Despite several decades of Sport for All policies, opportunities for sports participation are still unequally divided, with certain socially disadvantaged groups having less access to sports. To reduce this gap, structural efforts are needed. A question that arises is what role nonprofit sports clubs can fulfill in this matter. In this study, first, it is explored how nonprofit sports clubs perceive their role and responsibility towards socially disadvantaged groups and how they act on it. Second, it is investigated which factors predict the presence or absence of efforts from nonprofit sports clubs for lowering barriers. For this second question, we focus on people living in poverty. Data are based on a survey among 580 nonprofit sports clubs throughout Flanders (Belgium). The findings indicate that the human resources capacity of the club is not the main barrier. It is argued that local sports authorities and sports federations have an important part to play in supporting and encouraging sports clubs in terms of social inclusionary policies, for example by instilling awareness.
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This article addresses the resource dependencies of voluntary sports club in two Rhineland welfare states with differences in their organizational arrangements of sports (e.g. the centralization of the Sport for All policy). On the basis of the VOCASPORT typology of sports policy systems and the resource dependence theory the composition of the revenues of non-profit sports clubs in Flanders (Belgium) and Germany is analysed and related to organizational contingency factors as well as similarities and differences in the sports policy systems. Data are used from the Flemish and the German panel survey of non-profit sports clubs. The results show that Flemish and German sports clubs differ regarding size, year of foundation and offered sports, but are very similar with regard to their financial structure. Both Flemish and German sports clubs strongly depend on third sector income, regardless of organizational factors. No remarkable differences were found with regard to the dependency on state income. The results suggest that sports clubs in the selected Rhineland welfare states, regardless of the organizational arrangement of the sports system they operate in, depend on third sector resources and have considerable decision-making autonomy.
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Conference abstract and presentation of research to voluntary sports clubs and virtual community building through social networking sites.
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The Sport Empowers Disabled Youth 2 (SEDY2) project encourages inclusion and equal opportunities in sport for youth with a disability by raising their sports and exercise participation in inclusive settings. The SEDY2 Inclusion Handbook is aimed at anybody involved in running or working in a sport club, such as a volunteer, a coach, or a club member. The goal of the handbook is to facilitate disability inclusion among mainstream sport providers by sharing SEDY2 project partners’ best practices and inclusive ideas.
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Virtual communities are online spaces with potential of integration of (member-generated) content and conversations [7,8]. In our research project we are interested in the adoption and building of virtual communities in organized sports, that is to say in the voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) in the Netherlands. Since these VSCs have massively transferred their communication with members from paper club magazines to online channels, these virtual communities arise from the use of a growing number of websites, e-mail and social network sites (SNSs). Although virtual communities are broadly investigated, such as social communities, brand communities, and public communities, there is little scholarly interest in virtual communities of member organizations that VSCs are an example of. The study that is to be presented at SECSI 2019 concerns the clubs’ use of SNSs (ClubSNSs), such as Facebook and Twitter, within the virtual communities. These SNSs are increasingly used by the VSCs to facilitate organizational communication and to obtain a good internal climate [9]. However, academic understanding of the impact of ClubSNSs’ content and conversations on the organizational performance of the VSC is in its infancy. In our study, we examined this impact of ClubSNSs use on the involvement among members and whether we can explain this by members’ identification with the club. Furthermore, we have tried to categorize ClubSNSs by content types, such as informative, conversational or sociable ClubSNSs, and their role in stimulating the use of ClubSNSs. In this way we attempted to gain insight into the effect of types of ClubSNSs’ content and conversations on membership involvement and the mediating role of identification with the club. This insight can help VSCs to develop effective ClubSNS channels that contribute to organizational goals such as supportive and loyal membership.
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Research to indicators to build a typology of virtual communities in organized sports.
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Sports constitute a basis of fun for many (young) people and can contribute to important social developments. Sport can also yield opposite results:: arrogance, bullying, (sexual) intimidation, discrimination. Effects are largely influenced by the context of (youth) sport participation. In facing the reality of organized sport, creating a safe and pedagogical environment is not a priori inherent in sports. Many sports associations and clubs still primarily and too often focus on issues like schedules, organizing training and competitions, being financially sound and ensuring the continuity of their organizations. Specific policies for the prevention of harassment and abuse in sport hardly ever reach a local level. Experts speak of an implementation issue. In search for innovative approaches, Positive Behavior Support (PBS) was also introduced in the sport context. In this article, the preliminary evaluation of first experiences with PBS in local sport clubs (which are mostly run by volunteers) is described on the basis of seven insights. Conclusions can be drawn that PBS can be a guiding principal in sport clubs with organizational strength, although it needs specific translation within the context of sport. Further research is required to determine those significant adjustments.
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Considering wider societal developments that reflect a demand for personalised services, this study aims to uncover the relationship between the perceived need for change by voluntary sports clubs (VSCs), their adoption of innovative services to promote flexibility of sports participation (also referred to as ‘light’ sports initiatives) and their organisational growth (in terms of membership evolution). Simultaneously, the impact of key organisational capacity (OC) determinants on each of the aforementioned variables is taken into account. In this study, VSCs in Flanders (Belgium) are examined utilising three (generalised) linear mixed model analyses on longitudinal panel data from 2012, 2015 and 2018. The results show a positive relationship between the need for change on the one hand and the adoption of ‘light’ sports initiatives and organisational growth on the other hand, whilst adopting ‘light’ sports initiatives as types of service innovations do not necessarily lead to organisational growth. The results of this study offer implications for the management and policy of VSCs to cater to shifting member demands. This study serves as a stepping-stone for further research to investigate other types of innovation on organisational change and growth.
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Local governments, traditionally an important partner of voluntary sport clubs in the Netherlands, are increasingly influencing clubs into involvement in social projects and activities. Although it is not clear what contribution sports clubs can play in this social policy agenda, or whether this agenda carries dangers of undermining the nature and strengths of these clubs (Coalter, 2007), more and more clubs in the Netherlands try to adapt to these demands. Sport clubs are no simple implementers of local social policy, they need autonomy to translate social activities to the local context and specific characteristics of the club to be successful (Skille, 2008). The aim of this study is to gain insight in the opinions of sport club members towards this upcoming social responsibility.
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In the present chapter a status quaestionis of club-organised sport in Flanders/Belgium is presented. More precisely, the most recent and relevant data will be discussed. First, we describe the historical and societal context of sport clubs in Flanders/Belgium. Second, attention is given to the role and the position of sport clubs. Time-trend and cross-sectional data are used to give more insight on this. Third, the main features of sport clubs are presented. Here, we successively focus on the sport clubs’ structural characteristics, their sport provision, their members, their volunteers, their financial situation and the role that sport clubs see for themselves. The fourth section deals with a specific topic, in this way that we provide some data with regard to the question whether sport clubs can be considered as health promoters.
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