Chapter 2. Ethnic participation in Dutch amateur football clubs 41 quick conclusions that disparities in sports participations are a product of barriers. In line with the subcultural perspective, McPherson (2004) notes that attitudes and interests are primarily transmitted through socially – not in the least ethnically - homogeneous networks. Consequently, cultural tastes and behaviours tend to be located in so-called socio-demographic niches made up of socially similar individuals, creating important differences between the social worlds of dissimilar individuals (Mark, 2003). This is probably no different for sporting attitudes and behaviours. In this light, studies on self-reported reasons for a lack of sports participation which have sometimes pointed to a lack of time or money need to be taken with some caution, as these findings could very well be an artefact of differing socialization and interests. The degree to which constraints are experienced by individuals and form barriers which they cannot overcome will depend on the extent to which an activity is socially valuable to them. Additionally, two important limitations of this study must also be considered. First, while this is one of the first studies to use such comprehensive data on ethnicity and club membership within a single sport, the duration of membership has not been considered. Ethnic groups could differ in their turnover rate due to various reasons, including the three explanations given in this chapter. Secondly, Elling and Knoppers’ (2005) study suggests that ‘non-Western’ ethnic minority members might in fact be more interested in participating in football than ethnic majority members. While we do see substantial participation rates for multiple minority groups, it remains unclear to what extent there remains a gap between interest and participation, and consequently, to what extent resources and discrimination could still play a role. Finally, I would like to end this chapter with a reflective note. A main objective of this chapter was to go beyond the broad classifications for people with immigrant backgrounds and reveal part of the heterogeneity which lies behind them. By doing so, I encountered substantial differences which not only question the impact of exclusion in relation to sporting preferences on ethnic sports participation, but also challenge dominant conceptions about minority groups. Citizens with a Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds are a case in point. While commonly portrayed as two of the least ‘integrated’ or ‘participating’ groups in the Netherlands, they show membership rates which are in fact similar to, or even higher than ethnically Dutch citizens. This not only illustrates their attachment to the Netherlands’ number one associational sport, but also
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