based and game
understanding approaches. My conversations with Rae, Aroon and Eamonn reported in
Chapter 4 helped me think more profoundly about selection.
The availability of a small number of players in Jordan has prompted me to think about how
selection approaches might use sensitive inclusion as a guide for those responsible for
identifying potentially talented players. My first attempt at this approach was presented in
Chapter 5 with the coaching program in two schools using three skills as a first step at
identifying more able players.
The process of thinking about selection criteria has led me to think more critically about how
to measure performance in a valid and reliable way. This is of particular importance in Jordan
as the King Abdullah II Award for Physical Fitness uses normative data to assess the
performance of schoolchildren in five physical tests.
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Research Question 6
What culturally sensitive, long term-strategies for athlete development in women`s football
can inform other sports in Jordan?
When I framed this research question, I was keen for football to take a lead in sport
development in Jordan. It is a summative question for my research.
I am mindful that there are a number of voices in this space in Jordan. I am adding lessons I
have learned from Canberra to these voices. I have included ‘culturally sensitive’ in the
question. My research places me in a political debate about the place of women in Arab
societies, particularly those where there is a large Muslim majority. Chapter 2, in particular,
identifies the cultural sensitivity required.
Based on my research in Australia, I am keen to explore how local action can be aligned with
a national sporting organisation as well as the sport system itself. In Chapter 4, I reported on:
the history of women’s football; the governance of football by the FFA; the work of Canberra
Football; the Australian Sports Commission; and the Winning Edge approach to international
sporting success. I did mention changes to the structure of talent identification being led by
the Australian sports Commission.
It has taken Australia some time to develop a consensus about long-term strategies for
development. Australia has been a leader in talent identification and development systems. I
am hopeful that my experience of a city, Canberra, approximately the size of my home city in
Jordan can guide me as a contribute to a national discussion about offering Jordanian girls
and women sustainable opportunities to participate in the sport of their choice.
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I will need to find culturally sensitive ways to engage in this alignment vision.
7.2 Sustainability
My quest for sustainability resonates with the literature, I believe. In one way, the end of the
thesis as a written object becomes the starting point for my action.
In Section 2.2, I introduced some of the literature that had encouraged me to think much
more carefully about the socio-cultural dimensions of my research. When I started out on my
research I had come to the topic from a talent identification and development perspective.
The gender issues raised in the literature have helped me refocus my thoughts.
In my discussion of sustainability, I am keen to consider here my connections with four
contributions to the literature that I think are best discussed here rather than in Section 2.2.
Each of them has important signposts for me as I consider how to progress my work beyond
the PhD thesis. My awareness of them is in part due to the process of writing the thesis.
Knez, Benn and Alkhadi (2014) discuss the possibilities for sustaining participation in
women’s football in Qatar. They note “opportunities exist for gender reconstructions within
culturally sanctioned boundaries” (2014:1768). They indicate that part of sustained change
“has been possible in the lives of the women participants because of the tight support network
surrounding each of the participants, such as parents, siblings and aunties/uncles and
grandparents” (ibid). They report, “positive school experiences from teachers were
influential”. The players’ previous (female) coach empowered them. She “worked to ensure
the players respected their culture and religion through encouraging prayer at scheduled
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times, relationship building with parents, and working towards understanding the players
lived experiences beyond the pitch” (ibid).
Adely’s (2012) account of Nada indicates the support young girls will need to develop
football as a life interest. At Nada’s school physical education is an elective subject. Adely
observes:
The girls dislike PE anyway and prefer to just sit in the schoolyard during that period,
especially as the weather warms up. (2012:4)
I am aware of Maral Yessayan’s (2015) work on modesty and womanhood in the context of
folk dance in Jordan. Part of my growing awareness through this research has resulted in my
move from the anthropometric to the anthropological dimensions of football. I see a very
powerful link between Yessayan’s observation that “women who dance in public spaces are
not held in high regard in Jordanian society” (2015:64) and my attempts to support teachers
to encourage young girls to play football. She raises very important issues about cultural
expectations about marriage. These mirror the debates that will take place if young girls want
to make a long-term commitment to football. Her insights into dance create opportunities to
discuss whether “the category of womanhood produced through dance and promoted by
Jordanian society is not as fixed as it appears” (2015:77).
I am aware too of Julie Droebner’s (2005) discussion of gender, class and social
transformation in Jordan. Her engagement with the micro-level of Jordanian life helped me
feel confident about choosing a small number of schools and contemplating transformational
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change. Droebner notes, “it is the quiet, but constant working of individuals on a daily basis
that gradually bring about changes in attitudes” (2005:298).
These are the strands of thought that give me courage and confidence to be part of a
transformation. As I indicated earlier in this chapter, I understand that I must be active in this
process and to be part of a respectful matriarchal approach that contributes to the flourishing
of football and the social development possibilities evident in better practice globally.
7.3 Making women’s football visible in Jordan
My research has encouraged me to hope, as Cho (2013:10) suggests, “female soccer is not a
by-product of male soccer, rather it has developed its own path alongside with overall
women’s advancement”.
Women’s football does have a short history in Jordan compared to other nations. Elsewhere
in this thesis, I have noted that the FIFA Under 17 World Cup is providing a window of
opportunity to showcase football as a legitimate activity for girls and women in Jordan.
At the time of the announcement of the award of the tournament to Jordan, the Asian Football
Development Program (2013) noted, “the tournament will help kick off a positive wave for
women's football in the region, particularly in grassroots football development”. This is the
first time a West Asian host will stage a FIFA tournament.
The tournament is attracting growing media attention. Figure 18 below had the subtitle
“Jordan is a conservative Arab state, yet football is increasingly popular among women.
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Figure 18: Women take to the pitch as female footballers wow Jordan
An Al Arbiya report (2014) observes:
Football is increasingly popular among women, who do not see a contradiction
between the world’s most popular sport and Islamic values. In Jordan, female
footballers love to be referred to as “Nashmiyyat,” or the “brave ones.” That is the
official name of the national women’s team.
My hope is that my research will combine with other initiatives in Jordan to ensure that the
progress of the game is real and that we can achieve more than the rhetoric of equality. We
will need long-term monitoring to build upon the legacy potential of the 2016 tournament.
My thinking about visibility has been profoundly influenced by Heather Reid’s vision. In my
interview with her, I asked, “do you remember any administrative obstacles you faced in
increasing female participation?”. Her reply seems an excellent way to deal with the visibility
of the game in Jordan:
FIFA has responsibility for the whole of the sport. It is not a separate
women’s FIFA. It should not be women’s football, it should be
FOOTBALL PLAYED BY WOMEN (her emphasis). The game is the
same, so the leadership and the organisation need to look at the same. The
girls’ U5s should have the same opportunity as the Boys’ U5s, and all the
way through as much as possible, … the administrative obstacles can be
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overcome by the leadership by giving more resources to the women’s
game.
Ultimately the remarkable work women do as physical education teachers and coaches needs
the political will to support changes to the status quo.
I would like to take this opportunity to make explicit all the various strands of my research
that have led me to think about a culturally-sensitive talent identification and development
model for Jordan. I indicated in Chapter 1 that my research aims and research questions
combine a priori ideas and insights from the literature. At this point in my thesis, I do have
some space to explore my a posteriori reflections.
During the four years of my research, there has been a great deal of change in my home city
of Al ramtha. Time has not stood still. In addition to the issues that face everyone in a city
that has welcomed vast numbers of refugees, the governance of football is changing in Jordan
too.
There are a growing number of partnerships between JFA and other national football
federations as well as the world governing body, FIFA. It is hard to overestimate the impact
the hosting of the women’s Under 17 World Cup is having on cultural expectations in Jordan.
There will be some vital conversations about how to develop a legacy from the tournament
for girls’ and women’s participation and engagement in football in a sustainable way after
2016. I will be in Al ramtha for these conversations.
When I started out on my research journey, I was very conscious of anthropomorphic and
psychometric approaches to talent identification and development. As my research
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progressed and I explored the relative age literature, I started to modify my thoughts about a
model that might be suitable for Jordan.
My observations in Canberra have given me a feel for what a mature talent identification and
development system looks like. My cognitive map of where Jordan might go with its system
is driven by the approach taken by Capital Football as a constituent federation of FFA. In an
ideal world, I think it would be possible to work back from a Canberra outcome to present
practices in Al ramtha.
This ideal world would embrace gender equity. It would recognise the pivotal role teachers
play in inducting young girls into football. It would value community football clubs as places
to engage girls and women in football and offer them the opportunity to choose football as a
central life interest.
My approach would be inclusive to encourage as many girls as possible to improve their
technical and tactical abilities as a player and a member of a team. I would hope to advocate
for a pathway for talented players that was sufficiently agile and responsive to changing
developmental cohorts.
The Australian model has encouraged me think about a national curriculum too. I do think
that Al ramtha will have some advantages of backwardness in this debate. Not everyone in
Australian football is happy with what is essentially a Dutch model of preparing for and
playing the game. In Jordan, I think we will have some wonderful opportunities for the whole
football community to discuss and debate how we build a system that deals with
chronological age and developmental stage. There are fundamental gender issues embedded
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in this debate. I hope these encourage us to discuss whether there might be a distinctive game
played by Jordanian male and female teams. If we are bold, we might even debate how the
game played by girls and women might be taught and coached by women.
In all these conversations, I am mindful of my fortunate experiences in Canberra. It has given
me opportunities to reflect on how we prepare to play and how we compete. As I have
indicated elsewhere in this thesis, my primary concern is to inform the debate about
sustainable football systems and to do so with what I hope to be better practice. This process
itself opens it up to ongoing research about such practice. This is an issue I will address
within my own university (Yarmouk) environment in Jordan in order to explore how we
might build a cumulative research tradition in women’s football.
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7.4 Conclusion
In this thesis, I have used developments in Canberra and the vision of Capital Football to
explore what might be possible in Jordan in terms of talent identification and development. I
am aware that Australia, like Jordan, has significant issues in offering opportunities for girls
to play football.
When I started out on this PhD journey, I was clear that my primary focus was on talent and
identification development. As I have indicated throughout the thesis, this focus changed as I
discussed my research intentions with my supervisor. My participants in Jordan helped me
refocus my research too. What started out in my mind as a very clear intention to look at
identification and development issues necessitated a much closer look at pedagogy and
curriculum content.
I do see support for teachers in Al ramtha (and other Jordanian schools) at the heart of my
ongoing work now. I believe that my exposure to football in Canberra has given me much
more confidence about the processes and governance required for an effective and
sustainable talent identification and development system. The value-add for me has been to
appreciate the importance of a sentiment expressed by one of my respondents mentioned in
section 3.5. Namely:
The Physical Education teacher is the beloved teacher for the schoolgirls, we believe
she is the key for sustainable football culture, and the schools are the best
environment to create this culture.
As I was completing the writing of the thesis, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(Terzon, 2015) broke news of the exploits of fourteen schoolgirls from a remote part of the
Northern Territory. They travelled sixteen hours in a bus to Darwin for an under 12 years old
football tournament. Plans were made to pick up some players on the way to Darwin.
After eight hours driving across a bumpy dirt track, the bus was due to stop at an
allocated spot on the Central Arnhem highway to pick up five more players. The five
girls and their chaperones were from Ramingining, another remote Arnhem
community, and were set to travel two hours in a 4WD to the designated location.
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"We were to meet them in the middle of the Arnhem wilderness," Mr Robinson said.
"It was hopefully to work out but we didn't have any mobile reception. We were
crossing our fingers. But we did find the girls and two elders from Ramo. They'd
made a campfire on the side of the road and were patiently waiting for us." (2015:np)
This story heartened me in ways I find hard to describe. All over the world people give their
time and energy to encourage participation in sport. It is the energy that links Central
Arnhem with Al ramtha. It is the energy that leads people to talk about football as the world
game. For me it means we are never alone even though we face difficult times.
I see the completion of this thesis as the start of a long journey. Part of this journey is my
reflection on what I have managed to do over the last four years. The writing process has
underlined for me just how fallible my approach has been.
I have spent much of my time trying to make sense of the English language and to write in a
meaningful way. I have found some of the language difficult to grasp when there has been
lots of conceptual argument. As a result, I know have a language to start transforming the
discussion about women’s sport in general and in football in particular in Arabic.
My mixed methods approach moved me into uncomfortable spaces when I started my
qualitative enquiry. I tried to record every conversation I had in English so that I could go
back afterwards and revisit what I thought we had discussed. Many of my meetings with my
primary supervisor in my first year were very difficult. From the beginning he wanted me to
extend my thinking.
My choice of Canberra for study was a wonderful serendipity. I had heard of my supervisor’s
reputation but did not realise the sport system in Canberra was so connected. Everyone
161
seemed very close, geographically and in their love of sport. In Capital Football, I found
much of the ideal type of development for which I was looking. In Heather Reid, I found a
strong leader who had worked for decades as an advocate for women’s sport.
My role as a community coach enabled me to meet people in their local club setting on cold
nights in a Canberra winter. It opened me up to public scrutiny when there were some
powerful conversations going on in Australian society about ethnic identity and religious
freedom.
In Al ramtha, I was fortunate to meet three remarkable teachers. Through them I saw renewed
possibilities for girls playing football within a pedagogically sound and safe environment
within the school day.
This connection in Al ramtha has driven me to think about how a talent identification and
development model can be adopted in Jordan. Whilst I have been conducting my research in
Australia, the Jordan Football Association has made strategic alliances with German and
Norwegian football associations. I am hopeful I can be part of a conversation about
participation, engagement and performance pathways for girls and women in Jordan. Support
for teachers is vital in my approach. I believe that schools provide a perfect focus for the
thinking globally, acting locally focus discussed in section 6.1.
I do need to become an advocate for the model I have discussed in this thesis. I see enormous
opportunities for me to consider and write in Arabic about pedagogy, curriculum content,
evidence-based practice, and an holistic approach to the flourishing of talented female
athletes. This requires not only epistemological fortitude but also some access to the politics
162
of decision-making about the future of the game in Jordan. I do have a model to share from
Australia that can be adapted in a culturally sensitive way.
During all this time, my own daughter has been growing up in Australia. She was almost two
when she arrived here. Now she is five and speaking English with an Australian accent. She
has started to play sport and is thinking about football. When I see her, I think that my
research is about her as well as every other girl who would like to play football wherever they
live.
163
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Appendices
185
Appendix A: Ethics Approval University of Canberra
187
Appendix B: Participant Information Sheet
Participant Information Sheet
1. Project Title
Talent Identification and Development In Women's Football: Integrating an Australian
Model in Two Jordanian Communities.
2. Lead Researcher
Nehad Makhadmeh
Correspondence: National Institute of Sport Studies, Faculty of Health, University of
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: 0415 896683
Email: [email protected]
3. Project Aim
The aim of this research project is to use Australian approaches to talent identification and
development pathways in two Jordanian communities, Amman and Al Ramtha, to develop
participation in women’s football.
4. Benefits of the Project
This study arises from FIFA's mission and vision for women's football. It seeks to support the
development of Jordanian women’s football. It is hoped that the two Jordanian communities
involved in the project will benefit from the opportunities for female participation.
5. Background to the Project
Nehad Makhadmeh, a PhD student at the University of Canberra, is undertaking this
research. The University has developed close links with two football organisations (Capital
Football, Canberra, and Football United). These organisations have substantial expertise in
the development of women’s football. Their insights are being used to inform and guide this
project.
The lead researcher would like to conduct interviews with key informants in both
organisations. This information sheet outlines the proposed research methods.
6. Participant Involvement
In Australia
Participants (administrators, coaches and players) who agree to be involved in the research
will be asked to participate in a preliminary semi-structured interview with the researcher at a
time and venue that is convenient for the participant. The interview will be audio recorded
188
with the participant’s permission. The interview will focus on Australian Talent Identification
and Development Models and the Australian Performance Pathways.
Permission will be sought from participants to undertake further semi-structured interviews to
explore any issues arising from the first interviews should there be a need so to do. These
second interviews are for clarification.
Participants will receive question topics in advance of their interviews and will have access
to transcriptions of the audio recordings if they wish.
In Jordan
The interview procedure will be replicated in two Jordanian communities. Interviews will
focus on existing practice in Jordan and the exploration of the Australian experience.
Interviewees will include officials from the Ministry of Education and the Al Ramtha
Education Directorate as well as the administrators, coaches and players from the two
communities.
The interviews in Jordan will be in Arabic and transcribed in Arabic.
Participation in the research is completely voluntary. Those approached to participate in the
research may decline to take part or withdraw at any time.
7. Confidentiality
The lead researcher recognises and acknowledges the importance of confidentiality in this
research project. The lead researcher will manage all interview transcripts. Only she will
know the identities of interviewees and will ensure that any reference to participants will be
stored securely in a locked cabinet or on a password protected computer. During the course
of the interviews the researcher will seek permission to access de-identified athlete talent
identification and development data. These data will be used only if they are de-identified
and that athletes have given their permission for de-identified data to be used for research
purposes.
The research outcomes of this project may be presented at conferences and written up for
publication. However, in all these reports, the privacy and confidentiality of individuals will be
assured and protected.
8. Anonymity
The lead researcher will ensure that all participants in this research will not be identified in
any way without the express permission of participants. Only the lead researcher will know
any identification of participants and the lead researcher alone will secure any record of
identity.
9. Data Storage
The data collected in this project will be stored securely on a password protected computer
throughout the project and then stored at the University of Canberra for the required five
year period after which it will be destroyed according to University protocols.
189
10. Ethics Committee Clearance
The project has been approved by the Committee for Ethics in Human Research of the
University of Canberra.
11. Questions and Concerns
Any questions or concerns regarding the research can be directed to the lead researcher,
Nehad Makhadmeh (contact information at the front of this sheet) or the researcher
supervisor Professor Keith Lyons ([email protected]).
The lead researcher welcomes answering any questions you may have.
191
Appendix C: Participant Consent Form
Participant Consent Form
Project Title
Talent Identification and Development in Women's Football: Integrating an Australian
Model in Two Jordanian Communities.
Consent Statement
I have read and understood the information about the research project. I am not aware
of any condition that would prevent my participation, and I agree to participate in this
project. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about my participation in the
research. All questions I have asked have been answered to my satisfaction.
Name……………………………………………………………………….……………………........…
Signature………….........................................................……………………
Date ………………………………….
A summary of the research report can be forwarded to you when published. If you would
like to receive a copy of the report, please include your mailing (or email) address
below.
Name…………………………………………………………………………….…………….....……….
Address………………………………………..……………………………………….…………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………….....………………
193
Appendix D: Letter of Introduction from the Ministry of Education, Al
ramtha Directorate
‫‪195‬‬
‫‪Appendix E: Semi-Structured Interview Questions for Jordanian Coaches‬‬
‫المدربين ‪....‬‬
‫الساعة صباحا‬
‫الوقت‪:‬‬
‫اليوم والتاريخ‪:‬‬
‫االسم‪:‬‬
‫سنة‬
‫لمده‪:‬‬
‫الخبرة التدريبية ‪ :‬وطنية ‪ -‬محلية‬
‫ھل كنت العب من قبل ؟ الوطني ‪ /‬المحلي‪:‬‬
‫‪ 15-10 (2‬سنة ‪ 20-15 (3‬سنة ‪ 20+ ( 4‬سنة‬
‫‪ 10-5 (1‬سنوات‬
‫الفئة العمرية التي‪-‬تدربھا‪/‬دربتھا ‪:‬‬
‫‪1.‬ھل لك ان تخبرنا عن خبرتك بمجال تدريب االناث؟‬
‫‪2.‬ماھي الطرق والوسائل المتبعة حاليا ومستقبال في )االتحاد‪ -‬الوزارة( لتحديد الالعبات الموھوبات؟ وماھي البرامج‬
‫الحالية لتطويرھم؟‬
‫‪3.‬ابرز الجوانب التي تركز عليھا عند اختيارك لالعبات ناديك ؟ لالعبات المنتخب الوطني؟ تحت سن ‪ 17‬وتحت سن‬
‫‪ 19‬وفوق سن ال‪ 20‬؟ ) بدنيا ‪,‬انثروبومتريا ‪-‬الطول الوزن العمر‪ ,-‬فسيولوجياو ذھنيا‪ ,‬اجتماعيا‪ ,‬ورواثيا(‪.‬‬
‫‪4.‬االختالف بالمراكز يتطلب اختالف بالقدرات ‪ ,‬ماھي ابرز القدرات التي تركز عليھا عند اختيارك لالعبات تحت سن‬
‫‪ 17‬وتحت سن ‪ 19‬وفوق سن ال‪20‬؟‬
‫‪5.‬اوصف االختبارات الحالية التي تطبقھا عند عملية اختيارك لالعبات )بطاريات االختبارالتي تستعملھا ؟)‬
‫‪6.‬ابرز الصعوبات التي تواجھھا في تدريب االناث ؟سواء كانت من الالعبات ذاتھن ‪ ,‬المجتمع ‪ ,‬النادي‪...‬اي امر اخر‬
‫ترغب باضافته ‪.‬‬
‫‪7.‬برايك ھل المدرب الفعال يجب ان يكون العب سابق ذو خبرة ‪ 20+ ,19U17, U‬؟او يكون العب منتخب سابق؟‬
‫او يكفي ان يكون شخص مھتم بمجال كرة القدم و لديه خلفية ثقافية عن كرة القدم مثل معلمات الرياضة الحاليات؟ ھل‬
‫تعتبر ھذه المعرفة كافية لجعل عملية التدريب فعالة ؟‬
‫‪8.‬من خالل خبرتك التدريبية ‪:‬ھل تشعر انه الالعبات االكبر عمرا نسبيا ھن االكثر اختيارا وذوات اداء بدني افضل من‬
‫قريناتھا بنفس السنة العمرية؟‬
‫‪9.‬ماھي ابرز المنبئات‪-‬المؤشرات التي تسلط الضوء عليھا و توحي لك بوجود موھبة قادمة؟ ) بدنيا ‪,‬انثروبومتريا ‪-‬‬
‫الطول الوزن العمر‪ ,-‬فسيولوجياو ذھنيا‪ ,‬اجتماعيا‪ ,‬ورواثيا(‬
‫‪10.‬توصياتك كخبير في مجال تدريب االناث ماھي توصياتك لمعلمات التربية الرياضية الستقطاب اكبر عدد ممكن من‬
‫الالعبات ؟ وكيفية اداء ذلك ؟‬
‫‪11.‬برايك ماھو الفرق بين مصطلح ‪:‬استقطاب ‪ ,‬اكتشاف ‪ ,‬اختيار‪ ,‬تطوير؟‬
‫‪12.‬اي شي ترغب باضافته؟‬
197
Appendix F: Semi-structured Interview Questions for Heather Reid, CEO
Capital Football (August 2014).
1. Can you tell me something about your experience in women’s football?
2. Can you tell me something about the history of the women’s game in Canberra?
3. What are your memories of the first women`s league in Australia?
4. What are the current programs to develop female participation (playing and coaching) in
football?
5. What was is the first age group that children become involved in football in Canberra?
6. What are Capital Football’s links with national talent identification and development
programs?
7. What are the current and future pathways to develop women's football (players, and coaches)
in Capital Football? Is your approach different from other states? Or do you have the same
pathways?
8. What other governing bodies collaborate with Capital Football to increase female
participation?
9. What are your links with the ACT Government’s Department of education and canberra
schools?
10. What do think about the role physical education teachers play in encouraging participation in
football?
11. What school tournaments are there?
12. Do you have links with any football academies or the Australian Capital Territory’s Academy
of Sport.
13. Do you have any thoughts about the role of player coach in teams?
14. What is the club structure for women’s football?
15. Are there any administrative limits to female participation in football?
16. Do you have any advice about the talent identification process?
199
Appendix G: A transcript extract from a semi-structured interview in
Canberra
15 August 2014
11:30 am, Capital Football Offices, Deakin.
Part of a transcript from a semi-structured interview with a member of Capital Football’s
Technical Department
Q. Can you tell me about your experience in women`s football?
A. I’m looking after all the development squads in ACT. All the high performance,
football and Futsal programs are run by me, even the skill development programs over
summer and winter run by me, I have been here for 4 years in total.
Q. How do girls become involved with football in Canberra?
A. There is a club competitions as well as club registrations. We offer opportunities for
girls of 5 years of age and upwards. We have girls’ teams from U11s.
Q. Do you have a role to play in the National Talent Identification and Development
scheme?
A. We scout players (head coaches do this), have open trials, and receive club
nominations. The younger age groups (U11, U12) have more trials, because it is the first
intake. We need to see the players for couple of times, before making any decision, they
are going to be very raw.
Q. What are the current and future pathways to develop women`s football (players, and
coaches) in Capital Football? Is it different from other states? Or is it the same pathway?
A. We have the U11 girls, U12, U13, U14, U15s, then to the National Team Centre based
at the ACT Academy of Sport. The structure is:
U11, U12 High Performance Start: The U11 girls and U12 are training programs. They
train twice a week with us, and they go back to their club on the weekend, and try to play
many tournaments together as a team throughout pre-season and sometimes there are
Gala days. There are many training environments, to provide extra training for these age
groups.
U13 More Ready: The U13s girls go to the national championships. They are a little bit
more ready, they are ready to kick on, and start developing more and learn little more. At
this age they become playing squads. They train three times a week. Then they play once
a week and at the weekend. They play in the U12 boy’s competition.
U14: They do not have a national championship. They train three times as well, play in
the Junior League U14s boys’ division and play against their own age group girls,
U15: Another age group with a national championship. They train three times a week and
play at the weekend. They play with the U15s Dev1 boys.
ACTAS: is our scholarship program. This is for our sixteen best players. They come from
two age groups.
Canberra United is the top level of our pathway. This is the W-League national standard.
Q. What is the FFA’s role in your aim to increase female participation base?
200
A. The FFA provide resources to do this.
Q. If we have look to any sport we can find that female engagement to sport starts in
schools, do you agree with this? What is the collaboration between CF and the Ministry
of Education?
A. We have school gala days, each term. There are 5 divisions. We have a college
tournament, and junior leagues for U12s.
Q. Do many of the Territory’s PE teachers have no experience in football?
A. Each school has its own plan about how to teach football.
Q. Is there is a school tournament?
A. We have tournaments, for the high schools. They play against each other in soccer
tournaments. It is organised by School Sport ACT. It is a separate organisation, the
umbrella organisation that runs all high school sport.
Q. What is the coaching academies’ role in developing women`s football in Canberra?
A. They are private business ventures. They work on their own objectives.
Q. The FFA permits player coaches. Is this helpful do you think?
A. Players experience the game. They try to learn the game and perhaps learning as a
coach you will understand more of the game.
Q. Clubs: how many female clubs are under the umbrella of Capital Football? How many
players? How many of them have been selected for the national team?
A. We have two female clubs in Canberra: Tuggeranong, and the ANU clubs. There are
thirty-eight female teams in Canberra.
Q. Are there any administrative obstacles to the development of female participation?
A. Lack of funds and facilities.
Q. What are the important things to look for when we plan for TID programs?
A. Find the right coaches for those talented players.
Q. What are the things you look at as coach when you select your team?
A. Four core skills, especially for the U13s: making good decisions; execute the right
decision; smart. We are looking for skilful players.
‫‪201‬‬
‫‪Appendix H: Interview Transcript from a national football coach‬‬
‫‪ 2014-1-5‬الوقت ‪6:30‬صباحا‬
‫اليوم والتاريخ‪:‬‬
‫‪ 15-10 (2‬سنة‬
‫الفئة العمرية التي‪-‬تدربھا‪/‬دربتھا ‪ 10-5 (1 :‬سنوات‬
‫‪ 20+ ( 4‬سنة‬
‫• ‪B.4‬אن‪B65>5X‬ل‪),6‬א‪R>+‬؟ ‬
‫‪ 20-15 (3‬سنة‬
‫القدم المدير الفني لمنتخب البحرين حاليا‬
‫ الفريق االول ‪/‬سيدات‪ +‬تحت ‪ ١٩‬سنه مشرف على باقي المنتخبات النسويه‪،‬‬‫عام ‪ ٢٠٠٥‬تركت تدريب نادي شباب األردن وانتقلت لتدريب منتخب السيدات‪،‬‬
‫اول دوري نسوي ‪ ٢٠٠٥‬فاز نادي شباب األردن )دربت النادي لمده سنة واحده فقط( الدوري تكون من‬
‫‪٤‬فرق‬
‫ھل كنت العب من قبل ؟ الوطني ‪ /‬المحلي‪:‬‬
‫العب سابق ‪ ،‬القادسية األھلي ‪ ،‬العب لمده ‪٢٠‬سنة‪ ،‬العب منتخب وطني من الشباب األولمبي لألول ‪.‬‬
‫‪ABC‬بدأت التدريب بنھاية عام ‪ ١٩٩٧‬مع بدايه عام ‪ ١٩٩٨‬حاصل على الدورات االسيويه‪.‬‬
‫و دورتين محاضرين‬
‫• ‪$4‬א‪M‬قوא"(‪.Y‬א‪C/<1‬و‪FTV<G‬א‪\+‬د‪ J‬א"زא‪]E,‬א‪7<V‬‬
‫א‪7'"4"1‬؟و‪$4‬א‪5‬א^א‪4"M8‬؟‬
‫‪-١‬األندية اربع أنديه موجوده‬
‫‪-٢‬التنسيق مع وزاره التربيه والتعليم بوضع منھاج لكره القدم‪+‬دوري بكره القدم بالمدارس‬
‫‪-٣‬مراكز الواعدات بالتنسيق مع وزاره التربيه والتعليم االردنية‪ ،‬األعمار محدده سن ‪ ١٤‬سنه‬
‫‪-٤‬ان الزيادي بإعداد األندية التي تتبنى كره القدم النسويه سيعني زياده بمراكز الواعدات مما يعني‬
‫زياده أعداد المشاركات‬
‫• א'زא‪"0‬א>)א‪*c6 H‬א‪>7<Vb,‬د‪B‬؟‪7<V‬א‪)*1‬א"‪`a‬؟\_‬
‫(‪17‬و\_(‪19‬و"ق(אل‪20‬؟‪F‬بدنيا{انثروبومترياא‪d,+‬ول‪ 2‬‬
‫االختيار للعب المباراة‬
‫االختيار ألول مره مھما كان منتخب او نادي‬
‫البنيان الجسمي )ستايل(‬
‫المھارات‬
‫داعيتھا للعب‬
‫يفضل دائما ً اختيار األعمار الصغيرة ‪،‬اذا كانت األعمار كبيره البد ان تكون مھاره عاليه‬
‫‪202‬‬
‫) اذا كانت العبه كبيره يتم تحسين الجانب البدني اكثر من المھاري" كلما كبر العمر كلما زادت صعوبه‬
‫التطوير المھاري" لالختيار((‬
‫اذا ما كانت مھاراتھا باألصل ومن البدائع موجوده‪.‬‬
‫من الناحية الفسيولوجية كل خط لعب له مميزاته‪ ،‬لھن مميزات مختلفة عن بعضھن البعض‪.‬‬
‫• א‪1'eV+‬א‪)Mc‬א‪,'eV‬א‪$4{7‬א'زא‪,‬א‪7‬א‪*c6H‬א‪b,‬‬
‫‪17(_\7<V‬و\_(‪19‬و"ق(אل‪20‬؟‬
‫كل خط لعب له مميزات وھذا بعد ان يتم االختيار االولي وبعد فتره من التدريب يتم تصنيف الالعبات‬
‫بخطوط اللعب وھذا يعتمد على خبره المدرب ونظرته) من خط وسط‪ ،‬من دفاع‪ ،‬من قلب ھجوم من‬
‫الحارس(‬
‫مثال قلب دفاع البد ان يكون عندھم قوة‪ ،‬جراه‪ ،‬بنيان جسماني طوال القامه لضربات الراس الجيدة‪،‬‬
‫استالم وتسليم‪،‬شوت على المرمى‬
‫الوسط رؤيا ‪،‬بديھة‪ ،‬مھاره‪ ،‬سرعه ‪،‬سرعه تصرف‬
‫الجناح سرعه قدره على عكس الكرات‪ ،‬االختراقات‬
‫الدفاع‪ :‬الطول مطلوب لصد اي كرات عاليه‪.‬‬
‫من الناحية االنثروبومتريه‬
‫حارس المرمى طول ذراعيه ‪ ،‬طول جسماني‪،‬‬
‫المدافعين طوال القامه‪،‬خط الدفاع وخاصه من بالعمق يجب ان يكونوا طوال‬
‫الھجوم الطول مطلوب‪ ،‬وان كانوا قصار يجب ان يتميزوا بالفطنة والذكاء والھد ‪.‬‬
‫• אو‪fQ‬א‪,<+‬א‪7‬א‪8‬א‪-*<M6H‬א‪7,M'F7<Vb,‬א‪,<+‬א‪H‬‬
‫‪-/G6‬؟‪F‬‬
‫‪ -١‬تحمل كوبر‪ ،‬يويو تست‬
‫سرعات‪ ٣٠‬متر فتيك‪ ٣‬محاوالت‬
‫الرشاقة اكثر من اختبار ‪ ،‬لكل مدرب طريقته‪ ،‬مره واحده‬
‫معين لمعرفه مستوى اداء ‪range‬القدرة العضليه‪ ،‬االنفجاريه‪ ،‬تقفز وتعلم خط‪ ،‬البد من وجود‬
‫الالعبات ) منخفض‪،‬متوسط‪،‬عالي(‬
‫لقياس مقابل القفز وما بعد القفز‪ ،‬لمعرفه قدره العضالت‪ ،‬القدمين)ھذا االختيار لمرتين(‪.‬‬
‫• 'א‪.4B‬א‪P,1‬א
‪/‬ل‪)g‬אن‪"#‬ن‪&'()+‬ذو‪U17, U19, +20 5‬؟אو‪"#‬ن‬
‫‪&'()*)+‬؟אو‪$
#‬אن‪"#‬ن لאمو
‬
‫אم‪7-/.:‬א‪9‬א‪78‬؟‪2345/6.4‬א‪-./0/1‬א‪),‬‬
‫‪/‬؟‬
‫‪203‬‬
‫أجابه مطلقه‪ ،‬ال‪ .‬ولكن يفضل بدرجه‪%٩٠‬ان يكون العب عاش وضع الالعب وتعامل مع الظروف‬
‫والبيئة ذاتھا وخضع لذات الضغوط التي يرغب بانشائھا لالعبيه‪.‬وان يكون على دراسه تامه وقد جربھا‬
‫وعاشھا‪.‬‬
‫كمدرب منتخب باالتحاد االردني قمنا بعمل ورشات تدريبية لمعلمات التربية الرياضية على مستوى‬
‫المديريات "طرق لتدريب الفتيات على كرة القدم "النه معلمة التربية الرياضية اغلبھن غير العبات "المدرب يجب ان‬
‫يكون العب "او حتى قد مارس اللعبة او حتى قد لعب لسنه النه ھذا سيسھل عليه التعامل بالتدريب‪ ,‬الخبرة العلملية السابقة لھا‬
‫دورھا ومطلوبة‪.‬‬
‫)))ﻫﺬا ﻛﻼﻣﻲ (( ﺣﺎل ﻣﻌﻠﻤﺎت اﻟﺘﺮﺑﻴﺔ اﻟﺮﻳﺎﺿﻴﺔ اﻗﻠﻬﺎ ﻻزم ﺗﻮﺧﺬ ﻣﺴﺎق ﺑﺎﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﻪ ﻣﺜﻠﻬﺎ ﻛﻤﺜﻞ ﻛﺮة اﻟﺴﻠﺔ واﻟﻴﺪ‪.‬‬
‫استغرب حال بعض الدول حيث يجب ان يكون مدرب كرة القدم للفئات العمرية الصغيرة من افضل‬
‫المدربين واكثرھم تاھيال النه سيبني المھارات االساسية ويؤسس الالعبين بطريقة صحيحة وما يؤكد‬
‫كالمي ھو ان من سياخذ دورة التدريب االسيوية يجب ان يكون المتقدم مرشح من احد االندية الرياضية‬
‫او المؤسسات الخذ مثل ھذه الدورات‪.‬‬
‫• ‪$4‬א'زא‪-7;<*1‬א‪ I1‬א‪7‬א‪FG6H‬א‪D"E‬و‪"A"'B$C"6‬د"‪@<4‬د؟‪>'F‬‬
‫{א>‪:‬و'"‪ JK‬א‪"M‬لא"زنא‪A""G{ J-/‬وذ‪{*4‬א‪{-A‬و‪,‬وא‪E‬‬
‫بالتاكيد ھي امور فنية بحثة‪ ,‬مھاره عالية كونه من المتبع عند الرغبة باكتشاف المواھب نبدا بعمل‬
‫مھرجان او اي نوع تنظيمي لفتح الفرصة امام الموھوبات باللعب ونترقب اداء كل العبه كونه المھارة‬
‫ھي ما يظھر من الالعبة وھو ما نبحث عنه بالنھاية‬
‫• ‪STU<B6Q"6‬ل‪),6‬א‪7-/1B6Q"6$4R>+‬א‪'K‬א‪PM(+9‬‬
‫א‪5‬د‪#W‬א‪7<V‬؟و
אدא‪D‬ذ‪B‬؟‬
‫بالدرجة االولى للوزارة‬
‫زياده عدد حصص الرياضة بالجدول الدراسي خالل االسبوع وتفعيل دورھا‪,‬‬
‫مراقبة اداء ويفضل وضع خطة وبرنامج تدريبي‬
‫االھتمام بقطاع الناشئات‪:‬اكاديميات مراكزواعدات اندية‬
‫تنظيم الدور واالداء بينھم للوصول لنتائج تفيد قطاع الناشئات‬
‫• 'א‪"4B‬א
ق'‪WhMij‬א(‪{PM‬א‪{el‬א‪"M6{,‬؟‬
‫• א‪9')m6$ n‬؟ ‬