Abstract
Flanders (Belgium) has a long history of organising sports in a club-organised context. From the 1970s onwards, Flanders counts as one of the European pioneers of implementing Sport for All initiatives in order to facilitate active participation in sports. Crucial for the potential social-integrating and health-enhancing role of sports and physical activity is the number of volunteers sports clubs can invoke. This chapter provides insight into the structure and culture of Flemish sports clubs by discussing their development, organisation and management, as well as attitudes regarding social inclusion and volunteering. The results show that – compared to other countries – Flemish sports clubs are large in number and small in size, that they face few problems upon recruiting and/or retaining volunteers, and that they are seen as an important setting for social activities. With regard to social integration we can state, based on the findings, that target groups are reached at least to a certain extent, albeit mainly by ethnically homogeneous clubs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Borgers, J., Seghers, J., & Scheerder, J. (2016). Dropping out from clubs, dropping in to sport light? Organizational settings for youth sports participation. In K. Green & A. Smith (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of youth sport (Routledge International Handbooks, pp. 158–174). London: Routledge.
Breuer, C., Feiler, S., Llopis-Goig, R., Elmose-Østerlund, K., Bürgi, R., Claes, E., et al. (2017). Characteristics of European sports clubs. A comparison of the structure, management, voluntary work and social integration among sports clubs across ten European countries. Odense: University of Southern Denmark.
Claes, E., Scheerder, J., Meganck, J., Vandermeerschen, H., Vos, S., & Seghers, J. (2017a). Barometer van de sportclubs in Vlaanderen. Het Vlaamse Sportclub Panel 3.0 (VSP3.0): Clubprofiel, sportaanbod en gezondheidspromotie (Deel 2) [Barometer of the sports clubs in Flanders. The Flemish Sports Clubs Panel 3.0 (VSP3.0): Club profile, sports supply and health promotion (Part 2)] (Sports Policy & Management Studies 35). Leuven: KU Leuven.
Claes, E., Scheerder, J., Meganck, J., Vandermeerschen, H., Vos, S., & Seghers, J. (2017b). Barometer van de sportclubs in Vlaanderen. Het Vlaamse Sportclub Panel 3.0 (VSP3.0): Ledenprofiel, medewerkersprofiel en financiële situatie (Deel 3) [Barometer of the sports clubs in Flanders. The Flemish Sports Clubs Panel 3.0 (VSP3.0): Profile of the members and employees and financial situation (Part 3)] (Sports Policy & Management Studies 36). Leuven: KU Leuven.
Eurostat. (2015). Employment of disabled people. Statistical analysis of the 2011 Labour Force Survey and ad hoc module. Luxembourg: European Union.
Lievens, J., & Waege, H. (2011). Participatie in Vlaanderen. 1. Basisgegevens van de participatiesurvey 2009 [Participation in Flanders. 1. Descriptive statistics of the participation aurvey 2009]. Leuven: Acco.
Meganck, J., Seghers, J., & Scheerder, J. (2017). Exploring strategies to improve the health promotion orientation of Flemish sports clubs. Health Promotion International, 32(4), 681–690. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daw004.
Nassen, D. (2018). Van secretaris naar algemeen directeur. De belangrijkste nieuwigheden voor sport in het Decreet Lokaal Bestuur [From secretary to general manager. The most important new developments in the decree for sport in the local government]. Vlaams Tijdschrift voor Sportbeheer, 264, 44–47.
Renson, R. (1976). The Flemisch [sic!] archery gilds. From defense mechanisms to sports institution. In R. Renson, P.-P. De Nayer, & M. Ostyn (Eds.), The history, the evolution and diffusion of sports and games in different cultures. Proceedings of the 4th international HISPA seminar, Leuven, Belgium, April 1–5, 1975 (pp. 135–159). BLOSO: Brussels.
Scheerder, J., & Vos, S. (2011). Social stratification in adults’ sports participation from a time-trend perspective. Results from a 40-year household study. European Journal for Sport and Society, 8(1–2), 31–44.
Scheerder, J., & Vos, S. (2013). Belgium: Flanders. In K. Hallmann & K. Petry (Eds.), Comparative sport development. Systems, participation and public policy (Sport Social Studies 8, pp. 7–21). New York: Springer.
Scheerder, J., Breesch, D., Pabian, S., & Vos, S. (2010). Balanceren in een grijze zone. Een verkennende studie van de semi-agorale arbeid in de sport [Balancing on the edge. An explorative study on semi-agoral labour in sports]. Leuven: KU Leuven.
Scheerder, J., Zintz, T., & Delheye, P. (2011). The organisation of sports in Belgium. Between public, economic and social profit. In C. Sobry (Ed.), Sports governance in the world: A socio-historic approach. The organization of sport in Europe: A patchwork of institutions, with few shared points (pp. 84–113). Paris: Le Manuscrit.
Scheerder, J., Thibaut, E., Pauwels, G., Vandermeerschen, H., Winand, M., & Vos, S. (2012). Sport in clubverband (Deel 2). Uitdagingen voor de clubgeorganiseerde sport [Sports in a club context (Part 2). Challenges for the club organised sports] (Sports Policy & Management Studies 9). Leuven: KU Leuven.
Scheerder, J., Vandermeerschen, H., Borgers, J., Thibaut, E., & Vos, S. (2013). Vlaanderen sport! Vier decennia sportbeleid en sportparticipatie [Flanders sports! Four decades of sports policy and sports participation] (Social Scientific Research on Exercise and Sport 5). Gent: Academia Press.
Scheerder, J., Borgers, J., & Willem, A. (2015a). Sportdeelname in Vlaanderen. Trends en profielen [Sports participation in Flanders. Trends and profiles]. In J. Lievens, J. Siongers, & H. Waege (Eds.), Participatie in Vlaanderen. 2. Eerste analyses van de participatiesurvey 2014 [Participation in Flanders. 2. First analyses of the participation survey 2014.] (pp. 209–249). Leuven: Acco.
Scheerder, J., Vandermeerschen, H., Meganck, J., Seghers, J., & Vos, S. (2015b). Sport clubs in Belgium. In C. Breuer, R. Hoekman, S. Nagel, & H. van der Werff (Eds.), Sport clubs in Europe. A cross-national comparative perspective (Sport Economics, Management and Policy 12, pp. 47–67). Cham: Springer.
Smits, W., Lievens, J., & Scheerder, J. (2015). De vrijetijdsagenda van 2014. Het combineren van activiteiten uit diverse domeinen [The leisure agenda of 2014. Combining activities from various domains]. In J. Lievens, J. Siongers, & H. Waege (Eds.), Participatie in Vlaanderen. 2. Eerste analyses van de participatiesurvey 2014 [Participation in Flanders. 2. First analyses of the participation survey 2014] (pp. 454–473). Leuven: Acco.
Theeboom, M., Scheerder, J., Willem, A., Nols, Z., Wittock, H., De Martelaer, K., et al. (2015). Sport en fysieke activiteit [Sport and physical activity]. In J. Lievens, J. Siongers, & H. Waege (Eds.), Participatie in Vlaanderen. 1. Basisgegevens van de participatiesurvey 2014 [Participation in Flanders. 1. Descriptive statistics of the participation survey 2014] (pp. 197–249). Leuven: Acco.
Thibaut, E., & Scheerder, J. (2018). Flanders (Belgium). In K. Hallmann & S. Fairley (Eds.), Sports volunteers around the globe. Meaning and understanding of volunteering and its societal impact (Sports Economics, Management & Policy 15). Cham: Springer.
Tjønndal, A. (2017). ‘I don’t think they realise how good we are’: Innovation, inclusion and exclusion in women’s Olympic boxing. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 54(2), 131–150.
Tjønndal, A. (2018). Sport innovation: Developing a typology. European Journal for Sport and Society, 14(4), 291–310.
van der Roest, J., van der Werff, H., Elmose-Østerlund, K., Albrecht, J., Breuer, C., Claes, E., et al. (2017). Involvement and commitment of members and volunteers in European sports clubs. In A comparison of the affiliation, voluntary work, social integration and characteristics of members and volunteers in sports clubs across ten European countries. Odense: University of Southern Denmark.
van Poppel, M., Claes, E., & Scheerder, J. (2018). Sport policy in Flanders (Belgium). International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 10(2), 271–285.
Van Tuyckom, C., & Scheerder, J. (2010). Sport for all? Insight into stratification and compensation mechanisms of sporting activity in the 27 European Union member states. Sport, Education and Society, 15(4), 495–512.
Vos, S., Breesch, D., Késenne, S., Lagae, W., Van Hoecke, J., Vanreusel, B., & Scheerder, J. (2012a). The value of human resources in non-public sports providers: The importance of volunteers in non-profit sports clubs versus professionals in for-profit fitness and health clubs. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 11(1+2), 3–25.
Vos, S., Breesch, D., & Scheerder, J. (2012b). Undeclared work in non-profit sports clubs: A mixed method approach for assessing the size and motives. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 23(4), 846–869.
Wicker, P., & Breuer, C. (2010). Analysis of problems using Data Mining techniques. Findings from sports clubs in Germany. European Journal for Sport and Society, 7(2), 131–140.
Wicker, P., Breuer, C., Lamprecht, M., & Fischer, A. (2014). Does club size matter? An examination of economies of scale, economies of scope, and organizational problems. Journal of Sport Management, 28(3), 266–280.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Corthouts, J., Verschueren, B., Claes, E., Scheerder, J. (2020). Belgium/Flanders: The Evolution of Flemish Sports Clubs as the Cornerstone of Society from Past to Present to Future. In: Nagel, S., Elmose-Østerlund, K., Ibsen, B., Scheerder, J. (eds) Functions of Sports Clubs in European Societies . Sports Economics, Management and Policy, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48535-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48535-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-48534-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-48535-1
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)