Abstract
Sport for All has been a major concern in sport policies in many European countries since the 1960s and 1970s. It continues to be on the agenda until today, even though the perspective has somewhat changed, as a growing emphasis on both health-enhancing physical activity and elite sport can be observed. In this chapter, we explore sport participation in Europe. We start off by discussing different representations of the organisation of sports in Europe. The so-called ‘church model’ is presented, which provides an alternative to the more traditional pyramid, but highly hierarchical representation of the ‘European sports model’. This first, conceptual section is followed by a presentation of empirical findings on sport participation in Europe. Analyses are based on the Eurobarometer, a large-scale repeated cross-sectional survey issued by the European Commission to inform policies, and conducted in all 28 member states of the European Union. The findings indicate that there are large differences in terms of sport participation throughout Europe. Both a geographical divide as well as a social divide can be observed. The chapter ends with a discussion of the findings that explores what brings about the identified differences. The large variety in terms of sport policy, organisation and provision within Europe, and the influence of societal values and cultural preferences outside the realm of sport are key explanatory factors. It is concluded that sport remains the outcome of processes of social differentiation and social inequality.
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Notes
- 1.
The subsidiarity principle lays down that matters ought to be handled by the lowest possible political and/or administrative level and as close to the citizens as possible. Consequently, sport used to be dominated by voluntary sport associations.
- 2.
At the end of the 1990s, the European Commission (1999) introduced the so-called European sport model, suggesting that common characteristics could be discerned regarding the structuration of sport in Europe, regardless of the cross-national diversity of sport practices and systems. It is remarkable, however, that only a couple of years later, the European Commission (CEC 2007: 12) in its White Paper on Sport no longer referred to the concept of the European sport model, as a single model of sport seemed to be ‘unrealistic’.
- 3.
In order to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and information about sport participation and sport governance cross-nationally, a research network called ‘MEASURE’ was initiated in 2010 by researchers from the University of Leuven and the Mulier Institute (Breedveld and Scheerder 2011; Scheerder et al. 2011a, b). MEASURE stands for Meeting for European Sport Participation and Sport Culture Research (see www.measuresport.eu/news).
- 4.
There were no data for Sweden in this study.
- 5.
Croatia entered the European Union in 2013. To ensure comparability, Croatia is excluded from our calculations for 2013 here as well.
- 6.
Bulgaria and Romania entered the European Union in 2007. Croatia did so in 2013. Consequently, these three countries were not included in the study of Hartmann-Tews (2006), as data from the Eurobarometer survey of 2004 have been used in that analysis.
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Scheerder, J., Vandermeerschen, H., Breedveld, K. (2018). Diversity in Participation Reigns, Policy Challenges Ahead: Sport for All (Ages) from a European Perspective. In: Dionigi, R., Gard, M. (eds) Sport and Physical Activity across the Lifespan. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48562-5_3
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