The Culture of a football club can lead to an environment where the player is able to express him/herself and flourish or where he/she feels under constant pressure to perform with the threat of deselection a constant threat.
Many football clubs are based around a system of 'habitus' where the decision of the individual is linked to the supporting structures of the club. In other words the player follows the unwritten rules, fearing punishment for not following them. These may be in the form of being dropped from the team, substituted or released from the club. This leads to blind obediance to the club's rules and those unwritten ones
(i.e. whatever it takes to please the coach).
This habitus can be perpetuated by the coach/manager dropping, substituting or releasing players for not following guidelines. Players become more fearful of the consequences and step into line. Common indicators of this are a lack of communication in sessions from players who are fearful of answering questions or communicating for fear of saying the wrong thing and alienating the coach. A simple example of this is where the coach hears someone swear, and asks for that player to own up. The player owns up and is punished for the act of swearing. Thus teaching the player not to own up or be honest in the future. This relates to all aspects of the player/coach relationship where the player will fear making an opinion if his/her thoughts are dismissed or he/she is repremanded for having a different opinion to the coaches. This can lead to an opportunity for the coach/manager to abuse his/her power in the form of excessive criticism, verbal abuse and bullying. The player has little defence and can not answer back as he/she may be punished for doing so. This leads to the player conforming to the coach's wishes to stay in favour. Thus the habitus of the football club is perpetuated.
The coach may be unaware of the effect of the habitus in his/her club. The environment created may not be intentional. However his/her actions lead to the perpetuation of the habitus. The solution to this is to create a more open policy of communication, where players opinions and thoughts are respected. Players should be asked to give their opinions on a regular basis and praised for doing so, even if they contredict the coach's philosophy. The coach doesn't have to change his/her practice dramatically, but by taking on board a few of the suggestions empowers the players and gives them a positive feeling of ownership of their development. Inexperienced coaches may find this democratic style of coaching/managing difficult as they may have to respond to difficult suggestions or face up to critical observations on the current process. However by respecting the players ideas, they will respect the coach more. It is still important for the coach to use an autocratic style to control the group. Just by listening to the players, he/she does not have to implement many or any of their suggestions but instead listen to them. Sometimes a player may ask a question due to a lack of understanding which can be quickly clarified. Under the system of habitus, the player will fear asking the question and so will continue to not understand. It is also very important players are not castigated for making mistakes. They should be encouraged to try new things, for this is the best way of learning. Otherwise players will fear making mistakes and play the safe option for fear of punishment. This may lead to short term consistently but is likely to lead to a stunt in development for fear of failure.
Many of these measures have been put into place at Yate Town Development to help prevent a habitus taking hold.
An example of how a habitus is perpetuated comes from this exerpt of an academic paper. The extract is taken from a Premiership Under 18's Academy post match team talk. Some of the words have been censored.
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The players are sitting at the edge of the pitch in a semi-circle around Andy and Greg, who remain standing. The game has ended in a draw, and the goalkeeper's (D) mistake has led to an equalising goal:
Andy (to the group): "Well I was about to say well done, I mean there was only a minute left to go. (to D) You should have taken his ******* head off from that corner, just ******* knocked his head off. You know, I'm not being funny but you can use your ******* hands. He can only use his ******* head and he's got there before you. His head should be flying off somewhere. (To the group raising his voice further) We should have won that game but we all went to sleep, it (the ball) bounces in the ******* box, (to D) you don't come off your line, ******* three points out the window. And I don't know what you're arguing with Greg about, you know you need to come with two hands.
Greg (to D shouting): "Before you start, don't ever ******* answer any of the staff back, ever! I saw it going in from way back."
D: "I misjudged it"
Greg (still shouting): "Misjudged it? So why do you ******* answer back?"
Before D has had a chance to answer. "I couldn't give a ******* ****! We've told you what to do loads of times. Right!!! Too many of you are ******* answering the staff back. Pack it in now or else you can **** right off and I couldn't give a ****. We aren't that ******* good and I've been saying it for too long now". You lot answer him back, me back, the physio back. Bunch of ******* tarts. That's what you are, all of you. That was a game we should've won 4 - 0, easy. Oh no not us. No ******* great player among them but they made it hard for us because they stuck at what they are good at. Not us, all we want to do is **** about with it and do little ******* nutmegs.
(Cushion and Jones 2006)
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Here's another Incident at training
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A coaching session is just starting in the sports hall. The players have begun to pass the ball amongst themselves in a circle. Greg arrives and formalises the practice by nominating two players to act as defenders in the circle with those on the outside expected to keep possession. The players who make the circle's rim frequently mis-place passes.
Greg stops the practice, "circle ****, 5 minute warm up ****.... No ****'* too kind.... Game Saturday against United, if we start like this against them, god ******* help us."
Greg then organises a passing practice where the ball is passed via the four corners of the hall. One of the players controls the ball badly, loses possession and then jokes about it with another player.
Greg stops the practice. "'E' If you want to **** about, get into the car park, I couldn't give a ****. Go on, **** ***, out".
E says nothing and trudges, head down out of the hall. The rest of the players get press up's and shuttle sprints as punishment for 'their' mistakes.
(Cushion and Jones 2006)
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Although the language and aggresive manner from these coaches may seem extreme, it is not uncommon. Some coaches use this form of tactics to ensure the players obey them; often concealing an inability to deal with players having their own ideas and revealing the coaches own lack of knowledge.
There are many examples of this still in football, where the child's thoughts are swiftly subdued. It is an unacceptable way of dealing with an adult, let alone a young person, who is dependent on the coach for their continued presence at the club and so will conform, even if being bullied, so to please the coach so they can stay in the side. Although this example is an extreme case, simliar situations with less aggressive language can still have a detrimental affect on the players.