Search results

From the 2006-2007 season, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) introduced regulation into European football by imposing “home-grown” quotas on clubs. The purpose of this paper is to remedy partial market failure by influencing issues in the game, namely reducing opportunities for “local” players and stockpiling players. Rule changes have amplified the importance of developing “home-grown” players; however, the UEFA rule is not limited by nationality, which is an inhibiting factor.

The sample used was the ten seasons from the introduction of the legislation (2006-2007 to 2015-2016). The results quantify English player production in these ten seasons, focusing on outputs (number of players, top-flight playing statistics, academy attended, club played for, age and international experience). Clubs are also categorised and analysed by the number of seasons played.

A total of 369 English players have debuted since 2006-2007, although only 141 developed through the eight “category 1” (ever-present) clubs. A high proportion of players are developing at elite clubs but having limited playing time and subsequently transferring to lower ranked clubs. The clubs promoted to the English Premier League (EPL) each season have introduced more English players into the EPL (167) than “category 1” clubs (112), and these clubs account for a minority of minutes played by new entrants (13 per cent). Furthermore, clubs outside the EPL are producing a significant number of English players, including those progressing to the national team.

Competing organisational purposes between the EPL, the FA and professional clubs have combined to create a complex environment and options for the future are discussed.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) legislative intervention around “home-grown” player quotas came into effect for the 2006-2007 season, aiming to protect playing opportunities and the development of indigenous talent. Previous research has identified clear differences between clubs and club types regarding opportunities for academy players. This paper aims to examine the outputs from six European leagues (France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and England), identifying differences between national associations, club type, and on an individual club level. The paper investigates different league structure (in terms of allowing reserve teams in the professional leagues) and assesses UEFAs legislation in relation to programme theory (expected outcomes).

The study is based on playing data from 200 clubs and 3,329 indigenous players making their debut in one of the six leagues since 2006, and includes ten seasons of competition to 2015-2016.

The number of players produced and playing opportunities offered since 2006 are more prominent in the Spanish, The Netherlands, French and German leagues compared to Italy and England. For those clubs competing in all ten seasons, a similar pattern emerges with those four nations producing greater outputs. Four clubs significantly outperform others in terms of producing players reaching any top-six league first team, and for their own academy graduates. Additionally, the four leagues allowing reserve teams in their professional structure have a higher level of “output” for their academy players.

The paper discusses issues in the design of the legislation (not making nationality a factor and being unable to control other dominant variables) as key weaknesses to influencing change, and achieve the rationale cited by UEFA for its introduction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the change of the Jordanian corporate reporting requirements in 1998. The reasons as to why International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) were adopted in Jordan are outlined on the basis of strong structuration theory’s (SST) quadripartite structure.

This study is interpretive, as perceptions of the study’s participants are analysed regarding the adoption of IFRS in emerging economies. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken to collect Jordanian experts’ perceptions. The study uses elements of Stones’ strong structuration to illustrate and analyse the current study’s data.

The analysis illustrated that various elements pushed for the adoption of IFRS in Jordan – external structures that cause adoption of IFRS are the Gulf War and the immediate impact this had on Jordan. The internal structures seek to adopt new regulation in order to protect and support the Jordanian economy, which is part of agents-in-focus’ dispositions, and gain foreign direct investment. Agents-in-focus found that some corporations comprehended the needs of external investors, thus, sought to provide such information voluntarily.

A limitation of this paper is the number of participants, which for future studies needs to be considered.

Reasons as to why new regulation is adopted are illustrated, which can support other countries seeking to do adopt new corporate reporting rules.

This study contributes to the sparse body of studies using SST in financial accounting. It is also one of the few studies investigating the change of regulation and the reasons for this adoption in the Middle Eastern and Jordanian context, in an interpretive study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the migration of foreign football players that participated in the elite football championship in Greece and the impact of this migratory channel on the athletic success of the football clubs.

The study analyzed a database of all migrant and local athletes that participated in the professional Greek football championship over the period 2001-2013 and performed descriptive and regression analyses.

The regression analyses revealed a positive and significant statistical relation between the investment in foreign talents and the position of the clubs in the championship; however, this impact was more intense for foreign athletes after the formation of the Greek Super League (SL) in 2007 but on the contrary native athletes seem to contribute less to the athletic success than their foreign counterparts.

The findings indicated that valuable resources where spent after SL formation for the acquisition of foreign well-trained athletes. Therefore, this study corroborated arguments in previous research that a basic reason for foreign player migration in football is the increased revenues accrued from the media and sponsors. The study also provided useful policy implications for football managers for improving their decisions on this matter.

The present study fills a gap in the empirical literature and contributes significantly on the ongoing debate about the international athletes’ migration and its impact on athletic success.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it investigates the characteristics of Hanfparade 2022 – the biggest prolegalization festival in Germany – and its visitors, as well as the main reason for participation in Hanfparade. Findings are compared to those from Hanfparade 2016 to explore whether the main reason for festival attendance has changed since the legalization of medical cannabis in 2017 and since the announcement of plans for cannabis legalization. Second, this paper assesses Hanfparade participants’ views on cannabis legalization in Germany, in particular their opinions on and their preferences for retail supply options.

This study is a replication of a research conducted in 2016 at the same festival in Berlin, with a slightly adapted questionnaire. In this study, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used: observation at the festival, interviews before and after the festival with the organizer and a survey among festival attendees (n = 183).

Protest still looks relevant for the participants at Hanfparade, and the announcement of plans for legalization does not seem to downgrade this feeling. The participants have positive opinions about self-supply through home cultivation, noncommercial supply through Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) and commercial supply through stores similar to Dutch coffee shops. However, positive opinions do not necessarily reflect a personal preference, e.g. CSCs were very low in personal preferences. The options of home cultivation and CSCs were more popular among daily users.

This study contributes to the ongoing debate in Germany, focusing on views of cannabis users.

This study quantifies academy productivity within English football clubs that have competed in the second tier (Championship) between 2017 and 2020. Previous research has outlined that clubs situated underneath the top leagues have an important role in the development of elite professional players. This study aims to examine that level of the pathway further in England.

The utilisation of academy players was conducted with data from 33 eligible clubs, from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020. Two measures of productivity are defined for comparison: “Utilisation” (the total minutes played by academy graduates) and “Starts” (the number of times an academy player started for the first team). To quantify these measures, players and clubs’ indices were also defined through two perspectives: “global” (proportion of all games played from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020) and “local” (proportion of games the player featured only). Nationality and position were also included.

Headline findings demonstrate large differences between clubs for the type and proportion of playing opportunities created. The data outlines that academy graduates have greater utilisation and starts in cup competitions, particularly the English Football League cup. Clubs in the sample being relegated from the Premier League into the Championship recorded weaker “utilisation” and “starts” compared to those that competed in the lower divisions. Academies are producing and using a greater proportion of defensive players (goalkeepers, defenders, defensive midfielders) compared to more attacking sectors of the pitch.

This offers useful insight for academy managers, allowing comparisons between clubs. It has implications for future strategies around the role of the academy and approaches to generating player opportunity.

The purpose of this paper is to assess consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for three different food claims on semi-cured, pasteurized sheep milk cheese. In particular, the authors used a health-related claim (the nutritional claim indicating a reduced fat content: “light”), a regional claim (“designation of origin – PDO”) and an organic claim (the European organic logo). Moreover, the authors investigated whether consumers’ personal characteristics could influence their WTP for those types of cheese.

A home-grown experimental auction was applied in Spain during Spring 2012. The authors opted to use the nth random price with repeated rounds and without price feedback.

The results show that consumers were willing to pay more for PDO cheese, followed by organic and light cheese. Moreover, respondents who were female, older and with a university-level education showed some environmental concerns, influencing their WTP for different cheeses.

Empirical evidence on consumers’ preferences for PDO, organic and nutritional claims, evaluated jointly, is lacking in Spain. Moreover, the home-grown auction has several merits in terms of real market simulation and consumer preference application.

In his recent speech at the Bakers' and Confectioners' Exhibition at the Royal Agricultural Half Mr. Noel Buxton, the Minister of Agriculture, referred to the regulations for the application of the National Mark to all‐English flour, which will shortly come into force. For some years past competitions held in connection with the Exhibition have shown beyond question that bread and confectionery of the finest quality can be made of the flour produced from English wheat. The excellence of the home‐grown article has, in fact, been proved to the satisfaction of the best judges; and the Ministry of Agriculture consider that bakers and consumers, as well as the farmers who produce it, will stand to benefit by its more general use. It is, therefore, in the interests of all three parties that they propose to extend to English wheat the system of grading and standardization which has already been applied with marked success to other articles of diet, such as eggs, tomatoes, apples and pears, and cucumbers. So far as the farmers are concerned, everything that helps them to carry on the fight with their foreign competitors is advantageous to the nation as a whole, because it encourages them to produce more food, to maintain, and possibly to increase, the arable area of the country, and—a factor of real importance in dealing with the problem of unemployment—to keep more workers on the land. The more of his produce the farmer is able to sell, and—within limits—the better the prices he can obtain for it, the better will these ends be served. It is not, of course, to be expected that the public will invariably buy British in preference to foreign goods, simply because they are British. On the other hand, if they can be assured that they are of better quality than the same class of goods imported from abroad, then—as has been shown by the improved trade in British eggs since poultry farmers have been able, if they wish, to take advantage of the National Mark scheme—they are ready not only to make a practice of buying home‐grown rather than foreign produce, but also to pay higher prices for it. There are therefore good grounds for the expectation that the demand for English wheat flour will be improved by the definition of national standards of quality and the marketing of supplies of standard qualities under distinctive marks. The scheme for the voluntary grading and marking of this flour was introduced on October 1. A Trade Committee has been appointed to consider applications for permission to use the mark—a silhouette map of England and Wales—and all the flour bearing this mark will be sold under three standard grades and guaranteed as to type, flavour, and keeping quality. The designations of the three grades are All‐English (Plain), All‐English (Self‐Raising), and All‐English (Yeoman). All three are defined as being sound, free from taint or objectionable flavour, of good keeping quality, and unbleached by artificial means. The first and third are further guaranteed to be free from all added chemical substances, though the second may contain such ingredients, or mixture of ingredients, as may be required (under certain definite regulations) to make the flour self‐raising. The scheme is open to millers and other packers of English wheat flour, and every registered packer must allow his premises and all equipment and records to be inspected at any reasonable time by any officer of the Ministry of Agriculture authorized for that purpose, besides complying with other regulations the general effect of which is to make it impossible for any flour bearing the National Mark to fall below the certified standard of its particular grade. Mr. Buxton was able to say that the scheme is already receiving excellent support from the millers, and all that is needed to give it the success which it deserves is that the public should co‐operate by letting the bakers know that graded all‐English flour is what they want and expect them to use. It is in their power to create a demand which will provide them with a pure food of the highest quality, and will at the same time do the British farmers a much‐needed good turn.

In a previous article we had occasion to refer to and to condemn the standards for jams, jellies and marmalade which had been arrived at as the result of a conference which had taken place during the year 1930 between the Jam Panel of the Food Manufacturers' Federation and certain members of the Society of Public Analysts and other Analytical Chemists. There is another point in connection with these standards which we think might have received the attention of this Conference. At the present time everyone is being exhorted to buy British goods on the grounds, it may be supposed, that such purchases are patriotic in character and good for trade. But to speak quite frankly, if these jams are to be taken as a fair example of British skill and enterprise, the legend “Buy British” leaves us cold. What, then, is a British jam? Is there such a thing? If by the term we mean a jam made of sound British grown fruit which gives the name to the jam mixed with an equal weight of sugar, it would seem to be a rarity. Some fruits we cannot grow. Hence Scotch marmalade is a fair enough term to use, assuming of course that the orange is of the right sort and in the right quantity. The same thing applies of course to apricot jam. The greater number of our best known jams are made from fruit that, whatever may be its origin, can be grown here and grown better here than elsewhere— strawberry, raspberry, plum, gooseberry. We say unhesitatingly that there is no need under any circumstances to buy the pulp of these fruits or the fruits themselves abroad when it is of immediate interest to the health and pocket of the consumer, the prosperity of the home fruit grower and ultimately to the trade itself to buy them at home. In a report issued in 1927 on Fruit Marketing in England and Wales issued by the Board of Agriculture it is stated that the manufacture of jam is the “backbone” of the fruit‐growing industry. It is further stated that 90 per cent. of the home grown raspberry crop, 60 per cent. of the strawberry and 40 per cent. of the plum are or were at that time purchased by the manufacturers of jam. We say “at that time” because the figures in all probability relate to the conditions in force up to 1926, and that year it seems began to mark an increase in the amount of fruit pulp imported from foreign countries. The fact that pulp was being imported in large amount previous to that year is noted in the report whose title is given above, 90 per cent. of the home grown raspberry crop available for the manufacture of jam is used, but what is to be thought of the figure given for plums? In connection with this we need only quote the remarks of Lieut.‐Col. Ruggles Brise which he made during the debate in the House of Commons on the terms of the Resolution.

Shows how UK train operator GNER comprehensively reviewed its driver training after the chairman of the inquiry into the Ladbroke Grove railway accident called for a systematic approach to training.

Draws on information provided by the company's technical‐training team manager.

Explains that GNER launched a 43‐week training programme to develop drivers from people with no previous experience. Since the launch, 39 drivers have been trained. GNER has also developed 51 trainers to help with on‐the‐job training. Apart from the technicalities of driving and the rules and regulations, trainees learn self‐management, to help them work in isolation; safe and effective communication and actions to take in emergencies. Trainees observe drivers, drive with trainers and drive a train in service, and record their progress against agreed standards in a logbook. There are also classroom sessions, lectures, simulations, group discussions and expert visits.

Describes how GNER is the first long‐distance train operator successfully to retain its franchise, and the training has contributed to this by demonstrating that it meets national and industry standards.

Argues that, for many of the trainees, it is their first taste of shift work, so fitness for duty and the effects on lifestyle and safety performance are high on the programme's agenda.