Ian P. Henry

Organisational Structures and Contexts in British National Governing Bodies of Sport

This paper reports the findings of the first stages of a research project which investigates the organisational structures of the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) in Britain and the strategic management styles which these organisations employ.

The governance of professional soccer: Five case studies – Algeria, China, England, France and Japan

Abstract Although there has been a rapid growth in the globalisation of sport and its delivery to world markets, nevertheless there is a variety of models of sport-business whose characteristics are the product of local histories, local political and sporting cultures, local economic conditions and so on. This paper does not seek to deny the increasingly obvious impact of globalisation on professional sport, but rather it seeks to articulate the ways in which such global phenomena are locally mediated in professional soccer systems in five countries, to identify and to explain local responses to global pressures. The five examples include the oldest professional football system, that of England, and a second contrasting European system, France, together with three relatively recently established professional football systems in Japan a developed capitalist economy, Algeria, which is developing a post-socialist sports economy, and China which is experimenting in sport as in other areas with a ‘socialist market economy’. The resultant evolution of professional sporting systems represents distinctive configurations of stakeholders in what are in effect contrasting business models, and reflects a situation of ‘diminishing varieties and increasing contrasts’, in contrast to the claims made by Elias in relation to global cultural phenomena.

Sport, Muslim Identities and Cultures in the UK, an Emerging Policy Issue: Case Studies of Leicester and Birmingham

Abstract An understanding of diversity and its implications for policy is critical to those charged with delivering sporting services in culturally plural societies. This paper reports a research project which aimed to examine how, on the one hand, Muslims in two specific local contexts in the UK (Leicester in the East Midlands; Birmingham in the West Midlands) make sense of the relationship between their religious (Islamic) identities and sporting interests and, on the other, how local policy makers perceived and responded to the sporting needs of these Muslim communities. According to the 2001 census, Leicester and Birmingham represent, respectively, one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Britain and the domicile for one-third of the Muslim population in Britain. Interviews were undertaken with representatives of Muslim organizations, governmental and quasi-governmental sporting organizations, in both cities. Critical Discourse Analysis of interviewees’ responses reveal pluralistic views on a range of issues such as: the “(un)suitability” of the environment/space provided for, or accessed by, Muslims to practise sport; funding; gender equity; equity and social inclusion agenda versus cultural and religious diversities; and a resistance (on the part of policy makers) to target provision at faith groups.

Sport, Arab nationalism and the Pan-Arab Games.

The aim of this article is to outline the manner in which the Pan-Arab Games reflect the tensions within the pan-Arab project of political and cultural unity. Within the movement there has been a traditional cleavage between those advocating the political unification between Arab states and those promoting inter-Arab-nation-state cooperation. The Pan-Arab Games were established by the League of Arab Nations in 1953 as means of expressing cultural unity between Arab peoples across nation-state boundaries. As an institution it is founded therefore on a philosophy of ethno-cultural group identity (based on race and language), rather than on territorial divisions (such as continental games) or philosophies of multi-culturalism and universalism (as is the case for the Olympic Games). The history of the Pan-Arab games has been fraught with difficulties, largely (though not exclusively) founded in the conflict between Israel and the Arab states, as well as the more recent wars in the Gulf and in Afghanistan. The article provides an historical analysis, identifying the implications of these conflicts and the associated divisions in the pan-Arab movement reflected in the recent history of the Games, in particular those held in the Lebanon in 1997 and in Jordan in 1999. It argues that the Games provide a useful lens through which to identify the contradictions of Arab nationalism and pan-Arabism.

Political clientelism and sports policy in Greece.

This article examines the clientelistic relations which underpinned the activities of the Greek state in the field of sports policy between 1981 and 1993. It focuses on aspects of the patronage that existed between the governments of the two major political parties and some of the national governing bodies (NGBs) that control specific sports. More specifically, the study analyses the forms of political patronage employed in support of sports organizations, the processes through which such patronage is exercised, and the impacts of such support on the budgets of particular NGBs. The study employed structured interviews with key national sporting and political figures and documentary analysis of budgets of NGBs. The article demonstrates how particular parties have systematically favoured certain NGBs when they have been in office. The article concludes with a review of reasons for the continued existence of clientelistic relationships in the contemporary context.

Hellenism and Olympism: Pierre de Coubertin and the Greek Challenge to the Early Olympic Movement

The aim of this paper is to examine the deeper processes that contributed to the incorporation of Hellenistic ideals and Anglo-Saxon values into the ideology of Olympism, especially at the end of the nineteenth century. It focuses on Baron Pierre de Coubertins ideas, motives and actions as expressed in his published articles and personal correspondence, principally on the grounds that ‘modern Olympism was conceived’ by him. 1 This commentary draws on a detailed analysis of a sample of 201 texts written by de Coubertin between 1894 and 1937. As evidenced in the documents that were analysed, an eclectic approach to Olympism may be interpreted not simply as a reflection of the admiration of de Coubertin for these sets of values, but rather more significantly as part of his discursive strategy to appeal to and gain the support of the governing body of the IOC and its adherents, as well as to safeguard the games from other influences.

The perceived importance of sport management competencies by academics and practitioners in the cultural/industrial context of Taiwan

The study of management competencies and their application in the field of sport management has an established tradition. It is only relatively recently however that concern to consider the culturally specific context of competency evaluation has developed in the mainstream management literature and little work has been developed in the sport management field to address cultural specificity in respect of competencies. In addition, the distinction between those competencies valued by sport management educators and by sport management practitioners is a relatively neglected topic. This study evaluates the perceptions of the critical competencies required of sport managers in Taiwan, developing and applying a locally based tool for evaluation of competencies in sport management, and in particular evaluates the differences between the perceptions of sport management academics and practitioners in Taiwan. The results of this study highlight cultural differences between the Taiwanese and other cultural contexts in terms of the perceived importance of particular competencies, and have implications for sport management professional development and training.

Between Globalization and Local 'Modernity': The Diffusion and Modernization of Football in Algeria

This article highlights the importance of football in Algeria as a cultural and political vehicle; a) during the colonial period as a mean of resisting western (colonial) hegemony; b) in the postcolonial era as an instrument mobilized by the FLN (National Liberation Front) state for political legitimation, and international representation of the Algerian socialist development project; and c), in the contemporary context, as part of the transition process towards a market economy. The article also discusses the relationship between football, the transition towards a market economy and the development of a multi-party polity that may be regarded as the most significant precursor to the promotion of the professionalization of football in Algeria. The study aims at synthesizing the history of modern sport in Algeria, particularly football, as part of a transformative, ‘glocal’ process which encompasses the response of Algerian society to the imposition of western modernity and other secular and non-secular ideologies (namely, socialism, populism, pan-Arabism, pan-Africanism, pan-Islamism, and western liberalism). This suggests, in line with the argument of Göle, that though modernity may develop transitionally, it does so in locally distinctive forms and thus (professional) sport in the Algerian context will mean something distinct from sport in other national / local contexts

Sport and Social Regulation in the City: The Cases of Grenoble and Sheffield

Abstract This article seeks to redress the dearth of comparative urban sports policy literature, undertaking an historical analysis of the development of sports policy in a French and a British city (Grenoble and Sheffield) from the late 1960s to the end of the century. Both of the cities, though very different in political, cultural and economic terms, have given considerable prominence to, and have significantly changed the nature of, local sports policy. The article employing an approach drawn from regulation theory identifies and explains similar trends evident in both cities. There is in both cases a “structured coherence” between the hardware (spectacular sporting facilities / events / sporting spectacle), organisational forms (commercialised, de-bureaucratised operations) and the dominant sets of social relations (increasingly market relations) which characterise their emergent sports policy systems and which systematically privilege market over social interests, reflecting post-Fordist policy goals despite very different political, institutional and structural contexts.

Sport, policy and European Union: the post-Maastricht agenda.

The Treaty on European Union marked the process of establishing the social and political prerequisites for a successful economic union in Europe. Incorporated within the Treaty was a recognition of the EUs role in aspects of leisure policy, specifically tourism and culture. There has been a movement on the part of certain sporting bodies to lobby EU institutions to consider the addition of sport as one of the EUs areas of competence in the revisions of the Treaty under consideration in 1997. This paper outlines the nature of this lobbying process, the parties involved and their respective positions, and seeks to clarify the strategic relations which exist in this policy field.