Episode 19 Emergent Assemblages of Relationist Football with Jamie Hamilton 

For this episode we talk with Jamie Hamilton, a football coach and tactical writer based at Ayr United in Scotland. Hamilton is best known for coining the idea of relationism in football, which is an approach that emphasizes emergent patterns of play discovered by the players themselves rather than fitting into a set plan determined by the manager in advance. It is an approach that draws from a wide range of philosophical and aesthetic concepts, from the work of Deleuze and Guattari, to the anti-colonial politics of Brazilian football. In what ways might ideas and approaches developed within a football resonate beyond that context? How might looking for emergent dynamics rather than set plans change out patterns of perception and attunement with the environments we operate within and the people with interact with?

“Relationism differs from Positionism in that it does not believe future possibilities derive from fixed, known, established concepts. Rather, Relationism proposes (by way of concepts borrowed from French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze) that novel future states emerge to be actual through the establishing of contacts with an infinite set of virtual possibilities which are as yet unknown to us. The virtual is a realm of potentiality – the kindling is already pregnant with the potential of fire, all it needs to actualise it is a spark… 

The purpose is not to replace Positionism with Relationism in Europe, but nor should European Positionism entirely reject the validity of Relationist systems. Rather, an environment must be nurtured where these contrasting strains of football tactics can be studied, merged and cross-pollinated. Relationist tactics propose that new and unpredictable connections emerge from within the chaotic interactions between players. The routes of ball progression are not pre-meditated through set patterns and repeated automations. New orders emerge from the instability of disordered environments.” 

Bio: Jamie Hamilton is a coach (UEFA A) at Ayr United in Scotland and a football writer focusing on tactical theory and coaching practice. His writing can be found on Medium. 

Intro / Outro Music: Ken Vandermark, Eddie Prevost, and Guillaume Viltard, Improv Set Live at Cafe Oto September 2014