Conceptualising the notion of the ‘sport worker’ and ‘sport/s work’: a commentary

Sport research has interrogated ways diverse employment landscapes, distinct working conditions, state and organisational recognition of labour and work, contour working lives and workspaces. These explorations notwithstanding, contestation and ambiguities exist over how sport-related labour is termed and framed, and the consequences that follow for sector constituents. These debates form the catalyst for this position paper on the conceptualisation of ‘sport/s work’ to articulate intersections of sport, law and employment. In aid of understanding contemporary uses of the terms, we recourse to illustrating historical, cultural, and linguistic origins and appropriations, and recent reignition within sport research. From this foundation, and offering a definition, we posit possibilities for debate - that might provide more nuanced and robust conceptualisations of the ‘sport’, ‘work’, ‘sport/s work’ trinity. In so doing we underscore the ontological significance of critical engagement with language and concepts, more generally, in pursuit of more critical sport dialogue.