The fact that people today are retiring earlier than before plays quite a vital role in participation in sport. Retiring earlier leaves people with a lot more free time as they no longer have a job to go to. These people may decide to take up an activity to pass time or they might even develop an interest in a particular sport in which they can participate in by spectating. A proportion of retired workers might feel that they would benefit from taking part in a sporting activity to keep themselves fit. This would probably apply more to people who used to work in a physically demanding job.
Money is definitely a prime factor when it comes to levels of participation in sport. Generally, families with higher incomes are presented with more opportunities than those who are less fortunate. However, that does not mean that they always take advantage of these opportunities. Money is nearly always needed to pay for the cost of travelling, the cost of hiring facilities or paying to join a club or centre aswell as essential equipment such as kit. For the younger generation of people, the factor that may be holding them back from participating in sport is their parents’ ability and willingness to pay for them to partake in a sporting activity. A similar scenario is presented with adults because often, they cannot afford the high prices that some organizations are charging.
Viewing a sport is also involved when talking about sport participation. The average cost of a football ticket for a premiership club is about £20. Although stands at football games are almost always full, there are a lot of people who would love to get involved in football by attending their chosen teams’ fixtures, yet they cannot because they are not able to afford the prices. This is quite a major issue that prevents peoples’ participation.
Money situations can also be linked to transport. Unless the facility people wish to use or visit is within walking distance, they will have to pay to get there, whether that is on public transport (buses, taxis) which can be very expensive, or their own car which will need petrol for the journey. Both methods of transport involve a payment of some kind which often puts people off participating if they do not have a lot of money. Also, public transport today is not very reliable. Buses rarely arrive at a destination at the time they were scheduled to. This lack of reliability adds to peoples’ doubts and negativity when they are making decisions as to whether they should participate in sport or not.
Physical education is another one of the social influences that effect participation. There have been several changes in education as a whole over the last ten years, which has had an effect on physical education in schools. Teachers try to involve as many children as possible in P.E lessons in schools and let them explore a wide variety of sports. In some schools, physical education lessons are compulsory as it is seen as an extremely useful and important subject. As Sir Steve Redgrave once said:
“If it wasn’t for my school coach, I would never have heard of rowing. I’d have been a rugby player” (Beashal, Sibson, Taylor, 2001 p: 225)
This shows how much of an effect physical education has on peoples’ participation in sport, as Sir Steve Redgrave has been so successful and he feels that it is all due to his physical education. It raises people’s awareness of different sporting activities in which they can involve themselves in and that are actually available to them. Without physical education, a lot of people (taking Sir Steve Redgrave as an example) would not be aware of several sports that they can participate in.
Culture is another aspect within our society that puts barriers on level of involvement in sport. Due to peoples’ beliefs within their religion, some women, for example, may not be able to take part in certain sporting activities if the sessions are mixed. Swimming is a good example of this as many Muslim women will not show their legs to males. As a result, a lot of Muslim women exclude this from a list of sports they can participate in. However, several swimming pools offer women only swimming sessions. The only problem is that it is not publicized enough, as not many people are aware of it in their local area.
This brings me onto the topic of facilities. The owners of sporting facilities are split up into categories:
- Public sector – central government and local authorities
- Private sector – companies
- Voluntary sector – clubs and NGBs
Private sector organizations are generally more expensive to be a part of. This is a problem when it comes to participation levels as the number of private sector organizations has risen in recent years and has probably become the majority compared to public and voluntary sector organizations.
The facilities in the private sector often have set membership fees that are paid either monthly or annually. This could be inconvenient for members of the public because they may wish to participate but may not have a lot of free time, therefore an annually paid membership would be a waste of money.
Also, the facilities that are less expensive and can be paid for per session usually have less equipment and fewer activities to offer. Although the number of public sector organizations have not decreased in recent years, private sector organizations have increased in number and are too much competition for other companies.
The final thing that has an effect on participation levels in our society is media involvement. At an elite level in many sports, the participants’ lives are continually followed and analyzed by the media. This could be television, radio, newspapers (which regularly cause a lot of dispute) journals or magazines.
If the coverage by the media is positive then it does not cause a problem. However, the media tend to follow the lives of participants and cover stories about their personal life. This might discourage people who participate in sport to progress onto a higher level, as they do not wish to receive this type of coverage. The media frequently follows the relatives of professional sportsmen and women and comments on their actions. The family of the performers should not have their personal life interfered with as they are nothing to do with the sport. This could also have an effect on participants’ decisions as to whether they should progress onto a professional level in sport.
Also, participating in sport includes viewing it. The media are always publicizing the problems caused by spectators at a sporting venue (especially football) Football spectators for example have been stereotyped as hooligans. This could have an effect on peoples’ decision whether to participate in sport or not as they may be worried about going to watch a live football match, or any sporting activity which has got a bad reputation due to the media.
On the other hand, there is a positive side to the media in sport. It gives sporting participants the publicity they need to be made famous. They are often depicted as heroes and role models for younger generations.
All these factors can have a different effect on individual sports. Some may be more relevant than others, and some may not even apply. However, there are always social influences that effect participation in sport.
Bibliography
Beashel, P, Sibson, A, Taylor, J, (etal) (2001) The world of sport examined, 2nd edition
Nelson Thornes Cheltenham
