1. Coping with diversity in sport clubs in the Brussels periphery Rudi Janssens – Eccar conference Ghent 24/11/2011

2. Outline  1. Linguistic diversity: Political context versus societal multilingualism  2. Project: coping with linguistic diversity  3. Conclusions

3. 1.1. Language policy: territorialism

4. 1.2. Multilingual population

5. 1.3. Local language policy: protecting Flemish character of the region Dutch only language accepted in official context But monolingual political ideal also applied to: - Linguistic landscape - Language use in shops - Language use in sports clubs, associations..

6. 1.4. Tension politics – sports clubs Local policy makers  Objective : preserve Flemish character of local community and local associations  Means : - financial - access to infrastructure  Statement : Multilingualism is problem  Local sports clubs  Objective: sports activities with youngsters from the region  Means: - support of local community / parents - use of local infrastructure  Statement : Sports is our core business

7. 2.1. Research project  Research question: Can sports clubs play a role in the linguistic integration of youngsters into the local community?  Selection clubs: - local football team working with youngsters (n=20) - other most important sports club (n=20)  Data: - Interviews with local and regional policy makers, members of sports councils and civil servants (n=53) - Interviews with members of the board of the local clubs, trainers, volunteers (n=101) - Questionaire for players and their parents (n=326) - Observations training

8. 2.2. Language use in formal setting versus informal situation Formal: official meetingInformal: smalltalk

9. 2.3. Language use during competition versus training Formal: competitionInformal: training

10. 2.4. Is there a problem with multilingualism?  ‘Yes’, according to 14.3% of the interviewees on the political level, 3.0% on sports club level  Do you consider the situation as problematic? - Strongly agree: 0% - Rather agree: 6.3% - Neutral: 10.5% - Rather disagree: 25.9% - Strongly disagree: 27.3%

11. 2.5. General ideas about clubs and language Strongly agree Rather agree NeutralRather disagree Strongly disagree In clubs in Flanders, people must speak Dutch 25.0%28.2%13.9%15.8%17.1% In a multilingual environment multilingual clubs are evident 27.8%28.4%13.2%19.6%11.0% Multilingual clubs are a good way to bring other language speakers in contact with the Dutch language 38.9%42.9%10.0%5.6%2.5% Clubs must not engage in language issues 26.8%20.5%22.7%17.0%12.9%

12. 2.6. Effect of multilingualism in clubs Strongly agree Rather agree NeutralRather disagree Strongly disagree Encourages formation of cliques13.9%23.0%21.1%23.3%18.6% Causes problems during sports activities 4.2%12.2% 26.6%44.9% Stimulate contact with other language speakers, also outside club 15.137.525.015.17.4 Different language groups have less negative attitude towards each other 16.536.529.79.77.7

13. 2.7. Opportunities for ‘language stimulation?  Broad support for multilingual clubs - only 15% prefers Dutch (monolingual) clubs - for 60% opportunity to practice other languages - evolution towards multilingualism inevitable  willingness to work on language ‘stimulation’ - club board: 72.5% - trainers: 67.4% - players: 57.1%

14. 2.8. Implementation of ‘language stimulation’?  Integrate into trainers courses Organisation: Clubs National Football Association (eventually, if on broader scale) Financial support: municipality But: only minority wants real action!!!

15. 3.1. Conclusions: Current situation  Multilingualism is a fact => the more informal, the more multilingual  Issue due to geographical location: - municipal regulation (political issue) - vague regulation on level of club (financial issue) => matter of board, trainers and players are often unaware

16. 3.2. Conclusions: Vision on multilingualism  Multilingualism is additional value (personal)  The more multilingual a club is, the more its members appreciate it  Stimulates contact with other language speakers => integration as long as Dutch is prominent as well

17. 3.3. Conclusions: Future  Evolution towards more multilingualism  Sport central issue, language learning only an opportunity  Trainer central role: good practices  Clubs decide on it, but cannot afford to pay

18. 3.4. Policy Recommendations  Political problem ≠ problem for clubs => extra attention can be counterproductive => politicians create problem in clubs  Politics can create framework without obligations Support for clubs who take initiatives  Indirect pressure based on local reglementations