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Introduction
Background of Study
The market for talent is becoming increasingly globalised, large, and international. From 1990 to 2000, the stock of high skilled migrants to 30 OECD countries rose from 12.5 to 20 million (Docquier, et al., 2009). Professional football has one of the most globalised labour markets. Since the mid-1970s, an increasing number of talented players have moved across countries and continents to (re-)join the top European leagues. Amongst those talents, African footballers have become a staple of professional European leagues. As noted by Darby et al (2007) and Poli (2010a), the growing presence of young West African footballers in European clubs has given rise to accusations of exploitative relations between core and peripheral footballing regions. It means that European clubs use their economic influence to shape the labour-migration process and dictate trade on terms benefitting the European football, the core, to the detriment of their African counterparts, the periphery.
There is a problem of an extensive migration of skilled athletes from their home countries to the more developed ones, where they have more perspectives, but less stable social status. Due to this, sport development in their home countries is highly hindered. The powerful economic position of European football clubs in shaping labour-migration has involved the use of Talent Identification and Development (TID) strategies as a pull factor in drawing African talents to Europe (Darby and Solberg, 2009). This theme is understudied and poorly represented in the literature, despite being an important factor in the global sport talent market; thus, it would be good to study it more thoroughly.
Challenges in Ghana are associated with talent identification and development, thereby contributing significantly to the phenomenon of sports labour migration in the football industry. Talents are not identified properly, and no required actions are taken to develop them and provide opportunities to grow their careers (Till & Baker, 2020). Talented people may perform on large competitions, such as international sport events or Olympic Games, winning fame and money. Before that, however, they should be admitted and trained accordingly to their initial characteristics and inclination. Sport facilities in Ghana are usually not able to perform it: they lack money, interest, or both (Till & Baker, 2020). Even if they good potential, skills, strength, endurance, and agility, they may have no opportunities to realize their potential.
This paper argues that proper talent identification and development strategies in the African football environment can be used a significant tool to build a better sports industry in African countries, such as Ghana. The study investigates existing TID strategies in the context of a developing economy (Ghana) and highlights key challenges associated with sport talents identification and development. Relations between the quality of football talents training and their migration are explored. Possible solutions for the optimisation of the talent development are proposed.
Problem Statement and Research Objectives
The phenomenon of sports migration is viewed from the lenses of socio-economic perspective, where sports talents move to pry their trade in a far more advanced economy to better their lives. Much of the existing studies have not considered the role of talent identification and development and how it affects football talents in the migration (Maguire, 2000). However, in less developed economies such as Ghana, talent identification and development may not have received much attention as it has been in developed sports regions (Alegi, 2010). Sports athlete move from less sports industry into a more sophisticated zone where they can find opportunities to develop their sports talent. All those researches, including mentioned works of Darby and Esson, views the migration as the socioeconomic process, when sports talents naturally move to more developed countries. No attention is paid to the opportunities of the improving the situation in those less developed countries by implementing the TIDS in them.
This study, on the contrary, investigates the phenomenon of migration of footballers from Ghanas sports industry and how it relates to talent identification and development system. An investigation into existing TID approaches as well as how TID relates with the phenomenon of sports labour migration will help to evaluate the inefficiencies in existing approaches and develop more effective strategies. They, in turn, will help to develop the sport industry in Ghana and other African countries, preventing talent outflow and stimulating growth.
All mentioned questions and objectives may be summarized into four points:
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Explore existing talent identification approaches and strategies in Ghanas Football Industry.
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Examine the factors accounting for the ineffective implementation of TID systems in Ghana
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Explore the phenomenon of the migration of football talent from Ghana to Europe and how its relationship with TID.
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Provide recommendations for talent identification and management in Ghanas Football Industry: strategies and approaches that will probably work better, improve the performance of the industry, and prevent the talent outflow.
Significance of the Research
The findings of the research will inform stakeholders on the relationship between talent identification and development, and the migration of football talent in Ghanas sports industry. Then, they will be able to develop better talent identification systems, being able to manage their limited resources more efficiently. The study seeks to serve as an evaluation and assessment tool for TID in Ghana, benefiting its football talents. Lastly, study findings will expand the body of literature and improve the scarce research in Ghana on TID and labour migration.
Literature Review
Introduction
The purpose of literature review is to aid both the understanding of theories and variables which underline the study. This chapter defines the various concept under study and explores the literature, such as peer-reviewed articles, on talent identification and labour migration in Africa drawing from the conclusions and findings from the various authors. There are three themes, important for this study: the talent identification and development systems and models, the football migration from Ghana and other developing countries, and the connection between those two topics. Literature connected with those three themes will be reviewed in the chapter.
Talent Identification and Development System (TIDS)
Talent identification and development (TID) is an approach of searching, identifying, and training people who have opportunities to become professional sportsmen. It is valuable for sports stakeholders, as it increases their competitiveness and revenues (Vaeyens et al., 2008). In their book, Bloom and Sosniak (1988) described that the talent identification and development system is especially important for the youth: it helps them gain competence in areas where their talents are relevant. Bloom connects identification with development in this context: first, the talent is identified, and then, the young person is trained according to the talent. According to Collins and MacNamara (2012), the goal of TID is to assist individuals in discovering their capabilities and turning them into skills with high performance. In their review, Johnston et al. (2017) showed various factors, such as physical strength, sports performance indicators, physical appearance, are used to determinate the talent and how they may be assisted. Thus, TIDS are the set of systems used by sport trainers for identifying and developing people, especially young people, with high potential in the certain sports area.
Football Labour Migration in Ghana and Other Countries
Football labour migration is almost as old as the sport itself: it began as different cultures started to connect with each other. Now, the world is interconnected and travels are much easier than before, the rate of migration is enormous (Esson, 2015). Even a basic examination of club footballs early beginnings, notably in continental Europe, reveals that it was primarily based on the activities of migrants. According to Taylor (2007), the perspective of social scientists on football labour migration has not paid enough attention to the historical context of the phenomenon. Taylor believes that to better understand the phenomenon is to take a look at the historical background of football labour migration. Football clubs, thus, were actively created in the Europe and attract players from around the world. This process was the most active in the Great Britain, but there were others countries involved as well (Darby, 2007). Footballers mobility is limited by the international laws and rules of the world football organisations, such as FIFA (Littlewood et al., 2011). Young talents are especially valued, and children talented in sports are often invited by those clubs in developed countries.
Football labor migration is therefore the process of the movement of football players from one country of origin seeking to implement their talent in other country. Usually, it is the move from the less developed country to the more developed one, in search of financial benefits and life stability (Darby & Solberg, 2009). According to the Darby (2013), Ghanian best football players are actively flowing to the more developed countries because they can create more value there. It means that they cannot realize themselves in their home countries, and have to search better options.
To conclude, the literature that describes the football labour migration may be characterized by the next points:
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The migration is usually viewed from the point of talent moving from the less developed countries to the more developed ones: that is, from the socioeconomic perspective.
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The migration is viewed as the result of the poorly developed infrastructure in their home countries.
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Little attention is paid to the connection of football migration and talent identification and development systems in their home countries: there are almost no recommendations of how the situation may be improved.
Connections Between TIDS and Labour Migration
While there are much of literature dedicated to the sports labour migration, it is, as mentioned, mostly dedicated to the socioeconomical perspective of this phenomena. The majority of studies focusing on football and global athlete flows from the Global South to the North (Maguire & Falcous, 2010). They concentrate on global value chains: determining and describing the value creating by sportsmen with their skills, when migrating to other clubs in developed countries (Klein, 2010; Darby, 2013). They also describe the reasons why the sports industry is underdeveloped in poor African countries, showing examples of poor management and widespread corruption and how they influence the sports. There was no advice, however, on how those issues may be overcome and which approaches may be used for that.
The relationship between African sport talent migrants and European football clubs may be considered exploitative. In his article, Darby (2000) connects such migrations with the political situation, comparing the practice of attracting football talents from poor countries with the neocolonialism. He also describes the resistance from the native citizens of those countries and impoverishment of many migrants. While they actually have better financial perspectives, they are forced to work for those football clubs and often have very little life satisfaction from this. He then develops his ideas in other articles, where he shows evidence of the exploitation of African football talents by Portugal clubs (Darby, 2007). In that way, there is an actual problem of African football talents development. Their migration limits the development of the sports industry in their home countries and, in addition, brings no life satisfaction to them.
As a result, there are limited precedents in the European setting for relating player movement with TIDS. Maguire and Pearton (2000) investigated how the movement patterns of male football players who participated in the 1998 World Cup may have influenced talent identification. They found that African football talents are usually migrated to England, Germany, Italy, and Spain. They also showed drawbacks of the migration: a lack of investment in local talent development and clubs and less playing opportunities for domestic players. The benefits are the overall rise in football quality and the ability for migrant players to serve as role models for domestic talent.
The Current Research
The current research is dedicated to close the gap between the football players migration and TIDS by exploring connections between them. Then, the question is how TIDS may be used to improve the situation with poorly developed sports industry. For this reason, the series of interviews with Ghanian football talent industry was conducted: there were football scouts, coaches, and ordinary players. The obtained information was then analysed according to the developed research methodology and design. Recommendations about how the industry may be improved will be formulated based on the result on the analysis.
Research Methodology
Research Design and Approach
For the purpose of this study, explanatory research design using the qualitative approach was adopted. Explanatory research is a type of research design that focuses on linking various events and facts by similar explanations (Buchanan & Seligman, 2009). The qualitative method is intended to give the researcher a way to comprehend phenomena by observing or engaging with the studys participants (Denzin & Lincoln, 2008). It means that the information will be obtained from the participants via interviews. In that way, it is good for the current research, where the data from the series of in-depth interviews have been synthesized. The information, obtained from interviews, is analysed according to the explanations, to connect various pieces of information from various interviewees together.
Data Collection Methods
Interviews were employed as the major source of data in order to provide detailed information to better understand the phenomenon under study. They were designed as in-depth interviews, with the help of the interview guide (Boyce & Neale, 2019). The interview guides were semi-structured to allow for flexibility in the researchers interaction with the participants. This way, the researcher had more opportunity to ask questions and probe for additional information. Also, interviews were semi-structured to ensure that key areas relevant to the study are fully captured and at the same time give some level of limited freedom to respondents. It allows to discuss other aspects of their experience in the industry relevant to the topic they wish to discuss to ensure free and effective flow of discussion.
The interview questions were structured around the study objectives: the TIDS, and how they may be implemented to help develop the talents in Ghana and other African countries. Different questions were designed for different participants: scouts were asked about their job time, reasons to work, and experience. The main point of interest is the number of players they were scouted, criteria on which they base when scouting, the condition of scouted players, and how they maintain contact with them. In addition, their opinion was asked, too: what they think about the scouting industrys development over the last years and how they feel about its future. For coaches, the criteria of the perfect football player and how they train players to fit those criteria, were the main points of interest. Their view on talent identification and development, their approaches, and their personal relationships with players and scouts were also asked. As for players, their experience was the most valued point for the research, and for interview with them, questions were the least structured. The reason for that is that each player has the most unique story and the path to success, and the current research is interested in them.
The Study Participants
The population of interest for this research includes all stakeholders in Ghanas Football Industry. They may be divided on three categories: players, scouts, and couches, and the questionnaire contains different approaches to all of them. In total, 10 players, three couches, and three scouts were interviewed. Each interview lasted from 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the particular case. All scouts have the experience in scouting football players abroad, and all coaches said that they have several players who managed to make their career in the developed country. Players described their experience: how their talent was revealed by themselves or trainers, how they were trained and developed, and what they expect from their careers.
Data Analysis
Thematic data analysis has been used for this study, as it is well-suited for the wellbeing field and get good qualitative results. It is a method for studying qualitative data which contains repeating patterns, understanding them, and reporting them; it sheds light on relations and regularities between various patterns (Braun & Clarke, 2014). By creating themes and dividing data according to them, it helps. The ability to be employed within a wide range of theoretical and epistemological frameworks is a defining property of thematic analysis. It was used to perform the current research, as various data connected with the football industry should be analysed. Some scholars have described thematic analysis as belonging to ethnography, such as Aronson (1995), and Joffe (2011) says that it is good suited for the interview analysis to measure the public perception of a particular topic. Braun and Clarke (2014) argue that it may be used as a qualitative method for all fields and is particularly useful in the medicine and wellbeing fields, including sports.
The interviews from the audio files were copied to a storage device and stored as a backup. The audio files were converted to text format, for the more thorough thematic analysis. Topics, derived from the interviews, were then divided into categories and each of them were analysed on repetitions and similar patterns, according to the explanatory research design. Explanation then was created, based on those patterns, and the recommendations about the Ghanian football talent industry development will be formulated based on them.
Ethical Issues
The right of research participant is a legal binding principle that must be observed by researchers. The principles of research ethics were taken from the article of Pimple (2002), and the most important points for the current research are informed consent, respect for participants, special permissions, right to check and modify, data protection, and full confidentiality. Due to the presence of several interviewees and the lengthy talks with them, all of them should be treated respectfully and as unobtrusively as possible. All information, obtained from them, should be totally open for them and be withdrew after the first request. All their names, surnames, and other sensitive information should be protected and not shared with anyone. Special permission for the usage of recorded data was obtained before the research. In that way, the strong ethical principles are the integral part of the research design.
Presentation and Discusion of Findings
Introduction
The study interviewed key participants in Ghanas sports industry to understand the phenomenon of talent identification and development in Ghana. The result of the interview sessions are discussed in this chapter.
Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
The gender distribution of the study revealed that all 22 respondents who participated in the study are men. The age distribution of respondents revealed that 4 (18.18%) respondents are within the categories of 26-30 years, 7 (31.82%) respondents are within 31-35 years, 6 (27.27%) respondents are within the range of 36-40 years with the remainder 5 (22.73%) falling within 46-50 years.
Majority of respondents who are 7(36.36%) in number are sports analysts, 5 (22.73%) respondents are footballers who have played in Ghana at a point and are abroad or are still playing in the industry, 5 (22.73%) respondents are coaches whereas the remainder 5 (22.73%) respondents are football scouts. Majority of respondents (8, 40.0%) have spent 11-15 years in the sports industry, 5 (25.0%) respondents each indicated having spent 5-10 years and 16-20 years whilst 2 (10.0%) respondents indicated having more than 20 years of experience in the industry. This shows that respondents who were selected to participate in the study had spent significant years and possessed rich knowledge and experience needed to arrive at more accurate and reliable study findings
Talent identification approaches and strategies in Ghanas Football Industry
The study sought to answer the first research objective on the identification of existing talent identification strategies and approaches in Ghana. The following is what some of the respondents had to say:
The only way Im aware that talents are identified and developed in this country is when they are picked during these interschools competitions, the milo games and the annual college and high school competitions (Interviewee 3, Sports Analyst).
The national sports colleges and football academies are all TID initiatives and structures. They recruit talents from high school and Universities every year (Interviewee 1, Sports Analyst).
In assessing TID initiatives in Ghana, what was cutting across responses were the national annual sports events held to identify young talents from the senior high and tertiary schools and the operations of sports academies in Ghana. These academies recruit young footballers and provide them with the opportunities for development.
Im aware of the GFAs National Elite Sports Identification program which is in the pipeline and yet to be operational& Other than that, presently I am not aware of any working TID plan (Interviewee 4, Sports Analyst).
One respondent however identified a typical TID initiative which according to the respondent was established by the GFA but is yet to be commissioned.
Effectiveness of the Identified TID Strategies and Programs
Respondents were then asked to describe the effectiveness of the identified TID strategies and programs and these were some of the recorded narratives:
&I can tell you for a fact that the inter schools competition is useless. You see great athletes and footballers during these tournaments and even without any technical eye you great talents. In few years you dont see them again&You call this talent development? Identification yes but to what end? (Interviewee 2, Sports Analysts)
I could not event rate the performance of our efforts on a scale because it is beyond abysmal. There are few strategies and those ones are also not functioning as TID structures because of the many challenges (Interviewee 15, Sports Scout)
The expressed views of respondents as reported above communicates in more ways the many grievances of stakeholders in Ghanas football. The respondent first expressed the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of tournaments organized for talent hunts and described them as useless . According to the second respondent, young talents are identified during intercollege tournaments but the aspect of developing these talents is highly ineffective
Factors/challenges accounting for the ineffectiveness of TID systems in Ghana
The study sought to examine the factors that account for the ineffectiveness of TID systems in Ghana. On this, the following were some of the recorded responses:
If you ask me, Ill say there is no relationship between the various stakeholders who are supposed to connect and manage our young athletes. There is no cooperation, no cohesion and no communication between football them& (Interviewee 14, Football Scout).
We may see some academies in the system and think we are putting efforts to develop talents but they are not enough. The sad thing is how many of these academies are state owned and funded? In Europe there are more than just sports academies. There is a whole formal system, well regulated, well-structured and well-funded (Interviewee 2, Sports Analysts).
The narrative from the respondent echoes the issue of poor relationship between stakeholders and the lack of stakeholder engagement to coordinate efforts to cushion talent identification and development in the Ghanas sports environment. The second narrative also emphasizes the inadequacy of the efforts of existing talent academies to solely carry out the tasks of talent development since they operate in a less formalized and a less regulated system and go through numerous challenges just to put efforts in training young talents Ghana.
Were not given the needed resources for scouting players. And so were unable to function effectively as mediators between football clubs and young talents. Our role is absolutely limited in the talent identification process (Interviewee 15, Sports Scout).
According to one of the football scouts, there is the issue of lack of resources for scouts to effectively carry out their scouting roles. This lack of resources limit their ability to scouts talents from the length and breadths of the country and are unable to act as effective mediators between teams and young talents.
The main problem if you ask me is that there is little effort by the government towards talent identification and development in Ghana. This is where the whole problem stems from. And until the government joins massively in the exercise, we will continue to remain lacking& (Interviewee 3, Sports Analysts).
According to the respondent, the role of the government of Ghana in talent identification is a major limiting factor. Respondent attributes the core of these challenges to the little effort by the government in pursuing TID initiatives.
There are challenges when youre playing in an academy in Ghana. You dont get paid until you get a divisional league or become a PL club player& There is no sponsorship until you are playing for a big club. (Interviewee 20, Footballer).
The facilities to train with are just not there. Pitches, busses, training kits and what have you. Sometimes we have to beg the townspeople in order to have access to the training pitch for a whole week or more to prepare for games& (Interviewee 11, Football Coach).
The narrative was shared by one of the footballers who participated in the study. According to the respondent there are economic challenges faced in Ghana as an academy player or young talent. Most academy players are not well paid or they are not paid at all whilst pursuing their career. There is also the issue of lack of training facilities, financial assistance and sponsorship for young talents in their quest to develop themselves in the Ghanaian environment.
The migration of football talent from Ghana to Europe and how it relates to talent identification and development
Respondents were asked to discuss why they believe most footballers move to Europe so far as talent identification and development is concerned and these were what some had to say:
Obviously, we have been losing most of our young boys because they want to get the opportunity to train, the opportunity to be scouted to big clubs, the opportunity to make money and so they leave when the slightest window of opportunity opens (Interviewee 9, Sports Coach).
The narrative provided above brings to the fore the fact that Ghanas environment lacks several resources and opportunities that support an effective development of talent, as such, youthful footballers choose the European environment which has proper systems in place to support the growth and development of their talent.
We dont buy kits; even at the academies we have sponsors of our training jerseys and every other thing. There are quality pitches for training. We play tough games to develop ourselves and a whole lot& (Interviewee 19, Footballer)
Here (as in Europe), the first point of recruiting players into professional clubs is from their junior academies before they consider elsewhere. So youre motivated when youre in the academy because all you need to do is to play well and get recognized and you are linked to the senior side (Interviewee 22, Footballer).
Again, respondents emphasized the ease of developing themselves in a supportive atmosphere where there is less stress in gaining financial assistance, recognition for greater opportunities and the required attention to boost a players spirit of hard work. Also, players emphasized the quality training facilities with more competitive games and tournaments available for their sharp training.
Look the reality is that these clubs want to make money. So the whole point of developing talent is to sell them to bigger clubs, more or less like making investment and hoping to reap bigger benefits someday (Interviewee 2, Sports Analysts).
Respondent further emphasized the issue of migration in sports being part of the talent development process since most clubs and even the players themselves considers the ultimate goal as transferring talent to the western world when it has been developed to a level close to perfection.
You earn money like a professional footballer even in the academy. Things are way better than in Ghana. I was only playing for a community club with no registration, no proper management of the team&Now I am well managed and well taken care of (Interviewee 19, Footballer).
One of the most important issues cited by football respondents in few words was that sports is rewarding even at grassroot level when in Europe. Whilst talents struggle to be noted in Ghana with bundles of challenges limiting their ability to develop themselves, the situation is quite the opposite when a young player gets scouted and taken to Europe.
Recommendations to improve TID in Ghanas Football Industry
The study solicited for suggestions from respondents on how the numerous challenges related to TID can be mitigated and the overall talent identification process improved to ensure that the player movement exodus is managed to a considerable extent Ghanas football industry. Towards this end, these were some of the recorded responses:
We need to pay more attention to grassroot talent. We need to put in place strong talent identification initiatives in Ghana. We need more academies, we need more pitches, we need more of everything for these youthful talents to spring out and become the best of themselves (Interviewee 1, Sports Analysts).
The above narrative as shared by one of the respondents is a call for greater attention to grassroot talent development in Ghana. There is the need to implement initiatives and programs, the need to ensure that resources and facilities to support TID are in place, and that institutions for recruiting sports talents are adequate and functional.
Where should I even start from? Lemme say we need Astro turfs and quality training facilities and not these gravels and red pitches without green grasses. Even professional teams playing in the major leagues share training pitches. Some do not even have at all. (Interviewee 16, Football Scout).
The narratives by respondent express their view on the need for resources for training as one of th
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