Sport and the Communities

Book excerpt: Over the past three decades there has been widespread commitment to an understanding that sport can play a key role in community development. The role of sport within communities has been promoted with a wide range of goals such as environmental considerations, encouragement of civic pride, enhancement of confidence and self-esteem and development of social cohesion as well as the fostering of a fit and healthy workforce. To address these issues, a number of programmes have been funded and supported to develop the role of sport in communities worldwide and to increase participation and access to sport and physical activities in rural areas. In addition we are witnessing the development of new sports communities through social media such as Facebook and My Space. The concern is that we need to revisit the concept of ‘community and sport’ and to investigate the current understanding of these terms in view of the evolving role of sport in a range of national settings. This book will present the platform upon which this process can be undertaken and offers a fundamental re-evaluation of the relationship that currently exists between sport and communities throughout selected parts of the world. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.