Ethnographic engagement from within a Football in the Community programme at an English Premier League football club

The present paper draws upon six years of applied practitioner research experience of the authors who were based within a Football in the Community (FitC) programme at an English Premier League football club in a deprived community in the UK. The paper explores the critical emergent issues concerned with participant recruitment, engagement and retention within a range of FitC physical activity, health improvement interventions with the following populations; primary school children, families, men aged 18–35 years and men aged 55 years and above. Results are drawn from a range of ethnographic, reflective and observational data collection and analysis techniques undertaken by the authors. A first person writing style is used alongside creative non-fiction vignettes. Results relating to the effectiveness of a range of behaviour and lifestyle change interventions are discussed. The authors conclude with a series of proposed operational and strategic ways forward for FitC schemes