Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

In the world of sport media, the phrase “field of play” is an often-heard term indicating where a competition is taking place. It might be a football field, a soccer pitch, a baseball diamond or an ice rink. On each particular field of play athletes know two things: that this is their combat area and that a pre-determined set of rules and regulations will determine how the game will be played. There is a playbook outlining how the game is won or lost. Successful athletes develop a keen sense of how to play and win the game. They instinctively know when to “play smart” and work more defensively; when to force their advantage and be more offensive; or when to “steal a base” and run for home. In many ways the work environment functions as a field of play at the micro level and society itself resembles a field of play at the macro level. The handbook of rules that women are faced with in society mirrors the complex array of hidden rules and resistance they meet in the workplace. This applies- particularly in terms of gender relations - in the world of sport media. It is not necessarily a field of play that women must navigate in sports production or broadcasts. Rather it can be viewed as a field of glass, with invisible barriers and precarious undercurrents such as the intersection of race, class and sexuality that can affect women’s roles and status within the world of sports.