Issue 1 - 2014

Transcript

Issue 1 - 2014

Contents
Section A
7 An emerging social configuration: the
“sports-media-sponsors triangle”
S Martelli
33 UEFA financial fair play: the curse of
regulation
H Preuss, K K Haugen, M Schubert
52 L’atto politico nel prisma della Corte
Costituzionale
F Blando
Section B
61 The use of protein supplementation
among fitness center attendees. The
protein project
A Bianco
64 Preliminary insights on the mental
representation of the body in italians
F Viviani & A Locati
82 Physical activity and glycemic control in
a cohort of adolescents with type 1
diabetes: a pilot study
G Lamacchia, D Castelli, M A Montalto,
T Moro E Mancuso, M Gateva, A Patti,
A Palma
89 Assessment of autonomic function as
marker of training status: the role of
heart rate recovery after exercise
A Cataldo, D Cerasola, D Zangla, G
Russo, F Nese Sahin, M Traina
Volume 2 Issue 1 | EJSS June 2014
Editorial Board
The European Journal of Sport Studies
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Prof. Sergio Agrifoglio
Department of Law, Social and
Sport Sciences
University of Palermo, Italy
CO-EDITORS
Sport Law & Economics
Prof. Giuseppe Liotta
Prof. Laura Santoro
CO-EDITORS
Sport & Exercise Sciences
Prof. Antonio Palma
Prof. Marcello Traina
EDITORIAL BOARD
Sport Law & Economics
Prof. Salvatore Mazzamuto
University of Roma Tre, Italy
Prof. Cristiana Buscarini
University of Roma “Foro
Italico”, Italy
Prof. Gianfranco Rusconi
University of Bergamo, Italy
Prof. Salvatore Tomaselli
Prof. Gaetano Troina
Prof. Carlo Sorci
Prof. Jose D. Valls Lloret
Universidad de Barcelona ,
Spain
Prof. Massimo Siclari
Prof. Giuseppe Catturi
University of Siena, Italy
Prof. Marcantonio Ruisi
Prof. Paul H. Haagen
Duke University, U.S.A.
Prof. Tommaso E. Frosini
University of Suor Orsola
Benincasa, Italy
Prof. Paolo Tosi
University of Torino, Italy
Dott. Salvatore Cincimino
Dott. Lillo Fiorello
Dott. Daniela Ferrara
Dott. Francesca Valenti
Dott. Giangabriele Agrifoglio
Dott. Marco Manca
SCimPulse Foundation,
Netherland
Prof. Lina Buono
University of Napoli, Italy
Prof. Bistra Dimitrova
National Sports Academy,
Bulgaria
Prof. Enrico Carmina
Prof. Fabio Pigozzi
University of Rome “Foro
Italico”, Italy
Dott. Maria Gateva, PhD
National Sports Academy,
Bulgaria
Dott. Dearbhla Gallagher
St. Mary’s University Collage,
UK
Prof. Federico Schena
University of Verona, Italy
Prof. Rita Santos Rocha
University of Padua, Italy
Prof. Antonio Paoli
University of Padua, Italy
Prof. Laura Capranica
University of Rome “Foro
Italico”, Italy
Prof. Caterina Mammina
EDITORIAL BOARD
Sport & Exercise Sciences
Prof. Avery D. Faigenbaum
(The College of New Jersey,
USA)
Prof. Nese Sahin
University of Ankara, Turkey
Prof. Angela Di Baldassarre
University of Chieti, Italy
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Dott. Daniele Zangla
Dott. Angelo Cataldo
Dott. Giuseppe Russo
Dott. Felice Blando
ARTICLE EDITORS
Dott. Antonino Bianco
(Sport Sciences Section)
Dott. Salvatore Cincimino
(Economic Section)
Dott. Sara Rigazio
(Law Section)
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT &
WEB EDITOR
Dott. Giuseppe Alamia
Section A doi: 10.12863/ejssax2x1-2014x3 An emerging social configuration: the “sports-media-sponsors triangle”
Observing its Dynamic Centre in Italy (2002-2010)
by Stefano Martelli*
INDEX
1. Introduction; – 2. Theoretical insights about an emerging social configuration: the ‘Sms triangle’; – 2.1.
Sports, media, and sponsors: an alliance going strong; – 2.2. From sports spectators to sports audiences; –
2.3. The fuelling nucleus of the ‘Sms triangle’: the sport audiences; – 2.4. The scientific study of a national
sporting audience: issues and relevance); – 3. The Italian TV audiences of the FIFA world Cups (20022010): from theory to empirical findings; – 3.1. Materials and methods; – 3.2. Research hypothesis; – 3.3.
The FIFA World Cups 2002-2010 and the TV viewers: some trends in Italian audience choices; – 3.4. Is
televised football still a “male preserve”? A relevant exception; – 4. Italian sport subcultures and TV
viewers profile: some findings from a long-term research project (2000-2010); – 4.1. A profile of the
Italian TV viewers of the FIFA World Cups; – 4.2. The Winter Olympic Games 2002-2010, viewed from
Italian living-rooms; – 4.3. The Italian TV audiences of the Winter Paralympic Games: some observations;
– 5. Conclusions. References.
& al., 2005; etc.); or “the golden triangle”
(Honeybourne & al., 2000); etc. However few
social scientists have paid attention to the
audiences of sporting mega-events; indeed the
dynamic nucleus of the ‘Sms triangle’
embodies media audiences, which at the same
time are both sport amateurs, and customers
of the sponsors. So the dynamism, showed by
this social configuration recently, depends on
the satisfactions offered by this threefold
configuration to the needs of a huge mass of
persons; and the secret of its strong dynamism
is its increasing successes in fulfilling the
1. Introduction
At the beginning of the third Millennium, a
new “social configuration” (Elias & Dunning,
1986) has emerged: the ‘Sms triangle’, which
is made up of sports, media and sports
sponsors.
The link between sports and media was first
noted by Real (1975) and then it was made
the object of reflexions by social scientists,
who identified it in various ways: “sportmedia complex” (Jhally, 19954; Miller & al.,
2001; etc.); or “sport media nexus” (Grainger
7 EJSS Journal 2(1):7-32 - ISSN 2282-5673
Martelli S.
Full Professor of Sport Sociology and Communication
Responsible of the SportComLab, a Center of study and
researches in communication of sports and exercise
Corresponding Author: Stefano Martelli, Department of
Educational Sciences of the Alma Mater
University of Bologna “Alma Mater Studiorum”.
[email protected]
Received: May 2014 – Accepted: June 2014
functional imperatives of each of the three
social istitutions which form it.
one or more countries, can help much to gain
a better knowledge about this new social
configuration (n. 2).
In last years the ‘Sms triangle’ has further
strengthened the links inside the three
institutions which made it. This occured with
more efficacy and clarity in some sports
mega-events, such as last two editions of the
Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012)
and the Football World Championship,
organized in South Africa (2010) by FIFA,
the International Federation of the
Associations of this game. These global
events attracted billions of TV viewers
worldwide (Ioc 2011; FIFA 2011). In reality
the ‘conquest’ of this large audience is the
goal of each of the three institutions, which
made the new social configuration; but what
scientific knowledge can be acquired by
studying these sport audiences?
In the second part of this paper I try to do it
with reference to the audiences of the
“mediated” sport mega-events in Italy. Here I
offer a selection of the main findings about
amplitude and composition of the Italian TV
viewers, which exposed themselves at the
televised Winter Olympics and Paralympic
Games, played in the 2002, 2006, and 2010,
and even at the FIFA World Football
Championships, played in the same years.
Sometimes a huge public –made up of twenty
millions and more TV viewers, i.e. about 40%
of the Italian people– saw the main football
matches, such as the ones played between the
Italian team and the national ones of France,
Spain, Germany and Holland. Moreover, I
will describe an interesting exception at the
“male preserve”, which sport –and football in
a particular way– is in Italy. Indeed one can
observe an unusual crowding of Italian
female, who were attracted in front of the TV
more frequently than males by a crucial
moment of the final match of the 2006 World
Football Cup (n. 3).
In this paper I present some findings, obtained
in the University of Bologna ‘Alma Mater
Studiorum’ by the SportComLab1, which led
a lot of researches on Italian TV audiences of
the sport mega-events, such as Olympics,
Paralympic Games and World or European
Football Championships, played in the years
from 2000 to 2010.
In the last part of this paper, three sociographic profiles of the Italian TV audiences of
FIFA World Championships, of the
Olympics, and Paralympic Games, offer a
start to study the sporting subcultures in Italy
(n. 4). These and other findings, obtained by
the SportComLab of the Alma Mater, confirm
that in the “Millennial phase” of globalization
(Giulianotti & Robertson 2009) some sports
mega-events have become world phenomena,
and that the ‘Sms triangle’ is a social
configuration, whose dynamism is affecting
many societies.
In the first part of this paper I offer a review
of the sociological studies focusing on the
SMS triangle, and I shall sustain the social
relevance of the sport audiences, which are its
dynamic nucleus. Indeed the study of
empirical data on their choices, collected in
1
The SportComLab of the Alma Mater is a study and
researches Center of the Department of Educational Sciences,
in the University of Bologna (you can see an English
introduction
in:
http://www.sportcomlab.it/wpcontent/uploads/2012/06/12SportComLabofAlmaMater_AnIntroduction.pdf
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EJSS Journal 2014 2(1):7-32 - ISSN 2282-5673
Martelli S.
2. Theoretical insights about an emerging
social configuration: the ‘Sms triangle’.
Football Championships (Roche, 2000, 159
ff.). From the late 1980s, neo-liberal politics
promoted the deregulation of media markets
and communication technologies, which have
turned into major agents of the global cultural
economy. Today sport mega-events are
characteristic examples of the alliance
between sports, media, and multinational
producers: they attract worldwide consumers;
and the global flow of cultural signs and sport
meanings broadcasted by television contribute
to the reproduction and development of the
“consumer culture” (Horne & Manzenreiter,
2006).
2.1. Sports, media, and sponsors: an alliance
going strong
Since the 1970s some sports mega-events
(Richtie, Brent, 1984; Roche, 2000; Horne &
Manzenreiter, eds., 2006) have arguably
turned into the showcase of an international
alliance. Firstly, the finals of the FIFA world
football Championships and, at the end of the
‘80s, some finals of track-and-field events at
the Olympics were at the heart of virtually all
processes involved with the media
production.
Indeed since the end of the XIX century
sports had been involved in new
developments in the forms of mass
communications (Bellamy, 2007). From 1900
onwards sports supported new developments
in press and journalism. By the 1930s radio
broadcasting showed its capacity in enabling
nation-wide audiences to imagine being
present at “live” events. In addition, in the
1930s these broadcasts were supplemented by
newsreel films of major sporting occasions
shown at cinemas. The Berlin Olympics in
1936 were broadcast “live” by radio in many
European countries; they were also televised
first, via a local cable system, within the host
city; and Leni Riefenstahl, with the movie
Olympia: Fest der Schönheit (1938), showed
that sporting images can be used as a tool of
(ideological) suggestion on the audiences.
From ‘90s the scene of world sport is
crowded by many social actors. The first three
are the most visible actors, namely sports
stars, teams, and the international associations
and federations, which organize sports megaevents; but also one has to consider television
networks; and transnational companies, which
sponsor sports events and pay media in order
to promote their own goods or services. Sport
sociologists identified the relationships
among these social actors in different ways:
they are parties in an “unholy alliance”
(Whannel, 1986), or in a “golden triangle”
(Honeybourne & Al., 2000; Nixon, 2008;
Rowe, 1999). Other social scientists have
termed the interrelationships among sport
champions or teams, and their transnational
sponsors, mediated by old and new media, as
the global “sport media complex” (Jhally,
1989; Maguire 1999; Miller & al., 2001;
Raney & Bryant, 2006; Scherer & Al., 2008;
Wenner, ed., 19954; Wenner, ed., 1998); or as
the “sport media nexus” (Grainger & Al.,
2005; Messner, 2002; Nicholson, 2007); or as
the “love-match” (Rowe, 1996); or as a
More than other mass media, television
helped to transform the sport spectators
(Guttmann, 1973) into much wider audiences
(Whannel, 1998). Even television networks
gave social relevance to the major sport event
cycles, such as the Olympic Games and the
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Martelli S.
At the beginning of the 20th century,
technological innovations in the movie
industry had a significant effect in providing
audiences with information and entertainment
of a sporting nature. Moving sport images,
such as competitions at Derby Days, or the
finals of Football Cups were captured by
movies, and broadcasted by newsreel; but
only some sports, such as horse racing,
football, and tennis, enjoyed greater social
visibility through media (Boyle & Haynes
20092).
“ménage à trois”– a living together threesome
(Thibault 2009).
Each of these stimulating expressions
captures the interplay among sports
champions and teams, media networks, and
transnational corporations, to various degrees.
Each of these three social actors is a “player”
in a new type of social configuration, and
each of them takes growing benefits from the
relationships with another two actors inside it.
But this social system could not have emerged
without a wide fourth social actor: the sports
audiences.
Today television is the most important
medium to inform public opinion on sporting
events. Many technological innovations
allowed for a rapid social diffusion of this
new medium, and its success had great
positive consequences also for the social
relevance of sport, which grew rapidly (Real
1998). In the second half of the 20th century
sport and television became increasingly
close; technical difficulties with the quality
and the range of transmitted images were
successfully overcome in the late 1950s, so
that from the XVII Summer Olympics in
Rome (1960) sports “went live” (at the
beginning, in the Western countries only).
The development of electronic media
continued more rapidly in the following
decades, as is evident in the fast adoption of
satellite television, and then in cable TV, the
Internet, and Facebook, Twitter, and other
social forums. News about sports champions
and teams are present in each of these new
media; moreover TV channels, such as Sky
Sports demonstrates, are devoted solely to
sport. These innovations prove that today
modern mediated sports have become global
media spectacles: FIFA World Cups and the
Olympic Games, for example, are broadcasted
2.2. From sports spectators to sports
audiences
Until today, the scientific study of the sports
audience has not been studied satisfactorily
by social scientists; stadium spectators have
received more attention (Wann & al., 2001),
probably because of the violence perpetrated
by hooligans and by other types of football
ultras (Elias & Dunning, 1986; Spaaji, 2006).
In Great Britain, until the late 18th century, the
growth in the number of sports spectators, and
the associated emphasis on gambling, helped
to increase the popularity of the press
(Guttmann 1986). Newspapers provided news
and results, and fed a betting market on horse
races and blood fights among animals. The
demand for sports news grew among readers
and gave birth to the first magazines devoted
entirely to sports; their success in turn
attracted the advertising business: literature
such as “The Field Magazine”, “Sporting
Life” and “The Sporting Chronicle” featured
numerous commercial advertisements (Horne
& al., eds., 1999).
10
Martelli S.
Briefly, sports audiences hold a growing
relevance in “post”-modern society (Martelli
2010, 2011, 2012). Sports have become a
sought-after source of entertainment in
contemporary societies. In everybody’s eyes
the sports mega-events, mediated by TV or
by new media, have become a pleasant
experience, which has its bases in the
fulfilling of functions at the physical level
(sensory activities), at the psychological
level (ego-motions), at the social level
(norms), and at the cultural one (values)
(Shanahan & Morgan, 1999).
to more than 200 countries across the globe
(Maguire 1999).
The global nature of “sports/media complex”
(Wenner, Jhally, 1989: 57) is strengthened
by new media (Lievrouw & Livingstone,
eds., 20062). Each day, sports fans visit
various websites, participate in fantasy
sports, celebrate and criticize teams and
players on blogs and in discussion groups,
and gain joyful pleasure in playing sport
videogames (Real 2006). Each of these
“new” media is based on technologies,
defined by increased accessibility, fluidity,
and interactivity (Jenkins, 2006; Silver &
Massanari, 2006), and these characteristics
change the structure of the relationships
among the audiences, the Internet (which is
not a channel, but an environment) and their
objects –in this case, issues relating to sport.
Today, by using smartphones or tablets each
sports spectator has become an active
information provider (Castells 2002); really
every member in a communication network
is a potential source of sports news.
Moreover the Internet offers a great
availability for sports on line. So new media
have facilitated the transformation of sport
audience, from passive followers of
“mediated” sports (who simply receive and
consume media texts) into active supporters
or producers, increasingly responsible for
generating “media sports text” (Rowe, 1999,
168). This process has led fans and sport
amateurs to assert their own competence in
sport; and they have become active agents,
despite the fact that social differences in
society and sports, as regards power and
ideologies, have not much changed
(Leonard, 2009, 3).
The ‘mediated’ sport has conflated on the
entertainment –such as a pleasant, restful,
stimulating, and exciting experience– and
has become one of the common diffused
expressions of the popular culture (Boyle &
Haynes, 20092; Crawford, 2004). Thus,
sports audiences have become a relevant
social phenomenon, but they are often
negleted in the literature.
2.3. The fuelling nucleus of the ‘Sms
triangle’: the sport audiences
Media owners see sport as an important
resource to attract sports audiences, and to
promote
goods
and
services
by
advertisements. Really sports easily find a
way to be accounted into newspapers,
broadcasting, and onto the Internet, because
they are very popular and frequently gain
high audience shares. Nowadays there is a
competition among media to ensure the most
appealing contents, in order to attract more
and more audiences, and to expose them to
commercials (Ang 1991). Sports are the
driving force of this struggle and, of all the
various sports disciplines, football is the most
liked by audiences, both in Italy and in many
11
Martelli S.
other countries. Accordingly there is a strong
symbiosis between sports and media; but the
“sports/media complex”, and other concepts
(see upper, 1.1) have their limits to explain
the dynamics of this new social configuration
–it may be better explained by the relational
theory as a ‘morphogenesis’ (Archer 2011).
Fig. 1: The ‘Sms triangle’: the scheme of
a social configuration
The choices of sport audiences are the
fuelling nucleus of the relationships among
sports, media, and sponsors. In truth, the
public of the ‘mediated’ sport is a threefold
mass; it consists of persons, who at the same
time are:
Fig. 1 shows actors and relationships, which
shape the ‘Sms triangle’; it indicates the
central location occupied by the sports
audiences
inside
this
new
social
configuration. Moreover, it is more detailed
than previous schemes, because it specifies
the prevalent type of relationships (if
dependency or interdependency), which
shapes inside3 the new social configuration;
and it permits the regular course of sport
mega-events, such as the Olympics,
international football Tournaments, Formula
One races, etc.
a) sports practitioners and amateurs;
b) fans of champions and teams, who take
part in their sporting performances via
television and new media;
c) customers of the commercial enterprises:
these ones sponsor champions or teams,
and use the media as channels for
advertising, in order to promote their own
goods or services.
Moreover the strong dynamism of this new
social configuration can be explained only if
one pays attention to the mutual relations
among its components; so that one can
distinguish different types of relations inside
it2 (see fig.1).
Yet the efficiency and the efficacy of the
SMS triangle
depend on the audience
choices... and these choices might change in
the future, according to the opportunity
offered by the technological evolution of the
new media. Briefly the Sms triangle might
begin a ‘vicious’ cycle, which could have a
3
Models, previously named (see upper, 1.1), were or are
incomplete, or they do not specify the type of relationships
among the components of the ‘Sms triangle’. For instance,
the transactional model of media, sports, and society
relationships [Wenner, ed., 19954, 26], is lacking in sponsors.
Likewise the model proposed by Joseph Maguire [1999]
shows one type of relationship only, i.e. the interdependency:
so it is able to describe the relations between sports and
media, but it is incorrect for all the remaining ones.
2
Inside the triangle SMS one can observe three types of
relations:
1. a relation of interdependency, between sports and media:
each institution changes at the changing of the other one;
2. two relations of dependency: the first one poses the
sponsors (and their advertising agencies) as dependent on
sports, while the second one links the media to sponsors;
3. really each of the three institutions depends on the
audience choices, which are the dynamic heart of the
‘Sms triangle’ (Martelli 2010, 2011, 2013; Id. & Porro,
2013, pp. 116-124).
12
Martelli S.
lot of negative social consequences (Martelli,
2011, 170-173.). In short, the empirical
monitoring of the social changes in
‘mediated’ sport is a very important topic,
and not only from the perspective of the
Sociology of sport, but also for the whole of
society.
history of the British
Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) shows (Barnett, 1990,
21).
Indeed
research
on
televised sport
demonstrated that there are differences even
within the public service systems. For
instance in Sweden the SvT, the national
broadcasting
Corporation,
has
never
considered helping different sports as its goal,
because in that Country “sport is a physical
and popular culture” [Reimer, 2002, 17; italic
style in the text]. In Great Britain the
motivations of audience choices are quite
different: sport is an important part of British
culture and it is also one of the things that has
made the United Kingdom a great nation.
Thus already early BBC promoted sport
mega-events, while in Sweden the same
events were not deemed important. In short,
the choices of sport audiences have to be
studied from a historic and socio-cultural
perspective, too.
2.4. The scientific study of a national
sporting audience: issues and relevance
Gantz (19954, 241) rightly observed, too few
sociologists study this topic. A reason for this
scarcity may be the difficulty in elaborating a
theory of the sport audience; in fact it cannot
be simply deducted by a communication
theory (such as, for instance, Abercrombie &
Longhurst, 1998). I would suggest that sport
audiences are the resultant of global factors
and local conditions –the outcomes of historic
and socio-cultural processes–, so their
behaviour cannot be explained only
deductively.
In effect, a social scientist cannot follow the
explanatory model of the nomological
paradigm, which nowadays is dominant in the
sciences: i.e., he/she cannot deduce audience
choices by global factors –such as the “logic”
of media production (Ang, 1991; Gillespie,
ed., 2005; Hesmondhalgh, ed., 2006), or the
dominating model of sport spectacle
(Tomlinson & Young, eds., 2006). So each
social scientist is invited to test this global
knowledge inside the historical and sociocultural features of a single country; and the
number of sociologists, who are cultivating
these relevant studies, are few, really.
The lack of previous studies about the sport
audiences in Italy4 is a further reason that
“Globalization processes do not simply
impact upon different nations in a unitary
way. These nations have histories; and sport
and television play different roles in these
countries; roles that are not pre-given or
essential, but still significantly different”
[Reimer, 2002, 16].
For instance, in Europe the distinction
between a public service model and a market
model is still important. The basic premise,
concerning responsibility about which sport is
to be broadcast, is radically different.
Furthermore, European public service stations
have attempted to present a broader picture of
sport, than American networks, including also
minority sports in their coverage; and in so
doing, public service stations have also taken
a responsibility for sport as such, as the
4
Before the SportComLab researches, in Italy there was one
study (Capranica & Aversa, 2002): its object was the growing
interest in sport that Italian females showed in the '90s and
during the 2000 Olympics; but the findings about the female
13
Martelli S.
hinders the adoption of the nomologicaldeductive approach. So the SportComLab
opted for a down-up strategy, i.e. for an
abductive approach, which started from the
large data-bases of Auditel5 and used a few
“ad hoc” hypotheses, as you can read in the
following two paragraphs.
3.1. Materials and methods
Data on the Italian audiences of these three
world football Cups, were collected from
Auditel national statistical sample, which is
made up of about 5,000 families (about
15,000 individuals), which has been proven
to be statistically representative of the Italian
population of 4+ years (about 55-56 million
individuals in the period 2002-2010). This
sample allows for a description of the Italian
audience choices according to the main
independent variables (sex, age, education,
income, place of residence, etc.); other
dependent variables, very useful for
describing the audience’s choices, are the
audiometric parameters, such as the mean
audience per minute, the share, the rating,
the peak, etc.
3. The Italian TV audiences of the FIFA
World Cups (2002-2010): from theory to
empirical findings
The SportComLab analysed the exposure
choices of Italian people, who via TV saw
the last three male World Football
Championships, organised by FIFA in the
Republic of South Korea and Japan (2002),
in Germany (2006) and in South Africa
(2010)6.
3.2. Research hypothesis
Two hypotheses were formulated:
i) the territorial nexus hypothesis: the
television audience is composed
most frequently of people who live
in the same region/state, which their
football player/team belong to;
ii) the football subculture hypothesis:
the television audience is composed
most frequently of people, who form
a “niche” in the socio-cultural sense,
i.e. they have a lot of symbols –
champions, flags, hymns, etc.– in
common7.
exposure to television were few, and limited to one edition of
this mega sport-event, so that no trend was showed.
5
Auditel is the Italian company “super partes” –i.e.
constituted by both private actors and public ones–, which is
collecting data on exposure at TV, minute by minute, every
day. Auditel uses the meter people, which is a tool installed
in every TV set inside each of the household, part of the
Italian sample.
6
This research is part of a wider program of studies about the
Italian audiences of sports mega-events (2000-2010), which
requested the processing of millions of data. For instance, the
study of the three editions of the FIFA World Championships
asked for the analysis of the audiences of 192 matches (90
collections of data for every match, each of them described
by 8 audiometric parameters and by 14 socio-graphic
variables); so these Italian audiences are described by more
than 1,8 million audiometric and socio-graphic data. The
main outcomes obtained by this research program –and by
other ones about the Italian TV audiences both of the summer
Olympics and of the Winter ones, and of the Paralympics,
also, and of the European football Cups played in the same
years–, were published in two books and other papers (see:
http://www.sportcomlab.it/?page_id=56).
7
Independent variables were used to control the two
hypotheses. While the territorial nexus hypothesis was
controlled by a main variable –the Italian region, which the
TV viewers live in–, the latter hypothesis needs more
variables, in order to compare the data with the typical traits
of the football subculture in Italy; but the scarcity of previous
studies on the Italian audience of the ‘mediated’ sport
allowed one to proceed only through internal comparisons
(see below, ch. 3). Moreover the abductive approach
14
Martelli S.
3.3. The FIFA World Cups 2002-2010 and
the TV viewers: some trends in Italian
audience choices
At a socio-graphic level of analyses one can
observe that the amplitude of the Italian TV
audiences and their profile had been very
different in the period 2002-2010.
Table 2 shows the Italian TV audiences of
the last three FIFA World Cups, broadcasted
live by the free television (Channels 1 or 2 of
the Rai, the Italian public network) or by the
satellite TV pay-for-view (Sky sport) in the
years 2002-2010.
Tab. 2: The Italian television audiences of last three Fifa world cups: the average
amplitude and the distribution by sex (2002-2010)
permitted the first-level hypothesis to go further and to move
towards wider conjectures – for instance on the globalization
of football and the social functions of the ‘Sms triangle’
(Martelli, 2012, 11-112).
15
Martelli S.
One can observe that the average amplitude
of the TV public of each match, played at the
2002 FIFA tournament in South Korea and
Japan, was of 5,729 million (10,4% of Italian
people, 4+ years); 10,488 million at the 2006
Cup in Germany (19,1%); and 8,098 million
at the 2010 tournament in South Africa
(10,4%). Therefore the figure shows two
different trends:
were played in the afternoon or in the
evening in East Asia, were received on
morning in Italy, i.e.during work or school
hours. This fact discouraged the exposition
of the majority of Italian people.
Obviously the most important reason for the
higher rating of the audience registered in
2006 was the triumph of the Italian national
team in Germany. The ‘Azzurri’8 won the
FIFA Cup on July the 9th; that evening the
TV exposition of the Italian people was very
high: starting from 42,1%, the rating
increased to 45,9% – i.e. about one Italian in
two was in front of a television set that
evening.
a) about the amplitude: the Italian audiences
had a peak in the 2006 tournament, and a
minimum in 2002;
b) about the distribution by sex: the Italian
female TV viewers had always been less
frequent than the males –and the
difference between sexes increased along
the period–, indeed the Italian females
grew in the period by more than 4 points
in percentage up.
Surprisingly the high performances of the
Italian audience at the end of the 2006 FIFA
tournament were preceded by low ratings at
its beginning. Fig. 3 shows the continuous
decrease in the Italian TV audience at every
match in the group stage: from about 39%
registered in the first match against the
Ghana team, to the lower ratings, registered
against the USA (about 35%) and the Czech
Republic (26.9%). The average ratings were
34.1%, i.e. lower by about three points in
percentage to the one registered four years
before (36.9%), in the same stage of the
2002 Cups. Indeed the lower exposition of
the Italian audiences in the first part of the
2006 tournament depended not only on the
controversy
surrounding
the
weak
performances of ‘Azzurri’ in those first
matches, but above all on the mistrust
towards the Italian players, generated by the
Probably the Italian TV viewer choices were
the outcome both of social factors and of
reception conditions, such as sex, age,
employment status, etc., and the day of the
week and the hour of the reception of the
match in Italy. For instance, the high level of
exposition to the matches of the tournaments
in the years 2006 and 2010 was favored due
to the similar time zone in Italy and in the
two host countries: the time zone in
Germany is the same as in Italy; and in South
Africa it differs by only 1 hour; therefore the
broadcasting of many matches during the
first evening had the maximum chance of
collecting a wide Italian audience.
Conversely, the low level of exposition at the
matches of the 2002 FIFA tournament was
probably dependent on the quite different
time zone in South Korea and Japan: +10
hours more than in Europe (Horne &
Manzenreiter, 2002). So the matches, which
8
“Azzurri” is the nickname of the Italian national team; it
comes from the color of the jersey, worn by players.
16
Martelli S.
‘Calciopoli’ scandal9. So the first match of
the round at 16 teams, Italy-Australia,
registered just 16.1 million TV viewers
(29.2%); only after the penalty shootouts,
transformed by Francesco Totti, did the
audience increase to 33%.
After this victory, which gave access to the
knockout stage, the Italian national team
began a triumphal march. In the round of 16
teams, the ‘Azzurri’ defeated Australia 1-0,
and the Italian audience grew until 33%.
Fig. 3: The Italian television of 2006 Fifa world cup: audience ratings of the 7
matches played by the ‘Azzurri’ (data collected twice for match).
9
The 2006 football scandal (named by Italian journalists:
«Calciopoli» or «Moggiopoli») involved some teams of the
Italian top professional football leagues (Serie A and Serie
B), such as Juventus F.C., A.C. Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and
Reggina. Via telephone interceptions the Italian police
discovered a thick network of criminal relations among team
managers, such as Luciano Moggi (Juventus), and referee
nominators, such as Pierluigi Pairetto; they had been accused
of fixing the result of the matches by selecting favourable
referees. Both the sporting justice (2006), and the judicial
courts of Rome (2009) and Naples (2011), condemned
Moggi, Pairetto and another 13 accused sporting men.
17
Martelli S.
In the quarter-finals the Ukrainian team was
defeated 3-0, and the Italian audience
increased to 38.7%. In the semi-finals the
‘Azzurri’ met Germany, the team of the
hosting nation; this big match pushed the
Italian audience into unusual standards of
exposition: more than 23 million Italian TV
viewers (42.2% in the 1st half, 43.1% in the
2nd half, 44.2% in the overtime). The
‘Azzurri’'s victory reunified the Country
around the National team, which redeemed
Italian football from the shame of the scandal
of “Calciopoli”, rekindling and restoring
confidence and National identity.
3.4. Is televised football still a “male
preserve” ? A relevant exception
Each of the Italian Tv public, which saw 192
football games, played in the tournaments
FIFA of the years 2002-2010, has been
thoroughly
studied
by
researchers
SportComLab. All the variables – both the
independent ones, i.e. the main socio-graphic
features of each audience (14 variables), and
the dependent ones or the audiometric
characteristics (8 measures)–, have been used
to analyze the Auditel data. Many other
findings were found by the comparative
method. Among the socio-graphics, sex is
one of the most important predictive
variables to a sociological eye: and this is
true to the maximum degree in the study of
sport; in effect, among both the sports
practitioners or amateurs, and the sport
spectators, the (great) majority is male. This
is a fact well known to sports journalists and
media owners; thus both newspapers, and
radio and television networks which
broadcast sport, orient their programs to
reach a male audience. So sport is said to be
a “male preserve” –and this is true
everywhere, and not only in Italy (Guttmann
1986; Messner & al., 2010). But the
researchers of the SportComLab have found
some relevant exceptions to this regularity
(see Martelli, 2010, ch. 6). Here I will
present one of these exceptions, and I will try
to explain the reasons for it.
Obviously in Italy the most watched match
was the final of the 2006 FIFA tournament.
The National team and the French one
clashed in the Olympiastadion of Berlin.
That evening, while the minutes are flowing,
Italian TV ratings increased again and again:
41.6% in the 1st half; 44% in the 2nd half;
44.4% in the overtime: 45.9% at the time of
the penalty shootouts. The peak in the
number of those listening to the whole 2006
tournament was reached when the Italian
defender Fabio Grosso scored the decisive
penalty: the end result was 5-3; and so Italy
won the FIFA world football Cup for the 4th
time in its history. At that crucial moment
the Italian TV viewers reached the huge
amount of 25,666,316 persons: almost half
of the Italian people remained glued in front
of a TV set until late, at first to suffer and,
then, to rejoice… in all Italian towns. A lot
of people went onto the streets and squares
to sing and celebrate the victory until
sunrise. No event is so collective in Italy as a
victory of the National football team –it is
the one way in which one can witness the
social cohesion of the whole Country.
In the world football tournaments, organized
by FIFA in the years 2002, 2006 and 2010, it
once happened that more Italian females than
males exposed themselves to a televised
football match: it was the final match of the
2006 FIFA World Cup. After overtime,
which had ended at 1-1, the ‘Azzurri’ had to
18
Martelli S.
face up to a crucial moment: the penalties, in
order to decide on the upshot of the match
against the French team.
Fig. 4 shows that the difference in exposition
of the Italian women TV viewers was lower
than the one for the men both in the first half
(–0,7 scores in %), and in the second half (–
0,2%).
Fig. 4: The tv exposition of the Italian females at a crucial match: final
against France at the 2006 Fifa World Cup
Indeed the frequency of Italian female TV
viewers inside the audience of this crucial
match increased as the minutes passed, so
that by overtime it had reached that of the
males. Moreover, at the penalties the Italian
females’ exposition in front of television sets
overcame the one of the males. Here “the
Eris effect” (Martelli, 2010, 154-157; 2012,
127-131) is evident; as Eris, the Greek
divinity of the competition, many Italian
females were pushed to see football on
television only when their National team was
fighting for victory in a supreme effort.
Probably many Italian females ran in front of
the TV set that evening, in order to
experience the excitement of a decisive
moment, and share together with their males
the joy of winning the FIFA World Cup, too.
Yet another important aspect has to be noted:
at the beginning of this match, the rating of
19
Martelli S.
female TV viewers was almost equal to the
one of Italian males. Another comparative
analysis showed that differences in exposure
of females to males is much greater, if in the
field the Italian national team doesn't play.
In last part of this paper I shall briefly
present three socio-graphic profiles:
i. an average profile of the Italian TV
audiences, who saw the FIFA male
World Championships;
ii. an average profile of the Italian TV
audiences of Winter Olympics;
iii. finally, an average profile of the Italian
TV audiences of Winter Paralympics.
Breafly, the exposure of women at
‘mediated’ sport is more frequently due to
reasons of a social type – for instance, more
frequently they share the excitement and the
national pride, because they feel themselves
part of an “imagined community” (Anderson
19912). On the contrary, more frequently the
reasons for males are the love for the game,
the appreciation of a clever sporting gesture
or tactical configuration, the excitation about
the competition, etc.
Some data about the amplitude and other
characteristics will complete these profiles,
so the reader will have a better overview of
the outcomes, which SportComLab obtained
by its analyses on Auditel data on the Italian
TV audiences of the sports mega-events,
played in the 2002-2010 period.
4. Italian sport subcultures and TV viewers
profile: some findings from a long-term
research project (2000-2010)
In the same years –2002, 2006, and 2010–,
other sports mega-events took place, such as
the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics.
The SportComLab researchers analysed the
Auditel data on the Italian audiences of these
mega-events, in order to accomplish a further
scientific goal: the map of the sporting TV
subcultures in Italy. Some questions had to
be satisfied. First of all whether Italian TV
audiences of sports mega-events are
composed of the same people, or if there is a
difference in the exposition.
4.1. A profile of the Italian TV viewers of
the FIFA World Cups
Already the previous fig. 2 shows great
differences in the exposition of the Italian
TV audiences at last three FIFA World Cups;
above I intended to explain the Italian TV
viewers’ choices as being the result of many
different
social
conditions.
Further
comparative analysis
shows the social
composition of the Italian TV audiences of
these tournaments; for instance, fig. 5 shows
the average profile of the Italian TV viewers
at the 2006 FIFA tournament.
The question was reshaped so: Have or not
the Italian TV viewers of the Winter
Olympics the same socio-graphic profile as
the ones who saw the FIFA tournaments that
were played in the same years? And have or
not the audiences of the Paralympic Games a
similar profile?
20
Martelli S.
Fig. 5: The 2006 Fifa World cup: the sociographic profile of the Italian tv audience
Indeed the socio-graphic profiles of the
Italian TV audiences at FIFA World
Championships, played in the years 2002 and
2010, are similar at this one.
two hypotheses, and presented many
interesting findings. As I do not have the
space to present a detailed breakdown of
these findings, I will summarize some main
findings of these studies only, as follows:
Also it is possible to draw the socio-graphic
profile of each Italian TV audience for each
match, so that one can compare these
profiles both in a synchronic perspective –all
the matches of one tournament–, and from a
diachronic point of view –all the matches
played by the ‘Azzurri’, or by other national
teams, in last three FIFA World Cups. This
comparative analysis was led by the previous
i.
The first hypothesis, the one about a
‘territorial nexus’ between a football
team and the TV viewers, was
corroborated by the Auditel data in a
few cases only. For instance, the TV
audiences in Lombardia and in EmiliaRomagna (two regions in the North of
Italy), during the 2002 World
Championship, more frequently saw the
21
Martelli S.
matches played by Turkey, than the
audiences of other Italian regions,
because some Turkish footballers in that
year played in two club teams of those
regions, such as Emre Belözoğlu, Ümit
Davala e Okan Buruk in F.C. Inter
(Lombardia) and Hakan Sükür in F.C.
Parma (Emilia-Romagna);
Much more findings corroborated the
‘football subculture’ hypothesis, which
previews a correlation between the
exposition to a match of a world
championship, and a set of socio-graphic
characteristics, which identify the
subculture of football in Italy. For
instance, the Italian TV viewers of EireCamerun (0-0) –a match which was
played on June 1st 2002, (about 2,4
million people, rating: 4,3%)–, and the
audience of the match between South
Africa and Mexico (1-1) –the opening
competition of the 2010 FIFA Cup
(June, the 16th; about 3,8 million TV
viewers, rating: 6,7%)–, present a very
similar profile. These two audiences
were composed more frequently of
males, of older persons, of inhabitants of
small municipalities, of people living in
regions of Central Italy, by persons of
Hl status (High income, Low education).
More frequently the Italian TV viewers
of international football live in a family
of 2 persons; in a home in which they
have 2 TV sets or more; and more
frequently they expose themselves to
pay-for-view television.
ii.
4.2. The Winter Olympic Games 2002-2010,
viewed from Italian living-rooms
The Auditel data accurately also describe the
Italian television audiences, which exposed
themselves to the televised Winter Olympic
Games, held in the same years at Salt Lake
City (Usa, 2002), Turin (Italy, 2006) and
Vancouver (Canada, 2010). Their amplitude
and socio-graphic profiles were carefully
analysed by the SportComLab from many
viewpoints.
From the first one, the average amplitude of
the TV public of each Winter competition at
the 2006 Olympics was about 2,6 million
Italian TV viewers (rating: 4,7%), and this
rating was much higher than the 2002 Games
and 2010 ones, too: both these Games were
seen by an average of bit more than 600
thousand Italian TV viewers (rating: about
1,2% in each Olympics). Two main reasons
explain these differences. The first one is the
same as before seen for the FIFA
tournaments: the 8 hours of difference in
time zone between Italy and Utah (Usa), and
the 10 hours between the Italian time zone
and the one of Western Canada, explain the
lower amplitude of the Italian TV audiences
in the Winter Olympics 2002 and 2010;
unfortunately the TV images were diffused
in Italy but in hours not compatible with
leisure time: a lot of people were at work or
at school. The second reason is patriotism:
the 2006 Winter Olympics were in Italy. So,
both the better time for the reception from
the audience, and the national pride fuelled
the exposition at the mediated Winter sports.
In brief, the exposition of the Italian
audiences at the 2002-2010 FIFA World
Championships, mediated by television, may
be explained more frequently by the subcultural hypothesis, than by the territorial
one.
As regards the second perspective, the sociographic profiles of the Italian TV audiences
at the 2006 Winter Olympics can be seen in
22
Martelli S.
fig. 6. Even if the average amplitude of the
Italian TV audiences at this Home edition of
the Winter Olympic Games is greater than
the other two editions, the audience profile is
quite similar.
The reader can note that the profile of the
public of the 2006 Winter Olympics presents
some similar traits to the one of the average
audience, which exposed itself at the FIFA
World Cups, played in the same year; but
there are some differences, too:
Fig.6: 2006 winter Olympics: the sociographic profile of the Italian tv
audience, that watched the Enrico Fabris’s victory in speed skating on ice
(January 21)
23
Martelli S.
Here I have no more space to write about
the findings of the comparisons among the
profiles of the Italian TV audiences,
distinguished according to each Olympic
Winter discipline. In effect, they present
different characteristics, depending on the 5
groups of Winter sports: alpine skiing,
Nordic skiing, ice skating, figure skating and
ice hockey. Table 7 shows the findings
obtained by these comparative analyses,
limited to the 2006 Olympics only, and to
two Winter sports only: Nordic skiing and
ice hockey.
a) similar traits are the sex (more
frequently males); the social status (it is
a LH status: in fact more frequently the
viewers were persons with Low
education –they attended primary school
only–, and with High income); the small
amplitude of the family (2 persons); the
number of TV sets in the home (2 and
more);
b) you can also note some differences
between the two Italian audiences. The
TV viewers of the 2006 Winter
Olympics were a bit younger more
frequently (55/64 years old); more
frequently they lived in small
municipalities (less than 10.000
inhabitants) and in a region of the North
of Italy (more frequently in Piedmont
and the Aosta Valley); more frequently
they watched the Olympics via a free
TV channel (Rai). While the Italian TV
audience of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
was on average a bit younger (more
frequently it was made up of ripe aged
persons: 65+ years old); more frequently
these TV viewers lived in middle
amplitude
towns
(100-250,000
inhabitants) and in a region of Middle
Italy; more frequently they watched the
Winter Olympics via a pay-TV (a Sky
channel).
24
Martelli S.
Tab.7: The two main subcultures of winter sports in Italy: a comparison of 6 main characteristic,
presented by Italian tv audiences at 2006 Olympics in Turin (1)
The two socio-graphic profiles in table 7
differ for one relevant trait: the level of
education. In effect, the Italian TV viewers
of Nordic skiing more frequently have a low
education level (primary school); on the
contrary, the TV audiences of ice hockey
matches were more frequently made up of
persons, who had the higher degree
(bachelor). Moreover each of the other three
socio-graphic profiles of the Winter sports,
overlap at one or at the other of the presented
profiles: more exactly the profile of the TV
viewers of the alpine skiing overlaps with the
profile of the TV audience of Nordic skiing
competitions; and the profiles for ice skating,
and for figure skating, overlap with the
profile for the matches of ice hockey. In
short, the analyses led by SportComLab
allows us to distinguish two main
subcultures of Winter sports in Italy: the Ski
subculture, and the Ice skateing one.
These findings enrich the sport audience
studies, both at the socio-graphic level, and
at the explicative one. From this latter point
of view, the Auditel data give evidence more
frequently for the ‘subcultural hypothesis’,
than for the one of a ‘territorial nexus’
between an Italian champion and the TV
viewer living in his/her territory. For
instance, the TV audience who watched the
Enrico Fabris’ victory at the 2006 Olympics
in ice skating, as one can see in fig. 6, was
composed more frequently of the TV
viewers living in Piedmont and the Aosta
25
Martelli S.
Valley than by the inhabitants of Veneto, i.e.
the Italian region where Enrico was born,
and where he lives.
Nor was the national pride in hosting these
Games sufficient to much increase the small
width of their audience: in fact the number
of the Italian TV viewers at the 2006
Paralympic Games was a bit more ample,
about 480,000 persons (rating: 0,9%); and
everybody can note the great distance
between this and the much higher numbers
obtained by the other sport mega-events,
played in the same year.
4.3. The Italian TV audiences of the Winter
Paralympic Games: some observations
The Paralympic Games are still not a global
sport, in the way of the FIFA World Cups or
the Olympics; but equally the SportComLab
researchers studied the Auditel data of these
Games in the years 2002-2010. As
everybody knows, from the ‘90s onwards the
Paralympics have taken place in the same
locations as the Olympics; so in those years
the Winter editions took place in Salt Lake
City (Usa, 2002), in Turin (Italy, 2006) and
in Vancouver (Canada, 2010). And the
mediation by television of these Games
suffered from the same problems, caused in
2002 and in 2010 by the very different time
zone. But this reason is not enough to
explain the much lower amplitude of the
Italian TV audiences at the Paralympics, as
took place in these years: an average of
about 100,000 Italian TV viewers only.
Probably the prevalent social images of the
sporting body collide with the ones of the
disabled body when on the field and
engaged in a Paralympic competition (Howe
2008a); so the dominant culture strongly
reduces the television appeal of these Games.
The socio-graphic average profile of the
Italian TV audience of the Paralympics,
indeed, shows some interesting differences,
if it is compared with the average profiles of
the other two publics. As one can see in fig.
8, some characteristics are the same: most
frequently the Italian audiences of the 2006
Paralympics was made up of aged persons,
inhabitants of small towns (between 10,000
and 100,000 individuals), residents in a
region of the North of Italy (Liguria), by
persons who live in a small family, and who
have 2 or more TV sets in the home, and see
sport via free TV.
26
Martelli S.
Fig.8: The sociographic average profile of the Italian tv audience at the 2006 winter Paralympics
But one can note three relevant differences,
too. Firstly, the mediated Paralympics are
not a “male preserve”: in fact, Italian females
expose themselves at the ‘mediated’
Paralympics more frequently than males.
Secondly, the education level among the
public is higher: more frequently the Italian
TV viewers have attended high schools.
Thirdly, more frequently the social status is
HL, i.e. they have a High level of education,
although Low incomes.
the FIFA World Championships outline a
singular portrait of the Italian public of the
mediated Paralympics; probably the good
level of education allows TV viewers to
avoid the cultural prejudices and to
appreciate the different athletic ability of the
disabled bodies (Howe 2008b).
Conclusions
Changes in contemporary society pose hard
questions for sociologists. In these pages I
would suggest the importance of observing
an emerging social structure, the ‘Sms
triangle’, which is producing numerous
These differences with the socio-graphic
profile of the audiences of the Olympics and
27
Martelli S.
changes in cultural and political processes,
from consumer choices to voting behaviors. I
suggested that the strength of this new
configuration, according to relational
sociology, rests in its dynamic heart, which
is composed of a threefold mass of persons:
at one and the same time they are TV
viewers; they practice sports or are fans; and
they are consumers, who may buy goods and
services, promoted by sport advertising.
Thus the choices of this threefold mass –
millions and millions of persons– explains
the dynamics of the 'Sms triangle', because
from it the future of sports, of mass media,
and of sponsor companies depends.
(2)
I have not enough space here to describe this
threefold mass, so I presented some findings
about one facet of the dynamic centre of the
Italian ‘Sms triangle’ –the TV audience of
sports mega-events 2002-2010– and in one
country – Italy. In fact it is not possible to
study these dynamics abstractly: each ‘Sms
triangle’ refers to a national context, even if
it is sensitive to global changes. Briefly in
these pages I offered a selection of the main
findings on the Italian TV public of sports
mega-events, celebrated in the years 2002,
2006 and 2010, such as the FIFA World
Cups, and the Winter Olympics and
Paralympics. These findings were compared
with other ones, obtained by the
SportComLab researchers in previous
complementary analyses on the Italian
audiences of the Summer Olympics and
Paralympics, and the European Football
Championships in the years 2000, 2004, and
2008 (Martelli 2011a). So one can say:
(3)
(4)
(5)
(1) Not all the televised sports mega-events
are “great ceremonies of the media”
28
Martelli S.
(Dayan & Katz, 1992): in Italy only the
football matches of the National team are
so. For instance, the average TV audience
of the ‘glorious’ 2006 FIFA World Cup,
won by the ‘Azzurri’ against the French
team, is much more ample than the
average TV audience of the Winter
Olympics, which were played in the same
year; and in turn this one is much more
ample than the average TV audience of
the Paralympics was;
The comparative analysis, made by the
SportComLab researchers, has drawn a
first map of the Italian TV viewers
choices at sport mega-events. Three
socio-graphic profiles were plotted: a first
one of the average TV audience at the
FIFA tournaments, and the other ones for
the Olympics, and for the Paralympics.
Each of them can be used for comparative
analyses and for tracing the evolution of
the sporting subcultures in Italy;
The type of sport differentiates one Italian
TV audience from another, and these
differences are described by socio-graphic
variables. For instance, the lower
education strata see more frequently
football matches and the Olympic
competitions; at the opposite end, the
more educated people more frequently see
the Olympic ceremonies and the
Paralympic competitions;
Moreover the analysis of the Auditel data
gives more credibility to the sporting
subcultures hypothesis, than to the
alternative one, which supposes a
territorial nexus between a player/team
and his/her TV viewer fans, living in the
same territory;
For Winter sports, the findings of the
comparative analysis show that in Italy
there are two main subcultures: the first
niche (Ski subculture) more frequently is
made up of TV viewers, who see the
alpine skiing competitions, and the Nordic
skiing ones. The second Winter sport
subculture, the Ice skating one, is made
up of TV viewers, who more frequently
expose themselves to the mediated ice
skating, figure skating and ice hockey;
(6) As one can note in other countries, so is it
also in Italy that each sport, football
especially, is a “male preserve”. Yet I
found an interesting exception to this
regularity: indeed the ‘Eris effect’ is
evident in the unusual crowding in front
of the TV sets by Italian females viewers,
attracted by a crucial moment in the
competition, such as the penalties, at the
final match of the 2006 FIFA World
Championship.
These findings support the hypothesis that in
Italy –as it happens in many other
modernized countries–, the TV sport
audiences are at the core of the ‘Sms
triangle’; and this recent social configuration
is a relevant topic both for the sociologists of
sport, and for anybody who sociologically
wishes to explain the cultural dynamics of
contemporary
European
or
Western
societies.
29
Martelli S.
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Martelli S.
Section A doi: 10.12863/ejssax2x1-2014x1
UEFA financial fair play: the curse of regulation
Holger Preuss1, Kjetil K. Haugen2, Mathias Schubert3
1
Department of Social Science, Media and Sport, Johannes Gutenberg-University
Department of Economics, Molde University College
3
Department of Social Science, Media and Sport, Johannes Gutenberg-University
2
Abstract
This paper applies simple game theory in order to analyze the UEFA Financial Fair Play (FFP)
policy, which was fully implemented in the 2013/14 season. By involving budget constraints put
on clubs, FFP may lead to unintended or even adverse effects as indicated by some of the
obtained results. In particular, the analysis shows that due to being in the situation of a Prisoner’s
Dilemma, the clubs have a strong incentive to bypass the new regulations, what results in
additional costs both for clubs to hide and UEFA to detect deviant behavior. As these costs might
deter small clubs from trying to cheat, this consequently must have negative consequences on the
level of competitive balance within a league. However, a positive outcome of FFP might be that
clubs become more independent from benefactors or sugar daddies.
Keywords: sports economics; game theory; budget constraints; benefactor owners
JEL classification: L83, D01, C72
Table of contents: 1. Introduction; - 2. Literature review; - 2.1. The over-investment in European
club football; - 2.2. The Financial Fair Play Concept in literature; - 3. The game models; - 4.
Financial fair play effects – cloned teams; - 4.1. Playing by the rules; - 4.2. Financial acrobatics; 5. Financial fair play effects – un-cloned teams; - 6. Conclusion and suggestions for further
research.
33
EJSS Journal 2(1):33-51 - ISSN 2282-5673
Preuss H. et al UEFA financial fair play
Corresponding Author: Mathias Schubert, Department of
Social Science, Media and Sport, Johannes GutenbergUniversity, Albert Schweitzer Straße 22, Mainz 55099, Germany, E-Mail: [email protected]
Tel.: +49-6131-39-23510; Fax: +49-6131-39-26443
Received: January 2014 – Accepted: February 2014
topical than ever. Indeed, Schubert and
Könecke (2014) identify a number of
structural similarities between medical and
financial doping.
Consequently, this trend has effects on the
level of competitive balance (CB), as this,
above all, depends on the distribution of the
player qualities (Késenne, 2000). Although
there are studies that did not reveal any
significant changes of CB across leagues,
particularly recent ones detected a decline in
CB in some leagues (Pawlowski, Breuer and
Hovemann, 2010). A detailed overview of the
uncertainty of outcome/competitive balance
phenomena is provided by Késenne (2007).
Given these undesirable developments, UEFA
saw an urgent need for action and in
September 2009 its Executive Committee
approved the Financial Fair Play (FFP)
concept (UEFA, 2012b). UEFA’s efforts to
introduce more discipline and rationality in
club football finances must be assessed
positively. UEFA is also zealous to have an
active exchange of views with economists and
other academics on this topic (European
Commission, 2012).
The novel approach of this paper is a game
theory perspective on FFP. We focus on
potential outcomes of FFP concerning club
spending and aim to analyze whether there are
structural obstacles in this regulatory policy,
which may prevent to effectively achieve the
ambitious goal to regulate fair play. In
particular, we identify conceivable loopholes
within the concept and show the clubs’
incentives to exploit these deficits due to
being in the situation of a Prisoner’s
Dilemma. Eventually, we demonstrate under
which
circumstances
this
regulatory
framework may lead to unintended effects,
such as invisible club indebtedness and a
decline of CB on national level.
1. Introduction
Fair play is a frequently articulated and
important value in sport. The term, however,
appears to be ambiguous or even fuzzy.
Beside many other paraphrases the crucial
aspect of fair play is based on the idea of
equal opportunities (Lenk and Gunter, 1989).
From a perspective of financial opportunities,
European club football nowadays is far away
from fulfilling this criterion. In the rat race
(Akerlof, 1976) for sporting success on both
national and European level the access for
clubs to external financial resources is not at
all evenly allocated. This would, however, be
important for a fair competition due to the
interdependency
between
economic
performance/potential and success on the
pitch, which has been mentioned in various
studies (Frick, 2004; Ziebs, 2004). By using a
simple linear regression model, Szymanski
(2003) earlier showed a correlation between
(sporting) success and the clubs’ expenses for
player wages both in North-American and
European professional sport leagues.
This fact helps explaining the currently bad
financial situation of many clubs and gives
reason for the motivation of UEFA to try
regulating Financial Fair Play (FFP). The
urgent need for a regulation becomes obvious
by looking at UEFA’s Club licensing
benchmarking report financial year 2011
(UEFA, 2013): Despite rising revenues the
top-flight European clubs reported record
aggregate net losses of over € 1.7 billion for
2011. The annual reviews by Deloitte show
that the situation in the major leagues in
England, Germany, Spain and Italy is actually
even more dramatic (Deloitte, 2013).
In addition to annually rising net losses of
European clubs, investors (or companies)
expanded their influence on the football
business. While these clubs can venture
operating way down in the red each year,
many others cannot. Given the current sums
paid for hiring talent or sponsoring deals, the
term “financial doping” seems to be more
34
2. Literature review
2.1. The over-investment in European club
football
The idea of a corporate financial regulation in
European Football is not new. Already in
2002 the members of G-14 (back then a
grouping of the most prominent football clubs
in Europe) proposed a maximum limit for
salary costs (a different one compared to the
salary cap existing in North-American major
leagues). Késenne (2003), however, identified
its assumed negative impact on the CB in a
league and in fact the plan has never been put
into practice. In 2006, Lago, Simmons and
Szymanski (2006) mention tighter regulation
from UEFA as a possible means to combat
financial instability, even though they
consider such measures credible only if strong
legal backing is provided. An important
remark by the authors is the possibility of
contagion in European football: This is the
idea that due to a sophisticated web of
interrelations “the crisis in one club or group
of clubs threatens to damage the financial
stability of other clubs” (Lago, Simmons and
Szymanski, 2006, 3). Also more recent
studies confirm the necessity of regulative
measures. The consulting firm A.T. Kearney
came up with startling figures: If the leagues
in Italy, Spain and England were running as
ordinary companies they would face
bankruptcy within two years (A.T. Kearney,
2010). Yet already the title of the study “Is
European football too popular to fail?”
indicates that such a scenario is rather
unlikely. Kuper and Szymanski (2009)
addressed the high survival rate in the football
business. Storm and Nielsen (2012) seize the
idea of immortality of professional football
clubs in Europe and trace it back to so-called
soft budget constraints within clubs operate.1
Following the economic theories of the
Hungarian economist János Kornai, the
authors compare large professional clubs in
Europe to loss-making companies in socialist
economies that are bailed out by public or
private creditors – a phenomenon known as
‘too-big-to-fail’.
This perceived security ex ante leads to
overinvestment. For the authors, the new
regulations of UEFA are an attempt to harden
budget constraints (Storm and Nielsen, 2012,
183).
In a game-theoretic approach Solberg and
Haugen (2010) demonstrated why European
clubs tend to overinvest in talent and face
financial problems despite high revenues. The
authors argue that the goal of winmaximization results in a lack of correlation
between revenues and costs. This eventually
leads to a more aggressive strategy when
competing for talented players. Some authors
see the escalation of expenses due to
structures within national leagues (Dietl,
Franck and Lang, 2008) as well as to the
competition format on European level
(Franck, 2010). Haugen and Solberg (2010) in
particular identify the Champions League as
the cause of these negative developments.
According to them, the competition’s
financial attractiveness due to the enormous
pay-off “may lead to extremely unhealthy
financial outcomes” (p. 565). The subsequent
section provides a brief overview of UEFA’s
FFP concept and its attempt to better the
situation by further regulation.
2.2. The Financial Fair Play Concept in
literature
The UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair
Play Regulations (UEFA, 2012b) represent
the enhanced version of the former UEFA
Club Licensing Regulations. The new
document includes an improvement to the
former club-licensing criteria as well as new
requirements in the FFP concept (clubmonitoring).
It is important to note that only those clubs
that qualify for UEFA club competitions on
1
The fact that clubs do not operate within a hard
budget constraint has already been mentioned by
Franck (2010).
35
sporting merit are subject of the monitoring
process. Different to the club-licensing, the
club-monitoring is conducted by UEFA itself
– that is by the so-called UEFA Club
Financial Control Body (CFCB), composed of
qualified experts in the financial and legal
fields.2 Scholarly literature on this new
regulatory policy is still manageable even
more than three years after its publication.
Müller, Lammert and Hovemann (2012)
analyze the concept and UEFA’s motivation
to act and provide a sound theoretical
justification of the new regulatory measures
from a financial and ethical perspective.
Schubert and Könecke (2014) draw
comparisons between FFP and the World
Anti-Doping Code and in this context define
the term “financial doping”. Galli (2010)
summarizes the amended club-licensing
regulations and the new club-monitoring
rules: While the former is only practical for
diagnostic analyses of economic imbalances,
the latter moreover aims at curing these.
Madden (2012) and Drut and Raballand
(2012) analyze possible effects of the FFP
regulation on a sports league. The former
concludes that the disappearance of money
injections as a consequence of the FFP
implementation will result in negative welfare
consequences for fans, owners and players as
long as the elasticity of talent supply is
sufficient. The latter shape a professional
sports league with win-maximizing clubs and
predict that without the ability to run deficits
clubs will sign weaker players and sporting
performance will decrease. Franck and Lang
(2013) by contrast attest FFP a welfareenhancing function under certain condition:
Given that more than half of European top
division clubs reported net losses and
therefore do not seem to be risk averse, the
authors argue that in an uncertain economic
environment (e.g. through a higher
Champions League prize) the FFP regulations
are welfare-enhancing.
Beside economic aspects Financial Fair Play
is also considered from a legal perspective.
Peeters and Szymanski (2012, 28) note “that
the break-even rule could be construed as a
means to raising profitability and therefore an
anti-competitive vertical restraint under EU
competition law.” Long (2012) illustrates
examples how FFP may have inhibiting
effects on competition between clubs, players
and even sponsors.
A survey among European football fans
indicated that there is a strong support for the
objectives of the concept while it is not
believed that UEFA will apply the rules
strictly (Hovemann and Lammert, 2011).
Other authors comment on the new
regulations from a billing and accounting
perspective and compare them to the national
licensing
requirements
in
Germany
(Dehesselles, 2011; Küting and Strauß,
2011a, 2011b). Geey (2011) mainly focuses
on identifying criteria in the FFP concept
which clubs could use to their advantage.
The core element of the club-monitoring is
the break-even requirement: Once the rule
takes effect, the relevant expenses3 of a club
are no longer allowed to exceed its relevant
income4. In the first monitoring period 201314 the two previous seasons 2012-13 and
2011-12 are assessed. From the license season
2014-15 onwards always the three previous
seasons are covered. Article 61 of the concept
states acceptable deviations of € 5 million to
the break-even rule (UEFA, 2012b). Yet the
deviation can exceed € 5 million up to € 45
3
The basic relevant expenses are: cost of sales;
employee benefits expenses; other operating expenses;
player transfer amortization or expense; finance costs
UEFA (2012b, 76–82).
4
The basic relevant income criteria are: revenue (gate
receipts, broadcasting rights, sponsorship and
advertising, commercial activities, other operating
income); player transfer profit or income; finance
income, excess proceeds on disposal of tangible fixed
assets UEFA (2012b, 73–76).
2
The CFCB members are elected by the UEFA
Executive Committee for four years.
36
million in the license seasons 2013-14 and
2014-15 and up to € 30 million for the license
seasons 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18, if the
deficit is covered by contributions from
equity participants or related parties. This
accepted deviation will be further reduced
thereafter.
Vöpel (2011) regards the break-even
requirement as an effective means to enhance
financial stability. However, a mere limitation
of the deficit would on the other hand not lead
to a restoration of CB, yet even violate it on
national level. Furthermore, the author even
questions the legitimacy of the whole concept,
as in the past empirically neither insolvency
as a consequence of financial instability nor
monopolization
due
to
unbalanced
competition have been a serious problem.
Sass (2012) predicts negative consequences
on the long-term competitive balance due to
FFP.
Right in Article 2 at the beginning of the new
concept UEFA mentions a number of
objectives. The six main ideas of FFP are
a) “to improve the economic and financial
capability of the clubs, increasing their
transparency and credibility;
b) to place the necessary importance on the
protection of creditors by ensuring that
clubs settle their liabilities with players,
social/tax authorities and other clubs
punctually;
c) to introduce more discipline and
rationality in club football finances;
d) to encourage clubs to operate on the basis
of their own revenues;
e) to encourage responsible spending for the
long-term benefit of football;
f) to protect the long-term viability and
sustainability of European club football”
(UEFA, 2012b, 2).
With regard to the financial aspect, these
objectives aim at the protection against a
continuing over-indebtedness in European
club football as a consequence of the rat race
for sporting success. Although it is not
explicitly mentioned, the intended goals must
also refer to the aspect of CB (Vöpel, 2011).
This must be regarded as a very important
one, as the long-term viability and
sustainability of European club football can
only be achieved by securing a level of CB
that does not endanger the suspense between
clubs and leagues.
Summing up, the state-of-the-art literature
review represents a mixed picture concerning
the efficacy of FFP. Our paper tries to extent
the research on estimated effects of this
regulatory intervention and is the first to
apply a game theory approach on potential
outcomes of FFP concerning club spending.
By demonstrating which circumstances may
lead to unintended effects, we hope to
improve the efficacy of UEFA’s policy.
3. The game models
In the following sections, we will show by
game theory how the FFP regulations will put
clubs into a difficult situation concerning their
decision to invest into talent in order to gain
competitive advantage.
The incentive to invest into talent increases
due to FFP, which on the other side may
prevent competitors from doing so. This may
result in overinvestments. To illustrate this, a
convenient set-up for our approach appears to
be applying the model setting introduced by
Haugen and Solberg (2010), by which the
authors discuss the overinvestment in
European football. In our setting at hand, we
add a slight simplification and solely focus on
the profit maximization case. Further details
about this aspect are mentioned below. The
following assumptions provide the basis of
our model:
1) Two sports teams are engaged in an
upcoming match against each other.
2) The teams, named T1 and T2, have made
a player buying decision. That is, they
have decided to buy a new player, but
not the price/quality.
37
3) The two teams are assumed to be
perfect clones, so they are equally good.
Hence, the probability of a victory for
any team before the talent acquisition is
.5
That is, a game of complete
information.
In the following, some of the assumptions
will be further outlined. Haugen and Solberg
(2010, 558) define a single decisive match as
“a single match between two teams with
significant economic consequences”, which is
characteristic for many matches in European
football today (e.g. qualifying for or
progressing from group stage in CL; reaching
the quarter/semi finales; winning the final).
Those matches must be won in order to
progress in a tournament, what makes it
logical to restrict the analysis to a one-shot
two-player game. Therefore, it must be stated
that our model does not illustrate European
competition in total but rather a general
repetitive situation which frequently occurs.
It should also be stated that ε always has some
natural constraints and cannot be chosen
freely. The reason is that our model assumes
cloned teams, meaning that without any talent
change, both teams have a probability of
winning the match of 0.5. Now, when each
team buys a single player this means that they
still have to use the 10 remaining players.
Consequently, this implies that ε is a
somewhat
small
number
(potentially
increasing the win probability of a team
around 5% at most).
Due to the afore-mentioned correlation
between economic and sporting success we
solely focus on profit maximizing agents. The
distinction between profit and win
maximization is a topic well covered in sport
economic literature (Késenne, 1996; Fort and
Quirk, 2004; Gratton and Solberg, 2007). It
refers to the objective of a football club and
thus affects its strategy on the transfer market.
In this paper, win maximizing agents are
deliberately left out (a simplification to the
original assumption of Haugen and Solberg
(2010) since we believe that it would cast
little new light on our conclusions. The reason
is because our arguments need monetary
objectives and introducing a win maximizing
4) Both teams can choose from the same
two-dimensional strategy space (Ep,
Cp). Ep means buying an expensive
player, while Cp means buying a cheap
player. Buying an expensive player
while the other team buys a cheap
player
leads
to
a
probability
advantage/increase of ε > 0 of winning
the match.
5) We assume that the two team's ‘buying
markets’ are non-connected. That is, the
prices of the players (cE, cC) are
exogenously given and not affected by
the upcoming game.6 cE > cC denote
prices for the expensive and cheap
players respectively.
6) The playing strength (quality) and price
of each of the expensive players and
each of the cheap players are identical.
That is, they are cloned in pairs.
7) Each team must decide on which player
to buy without knowledge about the
other team's choice. That is, a
simultaneous game.
8) The team winning the single decisive
match receives a pay-off of R (common
for both teams), the losing team
receives a pay-off of zero.
9) Teams are assumed profit maximizers,
maximizing the expected pay-off.
10) All information above, 1) – 9), is
common knowledge (e.g. available for
both players) and there is no more
information available for any player.
5
The draw-option is ruled out in these games, as a
decisive match must be decided.
6
This is a technical but highly necessary assumption in
order to rule out possible auction effects between the
teams.
38
alternative will prove no relevant added
insight. Furthermore, as we see it, even a
profit-maximizer could run with negative
profits over time. Indeed, in many business
situations agents (deliberately) run with
negative profits over substantial time periods,
what may be referred to as investment, price
wars or simply waiting for the market. Under
this assumption, even in the profit
maximization case of our model, possible
negative profits would not be a problem.
However, the assumption of profitmaximization is relaxed by our model being
constructed as a one-shot game, where the
incentive for both profit- and winmaximization is more or less the same.
It would, however, become more relevant in a
dynamic/repeated game, as a club would then
have to decide if money gained in previous
rounds is reinvested into the team (potentially
the strategy of a utility-maximizer) or rather
retained as a profit for the owner (profitmaximization case). Assumptions 1) - 10)
above can be summarized through the normal
form game of figure 1. It is easily shown
(Haugen and Solberg 2010, 553) that two
possible (pure strategy) unique Nash
Equilibria (NE) exist. These two equilibria
can be summarized through the inequalities7:
or
(1)
If the left inequality in (1) holds, the
Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) NE (Ep, Ep) emerges
while the other possibility produces the (Cp,
Cp) NE.
Figure 1. Original normal form game
7
The εR = cE - cC option is ruled out being too
practically improbable.
39
4. Financial fair play effects – cloned
teams
In the following sections, we adopt this model
and introduce the FFP regulations. First, we
analyze the effects of FFP when the clubs
adhere to the rules. In section 4.2, we extend
the model and directly incorporate clubs’
options to avoid FFP regulations, thus
resulting in interesting game effects.
the cheap player (the Cp-option) seems
unreasonable – effectively killing the market
for football players in our assumed model.
However, in the game setting at hand, ruling
out the Ep-option also will rule out the game
itself.8 As a consequence, and in accordance
with common sense, there must be other
players to choose from and given a reasonable
complete market, another possible player is
available to buy while not violating the FFP
budget constraint. Let us name this buying
option Mp with corresponding cost cM.
Accordingly, this player, cheaper than Ep but
more expensive than Cp (ie. cE > cM > cC),
must also produce less probability increase of
winning the match by say
.
That is, the original game model in figure 1
can be easily reformulated simply by
substituting cE with cM, Ep with Mp and
with . The analysis of the game is
unchanged. The (Mp, Mp) NE is still a PD as
4.1. Playing by the rules
Given the debate and the effective
introduction of the FFP concept, it is possible
to apply the above given modeling scheme
through some simplifications. The FFP
concept
introduces
capital
(liquidity)
constraints for individual clubs stating that
clubs must break-even within a certain given
time period.
Competitions with budget constraints are
addressed in a number of papers within
general contest literature, often with differing
results. Che and Gale (1998), for instance,
study caps on political lobbying and
demonstrate that in a static all-pay auction
this could paradoxically lead to higher
aggregate expenditures. In a continuation of
this model Kaplan and Wettstein (2006),
however, show that non-rigid (not fully
enforced) caps can actually lead to reduced
spending.
Surely, our simplified non-temporal game
does not cope with the finer temporal gaming
effects of a system as FFP. However, the
introduction of a capital constraint must mean
that at least for some clubs it should be
binding. Hence, the effect should (in practice)
be that clubs choose to avoid buying
expensive players and alternatively choose to
buy less expensive ones.
A practical translation into the game-setting at
hand could then be that the expensive players
(the Ep-option) are ruled out by a binding
constraint at some point in time. Ruling out
(2)
So, the clubs still overspend. The PD structure
is still unresolved, but the actual overspending
is dampened as cM < cE. This result as well as
further considerations, of course, underlies the
assumption that the left inequality in (1) holds
(
). Given the tremendous payoffs to clubs from the Champions League (or
when promoted from second to first national
league) in reality it is implied that in our
model R likewise is very high.
To some extent, reducing overspending is
what UEFA wants. However, this would
mean that expensive players lose bargaining
8
A team which has made a buying decision with only
one player to choose from will obviously buy this
player.
40
power (cf. Madden, 2012) and their salaries
decrease (cE become cM). While this might
hold for most Ep, it is logic that the best
players remain expensive and therefore there
still is an incentive to buy them, as
. The
option that Ep leave the European leagues
could be imaginable for the future but does
not appear realistic today with the gap to
other leagues still being very big. Although
the PD situation is unresolved, at least, UEFA
may be able to achieve a decrease in the
tendency to overspend.
2012). However, the FFP concept in its
current form seems to offer a number of
shortcomings which clubs could use to their
advantage. This is to be expected due to the
PD still given which means that the dominant
strategy for a club is to bypass the regulation
as long as the transparency is not detecting
their behaviour and leads to punishment. The
existence of potential loopholes to bypass the
FFP regulations is even recognised by UEFA
and its general secretary Gianni Infantino:
It’s not the perfect document, we are
aware of that […] It is the first time we
have done something like this. We are
learning as we go along but we are very
confident that if we find something that
needs to be addressed, we will correct it
(cited trough Veysey, 2011).
Besides, the former British FA president Lord
David Triesman noted that the FFP concept
cannot possibly work in its current form
(Preuss, 2012b). According to him, several
measures have to be taken to make it work,
most importantly credible balance sheets.
Geey (2011) identifies two loopholes: The
first is to be found in Annex XI, according to
which a club whose break-even deficit
exceeds the acceptable deviation will not be
sanctioned as long as it (a) “reports a positive
trend in the annual break-even results” and (b)
“[i]t proves that the aggregate break-even
deficit is only due to the annual break-even
deficit of the reporting period ending in 2012
[...] to contracts with players undertaken prior
to 1 June 2010” (UEFA, 2012b, 87). This
provides to clubs the temporary benefit of
postponing sanctions for the first two years of
the new rules. Second, Geey (2011) mentions
the explanations concerning relevant income
in Annex X: “For the purpose of the breakeven result, the licensee must determine the
fair value of any related party transaction(s)”
(UEFA, 2012b, 75). The provisions clearly
aim at avoiding disproportional selfsponsoring deals – that is when entities
belonging or related to owners (may it be
4.2. Financial acrobatics
Surely, UEFA does not expect the above
predicted reality to come easy. Professional
football clubs nowadays are marked by
increasingly
more
complex
company
structures. Due to oftentimes tricky
interconnections between several subsidiaries
and the sophisticated outsourcing of
liabilities, UEFA faces a difficult challenge in
assessing the documents of 236 licensees
from different European countries with
different accounting systems. The monitoring
costs can therefore be assumed to be
remarkably high. However, UEFA confirms
the feasibility of controlling the clubs:
There are layers of control at the National
Associations and at UEFA. All financial
figures
and
necessary
supporting
documents are submitted to both through
an on line reporting system. UEFA
already monitors the financial results of
600+ clubs each year. In addition there
will be various external expertise used for
verification of local documents and
support (Preuss, 2012a).
That is, UEFA seems to anticipate that clubs
may try to avoid the FFP rules due to their
situation of being in a PD. Nasser el-Khelaifi,
the chairman of Qatari-owned club Paris
Saint-Germain, already signalised creativity
instead of financial rigidity: “We'll follow the
rules. Mr Platini said we'll need to be creative.
We have a few ideas” (cited through Perrin,
41
persons or companies) of clubs are involved.
However, the term “related party” leaves
much space for interpretation. Therefore, as
Geey (2011) notices, “issues over how
revenue can be correctly valued may become
a particularly thorny issue.” Further aspects in
the FFP concept resulting in a softening of the
absolute requirement to break-even are
identified by Müller, Lammert and Hovemann
(2012).
Besides, there are many other possibilities in
which ways clubs could try to improve the
figures of relevant income and expenses. The
amortisation of money for player transfers is
already common but could be conducted more
extensively. This way, a club could split the
amount to be paid over several years and thus
reduce the annual costs of the club. Probable
are also side agreements concerning players’
wages for example, which may be partly paid
by benefactors and therefore do not appear in
the official club accounts. While there appears
to be no limit to imagination in these regards,
third-party ownership of players is another
way to reduce expenditure in a club’s books.
Forbidden in England since the Carlos Tevez
affair in 2007, it is a frequent practice in
South America and across many European
countries (e.g. Spain and Portugal) (KPMG,
2013). Basically, a club could acquire playing
talent paying only a small amount, with the
balance funded by a third party. Thus, this
amount would not be listed in a club’s books.9
UEFA seems to have acknowledged this
threat: In December 2012 its Executive
Committee argued for a prohibition of thirdparty ownership as a matter of principle and
highlighted its inclination to enforce it in its
own competitions in case FIFA should not
support a general change of policy (UEFA,
2012a).
Furthermore, there are also exception
provisions of UEFA itself. Annex I declares
that the “status and situation of football within
the territory of the UEFA member association
will be taken into account when granting an
exception” (UEFA, 2012b, 45). The key
factors include, for instance, its market
potential and its support from national,
regional and local authorities. Manchester
City’s highly controversial commercial
agreement with Etihad Airways seems to be
well-suited to benefit from this policy. The
deal contains the construction of the Etihad
Campus – a giant project adjacent to the
stadium, including a youth academy, a sports
science centre as well as office space and
retail outlets (Slater, 2011). Needless to say
that a project of this kind boosts the local area
in economic terms and will therefore be
highly appreciated by regional and local
authorities and thus, following the last quote,
raises the status and situation of football
within the territory.
Another provision can be found in Annex X,
which permits a club to include any profits
from non-football operations in its
calculation, as long as the operations are: (a)
“based at, or in close proximity to, a club’s
stadium and training facilities, such as a hotel,
restaurant, conference centre, business
premises (for rental), health-care centre, other
sports teams”; and (b) “clearly using the
name/brand of a club as part of their
operations” (UEFA, 2012b, 76). For the
mentioned Manchester City’s Etihad deal this
would mean that the club could exclude the
expenses for the project, while its profits
could be declared as relevant income.10
In case UEFA would reveal attempts on
evasion, a sanctioning system must
9
In 2011 the transfer of Roberto Jiménez from Benfica
Lisbon to Real Zaragoza for € 8.6 million aroused
attention, since Zaragoza had applied to the courts to
go into voluntary administration with estimated debts
of € 110 million. As it turned out, Zaragoza paid only €
86.000 with the balance of more than € 8.5 million paid
for by an unnamed company that will retain the player's
economic rights (Scott, 2011).
10
The authors want to thank an excellent blog
(http://swissramble.blogspot.com/) for fruitful stimuli
in this regard.
42
successfully be implemented. The current list
of disciplinary measures ranges from
warnings up to disqualifications from
competitions and the withdrawal of titles
(UEFA, 2014). This is important as in order
to break through the PD, transparency must
be secured followed by sanctions that are
greater than the expected benefit of deviant
behaviour (Dixit and Nalebuff, 1991).
Furthermore, especially in the initial phase it
seems important to punish those clubs that
breach FFP, as such signalling effects might
help to establish credibility and reputation as
well as prevent deviant behaviour in the
future. Moreover, we know from Games
Theory that not only punishment must be
provided but also transparency.
Therefore, UEFA also has to try closing the
loopholes to prevent non-compliance.
Consequently, if clubs attempt to fool the FFP
regulations, some costs must be considered,
both through creative book-keeping as well as
the expected costs of being revealed. Surely,
these costs, let us name them γ, can be
manipulated by the clubs. For instance, more
resources spent on financial acrobatics may
reduce the risk of being exposed, and hence
the expected cost of exposure.
Anyway, if this option is applied in our game,
we need to reformulate somewhat. Now, as
opposed to the previous model, both clubs can
choose the triplet (Ep, Mp, Cp). This means
that the 2 by 2 strategy game of figure 1 needs
to be enhanced into a 3 by 3 strategy game.
Figure 2 sums up the reformulation.
Figure 2. UEFA financial acrobatics game
43
Figure 2 is in principle self-explanatory. The
diagonal elements should be straightforward:
The two (cloned) teams buy the same cloned
player and achieve the same pair-wise payoffs only differentiated by the different costs
associated with the strategic choices Ep, Mp or
Cp. Note that the Ep-strategy leads to an
inclusion of the extra cost γ in order to ‘bypass’ the UEFA FFP system. Furthermore, the
term
needs to be included in order to
cope for the situation where one club buys the
expensive player Ep while the other buys the
intermediate cost player Mp. In such
situations, the net winning probability
increase logically must equal this difference
(
). Apart from these points, the content
of figure 2 is a simple generalisation of the
model in figure 1.
We choose to simplify the analysis of the
game in figure 2 by simply checking
necessary conditions for the strategy
combination (Ep, Ep) being a NE. Then, it is
sufficient to check the best replies for T1
given T2's choice of Ep and vice versa. This
approach returns two inequalities that need to
be satisfied to secure an (Ep, Ep) NE. These
inequalities are:
discussion on substitution, it is easily
observed that this inequality represents what
is needed to reach the (Mp, Mp) NE in the
game where the clubs adapt to the financial
constraint by adding the new Mp player
option.
It is assumed here that this inequality must be
satisfied. As a consequence, given our
assumptions, we can conclude that (7) must
be satisfied.11 The consequence is of course
that the somewhat complex inequality (5) can
be simplified to:12
(8)
which simplifies to:
(9)
Accordingly, we can conclude that if (9) is
satisfied, the strategy combination (Ep, Ep) is
a Nash Equilibrium of the game in figure 2.
Now, our main conclusion can be formulated.
If inequality (9) holds, the cloned clubs will
end up buying expensive (Ep) players in
equilibrium. This NE is a PD, and an even
worse one than the original situation, as long
as
. Hence, the risk of a worsened
situation after the introduction of the FFP
concept is theoretically demonstrated.
Obviously, we cannot provide evidence for
our findings, yet the assumptions appear to be
in line with logic and reason. Whether
practice will prove this, remains to see and
very much depends on the ability to control
potential loopholes by UEFA.
(3)
and
(4)
Inequalities (3) and (4) can be combined into
the singular inequality:
(5)
Now, let us check the two elements in the
maximisation
in
inequality
(5)
by
investigating the following inequality:
11
The point here is simple. When the new financial
constraint is introduced, our model assumptions lead to
the NE (Mp, Mp) by definition. We assume that the
clubs pick a player which is attainable exactly within
the forced constraint. Hence, the given inequality must
hold in order to establish this NE.
12
Inequality (9) is, by the way, easy to interpret, as the
left hand side denotes (expected) marginal revenue
(moving up to the expensive player) while the right
hand side denotes marginal costs for a similar
transition.
(6)
Some algebra:
(7)
A closer examination of inequality (7) reveals
interesting information. If we return to the
44
Unfortunately, the situation is even worse, as
the introduction and the operation of the FFP
concept as well as the necessary control
panels will produce both initial as well as
operational costs, adding to inefficiency.
Consequently, UEFA may face a situation –
after introducing such a system – where many
clubs behave as before the FFP concept has
been in stage: They are still forced to
overspend up to the limit they can afford.
What may be saved by player salaries will be
spent for financial acrobatics. However, the
overspending will not become visible as the
official books will not show it.
We expect that FFP regulations will be
promoted as success as the clubs will have to
follow the rules. However, invisible the
overindebtedness of clubs will not be solved –
a situation similar to the fight against doping
after implementation of a testing system.
than before. The poor clubs will however
(typically if γ1 is sufficiently smaller than γ2)
be hit efficiently by the FFP system, due to
the higher probability to be revealed and will
become in the end less competitive.13
Additionally, if they decide to also spend γ2
or will be punished by UEFA this will end in
less competitiveness too. Consequently, a
somewhat double negative situation can be
demonstrated: the richer clubs get richer and
still overspend (as long as they compete with
other rich clubs), while efficient budget
constraints hit the poor clubs which cannot
afford extra costs. Bearing in mind the above
mentioned correlation between economic
potential and sporting success, this might lead
to significant negative consequences for the
level of CB. Due to this regulatory policy it
will therefore become more difficult for poor
clubs to reach the top.
As the above paragraph should indicate, we
leave out the formal analysis in this case, to
keep the article at a reasonable (readable)
mathematical level.
5. Financial fair play effects – un-cloned
teams
To move towards greater model realism, the
case of non-cloned or unequal clubs seems a
sensible next step. If we analyze two different
clubs, say one high performance club
competing against a low performance club,
the analytic approach can be continued along
similar lines as in Haugen and Solberg
(2010). Then, a new parameter α can be
introduced to cope with performance
differences between the clubs. In this setting,
higher performance should logically lead to
higher financial strength and thus lowering
relatively the individual club γ's. Hence, we
can easily model different possibilities for the
clubs to avoid the FFP regulations for
instance by introducing
. This
situation follows that of Haugen and Solberg
(2010, 553) by assuming that T1 is the better
club. Given such assumptions, it is
straightforward,
though
algebraically
cumbersome, to show for instance existence
of (Ep, Cp)-equilibria. In such situations, the
rich clubs will keep on overspending more
6. Conclusion and suggestions for further
research
A game-theory approach illustrated the
mechanisms how clubs might behave after the
implementation of the FFP concept. It has
been shown under which parameters and
circumstances UEFA may not be able to
effectively achieve the ambitious goal to
regulate fair play. With regards to the
envisaged goals of regulating the escalation of
expenses and securing a desirable level of CB
it must be stated that the concept is effective
in neither of them. We tried to demonstrate
that the policy is favourable for big clubs
13
However, when thinking the process one step further
one could potentially argue that at a certain point in the
future, for some top/rich clubs there is no need any
more to cheat as expensive players could be bought
anyway, while at the same time (successful) cheating is
not possible any longer for small clubs. Consequently,
the risk of overspending would then emanate from
middle ranked clubs who aspire getting to the top.
45
while the opportunity of advancement for
poor or small upcoming clubs is reduced. The
risk of conviction might deter smaller clubs
with lesser financial capabilities from trying
to bypass the regulations. This at least keeps
them away from running into debts.
While the presence of UEFA is already
implicitly taken into account (e.g. pay-off,
punishment), in future research it might yield
interesting results to include UEFA as an
actual third player with the primary purpose
to enforce FFP and thus punish clubs for
misbehaviour. Furthermore, it would be
interesting to look at other game formulations,
capturing different but interesting buying
games; perhaps especially where sequential
moves are incorporated. Moreover, as FFP is
a dynamic issue, in future research a dynamic
approach (for dynamic effects of constrained
contestants in general, see, for example,
Grossmann, 2011) could be adopted, taking
into account the specific peculiarities of
UEFA’s concept. Speculatively, this could
reveal that the gap between poor clubs and
clubs with higher revenues widens with each
round, while for the winner club the extra
costs γ continuously diminish due to the
reduced need to bypass (and thus the lowered
risk of conviction). On the other hand the
dominant strategy remains attractive to big
clubs since they are in a PD with the other big
clubs. As long as loopholes exist, they will,
therefore, be inclined to exploit them to gain
competitive advantage.
Hence, contrary to the opinion of Müller,
Lammert and Hovemann (2012), we have
shown that FFP does not limit the possibilities
of financial doping, yet even might enhance it
for clubs with higher revenues. In any case, it
is assumed that the new regulations result in
higher costs for accounting (by exploiting
loopholes) and therefore less money will be
available for investment in talent.
Although this idea is discounted by UEFA’s
general secretary Gianni Infantino (cited
through Veysey, 2011), the whole situation
could eventually strengthen the top clubs’
desire of a European super league without any
financial restrictions imposed by UEFA. In
2009 Real Madrid’s president Florentino
Pérez took up this idea that seemed to have
been slumbering since the dissolution of the
G-14 grouping in 2008. The Spaniard argued
in favour of such in order to guarantee “that
the best always play the best – something that
does not happen in the Champions League”
(n.a., 2009). The threat of a transnational
league beyond UEFA’s sphere of influence
first appeared in 1998 following negotiations
with the Italian media organisation Media
Partners (Holt, 2009), which promised the
clubs involved much higher pay-offs than the
UEFA Champions League. In what appeared
to be an immediate reaction, UEFA put into
practice some modifications to the format of
the Champions League which led to an
increase in revenues to the clubs and thus
made participation financially more lucrative.
With the establishment of the European Club
Association (ECA) in 2008, as part of a
settled dispute between G-14 on the one hand
and FIFA and UEFA on the other, the idea of
a breakaway league faded from spotlight. It
still exists though as the leading professional
clubs remain a weighty actor in the football
business (Parrish, 2011). The decline of CB
after the implementation of the FFP concept
might not be the only aspect strengthening the
wish of a Super League. If it really comes to
exclusions of big clubs not respecting the FFP
criteria from UEFA competitions, others
fearing the same fate might be inclined to
favour another competition format outside
UEFA.
From the perspective of an institutional
economic model of behaviour, the
relationship between UEFA and the European
football clubs could be described as a
principal-agent relationship (Jensen and
Meckling, 1976). UEFA as the principal
commissions the task to adhere to the FFP
regulations to the clubs (agents). As UEFA is
46
Admittedly, the FFP concept is to be seen as a
“long term governance project” (Preuss,
2012a). Thus, initial problems are inevitable
and should not be overestimated. However,
we have shown the potential threat coming
from the FFP concept as it stands at the
moment. Taken together, UEFA’s efforts
must in principle be assessed as a first step in
the right direction, as initially the power of
sugar daddies and the “total dependency
culture” (Preuss, 2012a) will be reduced.
Furthermore, at least smaller or poorer clubs
will be prevented from overspending and
player salaries will decrease – even though
this also decreases the potential to play in
UEFA’s tournaments. Also the fact that the
players unions (FIFPro), leagues (EPFL),
clubs (ECA), National Associations (NA) as
well as the European Commission have
universally approved FFP (UEFA, 2009) is a
sign of UEFA’s success in bringing in line all
stakeholders involved and the risk we see in
the project may be not this sensitive. The
replacement of the UEFA Club Financial
Control Panel (CFCP) by the more powerful
UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB)
in July 2012 can also be regarded as a proof
of UEFA’s efforts to constantly trying to
amend the policy: While the former panel
could only refer cases to UEFA’s Organs for
Administration of Justice, the new body is
empowered with the ability to independently
impose disciplinary measures. Along with this
change came the clear formulation of possible
disciplinary measures.
The structural problem of financial doping
resembles that of traditional doping (use of
performance enhancing drugs). Our results
also allow deriving some practical
implications for UEFA: The PD situation
creates incentives to bypass regulations. This
situation can only be solved by full
transparency of all financial transactions
followed by sanctions greater than the
expected benefits for deviant behaviour.
Sensible steps might be to control the market
the only “seller” of the relevant product
(Champions League, Europa League) on the
market, it is a monopolistic relationship with
the clubs having no alternative to cooperate
with UEFA. The agency-problem is based on
two conditions: First, the two parties have, in
principle, the same interests. This can be seen
by the fact that the European Club
Association (ECA) “stated publicly on
numerous occasions that they support the
initiative and that indeed the initiative is
needed” (Preuss, 2012a). The clubs intend to
fulfil the task to maintain rewards. UEFA,
however, wants to maximize its own welfare
and prestige (objectives of FFP), which does
not need to be the objective of the clubs who
equally want to do so (more financial
resources; sporting success). Second, there is
a special case of asymmetric information
(Groenewegen, Spithoven and Van den Berg,
2010), since the principal has less knowledge
than the agent about the agent’s financial
actions. When both conditions hold, this gives
rise to opportunistic behaviour, which in this
case is enforced by the competition between
the clubs being in a PD. In theory, rivalry
between the agents should reduce the level of
opportunism because of their fear of
exclusion in case they are convicted. This,
however, does not only require conviction,
but especially severe penalisation afterwards.
As clubs become subject of UEFA’s clubmonitoring once they qualify for competitions
on European level, the agency problem faced
here is moral hazard. The incentive of the
clubs is to have more financial resources for
hiring talent than their competitors (rat race).
The Nash Equilibrium which puts them into a
PD even worsens the situation. Therefore, it
can be assumed that (at least the rich) clubs
will only pretend to adhere to the new
regulations. As this is not in the interest of
UEFA, it implemented the new rules and will
monitor the clubs’ abidance to them, which in
the end will add costs to the clubs besides
their intention to still maximise their spending
for talent.
47
of expensive players as well as reduce payoffs (R) while trying to raise costs for
bypassing the regulations (γ). A long-term
solution might also be to try extending the
market for talented players, as one reason for
the exorbitant prices paid for some players is
the scarcity of talent supply.
• Drut, B. and Raballand G., 2012, Why
does financial regulation matter for
European professional football clubs? in
International
Journal
of
Sport
Management and Marketing, vol. 11, n.
1, pp. 73–88.
• European Commission, 2012, Joint
statement on UEFA's Financial Fair Play
rules and EU State aid policy,
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/sectors/spo
rts/joint_statement_en.pdf; February 24,
2013.
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ERRATA CORRIGE
Page 34. The reference (Lenk and Gunter, 1989), should read: (Lenk and Pilz, 1989).
Page 49. The reference: “Lenk, H. and Gunter, A., 1989, Das Prinzip Fairneß. Zürich:
Edition Interform.”, should read: “Lenk, H. and Pilz, G.A., 1989, Das Prinzip Fairneß.
Zürich: Edition Interform.”
51
Section A doi: 10.12863/ejssax2x1-2014x2 L’atto politico nel prisma della Corte Costituzionale
di Felice Blando*
SOMMARIO
1. Premessa; – 2. Il caso. Il potere di nomina degli assessori regionali e il principio di equilibrata
presenza uomo-donna nelle istituzioni politiche; – 3. L’atto politico nella valutazione della Corte
costituzionale; – 4. I limiti dell’uso giurisprudenziale dell’atto politico e la sua svalutazione post
costituzionale; – 5. Potere politico e Stato di diritto; – 6. La questione di giurisdizione e la portata
precettiva dei principi e diritti espressi negli statuti regionali.
1. Premessa
Che la pretesa della politica di avvalersi della
categoria dell’atto politico per sottrarsi al sindacato giurisdizionale dei suoi atti fosse destinato a sollevare molti e non facili problemi,
era previsione fin troppo scontata.
La sentenza richiamata, beninteso, offre molti
spunti di considerevole interesse, sia sotto
l’aspetto “mediatico” che sotto quello tecnicogiuridico.
Particolarmente evidenti, sotto entrambi i profili, sono le sue ricadute sulle pari opportunità
tra uomo-donna nella partecipazione politica,
che, non casualmente, sono state finora al
centro dei vari commenti2.
Ne offre un ennesimo – e tutt’altro che banale
– esempio la decisione n. 81/2012 della Corte
costituzionale, nella quale si affronta (ma
forse non si risolve definitivamente) una problematica classica – anche se, come si vedrà,
non del tutto approfondita – per gli operatori
del diritto e per gli studiosi1.
confessioni religiose non cattoliche: brevi note a Corte
di Cassazione, Sez. Unite civ., Sentenza 28 giugno
2013, n. 16305, in www.federalismi.it, 2013.
2
V., con vari accenti, M.G. RODOMONTE, Equilibrio di
genere, atti politici e Stato di diritto nella recente sent.
n. 81 del 2012 sulla equilibrata presenza di donne e di
uomini nella Giunta della Regione Campania, in
www.federalismi.it, 2012; M. BELLETTI, «Torniamo
allo Statuto»…regionale. La rappresentanza di genere
* Ricercatore di Istituzioni di Diritto Pubblico, Università degli studi di Palermo
1
Cfr. in particolare la Cass. civ., Sez. Un., sent. 28 giugno 2013, n. 16305, e vedi in particolare il commenti di
G. DI MUCCIO, Atti politici e intese tra lo Stato e le
52
Blando F. L’atto politico nel prima della …
Corresponding Author: Felice Blando, Department of Legal,
Social and Economics Sciences
Via E. Duse, 2 – 90146 Palermo
[email protected]
Received: March 2014 – Accepted: April 2014
Ma, a prescindere da questi aspetti e dalla
soluzione data al problema concreto, la vicenda in esame solleva una questione di carattere più generale, che potrebbe influire notevolmente
sull’auspicato
superamento
dell’insindacabilità giurisdizionale degli atti
politici, a cui l’ordinamento giuridico italiano
offre da tempo protezione e ampio riconoscimento.
il Tribunale, è strutturale ad un intero quadro
di disposizioni volto a riconoscere, garantire,
valorizzare e promuovere l’uguaglianza tra i
sessi (in particolare, sostiene il T.a.r., tale
norma si pone in armonia a quanto disposto
dalle legge regionale 27 marzo 2009, n. 4 –
Legge elettorale campana –, che all’art. 4 introduce le c.d. “preferenze di genere”).
La regione Campania appellava la decisione
del T.a.r. prospettando la mancanza di legittimazione attiva della ricorrente e sostenendo
la natura politico discrezionale e fiduciaria
dell’atto di nomina dei componenti della
Giunta regionale; e in ogni caso lamentando
l’erronea interpretazione dell’art. 46, comma
3, dello Statuto e dell’art. 51 della Costituzione in tema di uguaglianza politica.
2. Il caso. Il potere di nomina degli assessori
regionali e il principio di equilibrata presenza uomo-donna nelle istituzioni politiche
E’ opportuno, a questo punto, esporre brevemente i termini della vicenda.
Un’aspirante alla nomina ad assessore regionale in quota femminile ha impugnato vari
decreti presidenziali di nomina dei componenti della Giunta regionale campana perché
emessi in spregio del principio delle parità di
genere e della equilibrata presenza di uomini
e donne nell’organo politico (dalla lettura
della sentenza in commento si apprende della
presenza di una sola componente di sesso
femminile nella Giunta, ed è chiaro che tali
“cifre” sono da sole capaci di tradursi in un
significativo impedimento al dispiegarsi della
uguaglianza tra i sessi, comunque se ne interpretino gli elastici contorni).
Nel torno di qualche mese la Quinta sezione
del Consiglio di Stato, con sentenza n. 4502
del 27 luglio 2011, rigetta tutti e tre i motivi
di appello proposti dalla difesa della regione,
confermando la decisione del giudice di
primo grado.
E, nel caso concreto, certamente la valutazione della condotta posta in essere dal governatore campano non si era certo appiattita
verso il basso. Anzi: il tentativo della regione
di eludere l’altrimenti forza normativa del
principio di ‘equilibrata presenza’ eccependo
il difetto della legittimazione ad agire della
ricorrente era stata così manifesta da far dire
al Collegio che «la tutela di un diritto fondamentale (che ha dignità costituzionale) come
la parità uomodonna […] potrebbe essere arbitrariamente disattesa, poiché non vi sarebbe
nessuno strumento giuridico (per carenza di
legittimazione[…]) per censurarne la violazione. In questo modo, si perpetuerebbe il costume, improponibile sul piano culturale e civile che su quello giuridico, di affermare
grandi e importanti principi di civiltà avanzata
per poi disattenderli puntualmente in fase applicativa»3.
Il T.a.r. Campania, sez. I, con sentenza del 7
aprile 2011, n. 1985, ha accolto tale ricorso,
annullando l’atto del Presidente della Giunta
regionale di nomina di un assessore, avendo
ritenuto patentemente violato l’art. 46, comma
3, dello Statuto campano ove stabilisce che
«Il Presidente della Giunta regionale nomina,
nel pieno rispetto del principio di una equilibrata presenza di donne e uomini, i componenti della Giunta». La norma, ha sottolineato
nelle Giunte regionali tra atto politico, atto di alta
amministrazione e immediata precettività delle
disposizioni statutarie, in Forum di Quad. cost., 2012;
R. DICKMANN, L’atto politico questo sconosciuto, ivi;
F. BILANCIA, Ancora sull’«atto politico» e sulla sua
pretesa insindacabilità giuridizionale. Una categoria
tradizionale al tramonto?, in Rivista AIC, n. 4/2012.
3
Punto n. 1 dei motivi della decisione. L’apparato
53
Di qui il ricorso alla Corte costituzionale per
conflitto di attribuzioni presentanto, ovviamente, dalla parte soccombente che chiedeva
che venisse dichiarato che non spettava allo
Stato – per via di un organo giurisdizionale –
sindacare la legittimità dell’atto di nomina di
assessori da parte del Presidente della Giunta
regionale e di conseguenza che si annullasse
la sentenza emessa dal Consiglio di Stato, per
violazione dell’art. 122, quinto comma, della
Costituzione.
Che ciò possa avvenire non significa che
debba disconoscersi l’esistenza di spazi riservati alla scelta politica. Ciò nondimeno, –
ecco il punto – «quando il legislatore predetermina canoni di legalità, ad essi la politica
deve attenersi» (cons. in dir., n. 4.2)5.
Procedendo secondo queste coordinate, le disposizioni in materia di pari opportunità stabilite dallo Statuto regionale vanno intese
come un parametro legale che deve sempre
essere tenuto in conto nel momento delle
scelte compiute dalle autorità politiche, si incarnino esse in atti politici quali la nomina
degli assessori
Ed ecco che, con ammirevole tenacia della difesa dell’autorità regionale, il cerchio si
chiude: bando alle remore, quel che si agita
dietro la facciata, il vero argomento del contendere, è proprio l’atto politico, il famigerato
atto politico «d’imperio» come al tempo dello
Stato liberale e dello Stato autoritario si ripeteva.
Il responso è secco quanto basta per bloccare
il tentativo di portare in esponente la c.d. insindacabilità degli atti politici6, ossia di
convogliare l’attenzione su aree in cui dovrebbe essere negata ogni reale possibilità
giuridica – di cui si dirà tra un momento – di
verifica sulla legittimità dell’attività politica7
3. L’atto politico nella valutazione della
Corte costituzionale
Con piglio assai determinato – poche righe
trincianti, senza nulla concedere all’ombra del
dubbio –, la Corte mette in chiaro che la valutazione degli atti politici rispetto ai parametri normativi è un controllo giuridico al quale
tali atti non si possono sottrarre poiché secondo i «fondamentali principi dello Stato di
diritto» (cons. in dir., n. 4.2) anche tali atti
debbono sottostare ai limiti giuridici ad essi
imposti dall’ordinamento ed alle verifiche di
legittimità e validità nelle sedi appropriate4.
né negarsi che il diritto «nasce dalla «politica», e ciò è
vero anche per la Costituzione»). Uno sforzo davvero
apprezzabile di presentare in modo agile quando si è
venuto elaborando sull’argomento è sempre offerto da
R. BIN, Lo Stato di diritto, Bologna, 2004,
specialmente p. 68 ss.
5
Sull’applicazione di questo principio di diritto v.
Cons. St., Sez. V, 21 giugno 2012, n. 3670, inedita.
6
E’ interessante a tale proposito che Paolo Barile apra
la sua voce Atto di governo (e atto politico), in Enc.
dir., vol. IV, Milano, 1959, p. 220 ss., osservando
proprio che «il problema dell'esistenza e della
configurazione degli atti di governo e degli atti politici
va studiato […] sotto il profilo della (pretesa o
parziale) insindacabilità degli atti medesimi, i quali, se
realmente fossero sempre e tutti insindacabili, si
porrebbero come degli autentici limiti all'esercizio
delle situazioni soggettive attive anche se garantite
dalla Costituzione» (op. loc. cit.).
7
Un giudizio favorevole sulla sentenza annotata è
espresso da A. ANZON DEMMIG, La corte abbandona
definitivamente all’esclusivo dominio dell’autorità
politica la gestione del segreto di stato nel processo
penale (commento a Corte cost. n. 40 del 2012, in
www.rivistaaic n. 3/2012), la quale opportunamente
ricorda che «il controllo di legalità e proporzionalità di
un atto politico non costituisce un sindacato di merito
argomentativo accolto dal Consiglio di Stato usa in
parte motivazioni già note al Consesso, ma la lunga
motivazione in punto di legittimazione ad agire finisce
per essere più emotiva che normativa e, soprattutto,
non appare del tutto convincente sotto il profilo della
elasticità ermeneutica concessa al giudice nel delineare
la categoria.
4
Come si avrà occasione di ribadire più in là, questo
bivio interpretativo è, a dir poco, nevralgico. E non par
dubbio che quest’ultima indicazione esprime l’esigenza
di distinzione tra politica e diritto che, si è detto, è
«consustanziale» allo Stato di diritto (così R. BIN, Che
cos’è la Costituzione?, in Quad. cost., 2007, p. 11 ss.,
spec. p. 39: come subito avverte l’a., non può ignorarsi
54
4. I limiti dell’uso giurisprudenziale dell’atto
politico e la sua svalutazione post costituzionale
Vero è, peraltro, che la dottrina del tempo
considerava il Consiglio di Stato non potere
giurisdizionale ma autorità giustiziale della
pubblica amministrazione, come tale, dunque,
non legittimato ad amministrare la giustizia al
di fuori dell’ordinamento settoriale di appartenenza11.
Al di là, per il momento, della posizione della
Consulta e della sua capacità di operare un
primo, serio controllo in sede di giustizia costituzionale sul modo con il quale la linea seguita dagli organi politici minaccia di collidere con parametri imposti dall’ordinamento
giuridico8, rimangono sullo sfondo del caso i
due principali quesiti che si affrontano nel
settore degli atti politici: da una parte le ragioni per cui tali atti possano godere di uno
spazio naturalmente sottratto alla giurisdizione e, dall’altra, il processo della loro attrazione verso la categoria degli atti di «alta
amministrazione»9.
Nello stato liberale di diritto, la storia
dell’atto politico è inoltre segnata dal tentativo di togliere il «potere esecutivo» dal non
lieve impaccio del controllo del «potere giudiziario» nel momento in cui il suo comando
è mosso dalle supreme considerazioni
dell’interesse generale dello Stato nella sua
unità (la c.d. – per dirla con il frasario tradizionale – «ragion di Stato»12).
Se si intende spingere lo sguardo più a fondo
si deve ritornare a quanto scriveva R. Thoma
nel 1928: «per quanto venerabile sia l’idea
dello stato di diritto, sarebbe certo più giusto
non spingerlo al limite più alto e non condurlo
nelle più alte sfere della politica, ma rinunciare invece al sempre fallimentare tentativo
di sovrapporre allo stato qualche ufficio giudiziario»13.
A questo punto, è bene fare qualche passo indietro affinché alcuni recenti sviluppi guadagnino in chiarezza.
Primo punto. L’insindacabilità degli atti politici, viene periodicamente riconsiderata quasi
fosse una novità, ma agita dottrina e giurisprudenza da più di un secolo; il dibattito in
materia si era accentuato in occasione
dell’emanazione dell’art. 31, T.U. Cons. Stato
(r.d. n. 1054/1924), che sottraeva esplicitamente al controllo del giudice amministrativo
gli «atti o provvedimenti emanati dal Governo
nell’esercizio politico»10.
di Stato).
11
Esemplare in questo senso la posizione di V.E.
ORLANDO, Principii di diritto amministrativo, III ed.
riveduta, Firenze, 1908, p. 372 ss.
12
«Per «ragion di Stato» s’intende quell’insieme di
principi e di massime in base alle quali azioni che non
sarebbero giustificate se compiute da un individuo
singolo, sono non solo giustificate ma addirittura in
taluni casi esaltate e giustificate se compiute dal
principe, o da chiunque eserciti il potere il nome dello
Stato»: così, nella prospettiva della scienza politica, N.
BOBBIO, Politica, in N. BOBBIO, N. MATTEUCCI, G.
PASQUINO, Dizionario della politica, ed. 2004, Torino,
p. 710, spec. p. 717, ora anche in ID., Teoria generale
della politica, Bologna,
13
La citazione è riportata da G. ZAGREBELSKY, La
giustizia costituzionale, nuova ed., Bologna, 1988, p.
334-335). A chiosa del brano riportato in testo
Zagrebelsky nota che il principio enunciato
corrisponde in qualche misura al limite del rispetto
delle «valutazioni discrezionali» del parlamento nel
giudizio sulle leggi.
politico (come è dimostrato se non altro dall’esperienza
del sindacato di ragionevolezza sulle leggi)» (cit., p.
2).
8
A dire il vero, già prima si era verificato un tentativo
di controllo di costituzionalità nei confronti di questa
figura, ma esso era rimasto senza successo (Corte cost.
sent. n. 103 del 1993, richiamata in motivazione dalla
sentenza in commento).
9
Per un’approfondita analisi dello stato dell’arte, v. V.
CERULLI IRELLI, Politica e amministrazione tra atti
«politici» e atti «di alta amministrazione», in Dir.
pubbl., 2009, p. 101 ss, e ivi l’esposizione ragionata
della giurisprudenza più significativa in argomento.
10
Quest’ultimi erano già sottratti al sindacato del
giudice amministrativo in forza dell’art. 24, l. n.
5992/1889 (legge istitutiva della sez. IV del Consiglio
55
Secondo punto. Con l’entrata in vigore della
Costituzione, la discussione sull’insindacabilità
all’atto politico si arricchisce del problema
della sua compatibilità con i principi di
indefettibilità, pienezza ed effettività della
tutela giurisdizionale dei diritti espressi
dall’art. 24, irrobustito nei confronti degli atti
della pubblica amministrazione dall’art. 113.
cosi via), che non producono alcun effetto al
di fuori di tale sfera16.
La posizione della giurisprudenza invece è
stata nel senso di ritenere vigente quella disposizione, ma solo limitatamente a ben circoscritti atti governativi nei quali trova
espressione una considerazione della «salvaguardia degli interessi supremi dello Stato» o
la soddisfazione di «esigenze unitarie ed indivisibili dello Stato»17, in relazione a scelte di
politica estera od internazionale legittimate
dalle attribuzioni costituzionali18.
Guicciardi, in seguito all’emanazione dell’art.
113 riteneva che l’art. 31 t.u. Cons. Stato potesse considerarsi abrogato, portando a compimento il suo discorso, avviato già da tempo,
che aveva degradato l’art. 31 al rango di
norma senza concreta rilevanza14.
Tradurre in termini giuridici siffatti schemi
astratti è tuttavia compito d’inusitata difficoltà19.
Dal punto di vista teorico, l’impostazione di
Guicciardi costituirà un leitmotiv nella letteratura sul tema. Non c’è da sorprendersi allora
se anche in tempi più recenti Cerulli Irelli abbia riproposto l’abolizione espressa dell’art.
31 t.u. Cons. Stato15. La «separazione» tra politica e amministrazione, che trova la sua traduzione istituzionale nelle forme dello Stato
democratico costituzionale, comporta che la
«imputazione degli atti a carattere puntuale
dell’autorità politica costituisc[a] tuttavia un
fatto anomalo», se così è, incalza l’autore,
«all’ambito degli atti politici […] restano perciò ascritti solo gli atti costituzionali in senso
tecnico» (come le nomine dei ministri e dei
sottosegretari, rapporti tra organi politici, e
16
V. CERULLI IRELLI, Politica e amministrazione, cit.,
pp. 120-121. Si noti peraltro che la tesi dell’autore
sopra citato benché si ispiri alle giustificazioni
tradizionali è sorretta da un disegno lucido e assai
attento ai mutamenti costituzionali e legislativi del
primo decennio del nuovo secolo. E’ quasi superfluo
ricordare che l’art. 7 del Codice del processo
amministrativo (del quale diremo al paragrafo
successivo) segue una diversa traiettoria. che – per quel
che qui rileva – è scandita dalla riproposizione
dell’esclusione della tutela giurisdizionale nei confronti
degli atti politici.
17
Secondo tale regola, di recente, T.a.r. Toscana,
Firenze, Sez. II, 22 dicembre, 2010, n. 6798, ha
qualificato quale atto politico l’individuazione dei siti
di interesse nazionale ai fini della bonifica.
18
Così, è stata riconosciuta la natura di atto politico al
provvedimento con il quale il governo ha autorizzato
l’ampliamento di una base militare U.S.A. (Cons.
Stato, Sez. IV, 29 luglio 2008, n. 3992).
19
Anche in dottrina si avverte la difficoltà di
inquadrare gli atti politici in una categoria omogenea.
V. di recente gli svolgimenti di B.G. MATTARELLA,
Atto amministrativo (tipologia), in Il diritto enc. giur.,
Milano, 2007, p. 186, spec. p. 193, che colloca gli atti
politici tra quelli emanati da un organo costituzionale
«nell’attuazione dell’indirizzo politico (costituzionale o
di maggioranza)». In senso diverso Dogliani il quale
mette in evidenza che: « L’indirizzo politico è infatti
l’attività di formalizzazione ed esecuzione delle
decisioni pubbliche vista non sotto il profilo degli atti
formali che le enunciano e le attuano, ma sotto il
profilo del processo decisionale che sottende tali atti».
In questo senso, l’espressione indirizzo politico è
14
E. GUICCIARDI, La giustizia amministrativa, Milano,
1957 (ristampa anastatica della terza edizione 1954), p.
201, nt. 1; dello stesso autore v. già Atto politico, in
Arch. dir. pubbl., 1937, p. 271 ss., laddove il
fondamento dell’atto politico trova spiegazione nei
«motivi indicati dai principi della politica e non
determinati, né apprezzabili dal punto di vista
giuridico». Esaustiva esposizione sulla discussione
dottrinale
successiva
alla
emanazione
della
Costituzione in G.B. GARRONE, Atto politico
(disciplina amministrativa), in Dig. disc. pubbl., IV
ed., vol. I, Torino, 1987, p. 544 ss.; C. TUBERTINI, Atti
politici e di alta amministrazione, in S. CASSESE
(diretto da), Dizionario di diritto pubblico, vol. I,
Milano, 2006.
15
Sulla scia del celebre saggio di E. GUICCIARDI,
Aboliamo l’art. 31?, in Foro amm., 1947, II, p. 22 ss.
56
La via percorsa dalla prevalente giurisprudenza è stata dettata da un cinico pragmatismo: invertendo i termini del problema, è bastato infatti assumere a termine di riferimento
il più duttile modello degli atti «di alta amministrazione», avverso i quali è sempre azionabile la tutela giurisdizionale (a condizione che
siano presenti i più stringenti presupposti processuali richiesti per la loro impugnabilità), e
fagocitare all’interno di tale categoria qualsiasi atto che mostrasse un qualche scollamento rispetto allo schema astratto dell’atto
politico.
occorrono due elementi «occorre, da un lato,
che si tratti di atto o provvedimento emanato
dal Governo, e cioè dall’Autorità amministrativa cui compete la funzione di indirizzo politico e di direzione al massimo livello della
cosa pubblica; dall’altro, che si tratti di atto o
provvedimento emanato nell’esercizio del
potere politico, anziché nell’esercizio di attività meramente amministrativa» (Cons. St.,
Sez. IV, 4 maggio 2012, n. 2588)22.
Lo sviluppo testé indicato offre il destro per
allargare l’accerchiamento teorico sul comando politico: è pertanto giustiziabile la delibera del Consiglio dei Ministri di non dar
corso ad una intesa ai sensi dell’art. 8, comma
3, Cost., con un associazione professante
l’ateismo (Cons. St., Sez. IV, 18 novembre
2011, n. 6083); l’inerzia all’attivazione della
protezione diplomatica (Cass. civ., Sez. Un.,
19 ottobre 2011, n. 21581); il decreto avente
ad oggetto la determinazione dei collegi uninominali (Cons. St., Sez. V, 6 maggio 2011,
n. 2718); gli esempi potrebbero continuare a
lungo23.
Questa linea di condotta è stata ripetutamente
praticata nella ricca casistica che la realtà ha
presentato, approdando così ad una sorta di
ridimensionamento giacobino nei confronti
della figura dell’atto politico20.
Sinteticamente: la giurisprudenza amministrativa (ribadita dalla Corte di Cassazione),
decidendo controversie con intonazioni politiche, in via generale premette che «la previsione legislativa della loro non impugnabilità
si pone quanto meno come eccezionale e derogatoria rispetto ai fondamentali principi in
materia di diritto di azione e giustiziabilità
delle situazioni giuridiche soggettive» (Cons.
St., Sez. IV, 18 novembre 2011, n. 6083)21,
raccogliendo questa indicazione si precisa che
per la qualificazione di un atto come politico
22
Cfr. Cons. St., Sez. V, 23 gennaio 2007, n. 209,
laddove, con terminologia differente, si afferma che
alla nozione legislativa di atto politico concorrono due
requisiti: «il primo a carattere soggettivo, consistente
nel promanare l’atto da un organo di vertice della
pubblica amministrazione, individuato fra quelli
preposti all’indirizzo e alla direzione della cosa
pubblica al massimo livello; il secondo a carattere
oggettivo, consistente nell’essere l’atto concernente la
costituzione, la salvaguardia e il funzionamento dei
pubblici poteri nella loro organica struttura e nella loro
coordinata applicazione».
23
Ben si comprende perché M. LUCIANI (Funzioni e
responsabilità della giurisdizione. Una vicenda
italiana (e non solo), www.rivistaaic.it, n. 3/2012, p. 4
e pp. 9-10) guarda alla sottovalutazione dell’atto
politico come uno dei fattori del «diffondersi di un
atteggiamento culturale che vede l’essenza del diritto
assai più nella giurisdizione che non nella
legislazione»; per più compiuti sviluppi di carattere
storico e metodologico, ID., Giurisdizione e
legittimazione nello stato costituzionale di diritto
(ovvero: di un aspetto spesso dimenticato del rapporto
costituzionale di diritto: tra giurisdizione e
democrazie), in Studi in onore di L. Elia, t. I, Torino,
sinonimo di «politica» intesa come «attività di
formulazione ed esecuzione delle decisioni pubbliche»
(in questi termini ne sintetizza uno dei punti salienti M.
DOGLIANI, Indirizzo politico, in Dig. disc. pubbl., IV
ed., vol. VIII, Torino, 1993, p. 244, spec. p. 252)
20
Per un ampio esame della giurisprudenza in materia
v., fra gli altri, G. GARRONE, Sub art. 26 Sez. II e art.
31, in A. ROMANO, Comm. breve alle leggi sulla giust.
amm., II ed., Padova, 2001, p. 300 ss. e p. 468 ss.
21
«L’atto politico costituisce ipotesi eccezionale –
come tale soggetta a stretta interpretazione, anche in
applicazione dell’art. 113 della costituzione – di
sottrazione al sindacato giurisdizionale di atti
soggettivamente e formalmente amministrativi, ma
costituenti espressione della funzione di direzione
politica dell’ordinamento»: Cons. St., Sez. V, 6 maggio
2011, n. 2718.
57
Inutile dire che il legislatore si è guardato
dall’accogliere tale orientamento; ha preferito,
di recente, rimanere fedele all’idea di fondo,
ribadendo nel primo comma dell’art. 7 del
codice del processo amministrativo l’esclusione
della tutela giurisdizionale nei confronti degli
atti governativi24.
5. Potere politico e Stato di diritto
Il passo successivo è riconsiderare, sulla
scorta di quanto osservato, gli ulteriori sviluppi della decisione della Corte costituzionale.
Con il ricorso dinnanzi alla Consulta, come si
è osservato, la regione arriva a superare i rilievi del Consiglio di Stato che assume la natura eminentemente amministrativa dell’atto
di nomina degli assessori regionali.
In qualunque modo, se l’atto politico esiste,
ammetterne la sindacabilità e quindi la proponibilità del ricorso rivolto contro di esso contrasterebbe con il diritto vigente in Italia (e
con una ininterrotta tradizione legislativa).
E ciò, valorizzando, in particolare, due fattori:
- l’emanazione del Codice del processo amministrativo (d.lgs. 2 luglio 2010, n. 104), con
la conseguente permanenza al suo interno
della previsione di aree sottratte al sindacato
giurisdizionale, in quanto espressive di attività politica (art. 7, comma primo);
Sul piano costituzionale vale l’ulteriore considerazione che esistono determinati atti governativi ammettere la sindacabilità dei quali
contrasterebbe con altri principi costituzionali25.
E’ però da avvertire che siffatte deroghe al
principio di giustiziabilità si stemperano in
seguito al dicta della pronunzia in epigrafe in
cui si enuncia il principio della sottoposizione
degli atti politici al giudice perché ne accerti
la conformità alla legge (del quale diremo al
paragrafo successivo).
- il rinnovato quadro costituzionale, in ragione
dell’intervenuta riforma del Titolo V della
Carta fondamentale (di cui alla legge costituzionale 22 novembre 1999, n. 1), caratterizzata dall’affermazione – sotto il profilo istituzionale – del ruolo centrale del Presidente
della Giunta nella forma di governo regionale.
In tal modo, il Presidente della Giunta, anche
in conseguenza della maggiore forza istituzionale che gli deriva dall’investitura diretta
da parte dell’elettorato, acquisisce il potere di
nominare e di revocare gli assessori (art. 122,
comma quinto, Cost.) sulla base di un rapporto sostanzialmente fiduciario.
1999, p. 873 ss., dove, in linea di principio, si rinnega
la compatibilità della dicotomia giurisdizione/politica
nel modello dello Stato costituzionale di diritto: «Come
può «non fare politica» un giudice che «crea» il
diritto?» (ivi, 882).
24
Previsione su cui incombe un endemico giudizio di
invalidità costituzionale: v., con tutto il peso della loro
autorevolezza, F.G. SCOCA, Principi funzionali o di
efficienza, in F.G. SCOCA (a cura di), Giustizia
amministrativa, IV ed., Torino, 2011, p. 174 e V.
CERULLI IRELLI, Il potere amministrativo e l’assetto
costituzionale delle funzioni di governo, in Dir. pubbl.,
2011, p. 33 ss., spec. pp. 61-62. Contra R. JUSO,
Lineamenti di giustizia amministrativa, V ed., 2012, p.
356.
25
V. in questo senso, da ultimo, A. BARBERA - C.
FUSARO, Corso di diritto pubblico, VII ed., 2012, p.
375 (che a titolo esemplificativo citano gli atti di
nomina dei ministri, di scioglimento del consiglio
comunale, dell’invio di missioni militari).
Proprio i caratteri da ultimo evidenziati valgono a conformare in modo peculiare
l’impegno motivazionale della Corte che, discostandosi dall’orientamento del giudice
amministrativo, qualifica l’atto di nomina degli assessori regionali quale atto politico.
Ma, d’altro canto, la stessa Corte non mostra
di abbassare la guardia là dove si valica il
confine del ‘politico’: l’evenienza che il Presidente della Giunta sia un organo che eserciti
un potere politico, che si attua infatti anche
nella nomina degli assessori, non comporta
58
che i suoi atti siano «tutti e sotto ogni profilo
insindacabili». Né, d’altro lato, l’esistenza di
certi vincoli altera, di per sé, la natura del potere esercitato dal Presidente con l’atto di nomina degli assessori, ma piuttosto ne «delimita lo spazio di azione».
6. La questione di giurisdizione e la portata
precettiva dei principi e diritti espressi negli
statuti regionali
In definitiva, il principio generale enunciato
dalla Corte è che l’atto politico risulterà sindacabile in sede giurisdizionale «se e in
quanto abbia violato una norma giuridica»26.
Il conflitto costituzionale ha riguardato,
all’inizio, la contestazione della Regione della
pronuncia del Consiglio di Stato sopra esaminata, prospettata quale lesione delle attribuzioni assegnate dall’art. 122, comma quinto,
Cost. al Presidente della Giunta regionale.
Il decisum della sentenza in epigrafe ha poco
o quasi a che spartire con le considerazioni
svolte in precedenza.
Coerentemente con tale impostazione, se
l’atto di organi politici incide su aspettative
qualificate di soggetti terzi sarà sottoposto al
controllo del giudice perché ne accerti la conformità a principi espressi dalla legge, o lo
annulli in caso di difformità.
Non è il caso di insistere sulla pretesa curvatura politica del giudizio che, a dire della Regione, dovrebbe metter sotto accusa il comportamento dell’organo giurisdizionale.
Sotto questo aspetto è evidente che il tracciato
argomentativo della sentenza n. 81 equivale a
solidamente radicare i valori della Repubblica
democratica che non escludono, ed anzi incorporano la possibilità che il comando politico resti soggetto ai principi generali del diritto e dell’ordinamento giuridico: una Repubblica che incorpori i valori dello Stato di
diritto non ammette che il potere politico resti
immune alla responsabilità giuridica che si
aggiunge, non solo idealmente, alla classica
garanzia della responsabilità politica.
Non solo, come già rilevato (v. supra, § 2), la
difesa della ricorrente mirava a sottolineare
come, data la natura programmatica della
normativa regionale in materia di pari opportunità, l’art. 46, comma terzo dello Statuto
avrebbe costituito una direttiva di lungo periodo, non suscettibile quindi di scrutinio in
sede giurisdizionale.
Dopo questo bagno di rinfrescante retorica, la
Corte, in una prospettiva decisamente più
asettica, risponde che l’affermata inoppugnabilità dell’atto di nomina doveva essere denunciata da parte della regione con ricorso
alla Corte di cassazione per motivi di giurisdizione (cfr. rispettivamente art. 111, 8°
comma, Cost.; art. 362 c.p.c.; art. 110 cod.
proc. amm.): l’apparato argomentativo accolto
usa motivazioni già note al giudice delle leggi
e, a quel punto, non era certo operazione interpretativa delle più complesse la dimostrazione che il conflitto in essere costituiva un
«mezzo improprio» di censura del modo di
esercizio della funzione giurisdizionale28.
Certo, ci sembra che si possa affermare che
questa interpretazione consentirebbe che tra
atto politico e giurisdizione valga come nucleo inscalfibile del loro confine il pilastro
della «libertà del fine»27 che, appunto perché
non regolata giuridicamente, sfugge al controllo del giudice (per non dire poi, sul piano
della realtà sociale, che nelle cose della politica non apparire è spesso più vantaggioso
dell’apparire).
26
I passaggi riportati nel testo sono al Punto n. 3 del
Cons. in dir.
27
Tale carattere degli atti politici segna lo spartiacque
tra essi e gli altri atti amministrativi, che, sono
comunque legati ai fini posti dalla legge: v., ex multis,
Cass. civ., Sez. Un., 13 novembre 2000, n. 1170.
28
V. Punto n. 4.1. del Cons. in dir. (ivi il richiamo alle
sentenze n. 72 del 2012, nn. 150 e 2 del 2007, n. 326 e
n. 276 del 2003).
59
Tutto ciò considerato, nella specie non v’è
spazio per un giudizio costituzionale, la vicenda si stempera in un problema di corretta
individuazione e interpretazione della natura e
della portata dei vincoli stabiliti dall’art. 46
dello Statuto (consentendo in tal modo alla
Corte la dichiarazione di inammissibilità del
ricorso).
contenuti negli Statuti regionali, che completano ed integrano l’eguaglianza, deve attribuirsi la forza normativa di vincolare
l’insieme dei pubblici poteri, indirizzandoli
verso la loro attuazione.
Conveniamone, non è poco
Per inciso, la sentenza in epigrafe implica,
come si è detto, l’inutilizzabilità del canone
interpretativo in base al quale la disposizione
statutaria citata avrebbe valenza programmatica e come tale non capace di produrre alcun
effetto normativo.
Non è qui il caso (anche se la tentazione è
forte) di addentrarsi sul fervido dibattito dottrinario sul punto, volto a precisare la portata
e i limiti giuridici delle enunciazioni statutarie
in materia di diritti civili onde, per un verso,
si sono imposti orientamenti volti a ampliarne
o a valorizzarne le implicazione programmatiche, per un altro si invoca il dispiegamento
della forza normativa diretta degli stessi Statuti29.
Facciamo quadrato su quel che si può assumere come indiscusso all’esito dell’odierna
decisione della Corte: l’evoluzione che prima
ha portato il principio di uguaglianza, e poi
quello delle parità di opportunità fra uomo e
donna, a trasformarsi da principio morale in
regola da rendere almeno in certa misura operativa anche sul piano giuridico, ha rappresentato un grande fatto di progresso per la nostra società e per il funzionamento delle sue
istituzioni politiche30. Anche ai principi
29
Sul punto, ad ampio raggio, v. E. CATALANI – E.
CHELI, I principi negli statuti regionali, Bologna, 2008.
30
E’ bene ricordare, anche se per inciso, che gli
ostacoli all’uguaglianza politica tra uomo e donna sono
stati sempre ovunque assai rilevanti. Tuttavia, come
ricorda Robert A. Dahl, negli ultimi due secoli, in gran
parte del mondo, le conquiste in favore
dell’uguaglianza politica hanno superato quelle
raggiunte nell’arco di tutta la storia umana: R. A.
DAHL, Sull’uguaglianza politica (2006, Yale
University), trad. it. di A. C. Patrono, Roma-Bari,
2007, p. 19 ss.). Vale la pena comunque non
dimenticare l’ammonimento di Dahl: «Nei paesi
democratici possono essere fatti ulteriori progressi
verso l’uguaglianza politica? Oppure abbiamo
raggiunto il limite? O, peggio, nel nuovo secolo
assisteremo ad un regresso verso una maggiore
disuguaglianza politica?» (cit., p. 48).
60
Section B doi: 10.12863/ejssbx2x1-2014x4 The use of protein supplementation among fitness center attendees. The
protein project
Antonino Bianco
Sport and Exercises Research Unit
Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Letter to Editor
It is clear that there is an increased interest in
what is considered “proper” nutrition and
what is the best nutritional strategy to
optimize exercise training workouts. Dietary
behaviour is in fact a complex phenomenon;
food-based approaches are regarded as the
long-term strategy for improving nutrition.
These require significant efforts and
appropriate planning in order to include
certain
specific
macronutrients
or
supplements in everyday’s diet. Dieting or
unhealthy eating practices, (such as eating
foods deemed as “bad” by the dieter), in one
way or another, may be associated with longterm weight gain.
Previous studies have shown discrepant rates
of supplement intake amongst subjects that
exercise in gyms. These different findings
might be explained by different gyms and
people enrolled. Probably an under or over-
Nowadays, in a gym context we may find
three people among ten who declare protein
supplements consumption. Health, physical
fitness, self esteem, performance and muscle
hypertrophy are usually the main reasons
inducing such kind of consumption. It well
documented
that
particularly
active
individuals use supplements to build muscle,
gain strength or prevent future diseases and
illnesses. Furthermore, scientific researchers
have shown that in general people have
different opinions about the use of
supplements and the appropriate food to eat.
As reported by Bianco and colleagues in
2011, proteins are the most widely ingested
supplements in people attending commercial
gyms and supplement users also ate higher
protein content foods in respect to those who
did not supplement.
61
Bianco A.
Corresponding Author: Antonino Bianco, Sport and
Exercises Research Unit
University of Palermo
[email protected]
Received: march 2014 - Accepted june 2014
reported use of such supplements, or an
incorrect knowledge of what is considered a
supplement may lead to such results. As
mentioned before, proteins are the most
widely consumed supplement in commercial
gyms, although association of protein
supplements and food consumption is a
poorly researched field. It is to date unclear
whether those more inclined to supplement
also have healthier dietary patterns. As
shown by Pechey and colleagues in 2010,
socioeconomic status is another factor
influencing the quality of food intake,
highlighting that low socioeconomic status
people usually purchase a greater proportion
of unhealthy foods and beverages.
Conversely, high socioeconomic status people
purchase greater proportions of fibres,
proteins and total sugars, and smaller
proportions of sodium.
The Author with this letter wants to point out
the importance of epidemiological studies
able to cover the lack knowledge that at this
moment is present on this field. The common
questions are: 1) Who is taking protein
supplements nowadays? 2) There are enough
information about? Within commercial gyms?
Personal Trainers and Fitness Instructors are
enough qualified to prescribe supplements?
Are proteins really necessary to obtain
results? Which kind of association is the most
favourite in case of protein consumption?
In this context falls the Protein Project PP
(www.proteinproject.com). The PP is a
scientific project of ten years duration (20112021) leaded by the University of Palermo in
collaboration with many partners from all of
the world. It is composed by three different
epidemiological studies: Study A) Population
Target - Commercial Gym attendees, Study
design, Face-to-face interview; Study B)
Population Target - Commercial Gym
attendees, Study design, Self Reporting
Questionnaire; Study C) Population Target Net Surfers Study design, Self Reporting
Online Short Questionnaire.
The main purpose of this project is to monitor
the use of protein supplementation, alone or
in association with other supplements
amongst regular fitness center attendees.
Moreover, Authors are interested in sources
of information, dietary behaviour, quality of
training and quality of life of people who are
attending commercial gyms (appendix a).
62
Bianco A.
References
Canadian athletes by age and gender. Clin
J Sport Med, 17, 458-64.
PECHEY, R., JEBB, S. A., KELLY, M. P.,
ALMIRON-ROIG, E., CONDE, S.,
NAKAMURA,
R.,
SHEMILT,
I.,
SUHRCKE, M. & MARTEAU, T. M.
2013. Socioeconomic differences in
purchases of more vs. less healthy foods
and beverages: analysis of over 25,000
British households in 2010. Soc Sci Med,
92, 22-6.
SCOFIELD, D. E. & UNRUH, S. 2006.
Dietary supplement use among adolescent
athletes in central Nebraska and their
sources of information. J Strength Cond
Res, 20, 452-5.
BHUTTA, Z. A. & SALAM, R. A. 2012.
Global nutrition epidemiology and trends.
Ann Nutr Metab, 61 Suppl 1, 19-27.
BIANCO, A., MAMMINA, C., PAOLI, A.,
BELLAFIORE, M., BATTAGLIA, G.,
CARAMAZZA, G., PALMA, A. &
JEMNI, M. 2011. Protein supplementation
in strength and conditioning adepts:
knowledge, dietary behavior and practice
in Palermo, Italy. J Int Soc Sports Nutr, 8,
25.
ERDMAN, K. A., FUNG, T. S., DOYLEBAKER, P. K., VERHOEF, M. J. &
REIMER,
R.
A.
2007.
Dietary
supplementation of high-performance
63
Bianco A.
proteinproject.com
Research Unit ID _______________
Date _______________
ID Participant _________________
Age (yrs) ____ Sex (m/f) ____ H (cm) ____ W (kg) ____ Education (yrs) ____
YES 
1. Do you practice any physical activities?
2. If yes! What kind of activity are you practicing ?
2.1 Since when (years) ?
_______
3. How many days per week ?
_______
4. How many hours per day ?
_______
NO 
_____________________________
5. Please type all places you practice physical activities
6. Are you using protein supplements ?
6.1 If not, have you ever used them in past ?
(even if only once, answer yes)
6.2 If yes, which ? (if possible, Brand / Trademark)
Note:
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
____________________
__________
__________
NO 
Yes 
NO 
Yes 
________________
6.2.1 Since when (months/years) ?
________________
6.2.2 How many days per week ?
________________
6.2.3 What kind (per day) ?
Protein Bar
nr __________
Whey/Egg/Mix Protein
gr____________
Protein drink
ml ______________
Mainly mixed with
Water or Milk
Principal Investigator: Prof. Antonino Bianco [email protected] (Copyright©)
Supported by University of Palermo and University of Padua
6.2.4 Are you taking protein supplements in association with (e.g. Creatine, Amino Acids, Weight gain,
Weight loss, Vitamins, Anabolic Steroids, ecc…) ?
Please type here ___________________________________________________
6.2.5 Who suggested you their use:
o Coach
o Myself, it was my idea
o Internet, Web
o Physician
o Nutritionist
o Friends
Other: _______________________________________
7. Are you following any specific food regimen ?
If yes, please type the name here
NO 
Yes 
___________________________________
8. Frequency of use of the following foods:
Milk
days/week ___ _____
Cheese
days/week ___ _____
Chicken / Turkey
days/week ___ _____
Eggs
days/week ___ _____
Vegetables
days/week ___ _____
Bakery
days/week ___ _____
Cold cuts
days/week ___ _____
Yogurt
days/week ___ _____
Meat
days/week ___ _____
Fish
days/week ___ _____
Nuts
days/week ___ _____
Snacks
days/week ___ _____
Canned tuna
days/week ___ _____
Legumes
days/week ___ _____
9. Are you able to jog nonstop
for 50 minutes?
o
o
o
Yes
No
I have never tried
10. Report time spent sitting
during a typical day (for study
purposes, work purposes or study and work
purposes)
o
o
o
o
o
1-3 hours
3-5 hours
5-8 hours
8-10 hours
> 10 hours
Principal Investigator: Prof. Antonino Bianco [email protected] (Copyright©)
Supported by University of Palermo and University of Padua
(No weekend
or holiday)
Section B doi: 10.12863/ejssbx2x1-2013x1
Preliminary insights on the mental representation of the body in italians
Franco Viviani1,2 & Alessandra Locati2
1
Human Movement Sciences section of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of
Padua, Italy
2
Applied Psychology section of the FISPPA Department, University of Padua, Italy
Abstract
In order to start a data collection on body image (BI) in Italians involved in different sporting
disciplines (on the basis of the criteria sex, age and level of performance), a reference data
collection was undertaken in a sample of both sexes and differently aged Italians. BI was assessed
on 371 subjects using a figurine test, a body part satisfaction scale, and a projective test. Results
show that, in the whole sample, subjects desire a thinner figure with respect of their own, and that
a substantial conformity between the figure they desired for themselves and the one believed to be
liked by the other gender exists. Women, in general, imagine that males prefer slimmer women
than they are; while males think that women prefer a more muscular male. Source of
dissatisfaction were mostly weight, abdomen, legs and muscular tone, while those of greater
satisfaction were eyes, mouth, ears, and chin. In both sexes the body ideal is maintained with the
increase of age, and not many differences exist regarding the body parts, but they occur in the
different age-classes. Age and gender differences were found in the projective test, mostly due to
the different introjection of the sexual aspect. The body mental representation found in the sample
appears to be strongly conditioned by age and gender, and also by experience and the inner world,
confirming the multidimensional of the BI construct.
Keywords: Body image, body dissatisfaction, athletes, Italians.
Introduction
The aim of the present study is to refer on the
preliminary results of a data collection on
body image (BI) and body dissatisfaction
(BD) carried out on a group of North Italians
of different ages, in order to acquire some raw
data useful for future comparisons and to
collect insights on how the body is perceived
during the life span. In a close future, the
main author is planning to collect BI and BD
64
Viviani F. et al Preliminary insights on the mental …
Corresponding Author: Prof. Franco Viviani, Psychology
Departments, Via Venezia, 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
Tel.: +390498804668, Fax: +390498276600
[email protected]
Received: October 2013 - Accepted Dicember 2013
concern difficult to define (shortly: a
distortion of perception, behavior or cognition
related to shape or weight - Marçal Pimenta et
al 2009) and to be reduced, as a lot of factors
are influencing the development of BD,
ranging from personality traits, the
culture/sub-culture individuals belong to,
influences on body size concerns, and so on.
Some of them have been thoroughly analyzed,
for example the personality traits that can help
BD development. One of them is the need for
perfectionism, as there are individuals more
prone to view themselves in the way other
people view them. For example the athletes,
who are only satisfied with the highest
standards, so their tendency to compare
themselves with others is more accentuated.
Age (adolescents are more prone to BD),
gender (girls are more ready than boys to
internalize external standards and they try to
conform to these more than their counterpart)
are other factors playing an important role.
For instance, a recent research review on the
role of peers and friends on BD in adolescents
(Webb & Zimmer-Gembeck 2013), showed
that in the last three lustri, appearance teasing
and perceived pressure for leanness were
more and more linked to BD, followed by
talks with coetaneous friends on appearance
models, dieting behaviors, and perceived
attitudes of friends and peers on outward
appearance. BD is under the umbrella of BI
disturbances (BID), whose nature and extent
have not been, unfortunately, precisely
identified. However, in order to cope with its
possible reduction, some psychologists
applied the so called ‘self-affirmation theory’,
whose starting point is the maintenance of the
integrity of the self: In fact, every time a
threatening information arrives to an
individual, her/his defensive mechanisms
create a sort of shield to oppose to it. So, there
is an active search for mechanisms able to
bolster some self aspects useful for
intervention programs. Bucchianeri &
Corning (2012), par exemple, recently found
that self-affirmed women had not only a low
data in different cohorts of athletes involved
in different disciplines, under the criteria: age,
gender and level of performance. BI refers to
the ways in which an individual sees
her/himself, and in turn, how others see s/he.
It is a complex and multidimensional
construct in which several components
(perceptive, cognitive, attitudinal, affective)
converge, creating an image of one’s body.
As demonstrated by Gallagher (2005), it
differs from body schema, being the latter a
system of sensorimotor characteristics
working without the need of perceptual
monitoring. BI research is important in the
athletic milieu, as every sporting activity has
a “body ideal” needed to reach excellence,
therefore the subjects undertaking a particular
sporting activity in order to reach peak
performance, must take into account not only
the hegemonic social ideal for the body, but
also the “athletic BI” (ABI) inside a peculiar
discipline. Greenleaf (2006) described ABI as
being the internal image an individual has of
her/his own body and the evaluation of that
image within an athletic context. Even in
normal life what a person thinks and feels
about her/his body can lead to unhealthy
behaviors, impacting on well-being and
health, because several social situations
require a particular “body ideal”. The point is
that lot of messages convey the idea that a
body should be thin (rather than healthy), and
this affects mostly adolescents (with males
tending to adopt strategies with both losing
weight and gaining a more muscular body,
especially in its upper part), and girls mainly
focused on losing weight. The problem is that
all the times that a lack of satisfaction with
appearance exists, body dissatisfaction (BD)
takes place. This is a complex phenomenon
connected to the fact that it is difficult for
people to modify their actual body shape and
appearance, as there are some bodily aspects
that are almost impossible to be changed,
such as the frame size and height that, outside
of surgery, are unable to be altered, being
genetically determined. BD is a health
65
Viviani F. et al Preliminary insights on the mental ...
literature had colorfully described it for more
than a century (Phillips 1991, 2004).
However, data suggest that children report
their desires of thinness, to weigh less, and
dieting attempts, as young as 8 years old
(Rolland et al 1997). This because BI
development starts during pre-school years, as
very young girls (4-6 years) showed anti-fat
bias, while dieting and BD was found in
elementary school girls (Smolak 2004). BD
increases with age for all children, with girls
reporting a higher degree of dissatisfaction
(Phares et al, 2004), even if gender
differences start at about age 8. Most children,
however, demonstrate high levels of body
satisfaction (Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003).
During adolescence, boys are about equally
divided between wanting to lose weight and
increasing weight, but not many studies have
examined a desire for increased muscle size;
while males, in adulthood, show a strong
desire to lose weight as they get older.
Another important issue regards the social
messages (those “immediate” compelled by
parents, coaches and peers) and the cultural
ones, due to the proliferation of mass media
tidings that can contain manufactured and
unhealthy advices, some of them good and
some others pernicious, but very difficult to
be recognized. Another aspect is stereotypes
assumption, that starts early: 7 years old
children reported that lean peers were more
likable, friendlier, and even polite than obese
children, the latter described as being lazier,
with few friends, and lesser attractive
(Kostanski & Gullone 1999). Therefore it is
not surprising that overweight and obese
school-aged children are more likely to be the
victims and perpetrators of bullying behaviors
than their normal-weighing peers, and this
could hinder the short- and long-term social
and psychological development of “fatty”
youth. These stereotypes are maintained in
adulthood. For example, Zambon, (2013)
recently investigated in her thesis graduation
(supervised by Viviani), 26 temp agencies
employees (10 males and 16 females), aged
BD, but were more prone to assume
information about the dangerous aspects of it.
Studies on BID are various, and they
considered perceptive, developmental and
socio-cultural aspects. In the first case cortical
deficits, adaptive failure and artifact theories
were till now mainly considered; in the
second case other aspects such as
early/delayed maturation and teasing; in the
third case points of view related to gender
roles, socio-culturally mediated/driven ideals,
cross-cultural differences and so on. Relevant
literature reports association between BID and
depression (Dunkey & Grilo, 2007), anorexia
(Jansen et al 2006), bulimia (Hrabosky &
Grilo 2006), and body dysmorphia (Veale,
2003). The fact is that having a “correct” BI is
important from early ages. For adolescent
boys, BI is weighty for their emotional and
social normative inclusion in their societies:
Relevant literature for westernized countries
has found that the two main factors affecting
boys BI concerns are the role of sport and the
fact that they interpret messages and other
socio-cultural influences in a more positive
way than girls (Ricciardelli & McCabe,
2001), even if the main focus is obtaining a
lean muscular body. For girls, longitudinal
research has found the relative stability of BI
after early adolescence, with repercussions on
well-being (Paxton et al, 1999). The point is
that, during the last quarter of a century, there
has been an explosion of research on BI in
children and adolescents, in the idea that BD
during younger ages, connected to a poor BI,
could create risk for BID, eating disturbances
and also depression in adulthood. The
problem
is
that
research
differs
methodologically and has remained mainly
descriptive. Another obstacle is that body
dysmorphic disorder (or the excessive
preoccupation with imagined or slight defects
in appearance regarding some body areas, that
can
create
socialization
problems,
unnecessary cosmetic surgery, and even to
commit suicide), goes under-diagnosed in
clinical settings, although the European
66
from peers, but can face negative attitudes
from their teachers and, at college level in the
USA, especially female overweight applicants
are less likely to be accepted to college (Puhl
& Brownell 2001).
24-42 years old, belonging to the Northeastern part of Italy. Using a figurine test they
were asked to identify the body size of
candidates having: a) little and greater
chances of hiring for a managerial position
and, b) for a place open to the public.
Preliminary results show a gender
discrepancy, as for a prominent female role
position normally weighing women were
preferred, while extremely thin women first
and then obese women, were excluded.
Concerning males, pivotal roles were offered
mostly to normal weighing or overweight
probable applicants. With respect to the
positions open to the public, lean subjects
were preferred for females while, in males,
very lean candidates were penalized versus
overweight and obese subjects. This was the
only significant difference (p<.01) emerged
on the basis of the employees’ gender. The
fact is that the so called “weight stigma” is
found in multiple settings and in a wide range
of individuals. Overweight employees, for
example, are ascribed multiple negative
stereotypes
including
being
sloppy,
disagreeable, lazy, less competent, lacking in
self-discipline, less conscientious, and poor
role models (Roehling 1999). In medical
settings, biased attitudes toward obese
patients can affect judgment among
physicians, medical students, dieticians,
nurses, psychologists, and include perceptions
that obese patients are unpleasant,
unsuccessful, unintelligent, weak-willed,
overindulgent, and lazy (Schwartz et al 2003).
In school settings overweight students not
only could stand over against harassment
BI and sport
Regarding sport practice and sport
participation, especially in young people, their
importance is often emphasized, because it
not only stimulates skill acquisition, improves
posture and coordination, can help to acquire
a behavioral control, but fosters children’s
development of: self-discipline and selfconfidence, cooperation, competitiveness,
sportsmanship, leadership, to cope better in
adversity. It permits an individual to feel
better with her/himself (enhancing positive
self-perception), induces a positive mood, and
augments psychological well-being - lowering
anxiety and, finally, it improves self-esteem
from childhood. Last but not least, it reduces
the
risk
of
cardiovascular
disease,
osteoporosis, overweight/obesity, and other
chronic diseases (Bortoli et al 1995; Greguol
et al 2013; Viviani et al 1995; Viviani et al
1996; Varnes et al 2013). In the athletic
milieu this is important, as an athlete is
somehow obliged to take on board both the
social standards of beauty and the ABI,
judging her/himself inside these frames of
reference. Because of the emphasis on a lean
physique and/or the request for low body
weight (as fat is believed to raise inertias),
some sporting activities are more conducive
than others to create BI distortions and BD.
Table 1. Sports emphasizing a lean physique believed to offer competitive advantages (adapted from:
Coaching Association of Canada, http://www.coach.ca).
67
individuals. Bale et al (1996) found in elite
female runners and gymnasts that the lean
body mass relative to the total mass was not
significantly different from that of 9-16 years
old recovering anorexics. The female athlete
triad (conducive to energy deficit/disordered
eating,
amenorrhea/oligomenorrhea
and
osteoporosis/osteopenia),
was
recently
connected to BI distortions by the IOC
Commission of the Olympic Committee (see
videos in “http://www.olympic.org/hbi”). A
wide body of research before the year 2001
highlighted the fact that athletes experienced a
better BI than non-athletes, practically with
no differences among the different sporting
activities. In studies regarding athletic
amenorrhea, for instance, a strong relationship
with the body mass density decrease was
found (Fruth & Worrell 1995).
Table 1 depicts some of them.
Female athletes have been studied more
accurately than males. Women can engage
exercise to acquire a more “feminine ideal
body”, or to reduce their weight and body fat,
or to acquire a better muscular tone, even if
the pursuit to acquire a better muscular tone
overwhelms the search for good health.
Women at risk of eating disorders and
unhealthy exercise patterns are those fixed of
self-presentation.
Unfortunately,
many
coaches define a good athlete an individual
obsessively
exercising
to
increase
performance, prone to the coach requests and
pursuing perfection. Athletes facing these
pressures are more at risk, and this is valid
also for males (de Bruin et al 2011). Social
comparison has a powerful importance and
can lead to BD (Thompson et al 1999), that in
turn can contribute to disturbances such as
disordered eating in athletes. This is a topic
with a lot of findings, sometimes conflicting
among them: in effect for some authors BID
played a role in eating disorders in athletes
(Byrne & McLean 2002), while for others
athletes tended to diet even if relatively
satisfied with their bodies (Smolak et al
2000). The fact is that the connection sport
and BI has positive and negative sides. Apart
the already mentioned positive aspects, the
desire of perfection can lead to dysmorphic
and eating disorders, to assume drugs, or to
become intensely dedicated to a peculiar
activity in order to get the “perfect body”
required by a specific sporting activity, that
could in turn become a source of deep stress
(Berry & Howe, 2000, Beals 2004). Two
sporting environments where a pressure to
conform to a particular body shape are:
aerobic exercise classes and competitive sport
settings (Baum, 2006). In females, to the
drive to thinness and tonicity maintenance, it
can be added the need to avoid a too muscular
body, the contrary for males. The point is that
the physique and the physiology of some
young athletes are similar to that of anorexic
However, the etiology of menstrual
dysfunctions/irregularities in athletes is multifactorial and complex, and the different
factors implied are difficult to assess. For
example, in a cohort of Italian top gymnasts,
who started their commitment at 7.5 years of
age, they were chosen, according to their
coaches, on the basis of the girls’ body
minuteness, agility, speed and motor
intelligence. Clearly, a sharp-eyed coach
could have chosen them because those
particular characteristics were predictors of a
“late mature” subject (Viviani 1993), and in
fact, the top level gymnasts’ age at menarche
resulted to be three years delayed with respect
to another sample of 579 non elite athletes
belonging to different sporting activities
(Viviani & Principi 1992), and around two
years when compared to non “top” other
Italian gymnasts (Brasili et al 2002/3).
Clearly,
as
previously
reported,
preoccupations about physique can start early
in life. What is important, however, is the fact
that for some sporting activities losing weight
could become a performance enhancer,
because if an athlete loses (or in other cases
gains) weight s/he is somehow forced to
68
going on in that direction, as her/his selfesteem if boosted. Coaches and athletes
should be encouraged to know what are the
risks connected to dropping below the
minimal body fat values (5% for males and
12-14% for females), to be aware of the
“healthy” body fat values, and the ranges
commonly accepted for specific sports
(Heyward & Wagner 2003). At present, and
especially for females, even if sport
participation provides some protection from
BI disturbances, this appears to be attenuated
in gymnasts and in “top” level athletes, due to
agents unrelated to sport participation that
should be identified (Varnes et al 2013). The
role of factors such as coaches, sport
exigencies about weight, and other pressures
regarding appearance and performance,
appear to play a role (Reel et al 2013) in
preventing eating disorders in athletes, strictly
connected to the BI ideal for sport, the
perceived performance improvements, and the
socio-cultural pressures for thinness or other
factors regarding body size and shape, the
ratio power-to weight (in sports utilizing
weight categories) (Sundgot-Borgen &
Torstveit, 2010). Of course, other agents than
dieting, such as personality, urges to lose
weight, injuries, overtraining, “yo-yo diets”,
perfectionism, and coaching behaviors, can
enhance the risks. It is outside the scope of
this paper to present the great array of data
regarding eating disorders in athletes, as in
relevant literature conflicting data are found
regarding the fact that athletics may be a
protective/risk factor in the development of
these disorders (Forsberg & Lock 2006). The
Diehl et al’s meta-analysis (2012) showed
that, despite the differences among the
investigations carried out in various countries,
the studies’ tendency was to report, in highinvolved athletes: higher consumption of
alcohol, and steroids; but a lesser smoking
and recreational drug use versus non-athletes.
Vaquero-Cristòbal et al (2013) found
conflicting results on the relationship existing
between sport practice and BI, and they
emphasized the need of developing tools to
design intervention programs. The fact is that
studies on physical activity in young people
show that boys are more active than girls,
who face a higher rate of withdrawal with
sporting activities in peri-pubertal ages. This
is ascribed to several reasons (i.e.: availability
of sporting options and facilities, gender role
expectations, BID and stereotypes, mostly
connected to “femininity appearance anxiety”
- Slater & Tiggermann 2011). Trentin and
Viviani (2002) found a decade ago in a 4676
Italian adolescent sample, that the critical
ages for sport dropout were 10-11 and 13-14
years, life periods in which not only bodily
but also social rearrangements occur (e.g. the
passages form elementary/junior-high/high
schools). Girls were more prone to change
sporting activity than boys, who – inter alia preferred a more autocratic coaching style,
and declared in 10% of the cases that the
reasons for withdrawal were unspecified
“affective” motives (versus 2% of the boys),
casting suspicion on appearance problems.
Material and methods
This is a preliminary data collection on BI in
a sample of Italians aged 12-89 years old,
carried out on 371 both gender subjects
arbitrarily subdivided into 5 age classes. An
Italian version of the Fallon & Rozin’s Test
(Fallon & Rozin 1985; Rozin & Fallon 1988),
using a version modified by Casagrande,
Viviani & Grassivaro Gallo (1997) on the
basis of the suggestions furnished by
Stunkart, Sørensen & Schlusinger (1980) was
administered first. The figurine test consisted
in 7 line-drawings of men and women’s
bodies, arranged from very slender to very
heavy, each of them accompanied by
numerical values (10=very thin; 90=very
heavy). Subjects were asked to select the
number below the figure which best
illustrated their response to the following
questions: 1) How do you currently look
(CUR)? 2) How would you like to look
69
(LIKE)? 3) Which figure is the most attractive
to the other sex (ATT)? 4) Which figure of
the other sex is more attractive for you (ATOT)? The test was chosen because, despite the
variations in the test-retest reliability found in
different studies, the results were fairly
consistent (Cohane & Pope 2001). Then, the
Body Part Satisfaction Scale (BPSS –
Berscheid, Walster & Bohrnstedt 1973) was
added. It is a very popular 22-item
questionnaire asking to evaluate in a 6-levels
Likert-type scale (from very satisfied to very
unsatisfied) judgments regarding the single
parts of the subject’s body. Interviewed were
also asked to report in a dichotomized way
(yes/no) the importance they attributed to the
single body part mentioned in the BPSS. The
test has been chosen because it appears to be
face valid, as individuals directly rate their
degree of satisfaction with the various body
parts (Petrie et al 2002). Finally, the subjects
were asked to draw a human figure, one male
and one female in two A4 sheets (the
Machover test, 1985). This is a projective test
useful to derive from the drawings how the
illustrator perceives the male and female
human figure, as this is clearly correlated with
some characteristics of the author, such as
impulses,
anxieties,
conflicts
and
compensations. It also permits to understand
the defense mechanisms (identification,
projection and introjections – Weiner &
Greene, 2008). All the comments eventually
made during the test were recorded. Subjects
were also requested to report their height and
weight, in order to estimate their Body Mass
Index. Even if self-reports for height and
weight can be conducive of errors (as for
weight they are directly related to a person’s
overweight status, increasing with the
magnitude of overweight – Rowland 1990),
they are however valid for identifying
relationships in epidemiological studies
(Spencer 2002). The Body Mass Index (BMI),
or the body mass divided by the square of
height (Kg/m2) was then calculated.
Results
Table 2 shows the composition of the sample
and the main self-reported anthropometric
results.
In the whole sample the “normal” subjects, or
those around the average for BMI (between
18.5 and 24.9) were 221 (59.6% of the whole
sample), those underweight were 40 (10.8%
of the sample, mostly adolescents), 92
(24.8%) were the overweighing subjects, and
those obese were 18 (4.9%).
Table 2. Composition and main anthropometric characteristics in the different age-classes
EJSS
Journal 2(1):64-81 - ISSN 2282-5673
70
For the figurine test, in the whole sample
subjects desired a thinner figure with respect
to their own, and a substantial conformity was
found between the figure they desired for
themselves (LIKE) and the one believed to be
liked by the other gender. Positive
correlations emerged between CUR and LIKE
(r=0.60, p<.001), CUR and ATT (r=0.35,
p<.001), LIKE and ATT (r=0.66, p<.001),
and between AT-OT and CUR (r=0.36,
p<.001), as well as AT-OT and LIKE (r=0.33,
p<.001), and besides AT-OT and ATT
(r=0.29, p<.001). Interesting to note also the
significant differences emerged between BMI
and CUR (r=0.48, p<.001), BMI and LIKE
(r=0.33, p<.001), and BMI and ATT (r=0.22,
p<.001). Low, but still significant, turned out
to be the correlation between BMI and ATOT (r=0.12, p<.05). Women, in general,
imagined that males preferred slimmer
women than they were; while males believed
that
women
preferred
a
more
muscular/”chubby” male. For the figurine
test, figure 1 depicts the tendencies found
with age by sex (the blue line represents
males, the green one female).
Fig. 1. Tendencies found with age in males (blue) and females (green) for current: (CUR),
desired look (LIKE), attractive look of the same (ATT) and of the opposite gender (AT-OT). In
this and in fig. 3, 4 and 5, the age-classes are represented in the x-axis, while the obtained
average scores are represented in the y-axis. 71
For the “actual” figure (CUR), during age the
perception of subjects’ own body changes. In
pre-pubertal/adolescent ages girls represent
themselves with a body mass higher than that
of the succeeding class, the only one in which
subjects perceive themselves very lean. In the
following ages, in fact, there is an increment.
Males, in the first age class, perceived
themselves as being slender, with a slight
increase in the second age cohort, followed by
a peak in the subsequent age-classes. In all
subjects a good correspondence between the
Body Mass Index and the average value of
self-attributed BI was found. Regarding the
desired body size (LIKE, for both sexes and
in all age classes, subjects tended to preferred
to possess a leaner figure than the actual, with
females with a more marked ideal of thinness.
In the first age class girls desired a leaner
body with respect to their male counterpart,
and this was more marked in young
adulthood. However, as the trend is somehow
similar to the one shown in CUR, it is
possible to affirm that what subjects had in
mind was a “possible” ideal body, in line with
the bodily morphological modifications
occurring with age. For ATT males believed,
increasing with age, that women preferred a
“robust man”. Only young boys would have
liked to possess a stronger body (36.3), even
if they imagined that girls preferred an
average score of 36.5. In the whole sample
females do not change their attitudes with
respect to CUR and LIKE, as the trend is
similar: at the beginning the score is quite
high, then it decreases (19-26 years of age) to
progressively increase with age. The graph
AT-OT shows that a correspondence between
what women presumed was more preferred by
males and what really men liked exists, and
vice-versa. In general, women made a greater
blunder than males, under-estimating their
body appearance. In all age classes, in fact,
women believed that males’ preference was
for a thin body for women, while these liked a
more “curvaceous” body. Males assumed that
they had been more attractive if more
corpulent. Significant differences emerged
when ANOVA was applied among the
various age classes for CUR (F4,366=8.0,
p<.000), LIKE (F4,366=3.3, p<.05), ATT
(F4,365=3.7, p<.01). The Newman-Keuls posthoc test showed that a demarcation existed
between young and older subjects for CUR,
and that differences endured between those
younger and older than 40 years of age for
LIKE and ATT.
Regarding the BPSS test, in the whole sample
results are as follows: The body parts
inducing dissatisfaction were: Weight,
abdomen, legs, and muscular tone. Those of a
greater satisfaction were: Eyes, mouth, ears,
chin (incidentally, the body parts that don’t
store fat). Between genders, the only
significant difference regarded the item hair
[F(365)=.04, p<.05], source of greater
dissatisfaction for males. The single body
parts’ degree of dissatisfaction can be
summarized as follows. For height, it
increased with age for females while in males
a peak was found in the age class 27-40, then
the degree of dissatisfaction decreased.
Weight: The degree was constant with age,
decreasing in middle aged. Fig. 2 depicts the
trend with age.
72
Fig. 2 Trends observed by age in males (blue line) and in women (green line) for height
(left) and weight (right). The graphs summarizing some head and face
components are shown in fig. 3, while those
regarding the other body parts in fig. 4.
Findings can be summarized as follows: Face
and hand. In women the degree of
dissatisfaction was steady, in males it
decreased with age for the former and in
adulthood for the latter aspect. For hair,
frustration intensified with age in both sexes,
for eyes and ears it augmented, but with a
plateau from 27 to 65 years. The nose was
source of discontent during adolescence in
males, then in adulthood it decreased; the
contrary happened to women. The degree of
dissatisfaction for the voice reached a plateau
in adulthood, to increase in the elderly.
Progressive dissatisfaction with age was
found, in both sexes for: chin, mouth,
shoulders, arms, buttocks, abdomen, hips,
legs, muscular tone, and the complexion
(general appearance), and teeth in women
(males showing a decrease in early adulthood
and an increase later on).
Fig. 3. Trends with age observed for some face parts in both genders.
73
Fig. 4. Trends found in both genders for some body parts.
In the various age cohorts the subjects
assigned different importance to the body
parts. In fact, apart the skin color, significant
differences emerged for all the items
considered. Table 3 summarizes the results.
Table 3. Importance assigned to the various body parts: differences found among
the different age-classes. 74
It is interesting to note, in this case, that
gender differences emerged for few
parameters: eyes (Χ2=10.1, df=1, p<.000),
arms (Χ2=7.9, df=1, p<.001), buttocks
(Χ2=20.3, df=1, p<.000), and ankles (Χ2=5.8,
df=1, p<.05). All these parameters are
connected to seduction, an aspect clearly
differently introjected by the two genders.
Regarding the Machover test, the main results
are as follows: In the whole sample all the
represented bodies were in general ageless, so
the temporal dimension was totally excluded.
All the figures were proportioned and
represented in the frontal plan, revealing a
good self-awareness, even dimensionally. The
differences in details and the representation
styles reflected the personal history, but the
main discrepancy that emerged among the
age-classes was the sexual component, high in
both genders during adolescence, but
represented in a symbolic way, as genitals
were absent, whereas naked bodies were
drawn or, alternatively, they were dressed but
with
detailed
adornments
(perhaps
attributable to the adolescents homologation
need). In the following age-class this
component was expressed differently between
genders, as the males’ tendency was to outline
this aspect, as they represented naked bodies
or even dressed, but expressing sexuality
through the dimensions. In the following ageclasses sexy bodies were not represented:
masculinity/femininity is foreseen by clothing
or hair, with females more secretive with
respect to sexuality. The over 66 year’s old
subjects did not judged themselves on an
aesthetical basis. The following table
summarizes the most noteworthy results by
age-class.
75
remaining intrinsic to corporeality, rising the
continual feed-back loop. Of course, the
discoveries of neuroscience and those of
cognitive science could, one day, elucidate the
problem; for the moment two selective brain
areas appear to play a role: the extrastriate
body area (occipital cortex) and the fusiform
area in the fusiform gyrus (Peelen & Dowing,
2007). Interesting to note that Takahashi et al
(2010), deepening the management of
schizophrenia by means of exercise and
sports, have found that the impairments of
schizophrenic patients in simulating, learning
and in the execution of actions, can be due to
the diminished activation of the extrastriate
body area. As mentioned above, this is a
preliminary research, part of a wider one
aiming to collect more useful data on different
Italian samples. It is interesting because some
tendencies emerged. In both sexes the body
ideal is maintained with the increase of age,
and not many differences exist regarding the
body parts (but they occur in the different
age-classes). In this sample women prefer a
male body well-delineated and not
excessively muscular, while males think that
their gender counterpart prefers a more stout
body. Women believe that males want an
ectomorph woman, while men’s predilection
is for a more curvaceous woman than that
outwardly beautiful and “á la mode feminine”
currently shown by slicks and media in
general. With age, the parameters with whom
the subjects judge their degree of
satisfaction/dissatisfaction change, and this
emerged from the verbalizations recorded.
Younger subjects judge themselves in
function of the other people’s viewpoint, adult
subject did not verbalized, therefore they
presumably judge themselves through the way
in which they see themselves, while the over
66 years old subjects, on the basis of the
partner’s judgment and /or the functionality of
their inner organs. Concluding, the body
mental representation is strongly conditioned
by age and gender but, also, by experience
and the inner world, confirming the
Discussion and conclusions
The mental representation of the body is
complex and multidimensional, as the body
carries out different roles; therefore it
assumes a different centrality on the basis of
age, gender, and its use. This modifies the
parameters with whom a body is judged.
Apart the infant/early childhood phase,
mostly connected to the relationship
mother/child and in more general terms, to the
parents/offspring interrelations, it is during
adolescence that BI becomes problematic, as
a teen is obliged to elaborate the grief of
her/his infantile body loss and to rework
her/his BI, integrating in it the under
completion/mature genitals (Laufer & Laufer
1984). And in our survey the sexual
dimension consistently emerged (Machover
test), as it appeared to be the cornerstone
around which self-representation takes place.
Adolescents, in the figurine test, evidenced
some coherence between the self-attributed
body and BMI. Girls desired a slimmer body
and this wish will remain quite stable during
life, with a peak between 19 and 16 years of
age. The desire “to make an impression”
instead of “being” may be conducive to eating
disorders, compulsive cosmetics use and/or
even surgery. Boys, and later on young and
grown men, would like to be more “stout” in
respect to their self-perception and this may
contribute to lower self-esteem about the
body, the possible use of anabolicandrogenic-steroids, and so on (van den Berg
et al, 2007). The point is how the body is
interiorized, ascribed and represented in our
mind: Really a conundrum. Among the many
circulating hypothesis, Ferrari (1998) released
an interesting one, trying to describe the
incessant interaction existing between body
and mind, where the former conditions the
latter, and vice versa. For the author, an innate
primigenial nucleus of somatic functions is
articulated with the primary mental functions
of containment. Therefore we will have a
body carrying out essential mental functions
and a mind emerging from the body, but
76
their appearance might have been less likely
to participate. In a future subjects will be
chosen only randomly. Secondly, the figurine
test, even if it has proven a good reliability in
different studies, has been criticized for its
poor ecological validity (Swami & Tovée
2007). The main problem, to be solved in a
future, regards the fact that subjects furnish a
uni-dimensional
measure,
unable
to
distinguish whether the increase of the body
figurines dimensions is due to fat or to
muscularity, so a figurine can be chosen as a
sort of “compromise”, as it cannot reveal the
actual differences existing between the
possessed and the ideal body (Cohane & Pope
2001). Hence, a more reliable test is requested
for BI studies in athletes, and suggestions will
be welcome. Thirdly, another weak point is
the Machover test, a kind of inquire that is
very popular despite the fact of continuous
criticisms (mainly lack of scientific evidence Schultz & Schultz, 2000). It faces the so
called “projective paradox” typical of the tests
whose contents are analyzed for meaning
instead of presumptions about signification.
Despite this dearth, the Machover test was
chosen “to sense the Zeitgeist” of
contemporary Italians regarding to body.
Finally, the BMI, a crude index of obesity,
has been chosen because it is widely used in
surveys of health and nutritional status, as it is
well correlated with total body fat and
percentage fat, even if it is probably more of
an indicator of heaviness or lightness, and
only indirectly of high or low levels of body
fat, respectively. Its interpretation as an
indicator of fatness has limitations in
adolescents and young adults (as the amount
of body fat changes with age and differs from
girls and boys, so the interpretation should be
age- and sex-specific, whereas in adults it is
interpreted through categories that do not
depend on sex or age). Women’s tend to
underestimate weight, so happens for heavier
individuals, and accuracy is not associated to
weight satisfaction (Gunnare et al 2013) and
supposedly, in athletes BMI is probably
multidimensional of the BI construct. At the
end, a reflection. BI studies’ tendency is to
describe the various BI aspects as a system
characterized by a typical configuration of
actors and activities, a configuration useful in
every situation. This tendency accentuated in
the last twenty years and reflects elements of
cultural homogenization that perhaps
preceded globalization. In the need to solve
problems like the so called “obesity
epidemics” that is striking worldwide, we are
spectators of a sort of pervasive “International
Agenda for Well-Being”, with globallystructured programs strongly influenced by
the neo-liberalism tendencies working worldwide, and affecting economy, politics and
culture. So the body, the main depositary of
our well-being, becomes at the same time the
repository/depository of a process mainly
functional to competition, which does not take
into account the anthropological differences
existing among the various populations of the
globe. When people is dissatisfied with their
body, or simply when people makes mistakes
about what the other gender finds to be
“attractive”, this implies a subtle violence.
Violence is not only to hurt or to kill, but to
deprive the individual of his/her continuity,
for example when somebody is obliged to
play a part that is not her/his own (Lévinas
1961). Therefore more reflection on BI is
needed,
taking
into
account
the
anthropological issues, in order to start
processes of “decolonization” of a body
imagery that is probably not in tune with our
deep needs.
Limits of the study
In this preliminary study there are some
methodological limitations to be considered in
a future. First of all, even if the subjects took
part voluntarily and anonymously in the
survey, they were recruited on an
opportunistic basis (mainly asking whether
they would have liked to participate in the
study or not), so they may have been subject
to selection bias: Subjects uncomfortable with
77
mostly an index of heaviness or lightness and
not fatness.
• Hrabosky, JI & Grilo, CM 2007 ‘Body
image and eating disordered behavior in a
community sample of Black and Hispanic
women’, Eating Behavior, vol. 8, pp. 106–
114.
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Acknowledgements
Our thanks are due to Prof. Chiara Nicolini for
her invaluable help in analyzing the drawings,
to the centers for elders “La Provvidenza”
(Busto Arsizio) and “Centro di Accoglienza
per Anziani” (Lonate Pozzolo), and to all the
participants in the study.
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81
Section B doi: 10.12863/ejssbx2x1-2014x2 Physical activity and glycemic control in a cohort of adolescents with type 1
diabetes: a pilot study
Giorgia Lamacchia1, Daniele Castelli1, Maria Alessandra Montalto1, Tatiana Moro2,
Esamuela Mancuso1, Maria Gateva3, Antonino Patti1, Antonio Palma1
1
Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Unit, University of Palermo, Italy
Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padua, Padova, Italy
3
National Sports Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria
2
BACKGROUND: Even today physical activity is not considered as a real treatment for diabetes but the
literature suggests that regular physical activity is of great importance in the management of type 1
diabetes mellitus. Moreover a regular physical activity has been associated with weight control, improved
blood lipid profile, reduced cardiovascular risk and improved sense of well being. Several studies have
suggested that elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin (HBA1C) are associated with cardiovascular disease
(CVD); the objective of the present pilot was to evaluate the relationship between HBA1C levels and
physical activity.
METHODS: The subjects were recruited during regularly scheduled clinic visits. Seventeen youths (12
girls and 5 boys) with type 1 diabetes and disease duration of at least 24 months and were recruited from a
university-based outpatient diabetes specialty clinic, without any other known disease. We required the
dosage HBA1C to patients that, subsequently, came to their regular outpatient visit having the HBA1C
test. Moreover, we administered a short questionnaire in order to evaluate the total physical activity time
carried out in one week.
RESULTS: Seventeen subjects were enrolled in this study (age: 14,43 ± 2,83 yrs; weight: 58,79 ± 15,68
kg; height: 159,91 ± 12,99 cm; BMI: 22,72 ± 4,78). Through the Pearson correlation index, the data
analysis demonstrated that HBA1C levels (9.98 ± 2.18 %) exhibited a significant reverse correlation (r = 60) with total physical activity time carried in one week (432, 05 ± 214,58 min).
CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our data support the hypothesis that regular exercise can improve longterm glucose control, according to HBA1C levels and ultimately, improve metabolic control in subjects
with type-1 diabetes. If confirmed by future studies, our findings propose physical activity as a
accompanying treatment for type 1 diabetes. Larger numbers are necessary to confirm these hypothesis but
these results are very encouraging.
Keywords: Physical activity, Adolescents, Glycated hemoglobin, Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.
82
Lamacchia G. et al Physical activity and glycemic control …
Corresponding Author: Antonino Patti, Sport and
Exercise Sciences Research Unit
Via E. Duse, 2 - 90146 Palermo
[email protected]
Received: September 2013 - Accepted January 2014
Introduction
Type 1 diabetes (T1DM), once known as
juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent
diabetes, is a chronic condition in which the
pancreas produces little or no insulin, a
hormone needed to allow glucose to enter
cells (Daneman, 2006). Various factors may
contribute to type 1 diabetes, including
genetics and exposure to certain viruses. The
specificity of each type of diabetes is related
to the etiologic mechanism and the speed of
this apoptosis. In type 2 diabetes mellitus
(T2DM), apoptosis is progressively favored
mainly by glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity;
whereas in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM),
apoptosis is rapidly induced by irreversible
autoimmune process (Cnop et al., 2005).
Although T1DM typically appears during
childhood or adolescence, it also can develop
in adults. With proper treatment, people who
have T1DM can expect to live longer,
healthier lives than they did in the past (Sun et
al., 2011), even if this disease is associated
with risks for multi-system failure, poor
academic performance, lower life satisfaction,
and early cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Insulin, despite improvements in its delivery
systems during the last decades, still remains
a potential contributor to morbidity and
mortality since patients on current
conventional therapies are exposed to some
risks such as hyperglycemias, ketosis,
hypoglycemic episodes. Hyperglycemia is a
major cause of vascular and neuropathic
complications that are seen in patients with
T1DM (Nathan et al., 2005). Several specific
risk factors have been suggested in the
pathophysiology of cardiovascular risk in
T1DM: Nephropathy, cardiac autonomic
neuropathy, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia,
low
high-density
lipoprotein
(HDL)cholesterol, insulin resistance and also genetic
factors (Zgibor et al., 2006, Orchard et al.,
2006). Low levels physical activity during
adolescence are problematic, particularly for
those with T1DM who have an added risk for
future CVD and an increased incidence of
hypertension (Kodama et al., 2013). Regular
exercise, a known intervention for combating
premature heart disease, has multiple benefits
including decreasing risk factors for
macrovascular disease, increasing life
expectancy, decreasing insulin requirements,
lowering blood pressure, improving glucose
control, improving fitness and improving
overall quality of life (QOL) (Berlin and
Colditz, 1990, Riddell et al., 2013,
Kumareswaran et al., 2013).
However, there are limited studies on exercise
or physical activity interventions in children
and
adolescents
with
T1DM,
with
inconsistencies in the reported outcomes of
glucose control and fitness levels. Reports
that physical activity might improve chronic
glucose regulation for persons with insulin
dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), are
grounded in studies showing a glucoselowering effect but in type 1 diabetes
mellitus, however, the benefits of physical
activity are less clear (Laptev et al., 2012,
Chimen et al., 2012). Laaksonen showed no
changes in fasting glucose in twenty patients
with type-1 diabetes after 12 week training
program (Laaksonen et al., 2000). In contrast,
decreased fasting blood glucose and
glycosylated hemoglobin (HBA1C) were
reported by Campaigne in 11 adolescent
subjects with IDDM after 12 weeks of
vigorous games and recreational activities
(Campaigne et al., 1984). Mosher et al.
showed beneficial effects on glycated
hemoglobin in eleven type-1 diabetes patients
after a 12 week period of both aerobic
exercise and resistance training (Mosher et al.,
1998). Rowland et al. and Zinman et al.
showed improvements in maximal oxygen
uptake (VO2~max) without accompanying
changes in glycemic control after 12 weeks of
bicycle and treadmill exercise (Rowland,
1981, Zinman et al., 1984). The aim of the
present study was to investigate whether the
glycated hemoglobin concentration is
influenced by amount of physical activity
83
practiced and, then, if the physical activity is
associated with improved glycemic control in
adolescents with T1DM.
Patients and their parents come to their
regular outpatient visit having the HBA1C
test. Physical activity was assessed between
April 2012 and June 2012, using a short form
questionnaire for the adolescents that included
two questions: the first one regarding the time
spent per week for sport (soccer, dance,
swimming, and so on) and for how many
minutes a week, and the second one regarding
the time spent walking for day.
Methods
Seventeen youths (12 girls and 5 boys) with
type 1 diabetes and disease duration of at least
24 months were recruited from a universitybased outpatient diabetes specialty clinic,
without any other known disease. Adolescents
were recruited during their regularly
scheduled clinic visits. Written informed
consent was obtained from the parents and
assent from the youth prior to their
participation. Only adolescents who received
parental permission and gave assent
participated in the study. The principles of the
Italian data protection act (196/2003) were
observed. The study was performed in
compliance with the Helsinki Declaration.
Height and weight were measured through the
stadiometer (Seca 22 ± 1 mm approximation,
Hamburg – Germany). The majority of
patients who attend our clinic begin their
diabetes education in the hospital during the
time of their diagnosis. All subjects were
assigned to a certified diabetes educator
(CDE) and then have continued follow-up
with the CDE in clinic during regularly
scheduled outpatient diabetes appointments,
approximately every 3-4 months. The CDE
may meet with the patient and family to
discuss various diabetes management issues,
including insulin injection teaching and
techniques, blood glucose monitoring, etc.
Statistical analysis
All data were coded on Excel file. To evaluate
the correlations between glycosylated
hemoglobin levels and the weekly physical
activity practiced, we used the index Pearson
correlation. To perform the analysis the
STATISTICA software (Windows, Vers 8.0)
was adopted.
Results
As previously mentioned, 17 subjects were
enrolled in this study. A description of
participants’ anthropometric characteristics is
provided in Table 1. The dosage of HBA1C
showed a value of 9.98 ± 2.18 %. Average
weekly physical activity time of all
participants was 432, 05 ± 214,58 min.
Through the Pearson correlation index, the
data analysis showed a inversely proportional
correlation of r = - 0,60 between the physical
activity time and HBA1C (Fig. 1).
Table 1: The anthropometric characteristics.
Adolescents with type 1 Diabetes
Subjects, n
17
Age, years (yrs)
14,43 ± 2,83
Weight (kg)
58,79 ± 15,68
Height (cm)
159,91 ± 12,99
BMI
22,72 ± 4,78
84
Figure 1: The Pearson correlation index between HB1AC and the
physical
activity time.
Discussion
The
glycosylated
hemoglobin
levels
(HBA1C) provide an index of an individual's
average glycemia over the past 2 to 3 months.
HBA1C levels are characterized by a low
intra-individual variability and also reflect
both fasting and postprandial glycemic states
(Selvin et al., 2010). Therefore, HBA1C
levels are considered to be a useful indicator
of dysglycemia (Selvin et al., 2007, Nathan et
al., 1984). Recently, several studies have
suggested that elevated HBA1C levels are
associated with CVD in diabetic adults, and
may be a risk indicator for the development of
CVD (Gerstein et al., 2008, Selvin et al.,
2010, Selvin et al., 2005, Silbernagel et al.,
2011). Our data support the hypothesis
(Wallberg-Henriksson et al., 1982, Wallberg-
Henriksson et al., 1986) that regular exercise
can improve metabolic control in type-1
diabetes. The study showed an improvement
in long-term glucose control, according to
HBA1C levels. Most studies that evaluated
the effect of exercise on metabolic control in
type-1 diabetes used aerobic exercise. Some
of them showed an improvement in metabolic
control (Campaigne et al., 1984, Mosher et
al., 1998, Laaksonen et al., 2000), but others
did not (Ligtenberg et al., 1999). In this study,
improvement in glycated hemoglobin was
found, but this seems to be related to the total
amount of physical activity practiced. This
hypothesis is confirmed by Ligtenberg et al.,
that showed a significant decrease in glycated
hemoglobin in type-2 diabetes patients, but
85
only after 1 year of training, and not within 6
months
(Ligtenberg
et
al.,
1997).
Furthermore, a recent review showed that
structured exercise training of more than 150
minutes per week is associated with greater
HBA1C declines than that of 150 minutes or
less per week (Umpierre et al., 2011). In
conclusion, our results indicate that the
amount of moderate and intense physical
activity or sports participation is associated
with better metabolic control. Subjects with
type-1 diabetes should therefore be targeted
by educational programmers promoting a
more active lifestyle. On the other hand, we
highlight that these conclusions need to be
supported by future studies with different
cohorts and a larger population scale.
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PFEFFER, M. A., YUSUF, S. &
INVESTIGATORS, C. P. 2008. The
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Section B doi: 10.12863/ejssbx2x1-2014x3 Assessment of autonomic function as marker of training status: the role of
heart rate recovery after exercise
Angelo Cataldo1, Dario Cerasola1, Daniele Zangla1, Giuseppe Russo1, Fatma Nese Sahin2,
Marcello Traina1
1
Sport and Exercise Sciences “DISMOT” Research Unit, University of Palermo, Italy
2
Faculty of Physical Education, Ankara University, Turkey
Abstract
Heart rate recovery (HRR) is the rate at which the heart rate returns to baseline after a period of exercise.
HRR is a marker of autonomic function and a predictor of cardiovascular fitness in healthy subjects and in
those with cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, HRR has been proposed as a marker of training status in
athletes. Our aim was to perform a review of studies that evaluated HRR after exercise in trained and
untrained healthy subjects and assessed its relationship with training status. Several studies suggest that the
assessing of HRR after exercise may be useful to distinguish trained from untrained individuals and to
establish an athlete’s state of training. However, standardization of measuring is required to compare
between individuals.
Keywords: Sympathetic, Parasympathetic, Cardiovascular fitness
Introduction
The heart rate (HR) is controlled by the
autonomic nervous system. From anatomical
point of view the autonomic nervous system
is made up of the sympathetic and
parasympathetic systems that reach the heart
with sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves,
respectively. The initial increase in HR after
the start of physical activity is determined by
increased
sympathetic
and
decreased
parasympathetic activity. During exercise,
cardiac output is adjusted based on metabolic
demand. When the exercise stops, cardiac
output is reduced by parasympathetic
reactivation and sympathetic inhibition, and a
89
Cataldo A. et al Assessment of autonomic function …
Corresponding Author: Angelo Cataldo, Sport and Exercise
Sciences “DISMOT” Research Unit
[email protected] -‐ ! 3397010658
Received: June 2013 - Accepted February 2014
Methods
Measure
HRR can be quantified by taking the absolute
difference between the final HR at exercise
completion and the HR recorded following 1or 2-min of recovery (HRR1min or HRR2min)
(Buchheit & Gindre 2006; Cole et al. 1999)
(Figure 1). Lamberts et al. (2004) indicate that
HRR1min has better capacity to detect
meaningful differences over time than
HRR2min and suggest averaging the heart rate
over 15 seconds (to take the 1-min value as
the average over seconds 45 to 60).
Alternatively, it’s possible to calculate the
time constant of the HR decay obtained by
fitting the post exercise HRR into a first-order
exponential decay curve (HRR ) (Perini et al.
1989), or to analyze the first 30-s of HRR via
semi logarithmic regression analysis (T30)
(Imai et al. 1994). Short-term HRR indexes
(i.e. HRR1min and T30) could be considered as
marker of cardiac parasympathetic outflow,
since the initial rapid decline in HR (that is
workload independent) is unaffected by
sympathetic blockade but is influenced by
parasympathetic blockade (Imai et al. 1994;
Kannankeril et al. 2004). The second slow HR
decay (that is believed to be workload
dependent) (Bucheit & Gindre 2006; Imai et
al. 1994) could be related to the gradual
withdrawal of sympathetic activity and the
clearance of stress system metabolites (Perini
et al. 1989) (Figure 1).
gradual return of HR to its previous resting
level.
Heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate
recovery after exercise (HRR) are both
markers of autonomic control of the heart.
HRV is defined as the oscillation in the
intervals between consecutive heart beats and
spectral analysis of HRV gives an index of
cardiac sympathovagal balance (Traina et al.
2010). Vagal-related HRV indices are
generally
associated
with
improved
cardiorespiratory fitness and physical
performance (Buchheit et al. 2011).
Therefore, it seems that the relationship
between endurance training and/or aerobic
fitness and HRV is lost, or even reversed,
within a well-trained runners (Lee and
Mendoza 2011).
HRR is defined as the rate at which heart rate
decreases, usually within minutes, after
moderate to heavy exercise and is a
consequence of parasympathetic re-activation
and sympathetic withdrawal (Shetler et al.
2001). Several studies have identified HRR as
a predictor of cardiovascular and all-cause
mortality in healthy adults (Cole et al. 1999;
Cole et al. 2000; Nishime et al. 2000), in
patients with cardiovascular disease (Lahiri et
al. 2008; Pitsavos et al. 2004; Watanabe et al.
2001) and with diabetes (Cheng et al. 2003).
HRR has also been associated with
cardiovascular fitness, aerobic fitness and
endurance training (Dimpka 2009). A recent
review suggests that HRR may be sensitive to
detect changes in training status in athletes
and could be a valuable tool to monitor and
optimize training programs (Daanen et al.
2012).
Aim of our review was to analyze the rule of
HRR in the assessment of autonomic function
as marker of training status in athletes and
less well-trained subjects.
τ
90
Figure 1. Changes in heart rate during and following maximal exercise.
91
However, despite the parasympathetic origin
of HRR indexes, several studies have shown a
lack of association between HRR and heart
rate variability (HRV) (Bucheit & Gindre
2006; Javorka et al. 2003; Lee & Mendoza
2012). This lack of association between HRR
and HRV might be due to factors that
interfere with parasympathetic outflow during
the post-exercise recovery, such as
environmental conditions (noise, light,
temperature, etc.) that can exert a marked
influence on HRV parameters and show a
tendency to shift sympatho-vagal balance
toward sympathetic predominance (Bucheit et
al. 2007).
to training aimed to increase aerobic capacity
(Cataldo et al. 2013).
Relationship between HRR and training status
Ota (2002) demonstrated that exercise
endurance performance (all-out time, running
distance, total work) is linearly related to
HRR in sixty-five from 19 to 21 years old
male and female students, and Otsuki et al.
(2007) showed that both strength- and
endurance-trained athletes have improved
heart rate recovery after 8-min of steady-state
exercise at 40% of maximal oxygen uptake
compared to untrained controls. Sugawara et
al. (2001) reported that 8 weeks of training in
previously untrained men improved 30-s
HRR. Two weeks of subsequent detraining
maintained the improved HRR; however, by
the fourth week of detraining, HRR had
returned to baseline levels (Sugawara et al.
2001). Borresen & Lambert (2008) shown
that endurance-trained athletes have an
accelerated heart rate recovery after exercise;
moreover, HRR responds to acute changes in
training load: it slowed slightly after increases
in training load, whereas tended to improve in
subjects who decreased their training load
(Borresen & Lambert 2007).
Relationship between HRR and physiological
factors
Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) is
considered the best measure of cardiovascular
fitness and is closely related to aerobic
performance. Previous studies have observed
faster HRR in athletes than in non-athletes.
Du et al. (2005) reported that endurance
training induced significant acceleration of
HR recovery after exercise in female
marathon runners, as results from higher
aerobic capacity compared with untrained
controls. Although age affects VO2max and
can affect HRR, Darr et al. (1988) have
shown that trained subjects with high peak O2
consumption,
irrespective
of
age,
demonstrated a significantly faster HRR than
untrained subjects with low peak O2
consumption, which was particularly marked
during fast-phase recovery. Singh et al.
(2008) reported that 1-min HR recovery after
exercise is attenuated with age in children,
and children with higher BMI and those with
lower exercise endurance have slower 1-min
HR recovery. In sedentary patients with type
2 diabetes, both HRR and VO2max were
significantly reduced (Cataldo et al. 2013),
and in these subjects the positive linear
correlation between HRR and VO2max
suggests that HRR might improve in response
Confounding factors
Apart from training status, several factors can
affect HRR. Antelmi et al. (2008) observed
that younger individuals recovered faster than
older ones from the second to the fifth minute
after exercise and heart rate recovery in
women was more rapid than in men. About
gender, Arena et al. (2010) just found the
opposite of Antelmi, while Lamberts et al.
(2004) did not report gender-based
differences. Zaim et al. (2010) indicate that
there is a direct correlation between the peak
HR obtained during a symptom-limited
exercise test and the subsequent HRR
measured at 1 minute.
Training intensity and duration can affect the
acute recovery of autonomic nervous system
(ANS) balance after exercise. Seiler et al.
92
(2007) reported that in the highly trained
endurance athlete, exercise for < or = 120-min
below the first ventilatory threshold causes
minimal disturbance in ANS balance.
However, ANS recovery is found to be more
rapid in highly trained than in trained subjects
after high-intensity exercise. Lamberts &
Lambert (2009) found that variation in heart
rate decreased with increasing exercise
intensity.
Kaikkonen et al. (2008) investigated the HR
recovery after exercise of different type and
intensity. Increased exercise intensity resulted
in lower HRR both in interval and in
continuous exercise. In addition, when
interval and continuous exercise were
performed at a similar workload, HR recovery
was lower after continuous exercise.
Heffernan et al. (2006) observed that HR
remained elevated to a greater extent after
resistance compared to endurance exercise,
and athletes engaged in intermittent sports are
likely to have faster HRR during the first 20-s
after maximal exercise than their counterparts
trained for continuous performance (Ostojic et
al. 2010).
HRR after 1 min was faster after cycle
exercise compared to running; in contrast,
HRR after 2- and 3-min were similar after
both exercise (Maeder et al. 2009). To ensure
the highest level of sensitivity in detecting
meaningful changes in HRR over time,
submaximal testing protocols should target
exercise intensities ranging in-between 8693% of heart rate maximum (Lamberts et al.
2011).
Our case studies
We report the example of our analysis on
three healthy adult male subjects, one
sedentary (SE), one endurance trained (ET),
and one combined strength/endurance trained
(CT), age 53, 54, and 51 respectively.
Subjects performed a maximal incremental
test on treadmill at the laboratory of the Sport
and Exercise Sciences “DISMOT” Research
Unit of the University of Palermo. HR has
reached a peak of 121 bpm in SE, 139 bpm in
ET, and 153 bpm in CT. HRR1min and
HRR2min were respectively 19 and 30 bpm in
SE (Figure 2), 25 and 44 bpm in ET (Figure
3), and 27 and 55 bpm in CT (Figure 4). SE
had the lowest values of both HRR1min and
HRR2min, and among the trained subjects CT
showed better values than ET.
Figure 2. Changes in heart rate during exercise and heart rate recovery 1 and 2 min after exercise in
untrained subject. 93
endurance trained subject.
combined strength/endurance trained subject.
94
predictor
of
mortality
in
cardiovascularly healthy cohorts. Ann
Intern Med, 132:552-555.
Conclusions
Several studies show that HRR is faster in
trained that in untrained healthy subjects and
is capable to quantify differences in training
status of healthy individuals. These findings
suggest that the assessing of HRR after
exercise may be useful to distinguish trained
from untrained individuals and to establish an
athlete’s state of training. The use of HRR
recorded under standardized conditions 1 or 2
minutes after exercise may be a practical,
reliable and quantifiable measure of the
body’s current capacity to respond to stress
with the aim to optimize training programs
and to tracking an individual progression.
However, the effects of confounding factors
such as age, gender, type and intensity of
exercise, need to be taken in account when
interpreting HRR to compare between
individuals.
6. Nishime EO, Cole CR, Blackstone EH,
Pashkow FJ, Lauer MS 2000. Heart rate
recovery and treadmill exercise score as
predictors of mortality in patients
referred for exercise ECG. The J Am
Med Assoc, 284:1392-1398.
7. Lahiri MK, Kannankeril PJ, Goldberger
JJ 2008. Assessment of autonomic
function in cardiovascular disease. J Am
Coll Cardiol, 51(18):1725-1733.
8. Pitsavos
CH,
Chrysohoou
C,
Panagiotakos
DB,
Kokkinos
P,
Skoumas J, Papaioannou I, et al. 2004.
Exercise capacity and heart rate as
predictor of coronary heart disease
events in patients with heterozygous
familial
hypercholesterolemia.
Atherosclerosis, 173(2):347-352.
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97

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