Fotboll i förebyggande socialt arbete med ungdomar

The consensus throughout history have been that sports have great potential to be a good influence on youths. Both in social development and preventive against antisocial behaviour. Despite this, there have been a small or non-existent interest to incorporate sports in social work with youths in Sweden, especially for those who are socially vulnerable. In this study, we intend to have a closer look at an organisation that uses sports, or to be precise football, as a mean to integrate these youths into the society. We conducted five qualitative interviews with people who work with said project to extract their thoughts and experiences. Both Hirischi’s (2002) theory about social bonds as well as the theory about socialization, presented by Patrikson (1982), was used to analyse the material gathered via the interviews. The study showed that the recipients were all very positive to the use of football in social work with youths. They all agreed that it can be used to steer individuals away from criminal behaviour, that it can be used as an arena for integration and that it can work as a safety net in society