Chapter 2. Ethnic participation in Dutch amateur football clubs 39 towards football. Together, this could result in a relatively low interest of citizens with a non-Muslim Asian and Oceanian background to participate in amateur football clubs and explain why they are so poorly represented as a group. 2.5 Conclusions and discussion This article set out to explore to what extent different ethnic groups participate in the Netherland’s most popular club organized sport and how these differences could be explained. Its primary research question was: To what extent is Dutch amateur football an ethnic reflection of the Dutch population and what factors best explain differences in participation between ethnic groups? In general, we see that ethnic minorities have increasingly found their way to amateur football clubs and that amateur football as a whole is diversifying. This is in line with the democratization of sports which has been mentioned in the past (Elling & Claringbould, 2005). Despite this development, we also see that there still exists a gap between the participation of ethnically Dutch citizens and citizens with a minority background. When we look more closely at differences in participation between specific ethnic groups, we are presented with a more heterogeneous picture. In this chapter, I have provided three explanations which could account for ethnic differences in sports participation. The first two explanations are derived from the marginality perspective and focused on barriers to participate. Either a lack of resources or experiences with prejudice and discrimination could prevent citizens from finding their way into amateur football clubs and/or remain there over time. The figures on participation presented in the study have provided very little evidence for the idea that these are valid explanations for ethnic disparities in membership rates of Dutch amateur football clubs. Groups with the most precarious positions in terms of resources and vulnerability to be discriminated against, show some of the highest membership rates. The third explanation was instead derived from the subcultural perspective and focused on differing degrees of interest in amateur football and/or attitudes that facilitate participation. The results of this chapter suggest that this perspective has more merit explaining
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