Football parents: ‘die-hards’ and the ‘backstagers’ in girls’ and women’s football

Football is not a tangible commodity that can be easily measured or quantified but instead occupies an ethereal quality that extends beyond the pitch and into people’s everyday lives. Other than the father-son connection in relation to masculinity-making, the diurnal importance of family to footballers has not featured strongly in previous literature. In particular, there is scant research available documenting the lives of girls and women who play in connection to parental relationships. This current study seeks to address this and aims to understand how parents negotiate their parent-daughter relationships within the world of football. Over 120 players and family members were involved in this season-long critical ethnographic exploration (football academy and secondary school site) in addition to family interviews to formulate the current research design. Findings reveal that parents significantly contribute to their daughter’s footballing identities and provide opportunities for progression and development. The Parental Continuum provides a heuristic device in which to understand the fluidity of football parents’ roles; roles that shift between ‘die-hard’ and ‘back-stage’ positions as emerged from this current study. Parents’ movement along the Parental Continuum was inextricably linked to their daughter’s engagement with and progression within football. The insights of this study can be transferred to other areas of investigation, such as research into boys’ and men’s football as well as other sports