Caught up in and by the Beautiful Game

Abstract

Drawing upon the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this article illustrates how a group of young, predominantly working-class men come to possess a doxic knowledge of the value of the game of football and its stakes. Drawing on a survey of Scottish football players, the article concludes that young participants are guided from an early age toward sporting careers that, although offering the hope of transcending their objective conditions, invariably deceive them with optimism. In the perilous financial climate facing the Scottish professional game, players are being discarded bereft of the exchangeable, readily transferable skills necessary for a future in an alternative employment field. Overreliant upon a constantly depreciating bank of physical capital, these players face precarious futures once this asset reaches exhaustion and their working bodies are deemed surplus to requirements.