the England squad mentally for the tournament in France (Austin, 1998). Not
surprisingly, this allegation attracted mirth and derision in equal measure. The second
issue occurred when Hoddle decided to appoint a faith-healer named Eileen Drewery to
his backroom staff. One of the reasons which Hoddle gave in justification for this
decision was that Drewery “is a bit of a psychologist because she puts your mind at ease
when she talks to you” (cited in Thorp, 1998, p. 5).
Critical thinking questions
Do you think that the pubic image of sport psychology is affected by incidents such as
the ones described above? What are the similarities and differences between faith healing
and applied sport psychology? If putting “your mind at ease” is all that footballers require
to play well, does it matter whether or not a technique that achieves this purpose is
accepted as “scientific”? How can sport psychologists change the popular image of their
profession? List two to three practical strategies to address this issue.
Fortunately, in spite of the myths surrounding the discipline and the negative publicity
engendered by the events described in Box 1.9, sport psychology has begun to make
inroads into the world of professional football in Britain over the past few years. This
upsurge of interest in psychology has been caused by three key changes in the sport.
First, improvements in the standard of coach education programmes have led to
increased acceptance of the role that sport science (including psychology) plays in
professional football. Put simply, if clubs are willing to accept the principle that regular
physiological testing is a good way of maintaining physical fitness among players, then
they should also accept the notion that footballers’ mental fitness can be facilitated by
advice from sport psychologists. Second, there has been an influx of foreign coaches and
players into British football in recent years. These people have introduced indigenous
players to the benefits of such sport scientific practices as “warming down” after games,
adhering to a balanced diet, and preparing mentally for matches (Dixon, 2002). Third,
and perhaps most importantly, the fact that successful coaches such as Sven-Göran
Eriksson and Sir Alex Ferguson have employed sport psychologists (Winter, 2002a) has
influenced other coaches to copy them. Mindful of these three developments, the Football
Association in England recently launched a campaign to encourage football clubs in
Britain to recruit more sport psychologists (ibid.). In summary, available evidence
suggests that sport psychology in football is expanding not “shrinking” (Moran, 2002b).
To summarise this section, in spite of its struggle against certain persistent criticisms
and misconceptions, sport and exercise psychology is making encouraging progress in
establishing itself as a respected discipline. Of course, this conclusion must be tempered
by awareness of at least two unresolved issues in the field. First, it is essential for the
long-term viability of sport and exercise psychology that professional psychological
organisations such as the American Psychological Association and the British
Psychological Society should develop accreditation criteria for post-graduate training
courses in this field. In addition, in an effort to safeguard the public against the possibility
of malpractice, professional issues concerning titles and certification need to be addressed
urgently. For a more extensive discussion of ethical issues in applied sport and exercise
psychology, see Gordin (2003), Whelan, Meyers and Elkins (2002) and Woolfson (2002).
Introducing sport and exercise psychology: discipline and profession 29