Paid work in voluntary sport clubs: An oxymoron with transformative potential?

This study unpacks the conditions for, characteristics of, and consequences of employed ‘background’ work/ers in grassroots sport. Contrary to existing knowledge on ‘off-field’ sport staff, it applies an organisational sociology lens to address paid work as a basic yet neglected form of professionalisation. Drawing on institutional role theory and semi-structured interviews with sport club staff, we show the distinctiveness of paid work in otherwise volunteer contexts. Specifically, we demonstrate how paid professionals occupy a paradoxical position as employees primarily governed by a democracy/volunteering logic. Ironically, it is precisely because paid staff understand their work through this lens that their everyday ‘muddling through’ harbours potential for ‘downwards’ professionalisation effects vis-à-vis member/volunteer roles. Our analysis suggests the significance of extending sport sociology's premise (i.e., that sport matters ) to include those that work ‘in the shadows’ of sport.