Preliminary Observations on Globalisation and the Migration of Sport Labour

Abstract

Focusing on sport labour migration, several broader issues regarding labour migration and globalisation are highlighted. The observations made, and the connections drawn, will be somewhat preliminary in nature. Several dimensions and issues of sport labour migration and globalisation are examined. A range of sports in different societies and across continents are also considered. This migration must be viewed as part of other global cultural flows. Discussion of these flows precedes the case study that focuses on the role of, and the resistance to, American sport labour migrants in the commodification of English basketball over the past two decades, the paper concludes by drawing together the strands of sport migration and global sport development. It's still England against Scotland, no matter who's playing, but the rivalry is born into the British lads. The Canadians tell you they're British when they get a British passport. That might be so but it doesn't make them English or Scottish. The Guardian, 29th January 1993, p. 15.