Sport has a way of bringing people together, creating emotional connections that provide a sense of identity or community. This is never so clear to see than during major sporting events with 29 million viewers tuned into the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics alone. Sport unites people with common interests, from elite athletes, spectators, and amateurs alike.
As an exemplifier of a sport that builds community, skateboarding is top of mind. In its second appearance as an Olympic event, and on the back of medal success at the Tokyo 2020 Games, will this help to further legitimise skateboarding as a sport in everyone’s eyes?
Controversially, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, signs prohibiting skateboarding could be found directly outside the arena where Olympian skateboarders were competing. Signs like those in Tokyo can be found in towns across Northern Ireland. But those who see the benefits of skateboarding, physically, mentally, and culturally, believe there is value in providing a place for skaters.
Dr. Jim Donaghey is one of these people. Currently a Research Fellow in the School of Communication and Media, Jim’s interests lie in understanding the political implications of culture, practicing research in collaboration with rather than on communities, and using creative methodologies as part of his work.
“It’s by using creative methodologies that you can get slightly different answers to age-old questions, especially in places affected by conflict that can become ‘over-researched’. Creative methodologies are a great way to break away from the expected or rehearsed interviewee responses you sometimes get from people living in places like that”. ”
As Jim’s current research project, working alongside the skateboarding community in Portrush, comes to a close, he is reflecting on the impacts:.
“It’s amazing to see the engagement and the transformed attitudes that it brings, especially from younger members of the community, as well as the connection between the young and old generations.”
Skateboarder
After the success of using this approach in previous projects, it was a no brainer to use creative methodologies in the SkateStopped projects.
In collaboration with local videographer Slaine Browne, the Causeway Association of Urban Sports, and the wider Portrush skateboarding community, this series of projects intervenes to develop an understanding of the value of skaters as a Creative Community.
“Skateboarders possess an emergent cultural voice in a deeply divided context and experience the detrimental social impacts of profit-oriented gentrification from a ‘street-level’ perspective. Drawing on the skaters’ tradition of videography, we have been co-producing film material with research participants.”
“In 2022, Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council removed all the ramps and rails from Station Square in Portrush. I was discussing this with Slaine and he pointed out that he had, boxes and boxes of obsolete video material of skateboarding in Portrush dating back 25 years. It occurred to me that with the equipment and expertise of our technicians within the School, we could open these up to a whole new audience.”
This brings us back to creative methodologies.
“We thought ‘how can we take this old material and do something creative with it?’ How could we include the contemporary generation of skateboarders in the town as well? We identified four or five key spots in Portrush and produced short video compilations of each place with footage from 25 years ago to close to the present day.”
The footage was then screened at The Playhouse Cinema in Portrush, and a group of contemporary skaters were invited to attend. Jim was on hand on the night to record their reactions. The audience was then invited to try to skate some of the same spots from the footage with some hilarious results.
“Some of the areas had been redeveloped and some didn’t exist anymore. Somebody might have been rolling onto a patch of grass where a set of steps used to be or trying to grind on a rail that's been changed or maybe it's had skate stoppers put on top of it.
“And that's what that we were demonstrating, here are these classic skate spots in Portrush that people, from all over Northern Ireland and beyond would come to skate at, and in the process of redevelopment in the town, these places have become lost. Lost from a historical perspective, and for new generations, lost as an area to practice on.”
The projects have benefitted from the participation of the new generation of skaters in Portrush, helped by using a creative method that fits with the culture of the audience, in this case videography and skateboarding.
Videography
“Videography is how skateboard communities worldwide connect, sharing videos, especially online. So when we invited the contemporary generation of skaters to watch these skateboard reels, they were embracing that activity as something they do day to day.”
“There is a mythology that builds up around skate spots, places like San Diego, New York, Philadelphia, or Barcelona. People who've never been to those cities will recognize a particular handrail or a particular set of steps. There's a whole mythology and language surrounding them. What we were doing was to say that mythology also applies to Portrush. When you present it on the big screen like this, it stands up against San Diego or Barcelona, and we are recognising the athleticism and the art that goes into it as well.”
One of the most recent creative outputs is a 15-minute ‘street lecture’ showing the resortification of Portrush and how that has changed the landscape for skaters in the area.
Why Doesn't Portrush Have a Skatepark?
“People connected with the historical and contemporary footage of skateboarding, and made it more appealing than a straight-to-camera piece talking about the topic.”
The project has certainly caught the attention of the local community, and Causeway Association of Urban Sports has become a key partner with its long-running campaign to get Portrush a skate park. So is this the ultimate goal of the project?
Skatestopped
“The first part is to recognise skateboarders as a community and bring them together to then recognise their power as a community.”
“The first part is to recognise skateboarders as a community and bring them together to recognise their power as a community. Empowering the skateboarders to stand up for themselves and recognize that they have this DIY culture they can be proud of. For example, we have helped them to refurbish some of the ramps they use.
The second part is about transforming the terrain of the skateboard campaign issue to broaden it and change the relationship between the council and lobby groups to hopefully a more productive one.
And then lastly it gives the campaign some context in the larger topic of the resortification of the town and connecting the experience of the skateboard community with other communities in Portrush.”
The ‘SkateStopped’ and ‘Get Portrush a Skatepark’ projects are funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council ‘Creative Communities’ initiative and the Arts and Humanities Research Council ‘Impact Acceleration Account’ fund.