Hello and welcome to my final episode on my podcast series on the social media use of the EPL and the A-League. I’m going to be honest as I probably set out to do 5 episodes instead of 4 however with time constraints, I have decided to only do 4 podcasts.
Just a recap on the series, Episode 1 was an introduction on what to expect, Episode 2 was on the EPL social media use and social and cultural transgressions of the league and Episode 3 was on the A-Leagues social media use, the adoption of premier leagues features and the negative side of being an Australian Footballer.
This episode will look at how the two compare and where both can adapt features from each other.
As mentioned in my introduction episode, I have experience with both leagues. Being a supporter since birth of both Liverpool and Sydney. I have also known the significant difference in talent and culture. EPL started hooliganism and ended it while the A-League with the emergence of new team Western Sydney Wanderers have brought it back into the game.
However, in terms of social media, the A-League has as mentioned adopted features from the EPL. These features are the photography elements, transfer talks and the ability to promote their teams on social media by personalising their accounts.
The A-League must adopt the ability to be more interactive with their audience. There is an obvious difference in feedback from the comment section. This may be due to the difference in overall followers; however, A-League still must be more interactive. Simple stuff like using more rhetorical questions and inviting audiences to comment on transfer news or any updates. A lack of fan art is quite easily seen which makes the EPL so significantly dominant when talking about audience interactivity.
The EPL could look at adopting a more cultural approach. The A-League posts Spotify sounds which is Australian-based, and this could be done by the EPL which such a prominent grime scene.
The EPL is known as an organisation which is promoting their stand for the fight against racism. The A-League of recent has had an issue with the battle with online abuse against players. Both prominent issues worldwide however its safe to say that the EPL are currently dealing with the issue of racism further than of the A-League. The EPL has culturally and socially trasngressed while the A-League is already culturally diverse and haven’t had too many problems with such an issue.
The A-League started in 2005 as way to increase the competitive nature of football or ‘soccer’ in Australia. The NPL already existed as the premier football league but many critics believed there needed to be a major overhaul.
Due to Australia being such a diverse and multicultural country, the A-League makes its name for being a multicultural league. Through studying an ethnographic study written by John Hughson, ‘A Tale of Two Tribes: Expressive Fandom in Australian Soccer’s A-League’, I grasped the idea that there are two particular supporter ‘tribes’. These neo-tribal groups are seperated by their experience with their chosen club. One tribe is the ‘youth supporter groups’ which follow long and established clubs and are from ethnic-identifiable communities and the other is for the newer clubs and the non-ethnic communities. This concept shows that the A-League has become diverse through the development of the league.
SIDENOTE: I have included a segment in my podcast about the introduction of the A-League (if you want to know more about it).
Due to the A-League being so diverse, the social media must display the same connotations. Much like the EPL, teams must promote to their chosen audience.
A prime example is the fan base of the Western Sydney Wanderers. The team stands out from other A-League teams as it is arguably the most diverse team. Their infatuation for their team comes at a cost as they have brought ‘hooliganism’ (mentioned in 2nd episode) back into the game.
The ‘RBB’ fan group display their own cultural and social significance. This is key that their social media administrators emphasise such notions on their accounts. The Red and Black theme is used as well as images which show off their fan group and their personalised flags in the crowd. “It’s our resilience in the face of adversity that defines us”, is a quote mentioned in a post about an upcoming game. The quote is key in defining what kind of team they are. After starting as an organisation after Sydney FC, the Wanderers have always really been the ‘2nd Sydney team”. Posting this type of quote speaks to their audience and means more to them than any other teams fan base.
THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF BEING A FOOTBALLER – JOSH HOPE
For footballers on social media it is all about developing a profile or persona which will attract fans into following you. Social media offers great tools which allow for direct and indirect communication from celebrity to fan. We only really look at the positives of social media. A celebrity who posts a picture of themselves happy isn’t always going to portray the same connotations. But that is what social media has turned us into in todays day in age.
At the tender age of 22, Melbourne Victory footballer Josh Hope was only starting his career. After finding his feet gaining some appearances under his belt, Hope gave away a penalty playing for the Victory senior side. Thinking this would lead to nothing, Hope continued on with playing his own game. This was until he realised that he had come under the spotlight of online social media abuse.
“Hopesless” is the popular sledge thrown at Hope. An easy yet aggravating sledge and after being repeated over and over, it would become troublesome to his own mental state. Hope has only recently given up the game after “relentless targeted abuse” at the age of 24.
Through the development of social media and how powerful of a tool it has become, the allowance for opinion has drawn out the negative side of society. Known as a ‘multicultural league’, the A-League hasn’t had to deal with racism and online abuse much like other leagues such as the Italian league (where racism is prominent) and the EPL.
As a young Australian player, Josh Hope is the only player to date in the A-League to retire due to online abuse. I believe Australia’s culture is at fault. The 21st century is only starting to raise awareness about ones mental health. The NRL has seen it with former Broncos captain, Darius Boyd, opening up about the war he has had with his own mental health during a tough season where Broncos finished close to the bottom of the table. As a high profile athlete it is important to look after your mental health especially with the surrounding factors such as fandom and poor performances. These aspects creep into any athletes mind and are as significant as ever in the 21st century due to the development of social media.
Whether Hopes retirement acts as a catalyst for change or not, one thing is for sure that there must be change.
My name is James Muggeridge and for BCM241 I will be looking and comparing the social media use of the EPL (English premier league) and the A-League (Australian Football league). In doing this I will aim to find aspects of each leagues’ social media platform which helps them gain an advantage or disadvantage over the other.
So far, I have enjoyed the content highlighted in the subject and the concept of ethnography is something which I feel is so important within the practice of being a media worker. While saying this I think it would be good to highlight that as my career aspiration is to be a journalist, I think this DA looking at media Ehnographies will only benefit my learnings.
In my pitch I was clearly to vague and didn’t exactly understand the idea of choosing a ‘niche’, however, homing in on social media as a part of the media landscape of both the EPL and the A-League will hopefully define my DA.
WHATS TO COME
I hope to cover the main platforms, Instagram and YouTube, through looking at how each league has transgressed over time and how they distribute their content to targeted audiences. Their are definitive techniques and methods which are applied to appeal to their own audience and this is something I would like to home in on. As football is heavily social and communal, it is so significant that teams and leagues must get their social media platforms on point.
My next episode will focus on how EPL manages their social media platforms. Instagram in particular is such a worldwide form of content which can be accessed by all ages and cultures for fans to digest. They boast different types of media to entice fans (photo, video, games etc). The platforms love to reflect on the history of the league and how prestigious it truly is. Doing this can truly appeal to all ages as the photo and game based content appeals to younger audiences whilst reflecting on the history of the game appeals to the older and more experienced audiences. I will also go into detail about my own experiences with the EPL and how social media entices me into viewing their content and even recently writing about it.
On the other hand, whilst ethnographically analysing the A-League I will look to discover what techniques could be taken from from the EPL which would build their profile, competing with other surrounding leagues. Football in Australia is not really ‘football’ yet it’s called soccer. This is because it shares it’s name with the AFL (Australian football league) and the Rugby (League and Union). Currently A-League is at the bottom of this football hierarchy as it has the lowest popularity record compared to the other two. This needs to change as Australian football has a rich history in the world of football. Whether it was Harry Kewell who played for Liverpool in the champions league or Tim Cahill, a worldwide icon for his incredible skill to head the ball. Their social media performance can evoke change and invite foreign viewers to believe in the game. Because at the moment the A-League is on a downward spiral and is it even close to being on the EPL’s level.
Podcasting on YouTube is a form of content which has sky rocketed. Whether it is a comedy podcast, a news podcast or a sports podcast, podcasting is a great way to distribute opinion on a world which is constantly changing and developing.
Throughout this early period in this subject I have learnt the core properties needed to be a research ethnographer. The idea of choosing a media niche was daunting, however, since choosing a topic which I enjoy and having planned out my research, my field site and problematising my niche, I have learnt so much about ethnography.
To end the blog posts part of this semester I must identify the key readings which helped myself collect background research for my niche. Furthermore, I will also locate ethical considerations involved in my research and talk about how I will choose to manage them.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH
To help narrow down my niche or ‘problematise’ it, I focused on the comparison between the EPL and the A-League. This includes media-based aspects such as how the EPL is marketed compared to the A-League and how both are documented through journalistic outputs.
Firstly, it was interesting to analyse a book written by Henry Jenkins called ‘Fans, bloggers and gamers’, which focused on the convergent nature of fan culture and sports. He emphasises the impact that media has had in converging within the world of sports. New technologies have enabled an average fan to ‘archive, annotate, appropriate and recirculate media’ in their own personalised style (Jenkins, 2006). This concept circles back to why I picked this niche, for my career aspirations to become a journalist.
Firstly, Australian football (or soccer) is the most participated of the four Australian football codes (Rugby League, AFL, Rugby Union) yet is the fourth ranked in popularity and attendance. This is based on its media attention, salaries and revenue generation out of the four total codes. The A-League is growing and must continue to grow linking ‘soccer’ with its multicultural community gained through its ethnic origins (Skinner, 2008).
Switching from a competition which is in its growth stage to a fully grown financial beast in the world of football, the EPL. I insisted to find out why the English league was so big and came across a book which emphasised looking at the EPL as a business. Every club is a brand which have created their own fan culture and market themselves in their own personalised way (Goldblatt, 2015). This fan culture as well as the financial significance of the EPL displays the league as the richest in the world.
ETHICS
My duty of care as an ethnographic researcher is to follow, step by step, the ethics procedure which involves my chosen topic. Researching the EPL and collecting data will not inflict any emotional harm which is the 1st step in the ethics procedure.
However, I must emphasise care as an important step in the procedure as it is my duty of care to be respectful and be upfront and honest about my research. I must inform my participants of the research I plan to conduct which involves the ‘participant information package’ as a guide. Another principal is allowance for participants to be anonymous. But as said in the lecture it will be tough in the digital landscape to fully confirm the anonymity of the participants. Furthermore, I as the research ethnographer must ask participants and negotiate the confidentiality of the data, hoping to grasp as much of the key data possible to be collected.
My Niche was picked based on my career aspirations of being a sports journalist. In particular I would love to write about the EPL (English Premier League). After learning the basics of the study of ethnography, it would only develop and increase my understanding of the English sport and my writing skills.
PROBLEMATISING
After help from Mohammad in my tutorial, problematising my niche, the EPL, was made easy. When you truly home in on the EPL there are many different factors which could be considered for problematisation.
I’ve decided to look at the comparison between the EPL and the Australian League, The A-League. EPL obviously is a much stronger league due to the high profile talent included, yet what are the other factors which has lead to this?
Since 1906, England have been playing against other international teams (Gibbons, 2014). Competitions such as the World Cup, the Euros and the Champions League allow England and domestic teams to play across borders. As the A-League is a fairly new league in comparison to the EPL (starting in 2004) the league has not been able to play as many international games, yet in recent times have competed in the Asian Cup and the Asian version of the Champions League.
So due to the EPL being such an experienced league, does the A-League have the potential to compete with them in the long-term? To answer this question I don’t think so due to the culture which is ingrained into English Football, but there are aspects of the EPL’s culture which could be adopted.
AUDIENCE AND RESEARCH
My audience in this ethnographic investigation includes:
Myself and future employers
Avid watchers of the EPL
Avid watchers of the A-League
Non-football watchers to see their take of what both competitions mean to them and Australia
I have already found a few different readings on fan culture in sport and in particular in England which will help with research. There are also many documentaries on the EPL and different fan cultures of different teams
Now that the EPL is in it’s off season it would be perfect timing to start watching back EPL games and comparing them to A-League games just to create a basic platform for my research. Also watching videos from Australian Players such as Aaron Mooy and Mathew Ryan on their experiences in the EPL compared to the A-League.
My research will be completed auto-ethnographically where I will be able to complete my research in my own personalised way (Wall, 2006). I like this method as it allows to draw on experiences of myself and my talent included in the investigation. Throughout my life I have always had an eye on the EPL and feel like I have a pretty good knowledge of the sport. This will help prove my research and personalise the investigation.
SCHEDULE
My Schedule started in WK1 where I found my niche. WK2 was where background research begun and this allowed myself to further research EPL and it’s external factors such as fan culture. I will give time for my pitch to make sure I give it enough time and it’s done to my best ability.
Studying content will focus in on my readings and experiences of fans from both the EPL and the A-League in a hope to truly investigate my Niche. WK10 is when I will begin my DA and report about my niche.
In doing this schedule I will hope to remain organised and truly focus on this idea of a ‘media niche. I am excited in doing this ethnographic investigation and can’t wait to learn more about this sport and competition that I love.
James Muggeridge 