https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7875-529X
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ABSTRACT
This study explores the impact of austerity on the London 2012 Summer Olympics participation legacy from a grassroots sports club perspective, utilising institutional theory. The study adopted a mixed methods approach including semi-structured interviews with 11 stakeholders involved in grassroots sport alongside a review of key policy documentation (n = 8) and relevant literature. In keeping with the institutional logics perspective, these data were analysed in order to understand the impact of austerity on the sport participation legacy from the London 2012 Summer Olympics. The main findings of this study evidence mechanisms by which austerity policies, such as cuts in welfare and local government funding, have impacted sports provision at the grassroots sports club level. A shift towards a market logic at the society level induced, through the theorisation of austerity and cuts in the resource environment, the development of institutional contradictions at the field level that in turn, impacted operations at the grassroots sports club level. This study demonstrates that there is a fundamental contradiction between austerity and securing participation objectives in relation to the hosting of mega-events such as the Olympic Games, as mechanisms that support this increase (sport participation programmes, funding, etc.) are often reduced or eliminated.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Simon Gérard
Simon Gérard, PhD, is a Lecturer in sport management in the School of Marketing and Management, Coventry University. His research interests focus organisation theory, sport governance and disability sports management. He has published his work in various journals and has recently authored several book chapters in the Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management or the Research Handbook on Sports Governance among others. He presented his research at major international scientific conferences such as the European Academy of Management (EURAM), European Group for Organisation in Studies (EGOS) and the European Association for Sport Management (EASM)
Ian Brittain
Ian Brittain, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry Business School. He is an internationally recognised expert in the study of disability and Paralympic sport and has attended the last five summer Paralympic Games in Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio. He is an experienced researcher and is widely published in a variety of books/book chapters and journals. He has presented at a variety of national and international conferences and has been successful in a number of large grant applications. These include a Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme bid worth €852.600 on managing the impact of mega-events, a 4-year Marie Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) project looking at human rights, diversity and inclusion in the sporting mega-event bidding and hosting process worth €772,800, and, more recently, an ESRC UK-Japan Social Science and Humanities Connections grant worth £44,100.
Andrew Jones
Andrew Jones, PhD, is a Research Assistant in the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry Business School. His principal research interests relate to economic development in the sport and automotive sectors. Specifically, he is interested in sport team ownership and the impact of new ownership models. He has published across several journals in the sport and automotive space, whilst also contributing to book chapters and academic conferences. He has also been involved in several funded projects, including work supported by the EU and UK Government.
Guy Thomas
Guy Thomas, is a Senior Lecturer in Health and Wellbeing Being in Society in the Leicester School of Allied Health Sciences, De Montfort University. His research interests include sport participation, sport governance and British politics. He presented his research at major international scientific conferences such as the European Association for Sport Management (EASM).