Hi, I'm Andy.
Doctoral Co-Supervisor School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition
Dr Andy Grainger holds a Masters degree in Sport and Leisure Studies from the University Otago and a PhD in Physical Cultural Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. Andy has taught courses in physical cultural studies, the sociology of sport, sport history, and sport management at universities in NZ, the US, and the UK. Andy's research and teaching encompasses the critical, socio-historical analysis of sport, leisure, health, and physical culture. His primary research interests include the globalisation of sport, technology and sport, and sport and national identity.
My Work
Sport in Society.
“Winning the women’s world cup”: gender, branding, and the Australia/New Zealand As One 2023 social media strategy for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™
Beissel, A., Postlethwaite, V., & Grainger, A. (2021)
In this article we critically explore the social media strategy of the successful Australia-New Zealand ‘As One’ joint bid for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™. We explore how the As One bid harnessed Twitter to communicate a hosting vision that appealed to multiple audiences while strategically, and successfully, resonating with contemporary FIFA politics. We adopt quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods to develop the constructed presence and narrative patterns from the As One bid’s Twitter activity. Our findings suggest content relied on two primary ‘legacy’ narratives which both conformed to current FIFA strategy and broader social and regional politics: growing football participation among women and girls and strengthening cultural, economic, and political relations in the Asia-Pacific. Ultimately, we argue the use of Twitter was strategic and targeted, deliberately appropriating popular FIFA narratives to build an emotive ‘legacy’ vision to gain support from voting members of the FIFA Council.
Research in Sports Medicine.
The interaction of competition and terrain on pacing during cross-county running races in junior athletes
Macdermid, PW., Kuroda, Y., & Grainger, A. (2021).
The aim of this study was to assess pacing during cross-country racing in relation to race length, surface-terrain and racing dynamics. Athletes (n = 148) competed for school teams (U15, U17, U20) over 2.9, 4.2, 6.3 km, respectively. The course lap (2.067 m) was timed using UHF-RFID and divided into six sections based on surface-terrain and length (549, 619, 207, 338, 150, 156m). Overall pace differed between races (4.56 ± 0.30, 4.42 ± 0.38, 4.40 ± 0.31 m∙s−1, p=0.042) but not for the top-20 of each race (p=0.174). Moreover, within lap pacing followed a repeated reverse-“J”-parabolic strategy for all races. Race length (no. of laps) and category affected pacing with regards to finish position banding (1st–10th, 11th–20th) where effect size differences showed large to extremely large (1.21 – >4.00) difference between top-10 and other bands. Exceptions to this included the finish sprint where it was typically trivial-moderate (<0.2–1.2) and in key areas where social facilitation occurred. Athlete/coaches need to be aware of between and within lap variations in pace/effort, the effects of race dynamics, and spectator influences, while all athletes need to be educated as part of their training to run their own optimal strategy for best performance.
ADDRESS
Location: 2.13, PTC Building
Campus: Manawatu