Crossing the line: conceptualising and rationalising bullying and banter in male adolescent community football

This study investigates how bullying and banter are conceptualised and rationalised by those in male adolescent community football. The authors employ a social constructivist, interpretative phenomenological analysis approach using qualitative, semi-structured interviews. These methods explore the meanings behind the perceptions and experiences of male players (N=8, M age=15.4) and coaches (N=4, M age=39). Evidence demonstrated that intent was not synonymous with bullying and that bullying and banter behaviours are highly ambiguous depending on the shared understanding of learned barriers despite participants concurring with most aspects of the definitions. Moreover, banter and bullying behaviours in community football have been experienced by participants, with acts being rationalised through moral disengagement and hypermasculinity. The research indicates that although bullying and banter are conceptualised similarly to popular definitions, concrete definitions may be limited due to the fluid nature of bullying and banter and the influence of shared social understandings.

Additionally, the findings gathered show bullying and banter being experienced and rationalised in male youth community sport through moral disengagement and masculinity. The implications of these findings for safeguarding players and coaches in community football are discussed.