To Örebro University

Research questions How is the 'problem' of gender equity described, perceived and experienced by female and male board members in Swedish sport today? What key dilemmas can be identified in the realisation of a gender equitable sport management? Research methods The article builds on research conducted on three Swedish ball sport federations during 2020-2021 and is based on a total number of 27 (12 males, 15 females) structured interviews with top leaders. The methodology employs Fraser's concept of gender justice and the need to pay attention to cultural and economic dimensions in transformative interventions. Results and Findings Three dilemmas relating to the realisation of gender equity are analysed: between quotas and stigmatisation, overcoming gender equity as a side-project and how the democratic infrastructure of Swedish sport enables men's continued dominance. The findings indicate that one-dimensional (affirmative) interventions dominate, which in turn explain why achieving gender equity in Swedish sport is difficult, i.e. cultural interventions only limit the chances of achieving gender equity. Implications To implement transformative interventions, cultural and economic resources need to be equally recognised and redistributed so that the organisations' gender order is deconstructed and participation on equally recognised terms secured.

This article examines Swedish men’s ice hockey in the border-land between amateur and professional sports from 1965 to 1975. In brief, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association strived for greater breadth and increased professionalism, which resulted in different initiatives. Inspiration for training programs came mainly from the East (Soviet ice hockey), while more commercial innovations came from the West (professional leagues in North America). In short, preserving Swedish ice hockey’s integrity influenced all decisions. Measures were taken to maintain and possibly increa-se the popularity of domestic ice hockey. But when the amateur model had reached its full potential, professional players were ac-cepted. The negotiations regarding the existence of and attitudes towards amateurism are here interpreted in terms of maintaining or resisting the dominant hegemony.

I denna artikel undersöks svensk herrishockey i gränslandet mellan vad som kallades amatör- och yrkesidrott. Tidsmässigt behandlas tiden runt 1967, cirka 1965 till 1975, och perspektivet är framförallt organisatoriskt med tidskriften Hockey som källmaterial. Som tolkningsredskap och analytiskt ramverk används begreppet hegemoni där de kulturella och ekonomiska dimensionerna i detta fall är centrala. I korthet strävade förbundet efter ökad bredd och ökad professionalitet vilket resulterade i flertalet olika satsningar varav långt ifrån alla föll väl ut. Inspiration hämtades både från öster (Sovjetunionens ishockey) medan mer kommersiella innovationer hämtades från väst. Värnandet om den egna ishockeyn genomsyrade dock alla beslut och den viktigaste förändringen är att proffsen så småningom accepterades eftersom amatörmodellens kapacitet ansågs ha nått sitt maximum. Förändringar gjordes för att bibehålla och eventuellt öka ishockeyns kulturella popularitet, vilket utgjorde grunden för dess hegemoniska innehåll och förändringar.

The tradition of Swedish ice hockey as a masculine-dominated territory that encourages characteristics like roughness, aggressiveness, and to some extent violence has been hotly debated. Using historical articles from the Swedish Hockey magazine, and with a perspective combining hegemony with the social-ecological model of violence prevention, this study develops an interpretation of how masculinity traits and violence in Swedish ice hockey interconnect. The historical case provides findings for this interconnection, with meanings of masculinity and a competitive commitment as permeating threads. Triggered by individuals, but also connected to coaches' encouragements, organizations' endeavours, societal, and financial forces, the negotiations around playing styles and allowance levels have been permeated by ideals of masculinity; ideals that enforce the current hegemonic gender order. Ultimately, the article contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of sport violence as an issue that not only impacts or can be utilized by sport organizations and players/practitioners but also its broader societal implications.

In the beginning of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic broke out. The crisis preparedness of Swedish society and the Swedish sports movement was put to the test in an unprecedented manner. It was a crisis for which no one was prepared but it required immediate and decisive actions. Physical events and gatherings ceased or were prohibited and, if possible, replaced by virtual alternatives. All individuals and organisations were forced to adapt to a new reality. However, as in all crises, in this new situation there were both dangers and opportunities.The global and historically significant nature of the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the leadership within the Swedish Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet; RF) to make swift decisions based on constantly changing circumstances. This report constitutes a qualitative study based on interviews with representatives who held leadership roles within the Swedish Sports Confederation during the pandemic. The aim is to contribute knowledge about the assumptions and strategic considerations made by these representatives during the pandemic — and the lessons that can be drawn from this today.In the report, the prioritisation of controlling the spread of the virus is interpreted as introducing a new institutional logic that shaped the entire sports movement for almost 2 years (2020–2022). We know the Swedish Sports Confederation and the sports movement ‘survived’. However, the consequences of the pandemic are still complex and extensive and will continue to impact the sports world well into the future.The results demonstrate how digitalisation significantly increased during the pandemic, and the connections and communication between the Swedish Sports Confederation, the RF-SISU districts, and the specialised sports federations improved and became more condensed. The interviews reveal reductions in activities and membership numbers and the loss of leaders, referees and volunteers who had supported sports organisations for many years. Certain sports and associations will take a long time to recover and achieve the same activity level as before the pandemic.The crisis was challenging for sports, but valuable lessons can be learned. Collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and resource utilisation are paramount in times of pandemic control and crisis. Loyal employees rallied and worked diligently to support and steer the Swedish sports movement through the crisis. For both individuals and organisations, this effort was sometimes literally about survival. RF had never practised handling a pandemic but demonstrated being well-prepared and possessing significant decisiveness and initiative. They were also able to assert influence and adapt to the new conditions through a willingness to collaborate and take responsibility. Effective communication facilitated the rapid conveyance and management of new guidelines. Many civil society organisations took significant responsibility during the pandemic, and according to the interviewees, the sports movement responded quickly and efficiently to government requirements and recommendations. By building on this knowledge, RF can better prepare for the next crisis and future challenges.

I början av 2020 bröt coronapandemin ut. På ett tidigare aldrig skådat sätt sattes det svenska samhällets och den svenska idrottsrörelsens krisberedskap på prov. Det var en kris som ingen var förberedd på men som krävde omedelbara och beslutsamma åtgärder. Människor och organisationer anpassade sig till en ny verklighet. Men som i alla kriser och faror innebar den nya situationen också möjligheter.Coronapandemin var världsomfattande och tvingade ledningen inom Riksidrottsförbundet (RF) till snabba beslut utifrån ständigt förändrade premisser. Denna rapport består av en kvalitativ studie baserad på intervjuer med företrädare som under pandemin hade ledande roller inom RF. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om de antaganden och strategiska överväganden som gjordes av dessa företrädare under pandemin samt visa vilka lärdomar som kan göras av detta. Smittspridningsbekämpning som överordnad prioritet tolkas i rapporten som införandet av en ny institutionell logik, som kom att prägla hela idrottsrörelsen under nästan två år (2020–2022). Vi vet i dag att RF och idrottsrörelsen ”överlevde”. Men konsekvenserna av pandemin är fortfarande svåröverskådliga och omfattande och kommer att påverka idrottsvärlden långt in i framtiden. Resultaten visar hur digitaliseringen fick en ordentlig skjuts under pandemin och att kontakterna och kommunikationen mellan RF, RF-SISU distrikten och specialidrottsförbunden förbättrades och förtätades. I intervjuerna framkommer hur verksamhet och medlemsantal minskat och hur antalet ledare, domare och ideella krafter, som burit fram idrottsorganisationer i många år, har gått förlorade. Det kommer att ta lång tid för vissa idrotter och föreningar att återhämta sig och uppnå samma verksamhetsnivå som före pandemin. Krisen var och är fortfarande svår och utmanande för idrotten, men det går att dra värdefulla lärdomar. I tider av pandemibekämpning och kris framstår värdet av samarbete, kunskapsdelning och ömsesidigt resursutnyttjande som överordnad allt annat. Lojala medarbetare slöt upp och arbetade hårt och intensivt för att stödja och styra den svenska idrottsrörelsen genom krisen. För såväl individer som organisationer handlade detta arbete ibland bokstavligen om överlevnad. RF hade aldrig övat på att hantera en pandemi men visade sig trots det väl förberedda och ägde stor handlingskraft och initiativförmåga. Genom effektiv kommunikation kunde nya riktlinjer skyndsamt förmedlas och hanteras samtidigt som RF kunde kräva ett visst inflytande och en anpassning av de nya villkoren. Många civilsamhällesorganisationer tog ett betydande ansvar under pandemin och enligt intervjupersonerna svarade idrottsrörelsen snabbt och effektivt på myndigheternas krav och rekommendationer. Genom att bygga vidare på dessa lärdomar finns goda möjligheter att stå bättre rustad inför framtidens utmaningar.

The media’s portrayal of ice hockey and masculinity has often been viewed as a patriarchal domain reinforcing hyper-masculine traits. However, scholars argue that contemporary sports are becoming more inclusive, less misogynistic, and challenging traditional notions of masculinity. This chapter explores the practices of masculinity amongst ice hockey-playing men in Sweden using Instagram posts. The data includes images and comments, and the methods combine visual and textual content analysis. The study applies the theoretical concepts of hybridity/elasticity and hegemony to analyze the data. While ice hockey has been associated with so-called traditional masculinity, the chapter identifies various traits of masculinity portrayed by ice hockey-playing men. These include the sexualizing of ice hockey men, who are often expected to be sexually driven subjects, and homophobic and misogynistic expressions, which can together take different and sometimes contradictory forms. The discussion highlights Instagram’s potential to portray ice hockey-playing men and masculinities as progressive or ‘new’, but also as conservative and ‘old.’

In the late 19th century, football entered Sweden's coastal cities, such as Malmö, Halmstad and Gothenburg. The sport grew quickly, and the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) was founded in 1904. In the following decades, the popularity of football increased and in the 1950s it was perceived as the national sport of Sweden. However, at that time the sport was non-professional and in practice only for men. In order to keep up with hardening international competition, SvFF overturned the amateur regulations in 1967. Professionalisation was slow due to the lack of revenue but accelerated for male players after the Bosman ruling in 1995. Women's football developed gradually from the 1960s and in 1972 a national league organised by SvFF was formed. Youth football also grew substantially. Despite the differences in resources football became well-established amongst both men and women. However, the tensions between idealism, voluntarism and inclusion on the one hand, and commercialism, professionalism and selection, on the other hand, remain. This is best exemplified by the 51% rule, which states that clubs must be majority-owned by the members. This is hailed by some as a guarantee for democratic football, while others argue that it restricts clubs’ financial development.

In this chapter we expand the analysis of sports, organizations, and masculinity to include behaviour often hidden in private communications by broadening the definition of the ‘locker room’ to include social media and other online spaces. Drawing upon high-profile events, research on male-dominated sports, and arguments on sports and hegemonic masculinities, we illustrate how strongmen create locker room spaces to embody narratives of hegemonic masculinities that disparage and mock certain groups. Demonstrating their values and ideas on whiteness, masculinity, and domination, the strongmen’s misogynist, homophobic, and racist language constructs women, LGBTQ + individuals, and ethnic minorities as inferior. In particular, the weaponization of misogyny and homophobia serves as a warning not only to women and gay men, but also to ‘non-feminized’ heterosexual men whose behaviour or ideas fall outside dominant ‘normative’ constructions of masculinity. By focussing on hidden (or not intended to be public) communication between men in sports organizations, our analysis illustrates that demeaning behaviour is, on the part of some white men, a response to their fear of social change – prompting an examination of the fragility of hegemonic masculinity.

Men’s elite ice hockey is one of the most commercialised, popular and patriarchal sports in the global north. With reference to the scarce corpus of ice hockey research from non-American countries, in this article we examine the online portrayals of men who play professional ice hockey in 2 clubs in Norway and Sweden. We pose two research questions and theoretically informed hypothetical assumptions associated with them that we evaluate with the overall aim of broadening the empirical scope of critical studies on men and masculinities in ice hockey. Using a quantitative content analysis, we compare and cross-analyse the online representations of men and masculinities by investigating the Instagram posts of 21 players from Frölunda HC and Vålerenga Hockey. The results demonstrate the importance of a situational and contextual understanding of hegemonic masculinity and broaden the scope of the ‘ice hockey playing man’ that is often perceived as a narrow stereotype.

In this article, the focus is on a theoretical discussion about how to analyse masculinities and power in historical research based on imagery and visual sources from a material-discursive point of departure. The argument is that analysing photographs in sport and the material-discursive representation of men/masculinities could contribute to a broader understanding of men’s hegemony. The article adds to the field of visual literacy and connects research on visual materials, sports history and critical gender studies. The past of Swedish ice hockey constitutes the case, while the understanding of men/masculinities departs from research by Jeff Hearn, Raewyn Connell and other scholars within the critical studies on men and masculinities field. Using four specific photographs from the Swedish magazine Hockey, the analysis exemplifies how their materiality and discursivity relate to a broader cultural context of the hegemony of men and masculinities. For example, cultural dominance strategies, visual techniques that ‘activate’ a photographed (or objectified) male subject and entitlement are discussed, and how these include discursive and material meanings of masculinity, status, and domination and how such embodiments interconnect with a contextual configuration of the dominant hegemony of men.