International development or white man's burden? The IAAF's Regional Development Centres and regional sporting assistance

Abstract

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is the governing body for international track and field athletics. It spends around 25% of its budget ‘developing’ athletics through its Regional Development Centres (RDCs) that service the Third World. We argue that the IAAF is engaging in classic Western development rhetoric, epitomized by neo-liberal modernization theories of development. Embedded in the IAAF's ‘good work’ are less worthy aims, including guaranteeing the supply of athletes to the West, the development and maintenance of associated television coverage of the sport, and the creation of spaces for transnational companies, through rights and sponsorship, to penetrate Third World markets. Further, athletic success is tied to wealth, and the IAAF programmes offer little offset to the immense disadvantage that the developing world experiences. The IAAF is endeavouring to construct a singular, culturally homogenized sport by imposing its systems. This article opens the academic debate on the IAAF by critically exploring the role it plays in ‘developing’ athletics for sponsors and audiences in Third World countries.

Notes

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² Koppell, ‘Global Governance Organizations’.

³ Forster, ‘Global Sports Organisations and Their Governance’.

⁴ Wangemann and Glad, IAAF Development Cooperation, 39.

⁵ See, for example, Beutler, ‘Sport Serving Development’; Black ‘The Ambiguities of Development’.

⁶ iaaf.org, ‘Development’.

⁷ We consciously use the term ‘Third World’, despite critiques against it; Third World captures both the historical and political reality of development without the obfuscations of neo-liberalized ‘politically correct’ dialogue. See, for example, Handelman, The Challenge of Third World Developmet and Greig, Hulme, and Turner, Challenging Global Inequality. It also meshes with the sporting discourse of winners and losers.

⁸ Koppell, ‘Global Governance Organizations’, 184.

⁹ Wangemann and Glad, IAAF Development Cooperation, 6.

¹⁰ Olympic.org, ‘Local Socio-economic Development’.

¹¹ Coolrunning.com, ‘Highlights of IAAF Council Meeting’.

¹² rdcbrisbane.org, ‘Course Reports’.

¹³ ABS 4156.0, ‘Sports and Physical Recreation’.

¹⁴ Andreff, ‘Sport in Developing Countries’, 308.

¹⁵ Andreff, ‘Sport in Developing Countries’, 309.

¹⁶ Connor, ‘Towards a Sociology of Drugs in Sport’, 336.

¹⁷ Munasinghe, O'Flaherty, and Danninger, ‘Globalization and the Rate’.

¹⁸ Rosen and Sanderson, ‘Labour Markets in Professional Sports’, F61.

¹⁹ McEwen, Tracks in the Sand, 134.

²⁰ Brohman, ‘Economism and Critical Silences in Development Studies’.

²¹ Uvin, ‘Scaling up the Grass Roots’; Bond, ‘Global Governance Campaigning and MDGs’.

²² World Bank, ‘Anticorruption in Transition’, 35.

²³ Eichberg, ‘Olympic Sport’.

²⁴ Wamsley, ‘The Global Sport Monopoly’.

²⁵ Andreff, ‘Sport in Developing Countries’, 313.

²⁶ iaaf.org, ‘The IAAF Coaches Education’.

²⁷ Thérien, ‘Debating Foreign Aid’, 459.

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³⁰ Bale, ‘Kenyan Runners in a Global System’, 82.

³¹ Litsky, ‘Morceli Issue is Unresolved’.

³² Forster, ‘Global Sports Organisations’.

³³ sportslawnews.com, ‘Primo Nebiolo’.

³⁴ Kellner, Media Spectacle, 65.

³⁵ Andreff, ‘Sport in Developing Countries’, 312, for muscle drain and Hoberman, ‘Race and Athletics’, for slave trade.

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³⁷ IAAF, Competition Rules.

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⁴⁷ Giulianotti, Sport a Critical Sociology, 197.

⁴⁸ Eichberg, ‘Olympic Sport’.

⁴⁹ Bale, ‘Kenyan Runners’, 75.

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⁵¹ James, Beyond a Boundary.

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⁵⁴ McEwen, Tracks in the Sand, 19.

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⁵⁶ Wangemann and Glad, IAAF Development Cooperation, 44–7.

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⁵⁸ Carrington, ‘Race’, 27.