40 Ethnic sorting in football ethnic disparities in sports. Not only can it better account for non-participation but it might also serve as an explanation for high participation of relatively marginalized groups. However, the validity of subcultural explanations might depend on certain structural conditions which mitigate constraints and therefore allow preference to play a more substantial role. Two structural aspects might be of particular interest within the Dutch context. The first is the high number of policies on the national and local level which seek to lower the financial threshold to participate in organized sport for lower income groups. Additionally, many local Dutch governments have special subsidies to stimulate the participation of ethnic minority groups in sport and or tie funding to club’s ability to incorporate ethnic minorities. As this coincides with a vast network of amateur football clubs and the strong concentration of ethnic minority members in the metropolitan area, the threshold for membership is likely to be relatively low. Secondly, the high number of amateur football clubs and the substantial geographical concentration of ethnic minority members mean that many of them will have the option to choose to participate in clubs with a relative high degree of ethnic peers and/or ethnic minority members. Not only could this potentially lower the threshold for cultural resources in order to participate in amateur football clubs, but it could also make prejudice and discrimination less of an issue in practice. This would be line with Wiertz’s (2016) study which indicates that Dutch civil society is relatively segregated and Bradbury’s (2011) suggestion that minority clubs can play an important role for ethnic minorities to deal with racism in and outside football. Future research should investigate the sorting tendencies of minority groups over various clubs and teams, especially of those most marginalized, and the interrelations between sports settings and feelings of belonging (see for example Walseth, 2006). While ethnic segregation might be helpful for creating safe, meaningful, and accessible sporting environments for ethnic (minority) groups, it may simultaneously limit the potential for inter-ethnic bridging that sports are often lauded for. A substantial share of the contact between ethnic groups could in fact take place within the sports arena, which in turn could also lead to, or enhance ethnic tensions instead of alleviating them (Krouwel et al., 2006; Walseth, 2008). Furthermore, this study also indicates that we should be wary of broad group definitions which obscure a world of difference, and refrain from jumping to
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