Voluntary Sports Clubs

Pages: 171-189

DOI: 10.4324/9781003162728-10

Abstract:

Voluntary sport clubs (VSCs) are implementers of sport policy in most countries where sports clubs provide the essential grassroots interface between individual participants and functional structure. There is a mixed economy of VSC participation and interaction concerning the extent of policy enactment, often depending on size, geographical location, club status and relationship to its governing body. This chapter uses two complementary ideas: political opportunity structure and street-level bureaucracy. Each is used to make sense of both the structure within which VSCs find themselves and the extent to which discretion can be exercised by agents operating at grassroots levels within VSCs. The analysis outlines a politically derived context where the expertise, influence, mutuality and volunteerism of VSCs has great value for the implementation of sport policy. However, the discussion also argues that VSCs should not be assumed to be compliant in how policy is interpreted and ultimately delivered.

Source: Scopus