Reframing Impact through Sharing Stories: Reflections on Emerging Evaluation Practices in Women’s Football in the Pacific Islands

McGowan, Lee and Kanemasu, Yoko and Taylor, Chelsey and Symons, Kasey (2024) Reframing Impact through Sharing Stories: Reflections on Emerging Evaluation Practices in Women’s Football in the Pacific Islands. In: Towards a Pacific Island Sociology of Sport: Seeking New Horizons. Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 163-181. ISBN 978-1-83753-087-8

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Abstract

In 2023, two international football (soccer) tournaments amplified attention on the women’s game in Oceania. Football organisations are efficient at measuring participation of these events, of their training programmes, and related activities. However, their evaluation of the impacts within or on local football communities remains relatively rare, particularly for those marginalised through gender. Women and girls commonly engage in football for more complex reasons than those underpinning the participation of men and boys. Football organisations in the Pacific Islands tend to treat women’s football communities differently to those around men and boys. Yet often the same conventional processes of appraisal are applied. This chapter offers critical reflection on evaluation processes of a new initiative, This is How We Football, aimed at participation of young women and girls in safe environments. The initiative is deployed by regional governing body, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). In its efforts to address a wider range of gender norms and related issues identified within local communities, the programme includes the use of Indigenous/local epistemologies and oratory practices alongside conventional measures. This chapter considers the incorporation of place-based approaches to evaluation and the challenges and opportunities the process presents for OFC. In doing so, it contributes to wider understanding of
engagement with local football communities in parts of Oceania.

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	School of Law and Social Sciences (SoLaSS)
Depositing User:	Yoko Kanemasu
Date Deposited:	05 May 2025 03:02
Last Modified:	05 May 2025 03:02
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/14850

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