Sport Policy, Governance, Local Government

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted considerable interest in the management discipline, but has rarely been evaluated and explored in the sports management research arena. In evaluating the sports, management and marketing literature, this article considers the role of CSR in professional football. It argues that an increased awareness and integration of CSR into the football business fosters the competitiveness of the game and creates additional value for its stakeholders. The article proposes a conceptual model which outlines the agency role of football in order to create political, cultural, humanitarian and reassurance value. Empirical evidence supporting the model is applied based on case studies from four key countries that currently dominate the shaping of CSR discussion and are vital for the game itself: England, Germany, Japan and the US. The article’s aim is to encourage sports management to see CSR as an opportunity-driven concept, which can assist in achieving better strategic direction, and outlines areas where future research can improve sport management’s appreciation of this rapidly more important topic.

Why do ethnic minority groups play or not play football? The answers might be different depending on specific socio-cultural contexts. This thesis concentrates on the Uyghurs and the Kazakhs from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. By situating the diverse participants (young footballers, coaches, parents, government cadres in charge of sports, and fans, etc.) in the late-socialist China where marketization led by state domination and appeal to nationalism, this thesis seeks to answer the major research question: How do ethnic relation, state governance, and social mobility shape the discourse or phenomenon, which I call, the “rise of Xinjiang youth football”?

As empirical data in this thesis illustrate, the “field of play” is not just the pitch where the youth play football; rather, it might be seen as the field where grassroots of ethnic minority groups and the state compete, compromise or cooperate for defining identities and values; furthermore, it might be the Bourdieusian social field, in which ethnic minority youths, as agents, involve in football and aim of converting their capitals for achieving upwards social mobility.

By jointly analysing discourses and practice related to ethnic relation, nationalism and marketizing in Xinjiang youth football, this thesis argues that while China’s authoritarian sport officials selectively embrace logics of marketization and competition to ease ethnic tensions and to seek regional stability in Xinjiang, the popularization of football reflects and contributes to public debates on inequalities existing betwixt classes and ethnic groups.

From the 1960s, British sport came to be regarded as serving particular societal functions, particularly along lines of social integration and national prestige. This is not unsurprising given the imbedded nature of Functionalist sociological thinking at this time, but while the inadequacies of this theoretical model were brought to light in critical sociological analyses during the 1960s and 70s, it has continued to pervade sports governance and political discourse until the present day. The sport of tennis in Britain is examined, with remit to analyse Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) discourse from 1990 until 2006. Results suggest an overwhelming ‘functionalist’ rhetoric, particularly with regard to how the concepts of inclusion/exclusion, talent development and tennis club culture are understood. A critique of LTA discourse drawn from documentary analysis of published materials and interviews with several key LTA personnel reveals a ‘contemporary bias’ and ‘consensus bias’ in conceptions of society, social class and social change, and how various tennis-related organisations should operate. LTA sports government discourse is critiqued with a view to adopting the arguably more adequate ‘Figurational’ sociological perspective, which recognises the dynamic and processual nature of society, seeks to illuminate long-term social processes and is underpinned by historical analyses.

Marco jurídico, social y organizativo de los Servicios Deportivos Municipales, particularmente en Navarra. Orientaciones básicas sobre el funcionamiento de tales Servicios para políticos en el ámbito deportivo.
A juridical, social and organizative framework applied to Municipal Sport Services, particularly in Navarra (Spain). Guidelines about how those Services work thinking of sport politicians.

The article discusses barriers in strategic governance of local development characteristic for Polish local governments, i.e. municipalities, which occurred within the first 15 years of the XXI century. These barriers were identified in the period 2000-2015 by means of using the qualitative field research method, in the process of research and implementation as well as research and development projects’ execution, directly and indirectly related to the conceptualization, application and assessment of development strategies for Polish municipalities. The introduction to the article presents the reasons, origins, purpose, method, techniques and the course of conducted research. Next the concept of local development perceived from two perspectives, a local and supra-local one, as well as their governance concept and strategic approach to such governance, are discussed. The core part of the article is devoted to presenting the identified barriers in strategic governance of local development and also their sources. The article is concluded by providing recommendations regarding the continuation of research covering these barriers and the instruments of their reduction.

This paper deals with the emerging processes of creation and implementation of regional public policies on sport in the Czech Republic since 2001. It analyses the dynamics between the sport voluntary sector and the public administration. The paper captures the major tenets of the regional public policy for sport and explores the barriers undermining its effective functioning. It is argued that the Czech regional public sport policies are limited by two types of constraints; structural and cognitive. Whereas the structural constraints are defined in terms of politicisation, bureaucratisation, lack of evidence in the policy-making process and lack of interaction, the cognitive constraints are related to the lack of knowledge, the lack of information, the low recognition of sport in the context of other policy issues and the negative public image of public administration. Furthermore, a typology of different styles of support for sport and a typology of different strategies employed by sport associations and clubs to obtain funding are identified. The paper, thus, presents five ideal-types of the regional public support of sport: progressive, bureaucratic, political-clientelist, delegated, and marginalised. Moreover, four different strategies adopted by the sport movement are defined: the adaptation strategy; the pragmatic strategy; the strategy of the marginalised; and the strategy of resignation. The study is based on a qualitative methodology, using a combination of techniques such as semi-structured interviews with public administration officers and representatives of the Czech sport movement, secondary analysis of documents and observations.

This paper critically engages with perspectives on globalisation, and the globalisation of sport in particular, in the light of research conducted on the European football championships held in England in the summer of 1996 (Euro '96). Our research focusses on two aspects of Euro '96. Firstly, we indicate the problems and sucesses entailed in the attempt to intervene on the English football 'imaginaire' in order to structure subjectivity around the event. Secondly, we investigate the relationships between the organisers and one of the localities, Manchester, in which the event was staged, and where antagonistic relationships between local organisers and international governing bodies led to a series of tactical semiotic moves on the part of Manchester local authorities to carve out a share of sponsorship revenues from the event, while international football governing bodies followed a strategy of having the burden of the costs distributed down to localities like Manchester, while securing for thermselves large profits through exclusive sponsorship deals.

Keywords: De Certeau, Tactics, Strategies, Sport, Globalisation, FIFA, UEFA, International Sporting Events, Sponsorship, ISL Marketing

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