The evolving role of the football development practitioner: football coach to social worker

The role of the football development practitioner has evolved due to an increased belief by policy makers that football can be used as a tool to bring about social change. Therefore, the requirements of practitioners working within football foundations have moved away from traditional football coaching towards a ‘grey zone’ between sport and social work (Jeanes et al., 2019; Van der Veken et al., 2022). Indeed, the findings of Crisp (2020) suggest that it is not traditional coaching practice that leads to success for sport for social change programmes, rather it is the interpersonal skills, leadership qualities, and the charisma of those delivering. Whilst there is literature exploring the role of performance coaches (whether grassroots or elite), there is limited literature exploring the role and experiences of football development practitioners working towards achieving social change. This paper aims to begin filling this research gap by reporting on a realist evaluation of the Foundation of Light’s (the official charity of Sunderland AFC) Extra Time Hub programme. Realist evaluation is a theory driven approach which stems from the research paradigm of scientific realism (Pawson & Tilley, 1997). Realist evaluators develop programme theories to explain: if, how, why, for whom, and in what context a programme may work. As part of the realist evaluation of the Extra Time Hub, programme theories were developed exploring the importance of the relationship between participants and practitioners, along with the emotional experiences of practitioners. This paper outlines the findings from these programme theories, highlighting the importance of the relationship between participants and practitioner, along with the implications this has on the impression management and emotional management of practitioners.