In areas of social and economic deprivation such as Merseyside, many local people do not have the disposable income to participate in sports such as athletics. The cost of equipment and membership to a club has to be paid.
In an affluent community where an individual works fulltime, finding time for sport is low on the priority list.
In some local communities, transport to and from the sports centres can be difficult. Provision of transport by local government is needed to gain access to the sports centres. In major cities such as Liverpool there are fairly extensive bus and rail networks and so should limit the numbers of people who view transport as a barrier to participation.
The lack of successful role models is a problem. As a country, relatively little success on the track and especially on the field has been gained. There are also very few successful role models in English athletics. Limford Christy and Steve Backley are probably the most recognised track and field stars of the English team but there are only a few more athletes with such high a profile. Paula Radcliff, Tessa Sanderson and Denise Lewis to name three.
Many people have stereotypical and sexist views about athletics, which also limits participation. A century ago women were told that they could not participate in sports because it was detrimental to their health. Some men even claimed that women’s wombs would fall out it they participated in excessive physical activity. It is only since the 1980’s, that women have equal rights as men to participate, mainly due to the women’s movement, which started in the 1960s and the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975. A more recent policy, the Brighton Declaration 1994, enables equal opportunities for female participants. This internationally devised policy allows the full involvement of females in every aspect of sport.
Other barriers to participation are religion and race. Since the Race Relations Act of 1976 all members of society should be able to participate in sport without any discrimination or prejudice. This can also be a key factor in participation since racism still occurs in sport. Football is a key example here with the ‘kick it out campaign’ and the ‘show racism the red card’ campaign of the 1990’s. However, some families may feel it is inappropriate to participate on their Sabbath day, such as Christians playing Sunday league football. Religion may also stipulate their dress code and so this may hinder performance. The individual may become de-motivated and not even participate.
An example of this could be Hindu women in their Saris (long dresses) would find it nearly impossible to be competitive in the 100meter hurdles. This would be a hard area to combat lack of participation because it would be extremely difficult to change people’s religions.
Alternative measures could be offered such as offering ‘women only’ days so that Hindu women could participate in shorts and a T-shirt without the fear of Hindu men seeing their bare flesh. This has to be community specific ensuring that the policy designed must be done for each separate community.
Since 1995 when the Disability Discrimination Act was introduced, all sports facilities must provide access for disabled people. This has enabled disabled people the opportunity to participate in physical activity but has not broken down other barriers such as transport to and from the venue, stereotypical views, and prejudice, from other members of the community.
All these factors have resulted in limited participation in athletics.
Policy setting needs to follow a staged process. This could be as follows:
- Agenda setting
- Issue filtration
- Issue definition
- Forecasting
- Setting objectives and priorities
- Options analysis
- Policy implementation, monitoring and control
- Evaluation and review
- Policy maintenance, succession or termination
(Hogwood and Gunn 1984)
Agenda Setting:
Devising a SMART action plan will improve the participation within all sports. Problems at this stage are that the main focus will change with time. Constant re-evaluation is needed which is both time consuming and costly. Also what sports must be the priority? And which members of the community are the priority?
Issue Filtration:
This can be established through interviewing, surveying, questioning and devising community meetings with members of the community to establish the needs of the community.
However, these all have drawbacks. Interviews, surveys and questionnaires are all subject to socially desirable answers, and at community meetings generally people attend to complain and not to praise the current situation. This leads to inaccurate sports development for that specific community.
Issue Definition:
This could be using the funding from the National Lottery to enable sports to be part of the social inclusion agenda. This then reduces costs in other Government agencies such as for crime, health and education. The National Lottery may not be able to provide enough funding for the desired developments so other funding may also be required. Another problem is the funding allocation. Which community should get the most funding and why? This has to be devised equally and fairly to avoid community disputes.
Forecasting:
There are many barriers to participation, which need to be addressed. If the barriers mentioned above can be overcome then increased participation of the local community is expected. If not, a re-evaluation of the policy is required with new strategies being constructed.
The Policy Making Cycle:
Problem
Evaluation Problem Definition
Identifying Response
Implementation Evaluation of Options
Selection of
Policy Options
(Hylton et al 2001)
This model is a good example of policy making because it is constantly evolving and identifying problems and attempting to rectify them. The problem with the model is identifying what is a problem, and how serious does it have to be? This will have to be done prior to the implementation of the policy.
Setting Objectives and Priorities:
The main objective is to breakdown barriers to participation. This will result in increased participation in athletics. The priority is to overcome as many of the barriers to participation as possible, and to increase participation in all populations of the community. However, some barriers are hard to overcome without introducing other problems. A compromise to suit the majority has to be drawn up.
Policy Implementation, Monitoring and Control:
Once a specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound policy has been devised, the Government or the governing bodies of the sport can implement the change. After an introductory period expires, a review of the successes of the new policy is needed. The aims of the policy can then be reassessed and change can be implemented if necessary. Regular measurement for success of the policy needs to be constructed prior to the implementation of the policy and must be carried out on a regular basis to check the success rate of that policy. A problem here is that people need to be employed to monitor and control the policy. This will cost the community, and do they have the spare resources?
Evaluation and Review:
Is the policy successful? Has it achieved its main priority of increasing participation? An increase in the number of gate receipts at the local leisure centre will show more participation. Questionnaires and interviews of the public can be used. However, this method may produce socially desirable answers, so gate receipts are more appropriate. At any time during the policy implementation changes can be made in order to increase participation.
An example of a policy being implemented from the DCMS (2000) is the five-part plan to increase participation in the young:
- Rebuild school sports facilities spending £150m in primary school sports. The National Lottery will allocate 20% of its funding to youth sport.
- Create 110 specialist sports colleges by 2003 to increase standards.
- Extend opportunities beyond the school day. The government will allocate £240m to this cause.
- Establish 600 sports co-ordinators in communities of greatest need. This will provide opportunities for the youth.
- Ensure that our most talented 14-18 year olds have access to coaching and support.
` (DCMS ‘A Sporting Future for All’ 2000)
Another policy for the DCMS aims: “to ensure that every member of our society is offered opportunity and encouragement to play, lead and manage sport.”
Although the community are offered the opportunity to participate they may simply not want to participate. These individuals need to be educated about the benefit of sports participation both for their health and for socialising.
Development of Athletics within the community:
Many initiatives could be used to develop the sport. The first aim would to be to develop the profile of athletics and to convince the public to visit the local facilities. Posters, leaflets and local radio could be used to try and encourage people to develop interest and to visit the sports centre.
The local sport centres could also run half price entry days, which would be advertised on the posters, leaflets and on the radio. This promotion would then introduce new participants to athletics.
This promotion would also show the community what facilities are available to them, and the wide variety of events available in athletics. Other initiatives like allowing local schools to use the facilities at a relatively small charge on certain days of the week are possible. This would develop young people’s interests in athletics. Professional coaches and high profile athletes could also be used at the local sport centres to train the children who come in with the schools. An evening where local people have the chance to participate under instruction of professionals could be arranged.
Funding:
Numerous applications to the National Lottery will be made to improve the facilities and to pay for the expert coaches. Although athletics has received over £164 million from the lottery in previous years more money will still be very beneficial for athletics. ‘The existence of the National Lottery has transformed forever the prospects for British sport,’ (John Major 1995). Other funding can be gained from sponsorship, the New Opportunities Fund and other government agencies.
Sports centres in the public sector are subsidised by council taxes hence entrée fees will be a lot cheaper. Applications to wealthy local companies can also be made to sponsor the sports centre or any events held there.
Other sources of funding can come from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), which is for urban regeneration and sports complex’s can benefit from this.
The DCMS will allocate funding to certain organisations if they meet criteria. They must provide a clear strategy for participation and excellence, and, commit themselves to emphasising social inclusion and fairness.
Other sources of funding can come from the exchequer, the DfES, partnerships and commercialisation such as TV coverage. The DCMS has stated that 5-10% of TV revenue must be put back into grass roots sports.
The application for a National Lottery bid always faces competition. This therefore should not be relied upon as a definite source of income and other methods should be used. If the National Lottery commissions a grant, then improvements to the existing facilities and equipment can be made. However, the lottery will only match whatever value the facility raises.
Schools have resorted to the sale of land to raise money and so Sport England put a stop to this in 1999 after 807 applications by schools were made to sell land. Only 6 of these were successful, (DCMS 2000).
Athletics can offer such a wide verity of events that there is usually something for everyone, including throwing, jumping, sprinting and long distance running. Participants do not have to be expert they just have to enjoy athletics and participate regularly for a healthy lifestyle. If you can encourage ‘sport for all’ from an early age, then the individual is more likely to participate into adulthood.
Problems to Overcome:
It would nearly be impossible or far too expensive to overcome all the barriers to participation. However, many barriers maybe overcome quickly with limited funds.
It is important that the local community recognise what is being done and why. To help develop the community sports wise, a questionnaire to the local people would be extremely helpful. The local community must therefore acknowledge that the work is for their benefit and will contribute and fill out the questionnaire. However, a small minority of the community may not be as helpful.
Facility managers may resist proposals like half price entry fees. They may also resist if ‘fun days’ are suggested as extra equipment may have to be purchased. Managers may oppose schools using the facilities whilst members of the public are around. This would all have to be discussed with the manager prior to the campaign and a suitable agreement must be made. So inclusion for all may have to be structured so that clashes between groups such as youths and the elderly do not exist. This can be done by offering the elderly extra discount during the school term between the hours of 9-3.
Athletics has received over £160m from the National Lottery. Development should be across all four levels of the sports development continuum. However, not all communities have benefited from the National Lottery.
It is well publicised that the south east of the country has had the most Lottery funding and yet this is the wealthiest part of the country. More money needs to be put into the participation and foundation level of the sports development continuum if the nation is to become ‘more active.’
Conclusion:
The main constraint to improving the facilities is money. If this can be overcome by, sponsors, the New Opportunities Fund or the National Lottery, improvements to local facilities can be made. These improvements should then attract more people to their local facility for sports participation.
Sport provides many benefits. In Britain we have become the most obese nation in Europe. We spend more money on health cures, education and crime compared to other public sectors. Attracting participants to activity is needed otherwise taxation will have to keep on increasing. Sport has been recognised to reduce the costs in these other areas and so is vital for all members of the community.
Reference List
BOOKS
- DCMS (2000) A Sporting Future for All. DCMS, London
- Houlihan, B. (1997) Sport, Policy and Politics. Routledge, London.
Hylton, K., Branham, P., Jackson, D., and Nesti, M. (2001) Sports Development: Policy, ,Process and Practice. Routledge, London.
Jones et al. (1994) Cited in: Hylton, K., Branham, P., Jackson, D., and Nesti, M. (2001) Sports Development: Policy, ,Process and Practice. Routledge, London.
LeGrand. (1991) Cited in: Hylton, K., Branham, P., Jackson, D., and Nesti, M. (2001) Sports Development: Policy, ,Process and Practice. Routledge, London.
ELECTRONIC SOURCES
-
Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (2004) online at:
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Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (2004): Why a Social Inclusion Policy.
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Doherty, A. (2004) Social Inclusion: Sport for the Under Represented. Online at:
-
Donnelly, P. (2004) The Role of Recreation in Promoting Social Inclusion.
- Sport England online at: www.sportengland.org.uk
Appendix
FIVE YEAR ACTION PLAN
Targets for first year:
- Ensure the government has a fully dependable transportation system.
- Question the local community to find out what sports they want to see in their sports centre and anything that they feel is hindering their participation.
- Review after nine months to see if any change in revenue.
Targets for second year:
- Begin implementation of the half price entrance on one specific day.
- Inform all the local school by telephone that they can pay to use the facilities on allocated time slots at a subsidised rate.
- Review again half way through the year to see if any slight modifications are needed for next year.
Targets for third year:
- Implement any changes necessary.
- Introduce the sports and the facilities wanted in response to the first year’s questionnaire. Try to overcome as many of the barriers to participation as found in the questionnaire.
- Introduce fun days in an attempt to incorporate youth participation.
- Begin a poster, leaflet and radio advertisement for the sport centre.
Targets for fourth year:
- Review the success so far and if needed modify the campaign to suit the needs of the local community.
Targets for fifth year:
- Maintain participation ‘for all’ by if necessary modifying the campaign to the needs of the community.
