Increasing sports participation in Scotland: are voluntary sports clubs the answer?

Abstract

A policy objective of the Scottish Government is to increase sports participation as a means of increasing health and social inclusion. This article assesses the potential contribution of sports clubs run by their members to these objectives through an analysis of the Scottish Opinion Survey results. These identify the percentage of sports participation that occurs in clubs by sport, gender, deprivation level and local authority; and the article also examines how volunteering in sport varies by these dimensions. This shows that participation in clubs is more important for particular sports, it is highest in the least deprived areas, highest for male participants, and for those over 55 years old, and varies considerably across local authorities. This leads to a discussion of the implications for sports policy. Three aspects are considered: the geographical dimension, the demographics and target populations and the nature of voluntary sports clubs. Voluntary sports clubs are important because they are the places where sport participation occurs most commonly. Sports clubs are run by volunteers who are motivated by a number of factors, almost certainly not by the policy direction of government. If the interest of the clubs and their members can be served by delivering government policy targets, perhaps through increasing funding for the club, or improving facilities, then voluntary sports clubs can make a significant contribution to achieving those targets.

Keywords:

• sport
• club
• volunteer
• Scotland

Acknowledgement

The author thanks sportscotland for allowing access to the data set and Geoff Nichols for advice on drafts of the paper.

Notes

1. The Scottish Health Survey uses body mass index (BMI) which is calculated using the formula mass (kg)/height² (m²). To be classified as overweight or obese, a person must have a BMI of 25 kg/m² or greater (Scottish Government 2011).

2. The period 2003–2006 was the last time data were available with a large enough sample size to enable analysis by sport and local authority.

3. Social classes were described as follows (Sports Council Wales 2005):

AB: Higher and intermediate managerial, administrative and professional

C1: Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional

C2: Skilled manual workers

DE: Semi-skilled or unskilled manual workers; apprentices in skilled trades; casual or lowest grade workers; state pensioners or widows.

4. For example, clubs that cater for junior members in East Lothian may only use facilities run by East Lothian Council, enjoyleisure or FES FM Ltd. (most schools and sports facilities in the local authority area) if they have achieved ‘good to go’ accreditation (East Lothian Council 2010).