Dear all,

This should be appealing to some list members. 

Kind regards,
Simon


-----Original Message-----

The apparent globalisation and commercialisation of football has led to much
criticism from both academic and media commentators that it is no longer the
People's Game. The changing structures of ownership within top level
football are characterised by the increase of international financial
investors keen to associate themselves and their businesses with globally
recognised club brands, personified by teams such as Manchester United and
Real Madrid. That said, most football clubs continue to be firmly embedded
within local contexts and often within close geographical proximity to
traditional fan bases. Despite commercialisation, even the biggest football
clubs remain committed to local community development, contributing huge
social value in otherwise deprived neighbourhoods and cities. This
conference gathers together interdisciplinary research in the UK to explore
the following themes:

. From the local to the global - who are football's communities?
. What is the changing nature of supporter demographics and fan culture?
. Football branding and marketing - is it all about global expansion?
. How are football clubs and their supporters engaging with equality and
diversity?
. What strategies have football clubs deployed for engaging with their
communities?
. To what extent do football clubs contribute to urban and economic
development within local communities?

Its to be held at Manchester Metropolitan University on 1/6/12 (9.30-5.30).
People can register for the conference at:

http://mmufootballconference.eventbrite.com/

and follow us on twitter:

https://twitter.com/MMU_Football

Additionally there is a conference page:
http://footballcommunities2012.wordpress.com/ 


Jennifer Kelly
Community Engagement Intern
Institute for Humanities and Social Science Research (IHSSR) Geoffrey Manton
Building Manchester Metropolitan University Rosamund Street West Manchester
M15 6LL

Sport&EU, The Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union can be found at
http://www.sportandeu.com