Political Studies Association Sport and Politics Group

5th Annual Conference March 18, 2011

Sport under Pressure: The Sustainability of Sport in times of Austerity.

The Political Studies Association Sport and Politics Group which I co-founded with my colleague Paul Gilchrist (University of Brighton), is staging its annual conference in collaboration with the Department of Sport Pedagogy at the University of Birmingham on Friday 18 March 2011.

In keeping with the current climate of cuts 

sport in the UK is experiencing unprecedented political and economic change. The recent Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) by the (new) Coalition Government has led to a shift in policy emphasis and a reduction in funding for a range of agencies involved in the delivery of sport and physical education. This one-day conference offers practitioners and academics the opportunity to share and discuss major concerns regarding current policy, funding and structural changes for sport, short- and longer-term priorities, and potential solutions to the longer-term sustainability of sport beyond 2012-13. Indeed, part of the rationale for this conference is to offer opportunities to network across organisational boundaries and develop new ideas for research collaboration.


The recent government policy decision on school sport funding is indicative of the continuing politicisation of sport policy in times of austerity. The conference will focus on sport’s sustainability beyond 2012, for example, what are the key challenges facing sport over the next 5 years? What strategies will National Governing Bodies adopt in order to deal with potential funding reductions post 2012-13? How will schools manage the demise of school sport partnerships? What role will County Sport Partnerships play in this new era? What are the implications for Local Authorities and their delivery of sport? What will be the role of volunteers and coaching in servicing the needs of sport?



Abstracts for papers of no more than 250 words should be sent to Jonathan Grix (j.grix@bham.ac.uk ) or Lesley Phillpots (L.a.phillpots@bham.ac.uk ).