ABSTRACT

As Robins (1997) notes, ‘with mobility comes encounter’ (p. 18). The movement of sporting migrants precipitates such ‘encounters’, raising questions surrounding: labour rights and barriers; recruitment and integration; and cultural adjustment and dislocation. The strength of interrelated attachments to place, space and identities inherent to many sporting contexts is notable in evoking a range of emotive encounters surrounding sporting mobility. This chapter explores some of the questions surrounding the ‘encounters’ of sports labour migrants with host cultures.1