Sport and Communities

Over the past three decades there has been widespread commitment to an understanding that sport can play a key role in community development. The role of sport within communities has been promoted with a wide range of goals such as environmental considerations, encouragement of civic pride, enhancement of confidence and self-esteem and development of social cohesion as well as the fostering of a fit and healthy workforce. To address these issues, a number of programmes have been funded and supported to develop the role of sport in communities worldwide and to increase participation and access to sport and physical activities in rural areas. In addition we are witnessing the development of new sports communities through social media such as Facebook and My Space. The concern is that we need to revisit the concept of 'community and sport' and to investigate the current understanding of these terms in view of the evolving role of sport in a range of national settings. This book will present the platform upon which this process can be undertaken and offers a fundamental re-evaluation of the relationship that currently exists between sport and communities throughout selected parts of the world. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Allan Edwards is a Faculty member of Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Australia and researcher in the Centre for Tourism, Sport and Service Innovation. He is the author of four books, the most recent of which is Qualitative Research Methods in Sport Management (BH/Elsevier, London, 2009). He has extensive sport industry management experience and has conducted research and consultancy for community, national and international sport agencies as well as government authorities. David Hassan is the current Deputy Executive Academic Editor of Sport in Society, an international, peer-reviewed journal published by Taylor and Francis Ltd. (an imprint of Routledge). In December 2006 he was presented with the Award of Distinguished Research Fellowship by the University of Ulster in recognition of his outstanding contribution to research during his short time at Ulster. Dr Hassan's research expertise concerns the relationship between sport and national identity, the politics of sport and sport governance. He is also a Visiting Scholar with the International Research Institute (UCLAN).

1. Sport and communities: an introduction 2. Sport, community involvement and social support 3. How do youth sports facilitate the creation of parental social ties? 4. Working together through sport? Local authority provision for ethnic minorities in the UK 5. What does commitment mean to volunteers in youth sport organizations? 6. The mobilizing effects and health benefits of proximity sport facilities: urban andvenvironmental analysis of the Bleu, Blanc, Bouge project and Montreal North's outdoor rink 7. Sport and community integration in Northern Ireland 8. Women's toplessness on the Red Mile, Calgary, May - June 2004 9. Volunteer roles, involvement and commitment in voluntary sport organizations: evidence of core and peripheral volunteers 10. Epilogue: the not-so-hidden complexity of the sport-community connection