Geoff Nichols

A Consideration of Why Active Participation in Sport and Leisure Might Reduce Criminal Behaviour

Abstract Programmes that seek to reduce criminal behaviour amongst young people through the medium of sports activities have been both criticised and advocated. The arguments used have drawn more on value judgements than on evidence. This article identifies the difficulties of producing such evidence, and relates these to the lack of a well developed rationale for such programmes. It reviews some of the evidence that contributes to such a rationale, including a recently conducted evaluation of a sports counselling programme [Nichols, G. and Taylor, P. (1996) West Yorkshire sports counselling, Final Evaluation Report, West Yorkshire Sports Counselling Association, Castleford].

One size does not fit all: implications of sports club diversity for their effectiveness as a policy tool and for government support

Through research into English netball clubs, this paper examines the tension between government policy to promote sports participation being directed through sports clubs that use more formal management practices; and the possibility that this will ignore the contribution made by smaller clubs and their distinctive culture. This is illustrated by netball, a sport ranked 13th in popularity by participation in clubs, but with a very low average club size. Analysis supports previous indications that sports clubs can be divided into those that embrace formal management and those that do not. Greater formality is associated with club size, and performance, however in most clubs formal management procedures are minimal. A weak relationship between club success, as reflected in extrinsic performance, and the satisfaction of volunteers, is understood through volunteers being motivated more by intrinsic rewards of membership. An implication is that if government support to sports clubs is directed to those with most formal management practices, it will miss out the smaller clubs, which in some sports account for a large proportion of participation. The counter argument is that the smaller clubs will be least able to use such support, so the present policy is the most effective use of resources.

Crime and punishment and sports development

This paper contributes to understandings of the use of sport as a medium in crime reduction programmes directed at young people. It does this through a case study of Easttown Summit1, to show how and why this programme has had an impact on participants. The case study examines the relevance of a theoretical framework for understanding the mechanism of crime reduction though value directed personal development. However, this framework was developed from studies of programmes working with relatively high‐risk participants. Brantingham and Faust (1976) categorise this type of programme as ‘tertiary’. In contrast the Summit programme was secondary, working with lower risk participants. While clients of the Summit gained some benefits consistent with those likely to reduce offending, the research found that these benefits were largely an incidental by‐product of the achievement of broader sports development objectives. This may well be the case for similar secondary programmes, which have largely been developed in leisure departments, and has profound implications for programme evaluation.

Redefining the Recruitment Niche for the Guide Association in the United Kingdom

This article shows how the concept of a recruitment niche can be valuable in understanding the difficulties the Guide Association in the United Kingdom has in recruiting new volunteers. Understanding Guiding as career volunteering, within serious leisure, shows how the distinctive ethos of the existing volunteers contributes to the social construction of the recruitment niche. The defining boundaries of the niche restrict the ability to recruit new volunteers. Thus the article gives an example of how a recruitment niche for a voluntary organization can be defined using the socially constructed ethos of volunteers involved in career volunteering rather than by characteristics such as level of educational attainment. It also demonstrates the implications of this for voluntary organizations wishing to increase recruitment.

Social Inclusion through Volunteering: The Legacy Potential of the 2012 Olympic Games

Considerations of Olympic Games’ legacies have focused on economic benefits, with little consideration given to the potential legacy from the substantial number of volunteers involved. This article examines the experiences of volunteers in a programme established as a legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Its results challenge the dominant social inclusion discourse in showing that volunteering provides social inclusion benefits beyond employability by enriching volunteers’ lives and empowering them to make new choices. Recognizing and valuing this would enable ‘social inclusion’ programmes promoting volunteering at major events, such as the 2012 Olympics, to broaden their objectives.

Lessons from the Volunteering Legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games

Potential exists for a more multifaceted and interrelated volunteering legacy from mega sporting events than has been recognised by previous research, including not only the continuation and development of volunteering activity, but also the contribution that activity makes to the social inclusion of volunteers, the economic contribution to the development of events in the region, the development of a skilled volunteer workforce and raising the standard of event volunteer management. This paper provides evidence for that claim via a case study of Manchester Event Volunteers—a volunteer development organisation established after the 2002 Commonwealth Games, which is still operating seven years later and provides a role model for volunteer broker organisations. The case study shows that local government played a key role in generating a volunteer legacy, but that legacy planning was limited by the imperative of running the event. Implications for similar events, such as the 2012 Olympics, are discussed.

The relationship between types of sports club and English government policy to grow participation

Sports clubs run by their members account for a significant proportion of sports participation in England and are central to government policy to grow participation. A survey of clubs in the United Kingdom shows that clubs can be clustered into three groups reflecting different levels of formality. While it is not possible to make a definitive estimate of the proportions of English clubs in each of the three groups, the more formal types of clubs probably offer the most viable policy instrument for increasing sports participation. These are split into two groups: large clubs for adults and juniors, owning their own facilities; and clubs focused predominantly on junior participants and relying on hired facilities. These two types of clubs will require different types of support. The third group of clubs are small informal/traditional clubs, with only adult members. As a group they make an important contribution to participation growth but their informality probably makes them a less viable medium for this policy objective.

Volunteering in sport: the use of ratio analysis to analyse volunteering and participation

This paper offers a more precise picture than has previously been possible of volunteers in sports clubs in relationship to club membership. It identifies the importance of non-club members as volunteers who still support the clubs, and the extent to which sports clubs provide a service for non-sports participants. This is achieved through the use of ratios relating volunteering in sports clubs to sports club membership, using data from a general population survey of Wales. Results show that women are slightly under-represented as volunteers when related to club membership, but are over-represented when one considers non-club members who volunteer to help clubs. The 35–54 age cohort is over-represented in volunteers, probably as older club members maintain a continuity of interests by moving from playing to volunteer roles, but there are not significant differences by social class. Volunteering is especially strong in traditional team sports which also provide membership opportunities for older, non-playing males. The value of ratio analysis in understanding the voluntary sector in sport, and trends in the number and type of volunteers, is demonstrated, and potential improvements are noted.

Sports Clubs’ Volunteers: Bonding in or Bridging out?

The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the nature of bonding and bridging social capital in sports clubs. Exploratory research involving interviews with club volunteers reveals that shared values and norms of commitment to the sport or the club are an important dimension of homophilic and heterophilic ties. These are expressed in the recruitment of new volunteers and explain the reluctance to recruit from outside the club. While ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’ are to some extent a product of gender, age, ethnicity and other demographic characteristics recognized by previous studies, this article identifies the importance of subjective perceptions in defining bonding and bridging ties. It is suggested that this will be more important in voluntary associations which are expressions of shared values. Further, this suggests the potential of more inductive qualitative research to unravel the complex and nuanced barriers to developing social capital through sports clubs and other associations.

Pressures on Sports Volunteers Arising from Partnerships with the Central Government

Abstract This paper uses results of two research projects investigating the pressures on volunteers in UK sport to illustrate the implications of partnerships between national governing bodies of sport and the central government. National governing bodies of sport receive funding from the central government via Sport England and UK Sport. This funding has conditions attached. The conditions will affect volunteers at the national level of the NGB, but will also cascade down to volunteers in the sports clubs. Thus, they add to the complexity and scale of tasks performed by club level volunteers, who require additional support to perform them. For most NGBs, this external funding is a very significant proportion of their income, so it may have a corresponding impact on the development of the sports and the work of volunteers. The conditions attached to support can be understood in the broader context of a professionalisation of sport in the voluntary sector. As such, the pressures from the central government are inevitable, but volunteers can also be supported by their NGBs and Sport England.