Mark Turner

Dr Mark Turner PhD

Course Leader

Faculty of Sport, Health and Social Sciences

023 8201 3565 ext. 3565 Room no. RM207

Biography

Dr Mark Turner is course leader for the BA Sport Management degree programme and a member of the Lawrie McMenemy Centre for Football Research. He is also a member of the Faculty’s Research Advisory Group. 

Mark joined Solent in 2011, having previously worked at Edgehill University for two years. He was awarded his undergraduate degree from the University of Lancaster and his postgraduate degree from the University of Brighton. He is also a research fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

Mark is one of the leading international scholars examining the management policies of fans in football stadiums in England and Wales over the last 30 years. His PhD, awarded without corrections, is the most comprehensive study undertaken into the fan networks and practices of the Safe Standing movement in English football. He is a member of the Sports Grounds Safety Authority's advisory body and has been consulted as part of a recent UK Government review into the current all-seating legislation. As such, he is well connected across the multidimensional fields of sports activism, governance and professional sports industry. This research has recently been published in leading journals with high impact factor. Mark is currently writing a monograph, which documents a 30yr social history of football fan activism in England and is preparing a UEFA research grant programme bid to examine the wider European focus and impact of Safe Standing. 

Mark’s wider research expertise and publications relate to the cultural political economy of sport and the key social, cultural and political changes across the neoliberal timescape of English football. He is currently working on a new research project which examines the Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement which seeks to tackle food insecurity and challenge austerity. As the co-convenor for the British Sociological Association’s Leisure and Recreation Study Group, he is also examining the impact of Covid-19 on leisure consumption. Additionally, Mark is a member of the international Football Collective Network of leading academics and industry practitioners researching football leadership, management, and sociology. 

Mark’s main teaching interests are located in sport sociology and sport management. He is the module leader for Global Sport Issues and teaches on the MA Sport Development and Management programme. He is currently co-supervising a PhD which examines non-league football supporter culture. 

Taught courses

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BA (Hons) Sport Management
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MA Sport Development

Further information

  1. Industry experience

    Mark is a member of the Football Supporters Association and is networked with various supporter organisations across Europe. He is also an adviser to the Sports Ground Safety Authority
    Mark is a former youth player for Wigan Athletic and was a member of their centre of excellence before being offered a full time YTS in 1997. Mark is also a season ticket holder for Manchester City Football Club. As such, his research and teaching are very much underpinned by knowledge and experience of the game both as a player and spectator.

  2. Teaching experience

    Mark has more than 12 years' teaching across a wide range of interdisciplinary subjects at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. While Mark’s background is sport sociology, he is passionate about embedding this within an interdisciplinary programme and apply important sociological theories and insights to the sport management, coaching, development and education sectors. He is currently co-supervising a PhD student at Solent University.

  3. Research interests

    Mark’s research continues his original interest in social movements and social justice but develops it to examine under-researched and under-theorised cases in sport, leisure, wellbeing and consumption. He is particularly interested in the application of relational sociology to sport and sport management and the particular focus of events, ruptures and discursive vectors which shape the dynamics of movements and the developing understanding by networked actors.

  4. Recent publications

    Mark's recent publications include peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, conferences and online publications. Follow the link below for more information.

    Peer-reviewed journal articles

    Turner, M. (2021) Relational Sociology and Football Fan Networks: A case study of the Safe Standing movement. Current Sociology. (In review).

    Turner, M. (2021) The Safe Standing movement: vectors in the post-Hillsborough timescape of English football. The Sociological Review. Accepted for publication. 

    Turner, M. (2020) ‘We are the vocal minority’: The Safe Standing movement and breaking down the state in English football. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Article first published online: November 1, 2020

    Turner, M. (2017) 'Modern English Football Fandom and Hyperreal, ‘Safe’, ‘All-seater’ Stadia: Examining the Contemporary Football Stage, Soccer and Society'. 18. (1). pp. 121-131.

    Turner, M. (2013) 'From local heroism to global celebrity stardom: a critical reflection on the social, cultural and political changes in British football culture from the 1950's to the formation of the Premier League'. Soccer and Society. In Press.

    Turner, M. (2013) 'Modern 'live' football: moving from the panoptican gaze to the performative, virtual and carnivalesque'. Sport in Society. 16. (1). pp. 85-93.

    Turner, M. (2012) 'From 'pats on the back' to 'dummy sucking': a critique of the changing social, cultural and political significance of football goal celebrations'. Soccer and Society. 13. (1). 1-18.

    Book chapters

    Turner, M. (2017) ‘Football without fans is nothing’: Contemporary Fan Protests and Resistance Communities in the Premier League Era. In Elliott, R. (Ed) . The English Premier League: A socio-cultural analysis. London: Routledge. 

    Turner, M. (2014) 'Football Fandom in Late Modernity: Alternative Spaces and Places of Consumption', in Fletcher, T., Dashper, K. and McCullough, N. (Eds.) Sports Events, Society and Culture. Taylor and Francis: Oxford

    Turner, M. (2013) 'English Football Goal Celebrations within a Global Context' in Waine, A and Naglo, K (Eds.) On and off the field: Football culture in England and Germany. Berlin: Springer.

    Online Publications

    Turner, M. (2014) The pageantry, performance and publicity of goal celebrations, in the Conversation.

    Turner, M. (2014) #WorldCup: tweeting football fans change the nature of the game, in the Conversation. 

    Conferences

    Turner, M. (2021) The Safe Standing movement: vectors in the post-Hillsborough timescape of English football. British Sociological Association Annual Conference. Abstract accepted.

    Turner, M. (2017) Investigating the networks, tactics and mobilisations to permit standing in English football from 1989-2017. Paper presented at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Annual Conference. Windsor. Canada

    Turner, M. (2016) 'The evolution of the Safe Standing Movement; investigating the tactics and mobilisations'. Presentation at the ‘Future Football: a design for life’ conference by the Football Collective, Broadhurst Park, Manchester.

    Turner, M. (2016) 'Investigating the networks, tactics and mobilisations to permit standing at football matches in England and Wales'. Paper Presented at the North America Society for the Sociology of Sport, Tampa, Florida

    Turner, M. (2016) 'Investigating the new fan movement to permit standing at football in England and Wales'. Paper presented at the World Congress for the Sociology of Sport, International Sociology of Sport Association, Budapest, Hungary.

    Turner, M (2016) 'Examining the new fan movement to permit standing at football in England and Wales'. Paper presented at the 13th European Association for the Sociology of Sport Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark. Candidate:

    Turner, M. (2015) 'Exploring English Football Fan Activism, Mobilisation, and Social Movements post- 1990: A Case Study of the ‘Safe Standing’ Campaign'. Paper presented at the 12th European Association for the Sociology of Sport, Dublin. Ireland.

    Turner, M. (2015) 'Fan Activism and Inclusive Social Movements'. Paper presented at the Football as Inclusive Leisure Conference, Southampton Solent University. Southampton. England.

    Turner, M. (2013) 'From local heroism to global celebrity stardom: a critical reflection on the social, cultural and political changes in British football culture from the 1950's to the formation of the Premier League'. 2nd Global Conference: Sport Probing the Boundaries. Athens. Greece.

    Turner, M. (2013) 'Towards a sociology of the football goal celebration'. 10th European Association for the Sociology of Sport Congress. Cordoba. Spain.

    Invited conferences and speeches

    Turner, M. (2013) 'Football and Postmodern world. Summer Course'. University of Tenerife.

    Turner, M. (2013) 'A critique of the changing social, cultural and political significance of football goal celebrations'. Summer Course. University of Tenerife.

  5. Work in progress

    Mark is currently writing a monograph on a 30-year social history of football fan activism and a book chapter on sport, social movements and social justice. He is also working on two new articles on relational sociology and qualitative methodologies and the balanced role between fan activism and consumerism. Additionally, he is working on a research project which examines the Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement.