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‘One hell of a player’ the social construction of the early career of Lionel Messi: towards a sociological analysis

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posted on 2020-01-20, 12:27 authored by Fernando Segura Millan Trejo, John Williams
We analyse key circumstances and events in the early life and develop-ment of the Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi. We critically considersthe influences and choices which helped shape his stellar career, usinginsights from the work of French sociologist Pierre-Michel Menger aboutthe production of creative artists. Our approach is also inspired by thesociology of the symbolic interactionist Everett Hughes on the signifi-cance key‘turning points’associated with of sequences in occupationaldevelopment. We argue that this sort of interconnected analysis can beuseful for exploring the early construction of great sporting lives. In thiscase: Messi’s childhood in the city of Rosario; his very early departure toFC Barcelona in Spain; the crucial role of his father; and the characterrequired for Messi to become an elite sporting talent. Finally, we alsocomment on the reasons for Messi’s uncertain status as a national sport-ing hero.

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Citation

Fernando Segura Millan Trejo & John Williams (2019): ‘One hell of a player’the social construction of the early career of Lionel Messi: towards a sociological analysis, Soccer &Society, DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2019.1671829To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2019.1671829

Author affiliation

School of Media, Communication and Sociology.

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Published in

Soccer & Society

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

issn

1466-0970

eissn

1743-9590

Acceptance date

2019-09-20

Copyright date

2019

Available date

2019-09-20

Publisher version

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14660970.2019.1671829?scroll=top&needAccess=true

Language

en

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