ABSTRACT
Football clubs in England have a relatively long history of engaging in community-based work, especially since the establishment of the national “Football in the Community” (FiTC) program in the mid-1980s. It does not come as a surprise therefore that, amongst the European football leagues, in English football is where the strongest institutionalized forms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have evolved. To this end, this chapter draws on findings from a larger empirical study and provides a descriptive account of some of the key issues associated with the way CSR is being strategically implemented in English football. It does so, by using a tactical “line up” analogy in an endeavor to accentuate 11 points that pertain to strategic CSR in this particular context.1 The aim and its execution are therefore intended as a response to Godfrey et al. (2010) call for management scholars studying socially responsible business practices to consider specific manifestations of CSR and take into account relevant industry contexts and forces.
The practice of CSR has held a growing appeal for the sport scholarly community over recent years; this holds at least as true for football (soccer) as it does for the rest of the sporting world. Particularly in England, which is perhaps the first nation to have fully embraced commercialization at the highest levels of its football sector, there are frequent criticisms surrounding excessive transfer fees, poor governance, financial instability and ownership controversies. As a consequence, questions concerning the legitimacy of football clubs and their position in society have gained an increased topicality. Although there are no regulatory provisions in existence that require English football clubs to assess their overall social or environmental impact in any detail, or with any degree of formality (James and Miettinen, 2010, Breitbarth et al., 2011), football clubs in England are now heavily engaged in implementing a range of programs designed to improve their local societies and environments. This, then, is the background to the current chapter. It focuses on the findings of a fiveyear empirical study into the way CSR is being strategically implemented in English football (Anagnostopoulos, 2013). The discussion proceeds in the following manner. First, it provides a brief historical account of English football and its relationship with the concept of CSR.
