Where rhetoric meets reality: an ethnographic analysis of the sports education sector in Qatar

Abstract

This paper explores the growing provision of sports education in the state of Qatar. Since 2010, there has been a rapid increase in new courses in sports administration as part of wider, government-backed initiatives to fashion Qatar into a global sports hub. Through ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with students, faculty and administrators on courses, I map the current provision of sports administration in Qatar, drawing attention to their differing dynamics and the challenges that they contend with - from diverse cohorts and Western bias to volatile regional politics. Studying these courses offers a bottom-up perspective onto Qatar's sports strategy, allowing us to compare the rhetoric of government and state-backed institutions with the reality of the implementation of strategy on the ground. I conclude by suggesting that the success of educational courses in sports administration is not solely within the hands of the provider. Rather, the fate of sports education depends on the outcome of wider and more ambitious plans for Qatar to dominate as a sporting hub post-2022.