ABSTRACT
The state of affairs described by Emma Poulton and Matthew Roderick has subsequently changed with a number of important monographs and edited collections published. Coaches in film are also often understood in polarising ways, seen either to exemplify good or bad practices. Scott Crawford, for instance, has analysed the figure of the “bad” coach in sports films. Crawford considers how popular cultural stereotypes of coaching are replicated in films and argues that there is inadequate character development. In the context of social justice, it is important to remember that film as a medium is not passive. Film possesses agency, potentially intervening in and changing understandings, influencing actions. In The Sports Film, Bruce Babington suggests that the coach “is arguably the recent sports film's defining figure”. For Babington this perceived rise to prominence reflects “modern sport's ever increasing rationalisation” and the growing reliance on coaches rather than players for decision-making with the added pressures and responsibilities that brings for the coach.
