30 Ethnic sorting in football when we zoom in on the membership figures of specific ethnic groups in amateur football, the picture becomes more heterogeneous. In the next section, I discuss these figures in light of the three explanations for ethnic disparities in sport participation outlined earlier in this chapter. Not a matter of resources The first explanation for ethnic disparities in sports participation discussed in this chapter focused on ethnic inequalities in resources. A lack of economic and cultural resources might act as barrier for entry and thus serve as an explanation for ethnic differences in participation in amateur football clubs. When we look at the participation figures of ethnic minorities in amateur football, we do not find much evidence which supports this explanation. On average, citizens with a Turkish and Moroccan background are among the most disadvantaged in the Netherlands. They tend to have the lowest average incomes and score relatively low on indicators of cultural resources such as language proficiency and educational attainment (Huijnk & Andriessen, 2016). However, when we look at their membership rates of amateur football clubs, they are among the highest of all ethnic backgrounds. In 2005 Turkish members were in fact the best represented group in amateur football with 8,35% of the Turkish Dutch population being identified as a member of football club, even surpassing ethnically Dutch citizens. While the representation of Moroccan citizens was somewhat lower in 2005 their numbers rose quickly over time. In 2008 they surpassed the membership rate of ethnically Dutch citizens and by 2011 they have taken over the position of best represented group in amateur football. A group in the Netherlands that does relatively well in terms of economic and cultural resources are citizens with a Northern, Western, Southern European or Anglo-Saxon background. This group has the highest average income and educational level of all ethnic minority groups. While this category is relatively big in amateur football in absolute terms (Tables 1 and 2), their representation in comparison to their share in the Dutch is in fact well below average (4.52-4.85%, table 2.5). In terms of economic position and educational level, other minority groups tend to fall between the two aforementioned extremes. We would expect the representation of the remaining groups to be higher than that of Turkish and Moroccan citizens but lower than that of Northern, Western, Southern European, or Anglo-Saxon background, but they are not. Overall, these figures are not in line with the idea that differences in economic and cultural resources serve as a
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