24 Ethnic sorting in football do hint towards the existence of ethnic prejudice in amateur football, which could be accompanied by informal forms of discrimination. Not all ethnic minority groups, however, face prejudice to the same extent. Therefore, the likelihood of being subjected to discrimination likely varies per group. Studies on ethic social distance in the Netherlands revealed a clear hierarchy in the desirability of ethnic groups. Ethnically Dutch are seen as the most desirable group, followed by Northern European, Southern European, ethnic minorities from former Dutch colonies such as Suriname, and predominantly Muslim groups, most notably Turkish and Moroccan citizens at the bottom as least desirable group (Verkuyten, Hagendoorn, & Masson, 1996). Additionally, Hagendoorn and Sniderman (2001) concluded that for this latter group, native Dutch tend to view people with Moroccan backgrounds more negatively than persons with a Turkish background. Later studies indicate that this hierarchy seems to persist over time (Huijnk & Andriessen, 2016). However, in the last two decades, a large group of Middle and Eastern Europeans have migrated to the Netherlands. While it is difficult to exactly pinpoint where they would fall within the ethnic hierarchy in the Netherlands outlined here, it seems that migrants from Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, who form the biggest share of this group, also face substantial prejudice from the ethnically Dutch population (Dagevos & Gijsberts, 2013). Data on self-reported experiences of discrimination by ethnic minorities in the Netherlands largely suggests the same ethnic hierarchy (Andriessen, Fernee, & Wittebrood, 2014). Belonging to a predominately Muslim ethnic minority, such as Turkish and Moroccan citizens, bears the greatest risk of discrimination, while having darker skin3, as in citizens of former Dutch colonies, seems less associated with being a target of discrimination. Middle and Eastern European 3 An anonymous reviewer pointed towards the possibility of darker skin not being a vulnerability for exclusion but also as a potential marker for active and concentrated recruitment efforts. Studies in the past have indeed pointed to the relation between blackness, and emphasis on physicality and natural ability in sports contexts, potentially leading to selective demand and overrepresentation (see for example Rodriguez and George, 2018). In the Dutch context, Van Sterkenburg, Knoppers & De Leeuw (2012) find an emphasis on the physicality - positive or negative - of football players with Surinamese backgrounds in Dutch sports commentary, but not for players with Antillean backgrounds, who fall in the same ex-colonial ‘Black’ category. Moreover, in the Dutch organized sports system, very little if any actual ‘recruiting’ is done on the amateur level and joining mainly happens on a strictly voluntary basis through network ties. If selective recruitment based on natural ability exists within the Dutch context, it is more likely to happen during scouting of amateur players by professional clubs and within the development of professional football careers.
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