Country profile: sport in South Africa

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to provide a complete understanding of the sport policies in South Africa (SA) with regard to mass sport for recreation involvement and the elite sporting system created to develop high performance athletes. In the subsequent sections, various specific contextual factors which may influence the sport policy implementation in SA will first be defined.. Furthermore, a synopsis will be presented on the post-Apartheid sport policies and the imperative emphases outlined in each. A description of the organisation of the stakeholders in both mass and elite sport will be provided, and the sport-funding stream allocations to both portfolios will be illustrated. Lastly, the article ends with a discussion on the emerging issues and concerns of sport policy and sport in SA.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• elite sport
• mass sport
• governmental policy
• contextual factors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.