Sports Marketing : A Global Approach

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SPORTS
MARKETING
A Global Approach to Theory and Practice

SEA N ENNIS
Sports Marketing
Sean Ennis

Sports Marketing
A Global Approach to Theory and Practice
Sean Ennis
Department of Marketing
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, UK

ISBN 978-3-030-53739-5    ISBN 978-3-030-53740-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53740-1

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Limited 2020
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 V

I dedicate this book to my long suffering wife Liz for putting up with me
during the development of this text.
I would also like to dedicate it to some of my friends who support
Huddersfield Town. They include: Richard and Finola Siddall; Robert,
Paul and Ross Ewart; Clive Cheney, Alison and Laura; and “Uncle” Jim
Prendergast. We have reached the heights of ecstasy and the lows of
depression over the years.
Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Vicki Watson for the professional and committed
way in which she organised the content into something that closely
resembles a book. Without her contribution it is unlikely that it would
have seen the light of day.
My thanks also to Liz Barlow and Sophia Siegler for helping with the
editing of the text.
 VII

Contents

Introduction: The Sports Sector in a Global Context �����������������    1

1 

Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and

2 
Economic Development���������������������������������������������������������������������������������    9

Sports Governance�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   39

3 

Understanding Fans and Their Consumption of Sport �������������   75

4 

Sports Distribution and Media Rights ������������������������������������������������� 101

5 

6  ormulating and Implementing Sports

F
Marketing Strategy������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 129

7 Ticketing Strategies in the Sports Sector������������������������������������������� 153

8 The Sports Product and Brand-Building Decisions��������������������� 187

9 Globalisation of the Sports Product ����������������������������������������������������� 213

10 Managing the Sports Sponsorship Process ������������������������������������� 245

Sports Marketing in an Era of Radical Uncertainty ��������������������� 283

11 

Supplementary Information
 Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
 1 1

Introduction: The Sports

Sector in a Global Context
Contents

1.1 Introduction – 2

1.2 Sport in the “New Normal” – 2

1.3 The Global Sports Sector in Context – 3

1.4 Structure of the Book – 4

1.5 Chapter by Chapter – 5

1.5.1  hapter Summaries – 5
C
1.5.2 Case Studies – 7

Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this chapter

(https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­030-53740-1_1) contains supplementary material,
which is available to authorized users.

© The Author(s) 2020

S. Ennis, Sports Marketing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53740-1_1
 2 Chapter 1 · Introduction: The Sports Sector in a Global Context
1.1 Introduction
1 opinion on the latest concepts and theories.
Welcome to this text book on the subject of
sports marketing. I hope that you enjoy the
content and more importantly gain a deep
understanding of the issues and challenges
that face sports marketers working in this
exciting industry sector.
I use the word “exciting” because sport
engenders a number of different feelings and
emotions among many people world-wide.
Passion, enthusiasm, fanaticism, euphoria
and despair all feature to a greater or lesser
extent in the typical sports fan’s lifestyle.
It is also a sector of industry that is grow-
ing in terms of employment opportunities.
Increasingly, sports administrators and sports
property owners seek out suitably qualified
individuals to work directly in this industry.
Hopefully, this text will inspire you to take
any such opportunities.
Many of you may eventually end up work-
ing as brand managers, digital marketing
executives, advertising executives, media mar-
keters or in the area of data analytics. While
you may not be employed directly by sports
clubs, bodies and sports organisation, you
could find yourself playing a significant role
in terms of working with sports bodies.
This initial chapter attempts to place the
sports sector in a global context. We begin by
considering some of the key trends that have
taken place over the past 15–20 years or so.
We then consider the key themes and
dimensions that we address in the subsequent
chapters in this text book.
As you work your way through these top-
ics, I would like to add a cautionary note.
The sports sector, as we shall see, is a vibrant,
dynamic and at times, an unpredictable indus-
try. As I write these introductory notes, we are
currently in the middle of the Coronavirus cri-
sis. Sport, in tandem with all areas of business
and society in general is undergoing change.
By the time you read this text, hopefully, we
will have emerged from the worst aspects of
its influence.
We should also note that it is critical for
us to keep up with the latest developments
and research in the sports sector. As part of
the support for this text, I will generate regu-
lar blogs to stimulate discussion and provide
1.2 Sport in the “New Normal”
The term “new normal” has featured promi-
nently throughout 2020. The message behind
it indicates that business and society will need
to grapple with new challenges and problems,
post-Coronavirus.
The sports sector is no exception. Prior to
2020, many sports exhibited varying degrees
of success. These ranged from increasing
revenue streams and more global popularity,
through to more modern stadia. Generally,
within the context of the most popular sports
such as football, rugby and cricket, sports
property owners invested in enhancing the
quality of the fan experience and engagement.
Increasing revenues led to higher salaries.
Some critics have argued that ultimately this
is not good for the overall sport. As we shall
see later in the text, many sports organisations
and clubs engaged in practices that defied the
conventions of prudent business management.
While the sport may have generated extremely
large amounts of cash that flowed into the
organisation, salaries, transfers and agents’ fees
have led to even more cash going out.
Such a business model is not sustainable in
the longer-term.
The coronavirus crisis brought immediate
problems that challenged the efficacy of exist-
ing business models. Within weeks, sports
property owners were pleading for support
from respective governments. While the top
clubs were in a better position, the cancella-
tion and postponement of games, tourna-
ments and events, created a cash crisis.
Will sport recover? I have no doubt that it
will. However, it may take a number of years
before we get back to a situation that existed
before the crisis.
As of June 2020, sports such as football,
horse racing and snooker made tentative steps
to re-start operations. Working with govern-
ments, the “new normal” featured games
being played behind closed doors, with no
fans allowed in, due to restrictions such as
social distancing.
1.3 · The Global Sports Sector in Context
The media, who bought the rights to show
such games, in many cases refused to make
the original agreed payments, if the events
did not take place. Even when they did, they
paid a reduced fee to take account of the fact
that they were getting a “diminished” sports
product.
Does this raise the prospect of reduced
media rights payments in the future? Who
knows?
Overall, some commentators suggested
that global sports revenues could decrease by
as much as fifty per cent. The major European
football teams, between them, could lose over
£3 billion.
The reality suggests that many sports had
to face up to the unpalatable fact that their
original business models might no longer
work in a post-Coronavirus environment. The
“new reality” began to bite, and bit hard.
1.3  he Global Sports Sector
T tive developments, particularly in terms
in Context
In this section, we identify the main devel-
opments in the sports sector. They are by no
means exhaustive, but such trends and drivers
have transformed the way in which the sector
has evolved and provide us with a background
to the way in which sports marketers will have
to function in the coming 15–20 years or so.
55 Geographic shifts
The last two decades has witnessed a re-
focus in terms of the nexus for sports
events. Traditionally, major sports and
events evolved in the North American and
Western European regions. Across most
of the popular sports, these regions staged
the major events. However, regions such
as Eastern Europe, The Gulf Region, and
particular key countries from Asia, have
moved “centre stage”.
Formula One has widened its base for
staging Grand Prix events. Over the past
number of years, it has located an increas-
ing number of such events in countries
as far apart as Vietnam, Bahrain and
Singapore.
In the sport of cricket, the nexus has
moved from the United Kingdom to India.
3 1
China has invested heavily in devel-
oping domestic football and increasingly
many major football teams in Europe have
been bought out by Chinese, Thai and
Indian conglomerates.
Who would have suggested 15 years
ago that Qatar would be awarded the
rights to stage the 2022 World Cup?
55 The emergence of eSports
eSports has grown exponentially over
the past 15 years or so. We examine this
sport in more detail later in the book.
Technology has played a significant part
in its growth. Among young people, par-
ticularly those in the fifteen to twenty-five
bracket, it has changed the concept of
sports participation and consumption.
The notion of physical exercise has, to
some extent, been overtaken by the seden-
tary engagement with electronic games.
55 Social media and digital platforms
We have witnessed other transforma-
of how fans engage with their favourite
sports, teams and players. Social media,
in particular, has veered away from tra-
ditional methods such as TV, Press and
Radio. Many fans consume their sport via
social media platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, to name but a few.
Twitch has recently appeared on the scene
and appears to be eminently suitable for
fans as a mechanism for enhancing the fan
experience.
Digital platforms, in many guises have
also revolutionised the way in which we
watch sport. Arguably, fans have much
greater choice in terms of the devices they
use to engage with their favourite sports.
The days of linear TV are numbered.
55 Sustainability
In line with other business sectors, the sports
industry has been grappling with the chal-
lenges of addressing the issue of sustainabil-
ity and its impact on the environment. New
stadia, in particular, have to reflect such
issues as energy conservation, recycling, use
of appropriate materials and so on.
55 The commercial imperative
The sports sector, particularly at the top
end of the pyramid, has fully embraced
 4 Chapter 1 · Introduction: The Sports Sector in a Global Context
the commercial focus on the way in which
1 its operations are run. Instead of rely-
ing on well-meaning amateurs to run the
sport, property owners have recruited (at
senior management level) successful indi-
viduals who have performed effectively in
traditional sectors such as financial ser-
vices and retail.
55 The ethical dilemma
While the commercial focus may create
much more significant revenue streams,
many sports have been afflicted by the twin
problems of doping and match-fixing.
Sport is a results business. Success, in many
cases, is not defined by how efficiently the
club or association is financially man-
aged. For many stakeholders, particularly
fans, it is defined by success on the pitch.
Some individual athletes, in the quest for
improvement and success, make use of
illegal drugs to achieve their objective.
Sports such as athletics and cycling have
experienced many scandals as a result. The
problem is compounded by the inability of
the drug testers to “catch out” the offend-
ers, particularly in cases where the technol-
ogy is not sufficiently developed to identify
“state-of-the-art” drugs.
Match-fixing is another negative aspect
of sport that has increased dramatically
over the past 20 years, particularly in
Asian countries.
55 Growth in female sports
We have witnessed a significant growth
in the area of female sports in the past
decade. Football, cricket and rugby, in par-
ticular, have established leagues and com-
petitions that are increasingly played at a
professional and semi-professional level
by female players and athletes. This has
been made possible by effective market-
ing. In this case, such sports have attracted
the interest of broadcasters. In turn, this
improves the opportunities to attract
sponsors. All of this is driven by widening
and increasing the number of viewers and
attendances at such games and events.
55 The decline in terrestrial broadcasting cov-
erage and linear TV
The sale of media rights has transformed the
way in which sport is distributed to and con-
sumed by fans. Increasingly, fans are mov-
ing away from relying on linear TV coverage
(scheduled programmes at fix times, with no
opportunity to target individual viewers).
Fans increasingly watch sport as and when
they want to and are more likely to favour
personalised content and packages.
55 Technology
The role of technologies such as Aug-
mented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality
(VR) have made a relatively slow intro-
duction to the way in which fans consume
sport. As we will discuss later in the book,
such tools are likely to grow in both use
and popularity as we move forward.
Developments in both Internet speed
and latency, such as 5G, will facilitate the
use of such technologies and will revolu-
tionise the way in which we engage with
sport. Much of this is in the embryo stage,
as I write this section.
These developments provide us with an
early indication as to how the sports sector
has evolved and changed over the past two
decades.
In summary, the sports sector is virtually
unrecognisable from the way it operated a
couple of decades ago. In this text, we exam-
ine and assess the main concepts, theories and
practices in sport.
1.4 Structure of the Book
The focus of this book is on theory and prac-
tice from a global perspective. To address that
focus, I have structured the book around two
sections: chapters and cases. The latter can be
used in a class setting by your lecturer or in an
out-of-class section for individual reflection
and analysis.
Cases can quickly become dated. To address
that problem, I will introduce new cases on
a regular basis that reflect the latest thinking
and practice by sports clubs, organisations and
other key stakeholders in the industry.
7 Section 1.5 contains ten chapters which
address the key topic areas that impact on the
role of sports marketing in detail, as well as a
number of cases (that are linked to each chapter).
1.5 · Chapter by Chapter
1.5 Chapter by Chapter
1.5.1 Chapter Summaries
In this section, we consider the main issues to
be addressed in each chapter.
zz 7 Chapter 2: Sport and Its Role and
Contribution to Society and Economic
Development
In this chapter we consider the broader issues
surrounding sports and where it fits into peo-
ple’s general life within society. We consider
this from a health and social perspective and
also focus on the relationship between sports
administrators, sports property owners and
other key stakeholders and the government.
In the latter case, we assess the different roles
and contributions of political leaders in rela-
tion to the development of sport.
We also review the process involved in bid-
ding for and staging hallmark (mega/major)
sports competitions and events. In particu-
lar we review the different benefits that can
accrue to the host country/city and the impact
on its citizens. We ask the related questions.
Why bother? Is it worth the effort?
zz 7 Chapter 3: Sports Governance
This chapter examines an increasingly impor-
tant topic within the general framework of
the sports sector: how are individual sports
and organisations governed? We live in an
age where all profit and non-profit organisa-
tions are increasingly held to account for their
behaviour and general performance in society.
The sports sector is no exception. We assess
the key principles of sports governance and
address the issue as to whether its characteris-
tics make it easier or more difficult to manage.
The commercial imperative arguably has
put more pressure on sports bodies to govern
their respective operations in a transparent
and equitable manner. We also look at evi-
dence of good and bad practice in this area.
zz 7 Chapter 4: Understanding Fans and
Their Consumption of Sport
In order for marketers to work effectively in
the sports sector, it is imperative that they
have a clear understanding of their central
5 1
unit of analysis: the fan. This is no different
from other business and non-business sectors.
Without such knowledge, particularly in a
volatile and fast-moving sector such as sport,
it is unlikely that they can devise and imple-
ment appropriate and relevant strategies.
In this chapter, we examine the concept of
fandom. In particular we assess the ways in
which fan’s consumption of sport has changed
over the past couple of decades. We note the
influence that social media platforms, technol-
ogy and data analytics play in this process.
We also address the issue of how fans
engage with their favourite teams and athletes
and the consequent challenges and opportu-
nities facing sports marketers.
zz 7 Chapter 5: Sports Distribution and
Media Rights
At the top end of the sports pyramid, sports
organisations and clubs have been the recipi-
ents of a major income stream from the sale
of media rights to broadcasters for the right
to cover leagues and competitions. Over
the past 20 years or so, successive renewals
of contracts have increased exponentially.
Sports entity owners, arguably belatedly, have
realised the value and power of their respec-
tive properties. This has led to significant rises
in salaries (some would say to obscene levels)
along with increased transfer and agents’ fees.
In this chapter we trace the emergence
of media rights as a critical tool in the over-
all business and marketing strategy of sports
organisations. We address the emergence of
powerful Pay-Per-View (PPV) broadcasters
and consider their business models.
We also examine the emergence of a new
wave of operators which are labelled as Over the
Top (OTT) and how they have threatened the
original business models of the PPV operators.
zz 7 Chapter 6: Formulating and
Implementing Sports Marketing Strategy
Strategy is at the heart of any successful busi-
ness. Successful sports properties and organ-
isations are characterised by their ability to
think and act strategically. By adopting a
planned approach, they can take a long-term
view of the way forward and map out a series
of initiatives and tactic to help them achieve
 6 Chapter 1 · Introduction: The Sports Sector in a Global Context
their goals and objectives. Without evidence
1 of such a planned approach, it is most likely
that they will lack direction, akin to a car with
a faulty steering wheel.
In this chapter we consider the key ingredi-
ents of strategy and the different approaches
that sports organisations can adopt to drive
changes and move their business forward in
an unpredictable and fast-moving environ-
ment.
We also consider the dangers of adopting
an overly prescriptive approach to planning.
zz 7 Chapter 7: Ticketing Strategies in the
Sports Sector
Ticketing (more commonly referred to as pric-
ing) strategy plays a crucial role in the success
of overall marketing strategy in the context
of the sports sector. It is a significant revenue
generator for most sports clubs. Some com-
mentators argue that, in light of the contri-
bution of media rights, ticketing has become
less important. However, this is a dangerous
assumption. It is possible that income from
media rights might decrease. Ticketing focuses
on the fan. They pay to watch their favourite
teams. It will continue to play a major role in
revenue generation going forward.
In this chapter we assess the different
approaches to ticketing and examine them in
the context of the characteristics of the sports
sector.
We also consider the role that the second-
ary ticketing market plays in the process. Some
commentators argue that such operators pick
up on the weaknesses in ticketing strategy and
allow fans to gain access to tickets. Others see
them as a blight on the fan: costing them sig-
nificant amounts of cash.
zz 7 Chapter 8: The Sports Product and
Brand-Building Decisions
As the commercial imperative moves to the
fore in many sports organisations, we see the
widespread adoption of terms that are used
universally in traditional manufacturing and
services sectors. The “sports product” and
“brand-building” have entered the lexicon in
the context of the sports sector.
In this chapter we consider the compo-
nents of the sports product. We argue that it is
multi-layered-from the central core elements
to a redefinition of what the product could be
in the future. Some sports organisations take
a myopic and narrow perspective on what
constitutes the product. Others have redefined
their product to take account of the chang-
ing environment and fan preferences. Some
have made changes to the product in order to
appeal to new segments.
We assess the concept of innovation in
sport and examine how new product develop-
ment can enhance, or in some cases, detract
from the overall value proposition.
We also assess the role that branding plays
in shaping the marketing strategy.
zz 7 Chapter 9: Globalisation of the Sports
Product
The commercial imperative dictates to many
sports organisations that they must seek
out new avenues for increasing the revenue
streams. Product globalisation represents the
next logical sequence to follow. In tandem
with other business sectors, this option pres-
ents a number of attractions for the CEOs
and senior management of sports properties.
In this chapter we consider the different
modes of entry that sports organisations use
in order to penetrate specific countries or geo-
graphic regions.
We focus on some examples of how
sports organisations such as the English
Premier League, the NBA and the NFL have
approached new geographic markets.
We assess the criteria that sports market-
ers can use in order to assess the attractiveness
and risk associated with market entry.
We also examine the role that technology
and social media platforms have opened up
the door for fans that may not be in a position
to physically attend games, but can do so from
remote locations, using the appropriate media
streaming devices and season passes.
zz 7 Chapter 10: Managing the Sports
Sponsorship Process
In this chapter we evaluate another of the
revenue streams for sports organisations:
sponsorship. Sports sponsorship represents
between seventy to seventy-five per cent of
all expenditure by companies in this area.
1.5 · Chapter by Chapter
We assess the attractiveness of sport as a
medium for branders to align their product’s
values and properties with an appropriate
sport.
Sport is associated with passion, excite-
ment, uncertainty, enjoyment. What’s not to
like about tying in your brand to such an envi-
ronment?
We consider the various stages of the
sponsorship process: from identifying poten-
tial partners, putting a value on the sponsor-
ship, managing the relationship between both
parties in the process and assessing its effec-
tiveness.
We examine the threat that is posed by
ambush marketers. These are companies that
are not official partners and pay nothing to
the sports property owners. We consider the
impact that they can have on the value of the
official sponsorship deal. We look at remedies
for eliminating, or more realistically, minimis-
ing the threat from such sources.
zz 7 Chapter 11: Sports Marketing in an Era
of Radical Uncertainty
In the final chapter we take some time to con-
sider the future of the sports sector over the
next 15–20 years. This exercise tracks the way
in which emerging developments might con-
tinue to pan out. For instance, tools such as
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality
(VR) are in the early stages of fan adoption.
It is likely that refinements to existing technol-
ogy will make such tools more attractive for
adoption.
We consider what the stadium or sports
arena of the future might look like. Key devel-
opments in areas such as sustainability and
the environment will play a more significant
and influential role over the next decade. The
sports sector will be obliged to increasingly
factor such considerations into their formula-
tion and implementation of strategy.
We examine the implications that arise
from the Coronavirus crisis that has so
blighted every aspect of our lives and how
this impacts on the sports sector. We borrow
a phrase from the business literature: “radical
uncertainty”, to capture the realities of life,
post Coronavirus.
7 1
1.5.2 Case Studies
I have developed a number of cases in this sec-
tion to help you apply and understand some
of the issues faced by sports organisations
and marketers. They will also stimulate some
discussion in class.
I have related each of the following cases
to the relevant specific chapter. Please note
that some of them are relevant discussion
cases for other chapters as well.
These cases are for discussion purposes
only. You should not interpret them as an
indication of good or bad practice.
7 Chapter 2
55 Dubai: Back to the Future
55 Good on Ya Sport
7 Chapter 3
55 South African Cricket: Dark or Bright
55 FIFA and Its Relationship with Adidas
55 Bernie Ecclestone: A Man For All Seasons
7 Chapter 4
55 Flying Arrows
55 Rio Olympic Games and Fan Consumption
Patterns
7 Chapter 5
55 Squashed. Anyone for Tennis?
7 Chapter 6
55 Twenty-Twenty or One Hundred Vision
55 Vaporised
7 Chapter 7
55 The Leaving of Liverpool: Fans Walk Out
55 The Price is Right: The Case of Boston
Celtic and the NBA
7 Chapter 8
55 I Want to Ride My Bicycle
7 Chapter 9
55 Rugby: Pushing the Scrum Backwards
55 Snookered
7 Chapter 10
55 Pie in the Sky: Anatomy of a Sponsorship
Deal
55 Siemens: Knowing Me, Knowing You
55 Telstra and Its Loose Connections
55 Women’s Sport: Catching the eye
 9 2

Sport and Its Role

and Contribution to Society
and Economic Development
Contents

2.1 Introduction – 11

2.2  he Meaning, Purpose and Organisation of Sport

T
in Society – 11
2.2.1  efining the Concept of Sport – 11
D
2.2.2 Exercise – 12
2.2.3 The Purpose and Value of Sport in Society – 12
2.2.4 Exercise – 13
2.2.5 Evolution and Organisation of Sport – 13

2.3  overnment Attitudes and Policies Across Geographic

G
Regions – 15

2.4 Sport and Culture – 18

2.5 The Role of Funding in Sports Development – 20

2.6  unding for Sports at the Elite

F
End of the Spectrum – 22

2.7  ports Tourism and Its Contribution to Economic

S
Development – 25
2.7.1 City-Based Branding – 26

2.8 Bidding for and Staging Major Sports Events – 27

2.8.1  enefits of Staging Mega Sporting Events – 28
B
2.8.2 Legacy – 28
2.8.3 Image Change – 29
2.8.4 Cost Overruns – 30

Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this chapter

(https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53740-1_2) contains supplementary material,
which is available to authorized users.

© The Author(s) 2020

S. Ennis, Sports Marketing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53740-1_2
2.8.5  nderstating Costs – 30
U
2.8.6 Overstating Economic Benefits – 30
2.8.7 The White Elephant Effect – 31
2.8.8 No Real Supporting Evidence to Support the Perceived
Benefits – 31

2.9  riteria Used to Assess Bid Submissions for Mega

C
and Major Sports Events – 31
2.9.1  ital Factors – 31
V
2.9.2 Supporting Factors – 32
2.9.3 Bidding and Hosting Mega Events: Losing Its Appeal – 32

2.10 Conclusions – 33

Appendix – 34

References – 37
2.2 · The Meaning, Purpose and Organisation of Sport in Society
nnLearning Objectives
On completion of this chapter you should
be in a position to address the following
objectives:
55 To understand the role that sport plays
in society
55 To assess the links between sport,
culture and politics
55 To evaluate the various funding models
that are adopted by policy-makers to
develop sport
55 To examine the different views and
perspectives of the role of sport in society
55 To assess the role that sport plays in the
economic development of a country/
region
55 To contextualise the link between sport,
tourism and destination marketing
55 To assess the opportunities and
challenges of bidding for and hosting
major sporting events.
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter we consider the role that sport
plays in society. This is important because it
places the subsequent assessment of sports
marketing in context.
We consider the ways in which sport has
evolved and changed from an activity that was
regarded as essentially an optional, amateur and
“pure” activity, in many ways developed in order
to distract people from the realities of life, to
something that has “morphed” into a highly
commercialised and professional business sector.
A number of factors have led to this shift
in focus and emphasis.
We assess the links between sport, culture
and politics. Sport cannot exist or develop in
isolation: it is dependent on a number of
interwoven issues and factors. Among them
being the attitudes and perspectives of policy-­
makers and politicians, to the role that sport
can play in shaping and influencing their
respective societies.
This relationship between politics and
sport can be a force for good and evil; most
likely in equal measure. We consider different
11 2
approaches to managing this relationship and
evaluate relevant examples and case studies.
In particular, we evaluate the different
approaches used by policy-makers to fund the
development of sport across the spectrum:
from “grass-roots” up to the elite end. We also
look at geographic differences across the
major geographic regions.
We also consider the role that culture plays
in influencing people’s attitudes to sport. We
examine the role that the historical develop-
ment of a particular country plays in develop-
ing sport from an unstructured and disorganised
way, into something which has in many cases
evolved into a professionally organised and
highly structured industry.
Intertwined in this chapter is the role that
sport can play (for good or bad) in heighten-
ing nationalism and pride in the country con-
cerned. For many people, sport allows them to
escape the tedium of daily work and life and
instead fantasise and participate in the success
of a particular sporting individual or team.
In the latter half of this chapter we con-
sider how sport has become a significant
player in the development of tourism and city
branding. This is frequently manifested in the
desire of particular countries and cities to bid
for and host major sporting events or compe-
titions. We look at the opportunities and chal-
lenges involved in this process and examine
the practical realities by looking at relevant
examples and cases.
2.2  he Meaning, Purpose
T
and Organisation of Sport
in Society
2.2.1 Defining the Concept of Sport
It is invidious to start a chapter on sport by
attempting to define what the term actually
means. However, it is important to do so in
order that we can identify its characteristics.
Coakley and Pike (2009) conclude that
most sports commentators, practitioners and
policy-­makers tend to coalesce around the fol-
lowing definition:
 12 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
“Sports are institutionalised competitive
activities that involve rigorous physical
2 exertion or the use of relatively complex
physical skills by participants motivated
by internal and external rewards” (p 5).
I suggest that we inject some caution in terms
of how we interpret this definition. At first
glance it would appear to rule out activities
such as chess, darts and snooker. We can extend
this further, to rather esoteric sports such as
synchronised swimming perhaps. Clearly there
is little or no physical activity involved when
two people are playing chess. Yet we cannot fail
but admire the mental agility and capability of
such players, particularly at elite level. Likewise,
snooker is an immensely challenging game of
skill, yet has little “rigorous exertion”. For our
first activity in this chapter I would encourage
you to assess the following question.
2.2.2 Exercise
??Assess the view that snooker is not a sport
and does not deserve to be placed in the
same category as sports such as rugby and
football.
Perhaps we should read the definition more
carefully in order to avoid taking a “dog-
matic” view of what constitutes sport, in
terms of internal and external rewards. This
enables us to recognise that many people par-
ticipate in sport because they derive strong
personal enjoyment from performing a par-
ticular set of activities. From an external per-
spective there is also the reward that comes
from receiving approval from the fans, specta-
tors or the viewing audience.
A key element of sport is its competitive
nature. Clearly the nature and extent of the
competition can vary depending on the skill
level attached to the activity. At the top end
we have the elite, professional sports competi-
tors. At the lower end it may simply be the
desire to complete a 10K run in a certain time
by a casual or “fun” runner.
Another key strand to the definition rests
with the concept of sports being institution-
alised. This implies that as sports evolve, they
adopt standard rules and procedures and are
administered by an overall governing body or
council. Such organisations evolve and adapt
the rules, take account of emerging technolo-
gies, record performances, address issues such
as cheating and bad behaviour and take
responsibility for improving the standards of
the sport and spreading it to a wider audience
and a greater number of participants.
In summary, it may be overly simplistic to
apply a rigid definition of what constitutes a
sport. Clearly there are some “sports” that do
not evoke much physical exertion but none-
theless require high levels of cognitive skills
and mental agility in order to compete at the
elite level. Thus, in my view, sports such as
darts and snooker fall under the category of
sport as they fulfil most of the typical charac-
teristics of a sport (competitive, institution-
alised, providing entertainment for an
audience and so on).
We should also recognise that there is no
universally accepted view of what constitutes
a sport and more importantly how sport “fits
into” a particular society or social setting. In
some regions certain sports have precedence
over others and attract the most funding.
Different attitudes may prevail about issues
such as gender equality or the provision of
funding to new or emerging sports. In extreme
cases (as we shall discuss later in this chapter)
political leaders can use sport to further their
particular political agenda or as a surrogate
for extreme nationalism.
2.2.3  he Purpose and Value
T
of Sport in Society
Virtually all of us would probably subscribe
to the view that sport in essence is inherently
“good” for both the individual in particular
and society in general. This generally applies
whether or not we take an active role in
­participating in a particular sport or whether
we are ardent fans or supporters of a team or
competition.
2.2 · The Meaning, Purpose and Organisation of Sport in Society
While there are negative associations with
sport such as systemic state-sponsored dop-
ing, cheating, match-fixing and so on, the ben-
efits largely outweigh the “downsides” in most
people’s minds. We can summarise the bene-
fits as follows:
55 Sport allows us to escape the daily stress
and pressures of every-day life
55 It provides a mechanism for people to
exercise to different levels of exertion and
thus can address health issues such as
obesity and diabetes
55 It can act as a mechanism for bringing
opposing political, religious and cultural
difference together and be a potential
solution to conflict
55 It can instil a sense of national pride and
identity in individuals
55 It can contribute significantly to the overall
economic development of a city/region/
country
55 It can showcase cities and countries and
significantly boost sports tourism
55 It can provide an outlet for disadvantaged
people and groups to enhance their future
prospects
55 It can direct people away from criminal
activity
55 It can provide discipline and focus for
individuals
55 It can create “role models” that young
people and children can look up to and
seek to emulate
55 In multi-cultural societies sport can bring
people together in a common cause e.g.
supporting a football team
55 It can inspire people to perform better in
both their chosen sport but also in their
general lifestyles.
2.2.4 Exercise
??Examine more fully the “downsides” that
sport brings to society.
13 2
2.2.5 Evolution and Organisation
of Sport
When we consider how sport has evolved in
society we should note that it is linked closely
to history and the social, attitudinal and cul-
tural patterns which prevailed at that particu-
lar juncture in time. In effect, everything to do
with sport is contextualised within the society
at that time.
We can see differences in the way in which
individual sports have evolved and organised
across the different geographic regions. For
instance, Van Bottenburg (2011) provides an
interesting analysis of how sports became
institutionalised and formalised in the cases
of North America and Europe.
In the case of the USA, sports such as
baseball, basketball, hockey and American
football became very popular in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. In this situation,
schools and universities played (and continue
to do so) a significant role in the formalisation
and development of these sports. In particular
they also reflected parent’s attitudes to the
importance of extra curricular activities-par-
ticularly in the case of middle-­income parents.
Over a prolonged period of time, the schools
and universities took over the running and
administration of these sports.
They also quickly recognised the impor-
tance of commercialisation and this was evi-
denced by the emergence of owned-franchises
(teams owned by individual entrepreneurs
and organisations) who saw the commercial
value of their involvement in leagues and
competitions that had major appeal within
their relevant segments of customers.
Sociologists argue that the North American
class structure (although containing numerous
flaws such as racial discrimination) was less
rigid than was the case at the same time (late
nineteenth/early to mid/twentieth century)
than was the case in countries such as the
UK. In the latter case, particularly during the
 14 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
Victorian era, there was considerable opposi-
tion to the concept of physical education. In
Europe many countries used gymnastics as a
2 means of improving individual and class disci-
pline.
Holt (1989) notes that commercial forces
were largely excluded from sport and its devel-
opment in the UK.
The key sports of baseball, basketball,
hockey and American football quickly gained
traction and popularity as a result of the
increased focus on commercialisation and pro-
fessional marketing within North American
society. Consequently, they had a large, captive
market and did not become too involved, or
indeed see the need for international develop-
ment of their sports.
By contrast, sport in Europe adapted
many of the popular English sports such as
football (soccer) and tennis and engendered
many inter-dependencies. Sport in many
European countries largely evolved through
the significant contribution of volunteers and
clubs. Schools and universities played a less
significant role in propagating the respective
sports. Of course, we have to acknowledge
that variations occurred and still exist across
the different European countries. This is to be
expected: given the different social and cul-
tural patterns which exist. We explore this
more fully later when we consider the different
funding models for sport.
Van Battenburg (2011) argues that the
development of sport across Europe and the
USA is not static but constantly evolves and
interacts.
In terms of attempting to differentiate
between the two vast regions, he suggests that
the North American organisation and devel-
opment of sport tends to follow an “educa-
tional - commercial” configuration. By contrast
the European approach tends to evolve around
a “voluntary-governmental” configuration.
The European approach explicitly recog-
nises the more interventionist role of govern-
ment in terms of sports development and
funding.
The North American approach also
revolved around what might be termed a
“many sport” arrangement: where universities
and colleges, many of them publicly funded,
developed facilities and a coaching infrastruc-
ture which quickly led to a focus on the elite
end of the spectrum.
As a consequence of this focus, it could be
argued that the USA more quickly adapted to
the challenges of producing elite athletes that
could consistently win medals at hallmark
events such as the Olympic Games. Put simply,
the infrastructure and coaching created an
environment that encouraged and developed
sports performers at the top end of the spec-
trum.
By contrast the European model focused
on a “sports for everyone” philosophy.
Ingrained, as sports was, in the shape of a vol-
unteer and club focus and linked to welfare
policy principle, this emphasised the impor-
tance of participation. This happened argu-
ably to the detriment of elite athletes who did
not experience the same infrastructure as their
North American counterparts.
Moving to Eastern Europe, a perusal of
sports development in countries such as the
old Soviet Union and Eastern Germany indi-
cates a far more proactive role being played by
the respective governments. Sport was seen as
a mechanism to promote the political ideol-
ogy of the leaders. This led to many unsavoury
practices such as systemic doping of athletes
and a disregard for the regulations.
In the case of Asia, sport evolved initially
through religious missionaries who went to
different countries in the region in the nine-
teenth century and introduced various sports
that were popular in Europe and North
America. Hong (2006) describes this initia-
tion as a product of Western cultural impe-
rialism. The Asian Games (founded by the
YMCA in 1913) was the first attempt to run
an organised games. Countries such as Japan,
China and the Philippines saw this develop-
ment as an opportunity to train people for
real competition.
Over the years the Asian Games has had a
number of ebbs and flows, partly from a lack
of funding and partly from a number of dis-
putes between countries. The emergence of
powerful Gulf States such as Kuwait also
shaped the direction of sport and led to
numerous disagreements, particularly as to
how the games should be administered and
2.3 · Government Attitudes and Policies Across Geographic Regions
what countries could be allowed to compete.
This led to a split and the emergence of the
East Asian Games in 1993. The arrival of a
number of ex-Soviet Union countries also
changed the dynamic of sport in the region.
More recently we have seen the emergence
of China as a powerful force in world sport.
This is not just happening in the context of
winning medals at the Olympics. The Chinese
president has placed great importance on the
country using sport as a mechanism for rein-
forcing its position as a global power. The
results of this are to be seen in the major
investment in football at the professional level
in China and the increasing investment in
major European football clubs. Similarly,
other Asian and Gulf States are becoming
increasingly involved in football ownership.
Examples include a Thai family acquiring
Leicester City (English Premier League) and a
Qatari investment in Paris St Germain (a
French football team).
In some Gulf States, while not necessarily
generating athletes and sportspeople of a suf-
ficient calibre to win medals, they have given
passports to non-nationals and have achieved
success in the Olympics as a consequence.
2.3 Government Attitudes
and Policies Across Geographic
Regions
The preceding section has examined the devel-
opment of sport. We can see that across the
different geographic regions such develop-
ments have followed different patterns of
evolution. One constant in any such analysis
and discussion is the link between sport and
politics.
It is not difficult to see why such a link
emerges. From a political perspective, sport is
seen as something which exhibits positivity
and a glow that appeals to many people, irre-
spective of class, gender or religion. Thus, it
can be argued that it has a major unification
role to play in societies which in many cases
are disunited and in conflict.
In the UK for instance, in the early part of
the twentieth century, politicians regarded
football and its development, as a mechanism
15 2
for distracting the working class away from
harsh living and working conditions. Factories
closed on Saturday for a half-day and this
allowed thousands of people to attend
matches. If their team did well, legend has it
that productivity increased dramatically on
the following Monday.
Within a slightly more cynical context, the
Marxist view of sport is that it is “the opiate
of the masses”. In other words, it provides
something mindless to occupy the working
class’s time and attention!
Success in the form of the national team or
individual athletes doing well in events such as
the World Cup and the Olympic Games also
works well for politicians as people develop a
strong sense of national pride and identity.
This is particularly the case in relatively small
countries (that are not used to success).
When the Republic of Ireland reached the
quarter finals of the World Cup in 1990 the
impact could be seen in the attitude and mind-­
set of Irish people in general (not just Irish
football fans). There was a strong sense that
Ireland had arrived in the world. This was evi-
denced by the number of people visiting
Ireland and the number of Irish people travel-
ling abroad.
Politicians like to envelop themselves in
success. Sporting success in the form of win-
ners, provides just such a setting. It allows a
politician to benefit from increased visibility,
attention and heightened awareness. Sport
can massage a politician’s ego and can enhance
reputations – again in situations where an
individual or team has succeeded in major
competitive events.
There are, of course, potentially negative
consequences that can follow on from the
interface between politics and sport.
Governments have boycotted major sport-
ing events. For instance, the UK government
attempted to boycott its Olympic team from
competing in the Moscow 1980 Olympic
Games. The period from the early 1970s
through to the early 1990s witnessed the isola-
tion of South Africa from competing in major
international sporting events. While this had
much justification due to the nature of apart-
heid as practiced by that government, many
people argued that sport should not be
 16 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
dragged into politics; nor should politics
become involved in sport.
Political leaders can take their link to
2 sports to extremes. In the 1960s and 1970s for
instance, many of the so-called Eastern-Bloc
countries (satellites of the Soviet Union) prac-
ticed systemic state-sponsored doping.
More recently the interface between poli-
tics and sport has manifested itself in the bid-
ding for and hosting of major sports events.
We investigate this topic more fully later in the
chapter. However, there have been instances
where sports-entity holders (the owners of the
sport) and politicians have been accused of
chicanery and unethical behaviour. For
China Makes Its Mark
China is one of the largest and most populated
countries in the world. Since the 1980s it has
undergone a transformation in many different
areas: most notably in its shift away from the
traditional Communist policies to a subtler, yet
noticeable, genuflection towards some of the
basic principles of traditional capitalism.
The sports sector typifies this transforma-
tion. Up to the 1990s sport was exclusively the
preserve of government, at national, regional
and local level. In tandem with the shift, sport
has also moved towards a more free-market
view of the world. This is reflected in the level
of investment in sport both domestically and in
international markets.
The emergence of President Jin Jinping
brought further transformation to the sports
sector. A life-long fan of football, he has moved
the sports sector to the centre of the overall
five-year plan for the economy. This is most
accurately reflected in a decree introduced in
October 2014 which was titled “Opinions on
accelerating the development of the sports
industry and promoting sports consumption”.
This was introduced by China’s State Council,
the central governing body.
He also focused on soccer as a central plank
in the development of sport policy in China.
Jinping was motivated to introduce such
initiatives because he recognised that the over-
all double-digit growth enjoyed in the economy
was no longer sustainable and as a consequence
instance, serious (but unproven) questions
have been raised about the manner and cir-
cumstances surrounding the award of the
2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Other criticisms of the interface between
politics and sport include the attempt to link a
sport to a particular cause. We witnessed this
in the sport of NFL in the USA, where
American footballers have been accused of
disrespecting the country by kneeling down
during the playing of the national anthem.
This practice commenced in 2016. The coun-
ter-view is that the President: Donald Trump
has also used this action by the players to play
politics.
a more nuanced and focused approach to over-
all development was required.
He encouraged leading entrepreneurs and
corporations to invest in the Chinese Super
League and also to invest in sports property
acquisitions in key international markets.
Part of the decree focused on the need to
increase the sports space available to society. In
the 13th Five-Year plan (2016) it set a target of
increasing the sports facilities by 700 million
square metres of space by the year 2025.
Part of the plan also outlined a target of
building one-hundred new sports towns by
2025. This would appear to provide strong evi-
dence of the intent of President Jin Jinping in
terms of where he sees the sports sector over
the next ten to fifteen years.
Major business-people such as Wang
Jianlin and Jack Ma together with companies
such as the Wanda Group and Alibaba have
invested billions of dollars into sports proper-
ties such as domestic and international football
teams, players and agencies. For example,
Wanda has invested in Infront Sports and
Media and has taken a stake in Athletico
Madrid. It has also taken over the Ironman
Triathlon series.
Fosun International Inc has acquired
Wolverhampton Wanderers (an English
Championship football team). It has also taken
a stake in a company owned by football agent
Jorge Mendes, called Gestifute.
2.3 · Government Attitudes and Policies Across Geographic Regions
Li Yonghong, a Chinese businessman,
acquired AC Milan (the well-known Italian
football team) in 2017. Unfortunately, his own-
ership was short-lived and in 2018, the club was
sold to Elliott Management (a venture fund).
There are many other instances of such
major and significant investment. The peak
period for this level of investment was roughly
between 2014 and 2016. The Chinese economy
has since slowed down, leading commentators
in both the economic and sports spheres to
express concern about the future sustainability
of such investment.
The extent and depth of expenditure can be
seen from the enormous salaries that have been
paid to footballers in an attempt to lure them to
play in the Chinese Super League. At first glance,
it would appear to make no financial sense:
essentially paying players to play in a league that
in terms of standards is a long way below the
quality of the “big five” leagues in Europe.
Why has there been such a feverish level of
investment and expenditure? It has clearly been
driven from the top: in the form of President
Jin Jinping. Such overt decrees as the one initi-
ated in 2014, explicitly encourage business peo-
ple to invest.
Is this a dangerous direction to pursue on
the part of the Chinese government? It is notice-
able that in 2017 the Chinese Super League has
introduced new regulations restricting the num-
ber of non-Chinese players that can be signed
by an individual club. Likewise, tax laws have
been introduced which penalise foreign players.
Chadwick (2017) points out that the govern-
ment still controls all aspects of sport in terms
of its development and expansion. This allows
for quick decisions leading to quick implemen-
tation with regard to any change.
Due to the slowing of the economy, the
Chinese government has made a number of key
statements cautioning Chinese entrepreneurs and
corporations against taking undue risk with
regard to international investments. It is clear that
much closer monitoring and auditing of the finan-
cial performance of corporations is on-going.
China is an enigma for sports commenta-
tors and practitioners. The boom in consump-
tion of sport among Chinese consumers is
17 2
large and (at the time of writing) shows little
sign of slowing down. This is reflected in the
levels of expenditure on sports clothing, equip-
ment and accessories. Companies such as Nike
and Adidas have made impressive inroads into
this market. Likewise, Chinese companies have
cast aside the traditional image of being copy-­
cat manufacturers of sports clothing, and are
now offering value propositions that can com-
pete on quality with the established global
sports manufacturers. Chief among such local
companies are STARY and FLIPSLED.
Football, perhaps the most global and
accessible of all sports has not proved to be a
successful hunting ground for China. It has
made little or no impression via its national
team globally: only qualifying for the World
Cup final in 2002. The nature of the level of
investment in the Chinese Super League and the
international investment in clubs and sports
properties explicitly sends a signal that China
expects to “sit at the top table” globally by 2030.
The level of interest in the Chinese Super
League is evidenced by the major jump in pay-
ment for exclusive media rights paid by Chinese
Sport Media in 2017 (£1.5 billion for a five-year
deal).
Major football clubs in Europe also target
the Chinese market aggressively in terms of pre-
season friendlies and merchandising. How long
will it be before a Chinese footballer breaks
through and makes the big time with one of the
main clubs in England, Spain or Italy?
We have yet to see sports such as rugby and
cricket make any inroads into the Chinese mar-
ket. In individual sports such as athletics, swim-
ming, tennis and basketball, China has
performed credibly in the context of individuals
winning global events and credible local sports
icons such as Li Na (tennis), Guo Jingjing
(swimming) Lin Dan (badminton), Liu Xiang
(110 metre hurdler) and Yao Ming (basketball)
have emerged over the past 20 years or so.
The link between sport and politics is never
more visible than the case of China and it appears
to show little sign of changing any time soon.
(Source: adapted by the author from
Chadwick (2017), (White Paper: Yutang Sports
(2017).
 18 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
??1. In your view how sustainable is the poli-
cy pursued by China in the longer-term?
2. Is this strategy good or bad for global
2 sport generally? Detail the benefits and
potential downsides for the key stake-
holders such as sponsors, club owners,
sport-entity holders, fans and media
rights owners.
3. Assess the role played by the Chinese
government in developing the Chinese
sports sector domestically and in the
global sports environment.
2.4 Sport and Culture
The old adage that “no man (or woman) is an
island”, is apt in the context of discussing the
relationship between sport and culture in soci-
ety. Very few of us are so reclusive that we can
exist without any formal or informal contact
with fellow human beings. Likewise, we are
not immune from the various behaviours,
norms, signs and symbols that permeate our
every-day existence. The term “culture” is dif-
ficult to define with preciseness.
Hofstede (1994) defines the term as “…the
collective programming of the mind which dis-
tinguishes the members of one group from
another”.
Spencer-Oatey (2012) provides a more
detailed interpretation and suggests that cul-
ture refers to “a set of basic assumptions and
values, orientations of life, beliefs, policies, pro-
cedures and behavioural dimensions that are
shared by a group of people and that influence
(but do not determine) each member’s behav-
iour and his/her interpretations of the meaning
of other people’s behaviour”.
It is not our intention, in this chapter, to
engage in prolonged discussion on culture: we
discuss it in a different context in 7 Chap. 4.
However, we need to recognise that culture
plays a significant role in shaping people’s atti-
tudes, behaviour and perceptions of the role
that sport plays in society.
Most researchers in this field argue that
culture is learned: not inherited. We, as indi-
viduals, learn and develop our values within
the context of the social environment within
which we live, work and socialise. We are
influenced by symbols and artefacts (e.g. dress
code, physical layout and the feel of a particu-
lar environment such as the work-place). We
behave according to the values of the society.
We do not necessarily behave in a universal
and standard way in this case. Many of us
conform to the accepted values and norms:
some respect some of them and a few of us
may rebel against some or all of them.
We belong to a number of social groups:
ranging from our immediate family to social
groups and work groups.
Culture is often described as “fuzzy” in so
far as people do not follow identical patterns
of behaviour or adhere rigidly to a common
set of values. As we noted earlier, variations
can occur.
Culture is also subject to change: nothing
remains static. However, most commentators
agree that change can be gradual in terms of
how it diffuses across groups and sub-groups.
Cultural diffusion is also a selective process:
not everything is accepted by society in an
indiscriminate or non-questioning manner.
Spencer-Oatey (2012) also notes that cul-
tural borrowing exists. This happens more fre-
quently in cases where people live in a
multi-cultural society. Some of the values
and/or behaviours of one culture may be sub-
sumed into another culture. This is a selective
process and it is also common to witness situ-
ations where one group belonging to a specific
culture is resistant to borrowing from another
culture. A good example would be in the case
of the religious beliefs of a particular group
within a society.
So, in the context of sport and its role in
society, what role does culture play in sports
development?
Firstly, the nature of society in many coun-
tries and regions has changed perceptibly over
the past couple of decades. Greater freedom
of movement and social mobility means that
multi-culturalism prevails in many societies.
In the context of sport, this integration of val-
ues, ideas, artefacts and so on in theory (but
not necessarily in practice) can lead to greater
inter-cultural understanding. Sport plays a
part in this process, particularly in the context
of the introduction of sports that are popular
within one culture and are now being played
2.4 · Sport and Culture
in another country. Global TV coverage and
live streaming of sports has also succeeded in
making them popular in different geographic
regions. In many ways this has speeded up the
diffusion of individual sports and their subse-
quent development.
This is not a new development however. In
a previous section we identified the role that
missionaries and the military played in intro-
ducing sports such as football, American
football, basketball and baseball to countries
in Asia. Over time (gradual cultural diffusion)
these sports have gained in popularity (albeit
at different levels of uptake) and are now
played, followed and enjoyed by groups of
people in these countries.
We have noted already how the perception
of sport changes over time. Up until the 1980s
the Olympic movement was an aggressive pro-
ponent of amateurism. This in many ways was
a legacy of Victorian times in the UK, where
sport was the preserve of the “gentleman
amateur” and the notion of paying individu-
als to participate was regarded as squalid.
If we consider the evolution of sports such
as rugby union and rugby league, we can
graphically see this legacy. In the case of rugby
league in the UK, it essentially emerged as a
split from rugby union because of the latter’s
objection to paying players to compete in a
professional manner. It started in the North
of England (Lancashire and Yorkshire) and
initially was the preserve of the working
classes. Although it has expanded significantly
over the years (both within the UK and inter-
nationally) it is still strongly associated with
the “working man’s sport”. It was not until
the mid-1990s that rugby union accepted (it
was already happening informally) the con-
cept of professionalism.
We referred to norms earlier in this sec-
tion. Norms revolve around the expected
behaviours and values that exist within soci-
ety. Most people tend to conform around
these norms and it can take time before they
may change or alter. A good example here is
the traditional perception of gender involve-
ment in sport.
Sport has traditionally been perceived as
the domain of the male species. If we go right
back to the ancient Olympics in Greece, it was
19 2
seen as exclusively a male preserve. This view
has tended to predominate over the centuries.
Masculinity and muscularity were the twin pil-
lars upon which most sports were developed.
In Western Europe and North American
right up until the 1950s and 1960s, women
were reluctantly accepted into the sporting
milieu. Their traditional role as home-makers
and the “gentle sex” permeated through to
their participation in sports. Where they did
compete, it was mainly in the more genteel
and less physically demanding sports. The
norms and values of many societies reinforced
this view.
A case in point was the Women’s mara-
thon race at the Los Angeles Olympics in
1984. It may seem remarkable in the context
of athletics today, but this was the first time
women were allowed to compete in the mara-
thon event. Up until then it was seen by many
people as being too demanding for females
and could possibly damage their health. For
the record, fifty women took part in this inau-
gural marathon and forty-four of them com-
pleted it.
The hegemony of the male species in no
longer as dominating as it once was. Women
compete in sports such as MMA, boxing,
rugby, cricket and football to a very signifi-
cant extent. This is reflected in larger TV and
streaming viewing figures.
We can also witness changes in sports in
the area of diversity. Sports that were once the
preserve of “white males” e.g. rugby and
cricket in South Africa, are now played by
other cultures and races and in the process
have built up significant volumes of support
within these cultures.
The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam stressed
the social importance of sport and identified
one of its key roles as being one of uniting
and building national identities. Various stud-
ies by Euromonitor in the past number of
years consistently show that almost three-­
quarters of Europeans regard sport as a
means of promoting integration.
In a later chapter, we consider in more
detail the influence of culture on the individ-
ual fan’s motivations and behaviour. Here we
concentrate on the influence of a society’s cul-
ture on its relationship with sport.
 20 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
In summary, sport and culture are inextrica-
bly linked in terms of trying to understand the
ways in which sport evolves and develops in a
2 particular society. Individuals and sport cannot
exist in isolation. Both are dependent on par-
ticipation, networking, relationship-­ building
and interfacing with various stakeholders (gov-
ernments, policy-makers, professional sports
bodies, voluntary clubs and sports societies and
so on) in society. All are shaped behaviours,
norms and values. As individuals we learn from
such interactions and are in turn shaped by
society.
Sport plays a significant role in the lives of
many people – particularly in terms of par-
ticipation in, attending and viewing sporting
events. What sports we play and watch, are
shaped by the culture of the society within
which we live. For sports marketers it is impor-
tant that we have an understanding of such
influences and how they can shape the future
of a particular sport.
2.5  he Role of Funding in Sports
T 55 Revenue from media rights paid by
Development
While high profile leagues and competitions
such as the English Premier League (EPL)
derive large amounts of revenue streams to
more than sustain the cost of running such
events, many sports struggle to generate the
required funding to develop the sport, the ath-
letes and its development at community or
grass-roots level.
In this section we consider the different
approaches or models that are used to address
this challenging aspect of sports development
in society.
As we mentioned earlier, governments of
all shades and hues have to address significant
health-related issues in society such as obesity
and specific diseases such as diabetes. Young
people in particular are also engaging with
more sedentary activities. In doing so they run
the risk of not engaging in sufficient exercise
and therefore building up long-term health
problems.
Over the years, people’s lifestyles and work
habits also militate against exercise: many of
us are office-bound or work from home, again
adopting a sedentary position.
While governments to varying degrees, are
taking action on these issues by trying to
address the challenge of encouraging greater
participation across the sports spectrum, real-
ity intrudes in the form of insufficient finance
being available in order to promote sports.
At the grass-roots level, clubs and sports
bodies are reliant to a greater extent on fund-
ing to develop its sport. Funding can come
from the following sources:
55 The taxpayer via government allocations
55 Levies generated from national lotteries
(albeit it is in competition with other
bodies such as the arts, health and so on).
Levies in some cases are also placed on
betting companies and betting
55 Corporate sponsorship, where companies
invest in a particular sport. In the latter
case there is usually an expectation that
they will get a return on their investment
55 Individuals in society who are prepared to
pay subscriptions in order to benefit from
the facilities, coaching and so on
broadcasters for access to major games,
competitions and events. Some of this
revenue can filter down to the community
or grass-roots level of the particular sport
in question.
Eurostrategies (2011) undertook a compre-
hensive study with sports clubs, sports minis-
tries and key stakeholders across the full range
of member states in the EU. It examined the
various approaches and frameworks used to
provide funding for sport.
Four revenue sources were seen to be criti-
cal in terms of trying to identify variations in
approaches to sports funding across the
member-­states of the EU.
They can be summarised as follows:
55 Level of sports participation (measured by
membership rate)
55 The average level of public funding per
capita
55 Relative importance of the direct
contributions by householders
55 The contribution of voluntary work
(Eurostrategies 2011, p 9).
2.5 · The Role of Funding in Sports Development
We consider the main features of each
approach here.
zz The Northern and Western Europe Model
55 Evident in Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands,
Sweden and Luxemburg
55 These countries typically had high levels of
participation in sport (around 20% of the
population). This leads to a high level of
social provision
55 The high level of volunteers and officials
tends to keep some of the costs down
55 Contribution by householders is relatively
low.
zz The Mediterranean Model (Greece, Italy,
Spain and Malta)
55 Low(ish) level of public subsidy
55 Levels of household expenditure is high
when compared to the extent of public
funding
55 The public spends roughly half the amount
per capita to that of households
55 Contribution of voluntary work is lower
than is the case in the Northern and
Western Europe model.
zz The Rainbow Model
55 Central European countries mainly make up
this group (Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Lithuania
55 To some extent these countries have been
affected by the collapse of the sports
infrastructure resulting from the breakdown
of the old Soviet Union in the later 1980s
55 Limited demand for leisure sports,
associated with relatively low-income levels
55 Low on the list of public funding priorities
55 Low levels of voluntary work
55 Memberships rates between 5% and 12%
55 A need to advance the sports culture.
zz BCP Model
55 Refers to Bulgaria, Czech Republic and
Poland
55 Similar to the Rainbow Model in terms of
social demand
21 2
55 Even lower levels of public expenditure per
capita
55 A high level of revenue coming from levies
on lotteries and betting/gambling service
55 Low levels of household expenditure.
In addition to the four models identified in the
study, variations were also pinpointed in the
cases of France and the UK.
In France the situation that pertains is
similar in many ways to the countries identi-
fied in the first model. However, there is lower
willingness on the part of households to spend
money on sport. The membership rate of
clubs and sports associations is lower than
group one countries. However, there is a
higher level of public funding.
In the UK there is a relatively lower level of
public support from government agencies.
Households demonstrate a higher propensity
to spend money on sport and there would
appear to be a higher appreciation of the
importance of sport. The downside is that with
the comparatively lower levels of public sup-
port, there is a lower rate of participation than
many of the other countries in group one.
The report makes a number of observa-
tions as to the future challenges of funding
sport in society over the coming years.
1. Secure, increase and diversify the resources
allocated to sport in general and grass-
roots sport in particular.
2. Promote and enhance financial solidarity
between the professional/elite end of the
spectrum and the grass-roots end.
3. Promote and support voluntary work.
4. Recognise the public interest of grass-roots
sport in other policy areas.
5. Improve the evidence-base relating to
grass-roots sports participation and fund-
ing: particularly in the area of transpar-
ency with respect to financial flows of
money.
This report is comprehensive in the context
of Europe. We need to recognise however
that 6–7 years on from this study things may
have changed in many of the member-states
of the EU. The deep recession which existed
around that time would certainly have
 22 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
affected public expenditure levels on sport
and also on the propensity of households to
also spend money in this sector. Since then
2 economies have shown signs of emerging
from the deep recession although expenditure
on sport probably is at the lower end of pub-
lic expenditure.
In the case of central and eastern European
countries such as Poland, Czech Republic and
so on, benefits from joining the EU are likely
to have improved their economic position
Benetton and Its Community Roots
The concept of shared value was put forward
by Porter and Kramer (2011). This approach to
redefining the concept of value is based on the
belief that business should not be fully gov-
erned by the economic imperative. Rather, the
needs of society and the communities within
which companies work should also come into
the decision-­ making process with respect to
their future strategic direction.
In the context of the sports sector, Benetton,
the well-known fashion company provides a
good example of how corporations can practi-
cally implement this concept.
Benetton, despite its global imprint and
success over the past 40 years or so, started off
as a traditional family-owned clothing manu-
facturer in Treviso in north-east Italy. Treviso
is the provincial capital of the Veneto region.
In the early days of its operation it established
a major local sports facility in Treviso called
La Gharida - Citta dello sport. This has grown
over the years to a 220,000 square metre facil-
ity. It is owned by Benetton and managed by
2.6  unding for Sports at the Elite
F qualifications in finals of keynote sports
End of the Spectrum
Our preceding discussion has focused to a
large extent on funding for sport in general,
particularly at the grass-roots level. In this
section we consider the challenges and
approaches to funding sports and athletics at
the professional/elite level.
How important is it for a nation to expe-
rience success; in the form of medals and/or
with income levels rising more quickly (albeit
from a much lower base than many of the
Western European countries).
In terms of attitudes to sport from the per-
spective of the population; particularly younger
people, we should acknowledge the growth in
sedentary activities such as “e-sports” in gen-
eral and gaming in particular. This is likely to
have a “knock-on” effect on participation rates
in more traditional sports such as football and
running.
Verde Sport – a Benetton sports company. This
is separate from Benetton’s sponsorship of the
local basketball team and various other spon-
sorships of sports over the years. The facil-
ity contains a comprehensive infrastructure
including four basketball and volleyball courts,
2 beach volleyball courts, six rugby playing
fields, three air-conditioned gyms for basket-
ball, volleyball, a swimming pool, a fitness cen-
tre, a nine-hole practice golf course, restaurant,
fan-shop, guest quarters for players, a three
hundred seat conference centre and meeting
room spaces and a special play area dedicated
to children between the ages of 1–6 years.
This multi-functional sports infrastructure
is free for everyone in the community through-
out the 365 days of the year.
This is a good illustration of a company
that recognises the role that the local commu-
nity has played in its success. By creating, devel-
oping and managing such a structure it can be
argued that this highlights the concept of
shared value in practice.
competition such as the Olympic Games or
World Champion championships? De Boss-
cher et al. (2013) pinpoint the following
influences. National pride, international
recognition and prestige, public interest and
the “feel good” factor and the popularity of
sports and the possibilities of increasing
participation rates as a consequence of the
success of top athletes and their position as
role models.
2.6 · Funding for Sports at the Elite End of the Spectrum
The attitudes of governments and policy-­
makers to sport in general and to elite sport in
particular varies across the globe. Objectives
can include the following:
55 To encourage as many people in the popu-
lation as possible to participate in sporting
activities
55 To focus on key demographics in order to
reduce obesity and health e.g. teenagers,
middle-aged people and so on
55 To apply a diverse approach to funding,
giving equal recognition to all sports
irrespective of popularity
55 To focus on and prioritise those sports that
are most likely to generate medal-winning
opportunities at hallmark sporting
competitions such as the Olympics
55 To regard sport as being less important
than other key priority areas for public
funding e.g. health, education and culture
55 To place sport at the centre for promoting
a political agenda.
These objectives typically are not mutually
exclusive: they tend to mix and merge and will
fluctuate, depending on the policies of succes-
sive governments, the state of the economy
and the circumstances pertaining to the coun-
try’s performance and success in sporting
events and competitions.
De Bosscher et al. (2015) pinpoint a num-
ber of components that can lead to elite sports
success. They are summarised as follows:
55 Macro levels: influence the social and cul-
tural environments and reflect the economy,
demography, geography and climate, urban-
isation, politics and the national culture
55 Meso-levels: influence the policy
environment such as coach development
policies on talent identification, recruitment
and development
A Case of Success Breeding Success
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics represented a par-
ticular low spot for UK sport. This was cap-
tured in its 36th place in the overall medal table
(one medal). Many commentators attributed
this perceived failure to be in part due to the
focus by Governments on “sport for all”. The
23 2
55 Micro-levels: reflected in the success of
individual athletes, influence of inherited
genes and the social influence of family,
friends and coaches.
As we noted in the preceding section, the pol-
icy-makers responsible for public funding and
investment in sport have a challenge of trying
to capture a balance between the elite end of
sport and grass-roots levels.
While ideally, we might want to see both
ends of the spectrum treated in equal mea-
sure, in practice we can find many variations.
Let us explore the elite sports end in
greater detail.
We have already identified the main value
of sport to society. The key stakeholders such
as governments, sponsors, coaches, scientists
and many individual members of society rec-
ognise the importance of achieving interna-
tional success in sport through measures such
as cups, trophies, competitions and medals
that are won by that country’s teams and indi-
vidual athletes.
If taken to extremes, such as the way in
which political leaders in some cases have
used sports for their own political ends, it
can lead to unethical practices such as cheat-
ing and the abuse of talented children.
Pursuing success at all costs, in addition to
unsavoury practices and behaviour can also
lead to serious questions being raised about
the way in which public money is being dis-
bursed across the sports fraternity (individ-
ual sports and their administrators). Green
(2006) raised some questions about the effi-
cacy of sports funding and posits the view
that in some countries there has been a shift
in focus from “a sports for all” policy to “not
about sports at all”.
Let us look at the case of the UK.
Prime Minister, John Major was a strong advo-
cate of this policy which arguably may have
done some good for general participation in
sports but did not provide adequate investment
at the elite end. This was in contrast to other
countries who employed a much stronger level
 24 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
of funding to elite athletes and sport in the
quest for medals and success.
2 A change of government in 1997 brought in
a new political perspective which viewed sport
as being critical to society and this view was
reflected in a change of direction in the way in
which funding was provided. Further govern-
ments continued with this policy resulting in
the scrapping of some funding that was allo-
cated to support sports in schools.
Individual objectives such as one of increas-
ing the level of participation in sport by 1 mil-
lion on 3 days a week, was refocused to younger
people as opposed to the entire population for
1 day a week.
Sports such as cycling received far more
funding. This was in order to allow it to employ
the best designers, coaches and scientists avail-
able. From the Beijing Olympics (2008) to the
most recent one (Rio de Janeiro) in 2016. As a
result, the UK has become arguably the most
dominant country in this sport and this has
been reflected in its medal haul.
Sports such as athletics and rowing have
also received large increases in funding over the
years, again leading to significant improvement
in performance and medal-­ winning at the
Olympics and World Championships.
This increase in performance led to the UK
finishing second on the medal table at the Rio
Olympics in 2016 (67 medals). Many commenta-
tors argue that this is a key measure and validator
for the policy of investing heavily in key sports.
Others disagree.
Ingle (2017) argues that a focus on medals
has led to unfair and inequitable practices in
the way in which funding is allocated to sports.
Sport UK, the body responsible for managing
the budget, has created four categories or bands
of sports. Groups one and two reflect sports
that have consistently delivered medals and
therefore receive the bulk of the funding. This
is based on the principle that success breeds
success and a culture of winning and innova-
tion can be further improved and developed
only by the requisite funding necessary to sup-
port such a culture. By contrast, sports in
groups three and four receive little or no fund-
ing. If a sport is in category four (where the
expectation is that such a sport is unlikely to
produce a medal) it will receive no funding. A
sport in category three (where the expectation
is that it can deliver at least one medal) receives
very little funding relative to those in the top
two categories.
This is graphically demonstrated in the case
of GB badminton which has seen its funding
decrease from £5.9 million (in the last tranche
of allocation) to zero. This is despite the fact
that it achieved its target at the Rio Olympics.
Other sports that have lost their funding
include: synchronised swimming, water polo,
goalball, wheelchair fencing and visually
impaired football.
Further inequities would also appear to
surround the sport of the modern p ­ entathlon.
This sport received funding of roughly £ 7 mil-
lion over the next 4 years. This allocation will
support eighteen athletes; none of whom have
any realistic chance of delivering a medal to
Team GB. It can be argued that sports such as
the modern pentathlon, equestrianism and sail-
ing: at best peripheral sports in terms of par-
ticipation and level of interest among the
general public, receive a disproportionate
amount of financial support.
Likewise, it can be argued that some sports
are more difficult to win medals in than others.
For instance, sailing is a niche sport where not
many countries or competitors perform in. By
contrast, a very popular sport such as basket-
ball, is very difficult to compete in for a country
like the UK; due to the depth and nature of the
competition. Basketball has also seen its level
of funding cut substantially. Is this unfair?
Given that it is a sport that is very popular with
young people, particularly those from ethnic
communities and some of whom live in
deprived and disadvantaged areas.
The Director of Performance has suggested
a medal target of 81 medals for the Tokyo
Olympics in 2020.
2.7 · Sports Tourism and Its Contribution to Economic Development
??1. Examine the extent to which you would
agree with the view that a focus on med-
als is damaging to the overall develop-
ment of sport in the United Kingdom.
2. Select another country (or your own
country if you are not from the UK)
and assess its approach to funding ath-
letes and sports at the elite level.
In summary, funding models for elite sports
again show variations across different countries
and regions. Some focus on elite sports, possibly
at the expense of addressing the need to encour-
age individuals in society to take up sports and
participate in events. The culture and values of
society (as we discussed in an earlier section)
revolve around the community and an ethos of
volunteerism. This is evidenced in countries like
Sweden and can be seen in clubs and schools
where volunteers manage, coach or provide
leadership and direction for the development of
the particular sport in question.
In the future, opportunities arise in the
area of funding from closer relationships with
the business world. Our case study on
Benetton shows how both the company and
the community can derive mutual benefits
from an initiative.
Australia in the form of its Australian
Olympic Council, is encouraging the federal
government to establish a national lottery.
They propose that two-thirds of the profits
could be dedicated to funding for sports. They
estimate the funding from this source could
generate additional money of around $50 mil-
lion Australian dollars. This has been stimu-
lated in part from the poor performance of its
athletes in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
As young people turn more towards
e-sports and gaming, the imperative is there
for governments to encourage active partici-
pation in traditional sports in order to combat
health problems.
At the same time, it is also important that a
nation produces athletes and teams that the
younger generation look up to and seek to
emulate. Role models and sporting icons play a
significant part in cultivating interest in sports
participation. Without such “heroes” and nar-
ratives, this becomes a major challenge for the
sport sector and its sources of funding.
25 2
2.7 Sports Tourism and Its
Contribution to Economic
Development
In this section we consider the role that sports
tourism plays in the economic development
of countries, regions and cities. Roche et al.
(2013) cite the World Tourism Organisation
who estimated in 2011 that tourism was the
largest industry globally.
Kressman (2016) suggested that the sports
tourism sector globally was worth in excess of
$600 billion. This highlights the growing con-
tribution of this sector to tourism. This
growth has been driven by a number of fac-
tors including the following:
55 The growing exposure to sports events,
competitions world-wide via subscription-­
based television, the Internet and the con-
sequent desire to attend such events
55 The growth in the number of participants
in events such as marathons, 10K races,
orienteering, cycling and so on
55 The growth in the number of people
engaging in active lifestyles revolving
around sport
55 Increases in disposable income (relatively
speaking) in key geographic regions such
as China, India and Russia. Middle-­
income segments in particular have grown
significantly and many people in this
grouping want to travel to watch sport or
to participate e.g. golf holidays.
Further indications about the importance of the
sports sector to the economy can be found in a
study commissioned by the EU (2012). It esti-
mated that it generated 2.12 per cent of total
employment across the twenty-­ seven-­
member
states. Germany had the largest number of
sports-related jobs (1.15 million) followed by
the UK (610,000) and France (410,000).
Peric (2015) identifies four experiences
that sports tourists seek:
55 Entertainment experiences: where partici-
pants are mostly passive (spectators) and
is more likely to be one of absorption than
of immersion
55 Educational experiences: tend to involve
more active participation
 26 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
55 Escapist experiences: can teach just as well
as educational events can, or amuse just
like entertainment ones, but they involve
2 greater participant immersion (they want
to become an active part of the event)
55 Aesthetic experiences: tend to minimise
the active participation, while participants
are immersed in an activity or environment,
but they by themselves have little or no
effect on it (p 88).
He suggests that the sports tourism products
can start off in any one of the four directions
and can be developed further to address some
or all of other experiences. An example could
be a basketball training academy for begin-
ners. This is essentially sports training in the
sport of basketball and unlikely to attract
fans or spectators. However, it could also
incorporate a basketball competition at the
weekend which could generate an attendance
and could further develop by inviting famous
basketball players to take part in a brief dem-
onstration of their skills and meet afterwards
with the fans.
Sports tourism can be directed towards
individuals who want to be active (marathon
running, cycling and so on) or those who are
passive spectators at events or those visiting
famous football stadia.
For the active tourist, we can see how
sports marketers further segment this group
by creating specific sports tourism products
such as golf tourism, snow-based tourism,
city marathons and so on. The passive tourists
(depending on their sporting interests and
passions) have a vast array of products to
choose from. Examples include attending
mega sports events (World Cup, Olympics,
World Championships, Tour de France
stages), attending qualification games involv-
ing their particular country (World Cup qual-
ifiers in football), and visiting host cities to
watch their team in action (Six Nations Rugby,
test cricket matches).
Over the past number of years, it is increas-
ingly common for sports event organisers,
clubs and sports bodies to work more closely
and collaboratively with other key stakehold-
ers such as city/local authorities, national and
regional government bodies with responsibil-
ity for overall tourism, the business commu-
nity, hotels and restaurants and so on. This
engagement is based on the realisation that
synergies can be achieved by working with
stakeholders that also can benefit from the
hosting of an event or a particular game.
Devine et al. (2011) highlight the dangers
of pursuing a strategy of staging events that
are not integrated or planned and where a
lack of communication or cooperation
between the interested parties can create a
barrier to the success of the business. From
the perspective of economic development this
situation can lead to missed opportunities. It
can also create negative perceptions interna-
tionally if the event is mismanaged or ele-
ments of the infrastructure do not measure up
e.g. not enough hotel rooms or poor telecom-
munications facilities and technology.
2.7.1 City-Based Branding
Given the increasing opportunities to generate
significant revenue for the local and national
economies, it is no surprise to see that cities
have embraced a more professional and strate-
gic approach to managing sports tourism.
Branding of anything (physical product,
service, person, city and so on) is predicated
on the belief that in order to be relevant to a
target audience, the “product” must be able to
achieve one or two points of differentiation
from its direct and indirect competitors.
Otherwise why would anyone want to pur-
chase or consume that product?
In the context of tourism and destination
marketing this is equally important and chal-
lenging. Marketers are faced with the task of
creating a product that resonates with a target
market; where individuals in this segment
have positive perceptions and attitudes about
that product, will purchase it again and act as
ambassadors for the product by “spreading
the good news” about it to their friends and
social networks. Social media platforms have
helped in this regard.
This can work both ways. Good experi-
ences will lead to inspiring narratives on social
media. Likewise, bad experiences will generate
negative comments and publicity.
2.8 · Bidding for and Staging Major Sports Events
In this context, some cities have seen sport
in general and events in particular, as a good
opportunity to generate revenue, increase the
number of visitors and capture international
coverage as a consequence of staging such
activities. Sport-focused city branding can
also engender a sense of pride in the citizens;
particularly when high-profile events are
staged.
City-based branding has specific chal-
lenges and complexities that are not to be
found to the same extent in other sectors.
Moilanen (2015) identifies some characteris-
tics of city branding. They can be identified as
follows:
55 It is a multi-dimensional product, contain-
ing many diverse elements (heritage, his-
tory, culture, infrastructure, sport and
buildings to name but a few)
55 It is delivered by many different
stakeholders
55 Often there is a conflict of interest between
the stakeholders. This can lead to a
breakdown in communications and an ill-­
conceived strategy
55 Management and marketing of the brand
can be outside the control of those tasked
with this responsibility
55 The pernicious influence of politicians is a
common feature
55 Dangers associated with making
unrealistic promises or exaggerating sports
assets and features (Herstein and Berger
2013).
Melbourne is a good example. It has a very
strong tradition for staging mega-events such
as the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth
Games. It stages a Formula One event each
year, hosts the Australian Open Tennis
Championships (one of the four “Grand Slam
“events), stages test matches at the Melbourne
Cricket Ground (MCG) and other major
national events such as Australian Football
League games. It has invested in the appropri-
ate infrastructure by way of stadia, hotels and
telecommunications.
The benefits to the stakeholders are clear.
Increased visitors spend money in the city
which impacts on hotels, bars, restaurants and
so on. International media coverage of mega
27 2
sports events provides the city or region with
the opportunity to project other key dimen-
sion of its tourism product e.g. cultural activi-
ties, beaches, historic castles, scenery and so
on.
It also enables the city to project its people:
their friendliness and so on. Glasgow used
sport to project its points of differentiation. It
has staged the Commonwealth Games in 2014
and hosted the UEFA Cup Final in 2007. It
has a tradition of sport.
2.8  idding for and Staging Major
B
Sports Events
Evidence that the sports sector plays a promi-
nent part in the economy and within society in
general is to be clearly found in the role of
hallmark sports events. It would appear that
some countries will do anything to win the
rights to stage such events.
What constitutes such an event?
Mega sports events refer to typically recur-
ring events that have a global relevance and
appeal and capture the level of media interest
that corresponds to the scale and interest of
the event. At the top of the pyramid lies the
Olympic Games and the football World Cup.
In both cases they attract the interest of a
global audience of sports viewers and fans.
Typically, mega events attract a very large
number of visitors who come to the city or
country to attend the event. Such events are
likely to have significant impacts on issues
such as infrastructural development and
urban regeneration.
We can apply a notional “categorisation”
of such events by recognising that the scale
and scope of the event can vary. At a slightly
lower level, major sporting events, while still
having an international relevance and appeal,
attract less viewers and visitors and a slightly
lower international media coverage. They
relate to World Championships in specific
sports such as athletics, rowing, rugby and
boxing. Major events can also refer to regional
championships such as the Asian Games or
the European football championships. They
also tend to be recurring (every 2–4 years).
 28 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development

Another category of major sporting events 55 The “feel-good” factor among the city’s
refers to “one-off ” games or competitions. citizens
Events such as the European Champions 55 Boost for hotels, hospitality, restaurants
2 League Final would fit into this category. and entertainment outlets.
Some sports have key competitions that
reflect the top end of their schedule. Golf has
Long-term benefits
the “Four Majors”. With the exception of the
55 New and improved sports facilities that can
US Masters (always staged at Augusta), the
be used post-event
other three tend to be allocated to individual
55 Investments in overall infrastructure, roads,
golf courses that meet their requirements.
transport and telecommunication
In the case of tennis, it stages four “Grand
55 The “advertising effect” falling out from the
Slam” events (US Open in New York, French
global media coverage of the event
Open in Paris, Australian Open in Melbourne
55 Boost for tourism as a result of increased
and the Championships, Wimbledon in
numbers of visitors
­London).
55 Potential for foreign direct investment and
Annual sports events such as the Superbowl
increased international trade as a result of
(NFL) generate more limited global appeal
the city’s exposure to foreign corporations
but within the context of the USA, the city
55 Can put the city on the international map.
that stages the event can showcase its assets to
Examples include Barcelona (1992
a wide audience.
Olympics) that transformed itself into an
At the lower end of the events spectrum,
international city and became one of the
cities can stage national championships or
most popular destination cities in the world
competitions which clearly have a more lim-
for tourists
ited appeal in terms of viewers and visitors.
55 The “advertising effect” can also lead to
spin-off’s for neighbouring cities and the
2.8.1  enefits of Staging Mega
B country as a whole (Coattail Marketing).
Sporting Events
The Summer Olympic Games is arguably the 2.8.2 Legacy
biggest sporting event, recurring every 4 years.
The city which wins the bid to stage the games “Legacy” is a term that is highlighted as
typically has to handle around 10,500 athletes being a critical expected positive outcome
from over 200 countries. It has to have the facil- resulting from hosting a mega/major sport-
ities to stage over 300 events in 28 different ing event. This refers to critical key perfor-
sports. It typically sells around 10 million tick- mance indicators that are used to assess the
ets for these events. The International Olympic long-term success or otherwise of the event.
Committee (IOC) generates around 50 per cent It comes into play long after the event itself
of its total revenues from media rights, from has been staged. It poses the following ques-
which it provided a portion to the host city. tion. What evidence is there to indicate, a
Baade and Matheson (2016) identify a number of years after the event had taken
number of short and long-term benefits that place that the city/country/region has gained
can accrue to the host city. We can summarise long-term benefits as a consequence of stag-
them as follows: ing that event?
Indeed, the sports-entity holders such as
Short-term benefits
the IOC and FIFA explicitly look for evidence
55 An economic boost to the city arising from
in the bid submissions that the committees
construction
identify specific areas where such legacies are
55 Increase in the number of tourists
expected to happen.
55 Media rights received from the IOC
Legacies can be divided into “hard” and
(roughly 30% shared with the organising
“soft” elements.
committee)
2.8 · Bidding for and Staging Major Sports Events
Soft structures include: knowledge (e.g.,
organisational, security, technological); net-
works (e.g., political, sport federations, secu-
rity); and cultural goods (e.g., cultural identity,
cultural ideas, and common memory).
Hard structures include: primary struc-
tures (e.g., sport infrastructure, training sites);
secondary structures (e.g., villages for athletes,
technical officials and media); and tertiary
structures (e.g., security, power plants, tele-
communication networks, cultural attrac-
tions) (Preuss 2004).
The importance of achieving legacies
resulting from the hosting of major sporting
events is highlighted in the concept of legacy
planning. Hartman and Zandberg point to
the literature on this concept and describe it
as a situation where the event is embedded in
a larger picture: focusing on a pre and post-­
event development surrounding the planning.
In other words, legacies should not be expected
to emerge in a spontaneous and unanticipated
manner. Rather they should be planned from
the very beginning of the bidding process and
feature as the central platform of the bid.
2.8.3 Image Change
We enter the political sphere in this instance.
Political leaders frequently see sport in gen-
eral and mega sports events in particular as a
conduit for promoting their political agenda
and philosophy. Adolf Hitler could quickly
envisage the benefits of using the 1936
Olympic Games as a means of reinforcing his
political views and signalling them loudly and
clearly to the rest of the world.
The Chinese government used the Beijing
games in 2008 to change the popular image
that many countries held about its society and
political beliefs. It went for a “soft” approach,
using the individual competitions, the stadia
and “soft scenes” of everyday life in a modern
city to project a different image. This appeared
to work in terms of changing peoples’ percep-
tions.
The Gulf region has also recognised the
power of sport on a global stage. We looked at
the case of Dubai earlier in this chapter. Over
the past 20 years or so other Gulf States have
29 2
made major investments in acquiring the
rights to host mega and major sporting events.
Examples include Abu Dhabi and Bahrain
(Formula One races), Qatar (2006 Asian
Games) and arguably the most unexpected of
all: winning the bid to stage the 2022 World
Cup.
The political ramifications generated by
the awarding of this event to Qatar have
revolved around accusations of bribery and
corruption on the part of the Qatari bid com-
mittee. No hard evidence has been produced
to support this accusation.
States in this region also have to grapple
with negative perceptions of the way in which
the Rulers run their regimes; with questions
raised about issues such as women’s rights,
democracy, labour conditions and so on.
Foley et al. (2012) point to the fact that many
of the rulers have aggressively taken the sports
event space by storm in the past number of
years.
Amara (2008) argues that investment in
sports events is driven to a significant extent
by the need to build a new identity through
“an emerging model of the modern monarchy
state” (p 107).
The implications of these moves by the
Gulf States in the sports space are not likely
to have any impact in the short-term. It takes
time to change the global perception of a par-
ticular country’s culture, political philosophy
and so on.
Qatar had originally set as its aims for the
Doha Asian Games in 2007 around the fol-
lowing objectives:
55 To put Qatar (with the world’s third largest
natural gas reserves, but with a low inter-
national profile) “on the map”
55 Increase tourism by establishing an annual
circuit of international sporting events in
Qatar, and
55 Instil discipline in Qatar’s young people
by providing facilities to enable them to
participate in sports (Kolatch 2007).
It subsequently failed in a bid to stage the
2016 Olympics but won the rights to the 2022
World Cup.
If we take these benefits at face value it is
clear that by winning the right to host mega
 30 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
events it can be argued that there are clear
“wins” to be generated.
However, a closer examination of these
2 claims leads to the intrusion of reality! Baade
and Matheson (2016) note that “predictions
are rarely matched by reality” (p 207). We
have to recognise the downsides that can fall
out from hosting mega sporting events.
The drawbacks are as follows.
2.8.4 Cost Overruns
This would appear to be an endemic feature of
most bids and subsequent costs associated with
the event. The worst example of this occurred
with the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976. The
local authorities estimated that it would cost
$125 million to stage. The actual cost plunged
the city into over $2.8 billion in debt. It took
until 2008 before this debt was fully cleared.
Cost overruns are often outside the con-
trol of the local organising committee. The
timeline from developing the bid submission
to winning the bid to staging it can be any-
where from 10–15 years. Clearly land values
and construction costs can fluctuate during
this period. Extraneous events that affect the
general economy can also rebound on the
original budget.
Zimbalist (2010) notes that the bid com-
mittee for Athens (2000 Olympics) initially
projected a cost of $1.6 billion. The eventual
cost came in at $16 billion. Beijing estimated
the costs would be around $1.6 billion. The
final costs were $40 billion.
2.8.5 Understating Costs
In the quest to convince key stakeholders such
as businesses, sponsors and the citizens of the
city, the bid committees have often been
accused of understating the real costs of stag-
ing the event. It is hard to prove if this actu-
ally has happened. However, the desire on the
part of key influencers such as political lead-
ers and party officials and the pressure placed
on committee members, can lead to political
expediency. This can lead to negative percep-
tions among the citizens post-event.
The seeming inability to make accurate
forecasts and the frequency of this happening,
has led to many cities in recent years pulling
out of the bidding process because of a lack
of interest and cynicism in the city and com-
munities.
The London Bid Committee (heavily sup-
ported by the Labour Government) pro-
jected costs of around £3–4 billion. It ended
up with a cost return of around £17 billion.
Many people criticised the committee for
being disingenuous with the true costs.
Vested interests in the form of government,
construction developers, and banks and so
on would appear to have played a role in the
budget-setting and subsequent communica-
tions strategy.
2.8.6 Overstating Economic
Benefits
Some commentators suggest that because the
people behind the bidding process and the
preparation of the documentation have a
vested interest in proceedings, there is a dan-
ger that benefits, in the form of increased
employment and higher levels of tourism, are
exaggerated in order to impress key stake-
holder. This is often seen in the net number of
visitors attending the event. For instance,
Baade and Matheson (2016) cite the experi-
ence of London during the 2012 Games. The
number of visitors to London declined signifi-
cantly in net terms during the months of July
and August (when the event was staged) as
compared to the previous year. This was
graphically highlighted by the decision of
London’s West End Theatres to close during
this period.
Many people who have no interest in the
particular event will more than likely avoid
the city or region in question. Indeed, local
residents in many cases make a decision to go
on holiday to a foreign destination to escape
the perceived hassle and chaos that tends to
happen. Examples of this include increased
security operations (with a range of restric-
tions on parking and movement) and conges-
tion in the key areas of the city.
2.9 · Criteria Used to Assess Bid Submissions for Mega and Major Sports Events
2.8.7 The White Elephant Effect
While mega events such as the Olympics and
the World Cup can lead to the construction of
state-of-the-art stadia, in many cases the per-
ceived potential benefits suffer from exagger-
ated claims from the host committees and
political leaders. What happens to these stadia
2–3 years after the event?
The evidence is mixed. Coates and
Humphreys (2008) researched this question
and came to the conclusion that there was lit-
tle empirical evidence to support many of the
perceived economic benefits associated with
new stadia and arenas.
Examples include Athens, where the main
stadium and many of the other arenas that
featured in the Olympics in 2000 now lie der-
elict and in a major state of disrepair.
The iconic “Bird’s Nest” stadium which
received so many plaudits from designers has
been rarely used since 2008 and has been par-
tially converted into apartments.
Conversely the athletes’ villages that were
built for the Atlanta (1996) and Los Angeles
(1984) games were converted into new dormi-
tories for local universities. The stadium used
in the London 2012 games was rented to one
of the London-based premier league football
teams: West Ham. It was re-designed in such a
way as it could be converted back to an athlet-
ics stadium to enable it to stage major cham-
pionships (it staged the World Athletics
Championships in 2017).
Glasgow, as part of its bid submission
guaranteed that the athletes’ village would be
transformed into social housing. It has taken
far longer than originally stated by the bid
committee to deliver on this promise.
2.8.8  o Real Supporting Evidence
N physical) financial and political stability of
to Support the Perceived
Benefits
Baade and Matheson (2016) reviewed the
extant academic research on the economic
impact of the Olympic Games. Their evalua-
31 2
tion of these studies does not generate much
support for the view that major economic
benefits automatically flow from the staging
of mega-events in general and the Olympic
Games in particular.
Most of the studies which indicated some
improvements such as the creation of new
jobs and household consumption typically
could best be described as modest in terms of
their contribution to economic development.
2.9  riteria Used to Assess Bid
C
Submissions for Mega
and Major Sports Events
The value of sports properties which fall
under these categories allied to the potential
benefits that can accrue to the “winner” ensure
that in theory a rigorous methodology is used
to judge the merits (or otherwise) of submis-
sions.
Westerbeek et al. (2002) undertook a
major study which identified the key criteria
used and the process involved in making bids
for such events. The findings indicated that
eight key success criteria were identified. They
further divided the criteria into four that were
deemed to be vital to the potential success of
a bid and four that were important, playing a
supporting role.
2.9.1 Vital Factors
55 Ability to organise events: (management
expertise, sport-specific technical exper-
tise, technical infrastructure, a track record
of organising events and staff knowledge)
55 Political support: (government involve-
ment and support for the bid and the pro-
cess (financial, human resources and
the city/country)
55 Infrastructure: (the necessary telecommu-
nications, transport, road infrastructures,
community support, necessary hotels and
accommodation, stadia, and ability to
deliver proposed stadia and arenas)
 32 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
55 Existing facilities: pre-existence of estab-
lished high quality facilities that have
already been used to stage major sports
2 events previously (including stadia and
hotels and accommodation). This leaves
the city/region in a better position to start
construction early.
2.9.2 Supporting Factors
55 Communication and exposure: (reputation
of the city/region, city-based marketing
initiatives, communications and IT sys-
tems)
55 Accountability: (relationships events bid-
ders have with event owner(s) and the
public(s), transparency in terms of the
financing of the bid and the required infra-
structure, justifying to the public how their
money is being spent)
55 Bid team composition: (the mixture of
expertise on the bid team/committee and
how they are perceived by relevant stake-
holder, gender balance, sports experts
such as former athletes, ambassadors,
high level businesspeople and age and
experience)
55 Relationship marketing: (the power and
influence of people on the board such as
political leaders, allowing access to key
influencers and decision-makers and mak-
ing friends with them in order to bolster
credibility, trust and confidence).
Since this study, arguably, the stakes involved
in the bidding process and the resulting
rewards to the successful bid committee have
been raised even higher. The Internet, social
media and digital marketing tools and tech-
nology have increased the level of exposure
and coverage that the winner will be able to
obtain. As noted earlier, media rights have
also increased exponentially, with a portion
of that filtering through to the host cities and
countries.
Environmental and ecological concerns
have also emerged over the past 15 years.
These issues are now assessed in relation to
how the various bids factor these issues into
their strategy. This is reflected in areas such as
the design of new stadia and infrastructure.
2.9.3  idding and Hosting Mega
B
Events: Losing Its Appeal
Event property owners such as FIFA, UEFA
and the IOC have been the subject of intense
criticism for the manner in which they have
conducted the bidding process. Accusations of
a lack of transparency, corruption and chica-
nery have been rife: most notably with the
award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Countries with questionable civil rights poli-
cies have staged major sports event. High pro-
file personalities such as Sepp Blatter have had
to resign or been removed from their posts as a
consequence of their dubious practices.
There is now evidence to indicate that the
kudos resulting from staging mega sports events
are being outweighed by a degree of worry and
cynicism among prospective bidders.
In 2015 Boston formally withdrew its bid
to stage the 2024 Summer Olympics. This
happened despite putting together a very sim-
ple and low-cost proposal. It relied on using
existing stadia and developing temporary
stands and arena. It identified a cost of $4.5
billion to organise the event with a further $6
billion allocated to improve existing infra-
structure such as roads. It did not however
engender any public support for the bid: a
vociferous campaign run by citizens of the
city indicated that the bid would be doomed.
Budapest also pulled out of bidding for
the 2024 games. Over 250,000 signatures from
its citizens forced a referendum. The local
authorities saw the writing on the wall and
promptly pulled out.
This cynicism has come about because of
the plethora of bad publicity surrounding these
events. Concerns about taxpayers being exposed
to the debt arising after the event have also
coloured judgement. Cities are effectively taken
over by the event property-owner and some citi-
zens become annoyed when they witness the
effective “lock-down” as evidenced by road clo-
sures, restricted entry, over-zealous security and
so on. When the senior administrators are
escorted around in luxury limousines, the anger
becomes even more pronounced!
The notion that host cities have become the
playgrounds for over-paid and corrupt admin-
istrators has gained traction in the media. This
2.10 · Conclusions
is compounded if the cities are left with white
elephants, large costs to the taxpayers and little
or no boost to the economy.
Ethical concerns have also been expressed
about the dangers arising from cities and
countries located in developing economies,
staging such events have also grabbed media
attention. For instance, many of the stadia
that were built for the 2014 World Cup lie idle
and derelict.
In response some form of reality has
intruded into the mind-set of the sports entity
holders.
For instance, UEFA made some radical
changes to its staging of the UEFA Euro
Championships 2020. Instead of locating the
finals in one country, or across two countries, it
has elected to stage the event across thirteen
cities in Europe. These range from Baku
(Azerbaijan) to Copenhagen and Bucharest.
The CEO argued that this allows cities and
countries who could not afford to stage the full
event to become actively involved. It is also a
recognition that it may no longer be feasible to
expect countries to cover the full costs and
challenges of staging such events. It also
addresses the possibility that in the future only
wealthy cities and economies could act as
hosts.
2.10 Conclusions
In this chapter we have considered the role
that sports plays in society. Due to the posi-
tivity and excitement that typically surrounds
this sector we have seen how it impacts on
many parts of society, acting as a diversion
for many from the mundaneness of everyday
life.
The relationship between sport and poli-
tics is very strong: political leaders and parties
can see the way in which sport can be used to
embed them in the community, promote their
political agenda and increase their profile on
the national and global stages.
Funding for sport is an essential platform
for sports development in society. We assessed
the different models that are adopted to
increase participation in sporting activities
and address health issues. The higher (elite)
33 2
end of the spectrum, provides the appropriate
environment and facilities to enable athletes
to compete and be successful at international
level and at the global championships in their
area.
Sports tourism has become a critical part
of general tourism’s contribution to national
economies. The global appeal of sport is evi-
denced in the numbers of fans prepared to
travel to witness sports events. Also, growth
areas such as participation sports attract large
numbers of people to cities to compete in
events such as marathons, skiing and orien-
teering.
We considered the issue of bidding for and
hosting mega/major sports events. For years
many cities and countries pursued the acquisi-
tion of the rights to stage such events with
great zeal, sometimes bordering on unethical
behaviour. More recently, due to scandals and
the ever-spiralling costs associated with such
events, cities are re-appraising the benefits
that might or might not accrue from such
events.
Overall, the sports sector has grown in
importance in many countries over the past
10–20 years. This is due to a number of rea-
sons but the move to a more business-like and
professional approach to marketing sport has
undoubtedly helped in this regard.
Learning Outcomes
55 Sport in general plays a significant role
in the economic development of a
country and is a source of major
employment
55 The value of sport can be seen in areas
such as building national pride and
national identity, escapism, increased
tourism, bringing cultures together and
acting as a conduit between people of
different religions and political views
55 Culture is closely linked to sport,
particularly in terms of how peoples’
attitudes, behaviours and perceptions
influence their involvement in sport
55 Political leaders and parties view sport
as a mechanism for increasing their
profile and political agenda. This can
 34 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
engender both positive and negative
outcomes for societies
55
2 Funding sport at elite and grass-roots
level is critical in terms of sports devel-
opment. The challenge is to capture a
balance between public funding, house-
holders paying for sports services and
corporate involvement
55 Sports tourism is one of the key
categories of overall tourism strategy in
many countries
55 City-based marketing and branding is
central to attracting visitors and sports
tourism in general and hosting major
sports events
55 Bidding for the right to stage mega/
major sports events has led to unsavoury
behaviour from the perspectives of the
sports event owners and prospective
bidders
55 There is little evidence to suggest that
cities and countries benefit greatly from
hosting such events
55 Planned or predicted legacies in
particular, often do not emerge, leading
to the “white elephant” effect
55 Increasingly, sports property owners
are looking at more innovative and less-­
costly ways to stage mega sports events
such as using a multi-city approach.
??End of Chapter Discussion Questions
1. Examine the role that sports “role mod-
els” play in encouraging individuals to
participate in sport. Use a detailed exam-
ple to support your point of view.
Dubai: Back to the Future
Dubai is one of the emirates that make up the
United Arab Emirates.
It invested in sport back in the 1980s and
was one of the first city states in the Gulf region
to recognise the power of sport. To some extent
it was forced on them. Dubai did not have oil
reserves that their neighbouring Emirate Abu
Dhabi enjoyed. The rulers of Dubai realised
2. Using TWO examples, assess the ways in
which city-branding can capitalise on
sport to build its brand equity.
3. Assess the extent to which you would
agree with the view that schools and uni-
versities could play a much more proac-
tive role in sports development at the elite
end of the sports spectrum.
4. You are the Marketing Director for the
sport of badminton. You have been asked
by Sport UK to make a twenty-minute
presentation to them justifying why your
allocation of funding should not be with-
drawn. Detail the issues you would cover
in your presentation.
5. Culture does not remain static. It changes
over time. Discuss the implications of
this observation for sports. Select one
sport and examine the impact in detail.
6. Traditional sport has been portrayed as
male-dominated. To what extent do you
agree with this view? Use examples to
support your line of argument.
7. Some commentators argue that the ben-
efits of staging mega sports events far
outweigh any disadvantages. Examine
the extent to which you would agree with
this perception. Use a detailed case study
to develop your point of view.
8. Evaluate the merits of adopting a multi-
city approach to staging mega sports
events.
Appendix
that they needed to develop a long-term vision
and identified sectors such as retailing and
sports. They realised, that if developed and
marketed properly, such investment would
­generate revenue streams to allow the city to
prosper.
Since the 1980s it has built up a track record
for hosting and delivering a number of high-pro-
2.10 · Conclusions
file sports events and competitions. These include
the Dubai Rugby Sevens, the World Cup of
horse racing, Dubai Duty Free tennis champion-
ships (part of the ATP and WTA tours) and the
DP World Tour golf event; better known as the
finale of the “Race to Dubai”. This latter event is
held towards the end of the calendar year.
In recent years, it has established itself as a
world class venue for sky diving and air sports
competitions. In 2012 it hosted the FAI World
Parachuting championships and in 2015, the
FAI World Air Games.
More recently it set itself the task of being
an innovative city when it comes to staging
sports events. While not pulling away from the
traditional events and sports, it has adopted the
view that it has to look to the future.
As part of its look ahead to the future, it
staged the first World Future Sports Games.
This revolved around staging futuristic tech-
nology-based sports competitions. As befits the
title of the games, the sports featured modern
technology and artificial intelligence (AI). The
events included the following: driverless car
racing; robotic soccer; robotic running compe-
??Discussion Questions
1. Is there a danger that investing in
unproven sports, such as the ones that
featured in the World Futuristic Games,
the rulers of Dubai will become removed
from mainstream sports?
Good on Ya Sport
Australia’s sporting culture derives from its his-
tory as a former British colony. In the nine-
teenth century many convicts and prisoners
were sent to this vast land as a form of punish-
ment. It was seen, literally, as the end of the
world. The arrivals had to make a go of things
in their new setting and they quickly took up
many of the sports that they were familiar with
from the UK and Ireland. Sports like cricket
and rugby took hold and what was later to
become known as “Aussie Rules Football”
evolved: mainly from rugby and Gaelic football
(a native Irish sport).
35 2
titions; drone racing; manned drone racing;
robotics swimming; robotic table tennis;
robotic wrestling; and a cybathon competition.
It has bolstered its investment in staging
sports events by investing heavily in the required
infrastructure, e.g. Meydan racecourse and the
Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid stadium. This
has a capacity of 60,000, is fully air-conditioned
and its cradle-­like support allows for a range of
facilities that operate underneath the structure.
Other sports facilities include the Ned Al Sheba
sports complex, which contains state-of-the-art
indoor and outdoor training facilities including
altitude acclimatisation chambers and leading-
edge training pitches. Many of the leading
European football teams visit there for pre-sea-
son and mid-season training.
By integrating sport with retailing, and
designing a modern infrastructure of hotels
and entertainment, it can be argued that Dubai
is up there with the best of the world cities that
have used sport as a mechanism for differenti-
ating and branding its product.
(Compiled by the author from various
sources on the Internet).
2. Assess the approaches to sport that have
been employed by neighbouring Gulf
States such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Ara-
bia and Abu Dhabi.
Such sports were seen as vehicles for devel-
oping discipline and manliness in males and
played a role in developing a civilised ­society.
In contrast to the focus on gentlemen pur-
suing sport in the UK, the life of the colonists
in the early decades was rough and tough.
Brought up in such a violent environment,
where drunkenness and gambling were com-
mon features of life, sport had to blend into
this atmosphere. Australian sports tended to
reflect this lifestyle and the colonist saw them-
selves as being much tougher and competitive
than their counterparts back in the UK.
 36 Chapter 2 · Sport and Its Role and Contribution to Society and Economic Development
This environment instilled a strong sense of
pride and being successful in sport was seen as
2 a key indicator of such national identity.
As the country developed, it was perhaps
inevitable that Australian society began to “mir-
ror” some of the behaviours from the UK. This
was reflected in the class system. As the colo-
nists evolved, some moved into higher income
streams and a class structure evolved in equal
measure. This was reflected in the development
of schools to reflect these income levels. This
applied to the area of sports also. Some sports,
such as cricket, tennis, golf, rowing, yachting,
hunting and horse racing, reflected the upper-
class pursuits of the day. Like the UK, individu-
als fitting into this social class had more time
and money for such pursuits. By contrast, the
working classes worked 6 days a week and had
little time for leisure activities.
The era of amateurs and professionals also
emerged in the Australian social system.
The role of women in sport followed a simi-
lar line of development. Physical exertion was
seen as not being compatible with being a
women: perspiration and damage to reproduc-
tive systems were perceived as being major
problems!
Following a similar pattern of evolution,
such outmoded thoughts and practices gradu-
ally faded away, although right up to the pres-
ent day, some sports are associated more with
the upper classes. However, like many other
countries, major initiatives have addressed
issues such as diversity, gender balance and
equality, and participation rates.
The indigenous population of Australia
(the society that was there before the settlers
arrived) had their own sporting pursuits. These
involved foot running, climbing, object-throw-
ing and water-based activities. These pursuits
were survival-based with respect also for their
tribal elders. Their pastimes reflected their
close relationship to the land and water. Within
the changing society that evolved throughout
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it is
clear that they had their own distinctive culture
which had to survive alongside the fast-­growing
multi-cultural society that was evolving.
The Yuendumu Games was established in
1962 to celebrate the cultural and sporting tra-
ditions of the indigenous population.
Australian Rules Football and boxing are
particular sports where we have seen numerous
indigenous sportspeople participating in and
enjoying success. In the case of boxing, for
example, Lionel Rose became the World
Bantamweight champion in 1968. Yvonne
Goolagong enjoyed much success also in the
sport of tennis.
The multi-cultural aspect of Australian
society has been ever-present since the arrival
of the early settlers.
This was manifested in the arrival of immi-
grants from a range of European countries
such as Italy, Greece, Serbia, Croatia and so
on. More recently, in the last 50 years or so, the
population of Australia has increased with
arrivals from Asian countries such as Malaysia,
Vietnam, Taiwan and China.
Twenty-five per cent of the Australian pop-
ulation were born overseas. Over forty per cent
of the population have at least one parent that
was born overseas.
The multi-cultural environment has helped
to integrate different cultures and introduced
sports activities such as tai chi, while sports,
such as badminton, have grown in popularity
as a consequence of its popularity within the
Asian communities.
The climate of Australia also contributes to
the stereotype of it being an outdoor society,
where sport and sporting activities play a sig-
nificant role in everyday life.
The perception that Australia is in some
way remote from other major centres of popu-
lation in Europe and North America has high-
lighted the importance of being successful in
sport and thus, being in a position to show the
rest of the world what Australia and
Australians are all about. This is typically cap-
tured in the sport of cricket, where the tradi-
tional and long-­established Test Series with
References
England tends to generate much debate and
argument. The rivalry is enhanced by the per-
ceived relationship between the Colony and
the Empire b­ uilders.
Until the 1990s, football (soccer) trailed in
popularity by comparison to cricket, AFL and
rugby. However, the national team made a sig-
nificant breakthrough in the 2002 World Cup.
Arguably, the build-up to this breakthrough
??Discussion Questions
1. Assess the dangers of using stereotypes
to describe a particular sporting culture.
2. How does the Australian sporting culture
differ from the sporting culture in your
country?
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 39 3

Sports Governance
Contents

3.1 Introduction – 40

3.2 Governance Defined – 41

3.3 Governance in the Context of the Sports Sector – 42

3.4 Role and Remit of Sports Governance – 43

3.4.1 Exercise – 44

3.5 Characteristics of Sports Organisations – 45

3.6 Key Criteria for Effective Sports Governance – 48

3.6.1 Accountability, Transparency and Independent
Monitoring – 49
3.6.2 Exercise – 49
3.6.3 Transparency – 49

3.7 Global Perspectives on the Governance of Sport – 53

3.7.1 T he Changing Influence of Anglo/American and European
Cultures on Sport Globally – 54
3.7.2 Impact of Different Cultures and Behaviours on Sports
Governance – 54
3.7.3 The Legal Response – 56
3.7.4 Exercise – 57

3.8 A Framework for Effective Governance – 57

3.9 Conclusions – 58

Appendix – 60

References – 72

Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this chapter

(https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53740-1_3) contains supplementary material,
which is available to authorized users.

© The Author(s) 2020

S. Ennis, Sports Marketing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53740-1_3
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in this way; so that in reality the cost of one’s entertainment falls on
the whole village.
The majority of the natives of these oases are miserably poor, and
it goes much against the grain for a European to have to live upon
them in this way. But to refuse their hospitality would be considered
as a slight, if not as an actual insult, and so would any attempt to
offer them any payment in return.
The meals, as a rule, were quite well cooked, and usually better
than I got in camp. It was the tea and cigarettes that were such a
trial. The one luxury the inhabitants of the oasis allow themselves is
tea; even the poorest of them consume enormous quantities. The
quality of the tea in the better class houses is irreproachable. The
best of it is said to come from Persia, and I was told that as much as
£1 a rotl (the Egyptian pound) is paid for it. In addition to red tea, a
green tea, and also a brown and a black are used. The last I only
tasted once; it seemed to be of an inferior quality. The richer natives
will often offer two or even three different kinds in succession.
After drinking, it is quite the correct thing to sit silent for some time
licking and smacking one’s lips, “tasting the tea” as it is called, as a
compliment to the quality supplied by one’s host. The natives have
another way of showing their appreciation of the fare set before
them, which, however, it would be better not to describe.
The greatest ordeal I had to face was not the tea but the
cigarettes. My host would extract from somewhere in the voluminous
folds of his clothing a large shiny papier mâché tobacco-box, inlaid
with mother-of-pearl, from which he would produce some tobacco
and cigarette papers and proceed to roll me a cigarette, which he
then licked down.
Eventually I found a means to avoid them. If the cigarette was
offered me before the tea, I placed it above my ear—the correct
position to carry it in the oases—and explained that I would smoke it
later, so as to avoid spoiling the tea. If it was handed to me after the
tea drinking, I was able to postpone lighting it for a time by saying
that I would not smoke it just then, as I was still “tasting” the tea;
then, while still licking and smacking my lips, with the cigarette still
unsmoked above my ear, I found that it was time to take my
departure. Once safely outside my host’s house in the desert, the
cigarette would fall down from my ear and be promptly scrambled for
by my men.
In Smint, however, no cigarettes were forthcoming. The reason
was not far to seek. Close to the village the Senussi had built a
zawia, and a large number of the inhabitants of the village had
already been converted to the tenets of the sect, or, as the natives
put it, they “followed the sheykh.” The members of this sect are
forbidden to smoke.

SENUSSI ZAWIA AT SMINT.

In company with the ’omda we went to call on the sheykh of the

zawia. After speaking to us for a minute or two, he rather sulkily
invited us to enter and treated us to the usual tea.
The zawia was an entirely unpretentious looking mud-built
building, and might have been only the house of a well-to-do villager.
The head of it—Sheykh Senussi by name—was quite a young man
in the early twenties, and had probably been given the position
owing to the fact that he had married a daughter of Sheykh
Mohammed el Mawhub, the chief Senussi sheykh in Dakhla, who
himself had a zawia at Qasr Dakhl, the largest town in the oasis,
situated in its north-western corner.
 He was said to be an Arab from Tripoli way, a statement that was
borne out by his clothing, which consisted of the ordinary white hram
of a Tripolitan Arab of the poorer class. He was very silent during the
whole of our visit, and when he did condescend to speak it was
generally to sneer or laugh at some remark that we made. The
interview was consequently cut as short as possible.
 Re-soling a Camel’s Foot.
The sharp rocks of the desert sometimes flay the entire skin from the sole of a camel’s
foot, the Arabs replace this with a piece of leather sewn on to the camel’s foot. (p. 35).

After Qway had succeeded in extracting some barley for his

camel off the ’omda we started again, for Mut, which lay about six
miles away to the west.
In many parts the scenery of these oases is extremely pretty. Our
road to Mut lay through cultivated fields, alternating with areas of
salt-encrusted land, and sprinkled with palm plantations and low
earthy hills. Away to the north at the foot of the cliff that bounds the
oasis lay the palm groves of the village of Hindau. The fields, with
their ripening grain and green crops of bersim (clover), the yellow
ochreous hills, the clumps of graceful date palms with their dark
green foliage, set against a background of cream-coloured sand
dunes and purple cliffs, made a lovely picture in the light of the
setting sun.
 As we neared Mut, however, the country became less productive.
Large areas of land thickly encrusted with salt and barren stretches
of desert replaced the fertile fields and palm groves in the
neighbourhood of Masara and Smint. Owing probably to the sinking
of new wells at a lower level in the village of Rashida, the water
supply of Mut has for many years been falling off, and now, although
the place is the capital town, the district in which it lies is one of the
poorest in the whole oasis.
We reached Mut in the dusk soon after sunset. Built on a low hill,
and seen in the failing light, the place gave rather the impression of
an old medieval fortified town. We skirted round its southern side,
past a number of walled enclosures used to pen the cattle in at night,
and, passing through a gap in the south-western corner of the wall
that surrounds the town, arrived at a large rambling mud-built
building, mainly used as a store, in which I had received leave to
stay. It was a gloomy-looking place, and had evidently been built with
a view to defence. Entering through a gate in the wall, secured by a
bar, and turning to the right past some low outbuildings, we found
ourselves in a narrow court, surrounded on three sides by high two-
storied buildings—the upper part having apparently been used at
some time as a harem by one of its former inmates.
Doors opened from either end of a gallery that joined the two
wings. One led into the centre of three rooms on the western side
that looked over the desert, and the other into some small chambers
which, as one had a fire-place in it for cooking, I allotted to Dahab
and Khalil, retaining the three western rooms for my own use.
 OLD HOUSES IN MUT.

These proved to be high, spacious and airy, and commanded a

fine view over the desert. The windows were large and fitted with a
sort of trellis. This not only made the rooms more private, but
considerably reduced the glare of the desert. So beyond the fact that
the floors in many places seemed unsafe, and that the place was
said to swarm with scorpions, I had little fault to find with my
lodgings.
I walked out in the dusk as soon as we had settled into our
quarters in the old store, to see what I could of the town. Many of the
streets were roofed over, as in Kharga Oasis, but the tunnels were
not nearly so long and very considerably higher, so that, except for
the unevenness of the roadway, we had no difficulty in getting about.
We were, however, compelled to carry a lantern in order to find our
way.
 There was not much to be seen; but the monotonous thudding of
the women pounding rice, the continuous rumbling sound of the
small stone hand mills by which they were grinding grain, the smell
of wood smoke, the soft singing of the women and an occasional bar
of ruddy light, crossing the roadway from some partly open doorway,
showed that most of the inhabitants were in their houses preparing
their evening meal.
Rice enters largely into the bill of fare of the natives of the oases,
and is pounded by the women with a large stone held in both hands,
which is brought down with all their strength into a small basin-
shaped hollow scooped out of the rocky sandstone floor upon which
the town is built.
The following morning I received a state visit from the mamur
(magistrate), Ibrahim Zaky by name, the doctor, Gorgi Michael, a
Copt from Syria, and the zabit, or police officer. The mamur and
doctor spoke English fairly well.
Like most of the native officials who are to be found in the oases,
the mamur was rather under a cloud, and had been sent to Dakhla
as a punishment for some misdeeds of his in his last appointment.
These oases posts are cordially disliked by the natives, as in these
remote districts they are entirely cut off from the gay life of the towns
of the Nile Valley. The appointments, however, have certain
advantages. Being so far removed from the towns of the Nile Valley
may be dull, but it frees them from the constant supervision of the
English inspectors, a state of things of which an Egyptian is usually
not slow to take advantage, by extorting bakhshish from the
wretched fellahin of their district—often to a most outrageous extent.
One of the English inspectors had very kindly written to the
mamur to inform him that I was coming into his district, and to tell
him to help me in any way he could. The mamur’s term of office in
Dakhla being nearly at an end, he was extremely anxious to get my
good word with the inspector in order that he might be appointed to a
better district. He was accordingly most oppressive and unremitting
in his attentions—until the government removed him to another and
still worse district.
 He was by no means enthusiastic about his life in the oasis, and,
from his account of the natives, he evidently looked upon them as
being little removed from beasts. He explained that he had left his
wife behind in Egypt, but as he found that he did not get on well
without one, he had married a young girl from Mut. He complained
bitterly of the expense she had put him to, for as he expressed it in
his rather defective English, it had “cost him £25 to make her clean!”
After the Egyptian officials had departed, a succession of ’omdas
from all over the oasis dropped in to pay their respects and to ask
me to come round to their villages.
After the ’omdas came various minor fry. First the camel postman,
a burly, black-bearded Arab, called ’Ali Kashuta, looked in, drank a
gallon or two of tea, took a handful of cigarettes out of the box that
was handed to him, told me several times that he was my servant,
and obviously didn’t mean it; and then asking if I had any letters for
post, departed, leaving a breezy independent atmosphere behind
him, which was a pleasant contrast to the fawning attitude of the
other natives.
Then came the clerk to the Qadi, Sheykh Senussi, who was also
a member of the Senussi sect. He was a very learned person and a
poet in his leisure moments. He drank tea, but didn’t smoke, and
was all smiles and compliments.
Next came the postmaster. He had been to school in the Nile
Valley and spoke English quite well. He explained—what I was
beginning to realise—that I was causing much mystification to the
good people of the oasis; they could not make me out at all. The
postmaster, however, who had been educated in Egypt, knew all
about it. He had read about a man called “Keristoffer Kolombos,”
who had found America, and he thought that I must be in the same
line of business. I told him that he was quite right. He beamed all
over, and immediately departed to break the good news to an
expectant oasis that the great problem had been solved. Before
going he wished that Allah would preserve me on my journey, and
hoped that I should find another America in the Libyan Desert.
 In the afternoon I went round to tea with the mamur in the merkaz,
or official residence.
One of his guests was a tall intelligent looking man, who was
introduced to me as the ’omda of Rashida, the mamur adding in
English that he was one of the most hospitable men in the oasis; but
very fond of whisky.
The latter statement unfortunately proved to be true. According to
the mamur, he was a most depraved and habitual drunkard. This,
however, was an exaggeration.
Between him and this ’omda there was very little love lost. Shortly
before my arrival they had quarrelled furiously. I never heard the
cause of the dispute—it was probably a case of cherchez la femme,
for Dakhla is one of those unfortunate places where, as Byron so
nearly expressed it, “man’s love is of his wife a thing apart, ’tis
woman’s whole persistence.” These small-minded natives will
squabble over the most trivial matters and keep the quarrel going for
years. Often a tiff of the most puerile kind will become a family
matter and end in a regular hereditary feud. In the Nile Valley this
often leads to bloodshed. In the oases, however, the quarrel usually
takes the form of the two sides to abusing and telling lies about each
other behind their backs, wrangling whenever they chance to meet,
and endeavouring at every possible opportunity to subject their
opponent to an ayb (insult, slight, snub) often of a most elaborate
description.
Shortly before my arrival the ’omda, getting sick of the squabble,
or finding that the mamur was making things too unpleasant for him,
had held out the olive branch by sending him a basket of early
mulberries—a fruit much appreciated in the oasis. The mamur had
made this an opportunity to humiliate his opponent. He had thrown
the fruit out of his window into the square in front of the mosque,
where all the inhabitants had seen it. It was generally considered
that he had scored heavily by doing so, and that this was one of the
best aybs that had been seen for years. The whole oasis had been
talking about it.
 The partisans of the ’omda were consequently much
discomforted; but endeavoured to cover up their defeat by explaining
that it hadn’t really been a good ayb—the mamur had not thrown the
whole of the mulberries away, as he had stated, but had taken out all
the best ones and had only thrown away the rotten ones out of his
window; so as an ayb it didn’t count at all.
The ill-feeling between these two at length rose to such a pitch
that some of the leading men in the oasis decided to try and effect a
reconciliation between them, and a ceremony known as “making the
peace” took place.
The two opponents were invited to meet together in the presence
of some of their friends, who had argued with them, and at length the
quarrel had been patched up. They had then fallen on each other’s
necks and embraced and had agreed to feed together. They had
partaken of a huge feast in which whisky apparently played a
prominent part, and had both got drunk and started quarrelling
furiously again, in their cups. The next morning, when they were both
probably feeling rather cheap, the peace-makers had got to work
again and explained to them that they had not played the game, and
again a reconciliation had been effected; but there was still a good
deal of latent ill-feeling between them which vented itself mostly in
backbiting, under a show of friendship.
 CHAPTER IV

B Y Qway’s advice I started feeding my camels on bersim,

preparatory to our journey into the dunes. There are two kinds of
bersim grown in the oasis: bersim beladi[1] and bersim hajazi.[2]
Bersim hajazi, however, should not be fed to camels in its green
state, as it very frequently causes them to get hoven.
The bersim was bought off the natives by the kantar, of a hundred
Egyptian pounds. At first there was some difficulty in getting it
weighed. Abd er Rahman, however, proved equal to the emergency.
He discovered a rock, which was supposed to weigh a kantar, and
which was the standard weight for the whole oasis. He then rigged
up a pair of scales, consisting of two baskets fixed to either end of a
beam, suspended from a second beam.
In the evening of the first day I spent in Mut I climbed to the top of
a low hill close to the town to look at the dune field that I hoped to
cross. A more depressing sight it would be impossible to imagine.
Not only were the sand hills in the neighbourhood of the town much
higher than those we had encountered on leaving Kharga Oasis, but
they extended as far as it was possible to see to the horizon, and
obviously became considerably larger in the far distance, where they
were evidently of great height.
I returned to my rooms with the gloomiest forebodings, wishing I
had never been such a fool as to tackle the belad esh Shaytan, or
“Satan’s country,” as the natives call this part of the desert, and
wondering whether, when I attempted to cross those dunes, I should
not end, after a few hours’ journey, in having to return completely
beaten with my tail tightly tucked between my legs, to the Nile Valley.
I lay awake for most of the night in consequence.
But daylight as usual made things look more cheerful. Anyway I
could have a shot at it, and as my camels did not seem to be in very
good order I decided to give them a rest and to feed them up into the
best possible condition, before subjecting them to what appeared to
be an almost impossible task. In the meantime I thought I might as
well see something of the oasis, and at the same time collect what
information I could about the desert.
So a few days after my arrival at Mut I set off with the mamur, the
policeman and the doctor to stay for a night with the ’omda of
Rashida, leaving the caravan behind me.
For the first two hours after leaving Mut, till we reached the village
of Qalamun, our road lay over a barren country largely covered with
loose sand, which proved to be rather heavy going.
Qalamun is rather a picturesque village, and seems to have been
built with an eye to defence. A great deal of land in the
neighbourhood is covered with drift sand, which in places seems to
be encroaching on to the cultivation, though not to be doing any
serious damage. An unusually large proportion of land in the
neighbourhood is planted with date palms, and, as the water supply
seems to be fairly abundant, the place has a prosperous well-to-do
air. In some cases the wells appear to be failing, as a few shadufs for
raising the water were to be seen. These and a few Dom palms gave
the neighbourhood a rather distinctive appearance. Of course we
visited the ’omda. The sheykhs of this village—the Shurbujis by
name—claim to have governed the oasis ever since the time of the
Sultan Selim, “The Grim.”
On leaving Qalaman we made straight for Rashida, most of our
road lying through cultivated fields, planted mainly with cereals.
Before reaching the village, we passed a large dead tree—a sunt, or
acacia, apparently—which is known as the “tree of Sheykh Adam,”
and is supposed to possess a soul. The wood is reported to be
uninflammable.
Shortly before reaching Rashida, we were met by the ’omda and
some of his family, who had ridden out to meet us, all splendidly
mounted on Syrian horses, gorgeously caparisoned with richly
embroidered saddles and saddle cloths. These joined on to our party
and rode back with us to Rashida.
Kharashef. Sand Grooved Ridge.
The wind driven sand grooves away the
rock, sometimes leaving large ridges
standing above its surface. (p. 308).
 In Old Mut.
This shows the fortified character of the houses formerly built in the oases of the
Libyan desert as a defence against raids. (p. 41).

The village is one of the prettiest and most fertile in the oasis. It is
built on a low ridge lying at the south-east corner of a very extensive
grove of palms, in whose shade were planted great numbers of fruit
trees: figs, mulberries, apricots, oranges, tangerines—known in
Egypt under the curious name of Yussef effendi, i.e. Mr. Joseph—
bananas, almonds, pomegranates, limes, lemons, olives and sweet
lemons, the last bearing a large, tasteless, but very juicy fruit,
something like a citron in appearance.
 THE TREE WITH A SOUL, RASHIDA.

The village lies close to the cliff. The interior of the village was of
the normal type, and, beyond presenting an unusually prosperous
appearance and having the walls of some of its houses painted on
the outside in geometrical patterns, usually in red and white, did not
differ from the other villages in the oasis.
The ’omda’s house was delightfully situated, with palm trees
growing almost up to the walls. He took us up into his guest
chamber, a long narrow room neatly whitewashed and furnished
almost entirely in the European manner, with deck-chairs, sofas
round the walls, a large gilt hanging lamp, bent wood chairs and
three-legged tables. The windows were draped with European
curtains and the floor covered with Eastern rugs and carpets. A large
mirror in a gilt frame and an oleograph portrait of the Khedive
completed the list of furniture.
On entering the room one’s eye was at once caught by the words
“Ahlan wa Sahlen”—welcome—painted on the opposite wall. And
welcome that hospitable ’omda certainly made us. The windows had
been kept closely shuttered all the morning to keep out the heat and
the flies; but these were opened on our arrival. Then the ’omda
entered and proceeded to spray the room and its inmates with scent.
Shortly afterwards the inevitable tea and cigarettes made their
appearance.
After compliments, enquiries as to the health of all parties present
and the usual polite preliminaries had been got through—a process
that took some minutes—the conversation turned upon horses. Only
a few of the richer natives of the oases are able to afford them, and
the remainder, when they do not walk, ride on donkeys. Powerful
quarters, round cannon bones and a small head, with an especially
small muzzle and widely distended nostrils, seemed to be the points
they valued most.
After luncheon, when the heat of the day was past, we were taken
by the ’omda to see some of the sights of the village. First we were
led to a big mud ruin known as the ’Der abu Madi. He told us he had
dug up a number of mummies about a mile to the north of the village,
which he said had been buried in earthenware coffins. Fragments of
one of these coffins that he produced showed that they must have
been about three inches thick and had evidently been baked in a
kiln. Many of the mummies had been wrapped round with a cloth of
some sort, with their arms lying straight along their sides, and had
then been wound tightly round with a rope. The remains of one of
them was shown us. It was, however, entirely knocked to pieces, as
the ’omda and his family had stuck it upright on the ground and then
amused themselves by turning it into an “Aunt Sally.” One or two
coins and the skull of a gazelle had been dug up from one of the
graves. The coins unfortunately were so worn and decayed that they
could not be recognised. There seems to be plenty of work for an
archæologist in Dakhla—and still more for an inspector of antiquities.
We were next taken off to see the great sight of Rashida—the Bir
Magnun, or “foolish well.” When this well was being sunk about forty
years ago the labourers stopped working for the day, not knowing
that they had almost reached the water-bearing stratum, with the
result that the water forced its way through the small distance from
the bottom of the bore hole to the top of the water reservoir, and
gushed up with such violence that it forced the tubing, above the
bore hole, partly out of the ground and flooded the whole country
round.
 On first arriving in the oases, I made enquiries on all sides from
the natives for information as to what wells, roads or oases were to
be found in the unknown parts of the desert, beyond the Senussi
frontier. For a long time I could extract no information from any of
them, and it was not till I got to Rashida, and happened to ask the
’omda whether he knew anything about the oasis of Zerzura, that I
got any information at all. There is no stopping a native of Dakhla
when he gets on that subject, and one begins dimly to realise how
very little the East has changed since the days when the “Arabian
Nights” were written.
Many of the wealthier natives of the oases, and also, I believe, of
the Nile Valley, spend an appreciable portion of their time in hunting
for buried treasure. The pursuit is an absorbing one, to which even
Europeans at times fall victims. Curious as it may seem at first sight,
the native efforts are not infrequently attended with some success.
The reason is not far to seek. In former days, when the country
was ruled by a lot of corrupt Turkish officials, a native, who was
known to be possessed of any wealth, at once became the object of
their extortionate attentions. He consequently took every precaution
to hide his riches from these rapacious officials. The plan which he
very often adopted was to bury his valuables in the ground. Not
infrequently he must have died without imparting to his relations the
whereabouts of his cache. The treasure buried in this way in Egypt
would probably amount to an enormous sum in the aggregate, if it
could only be located.
Then, too, the sites of old Roman settlements are to be found all
over Egypt. The careless way in which the Romans seem to have
scattered their petty cash about the streets of their towns is simply
amazing. You can hardly dig for an hour in any old Roman site
without coming across an old copper coin or two.
Let a native find a few coins in this way, and he will spend weeks,
when no one is looking, in prowling around the neighbourhood in the
hopes of finding more. Should he be lucky enough to find an
earthenware pot containing a handful or two of old coins hidden in
the past from a Turkish pasha, it is pretty certain that he will become
a confirmed fortune-hunter for the remainder of his life. There is no
doubt that quite considerable sums—several pounds’ worth at a time
—are occasionally found in this way. The natives are extraordinarily
secretive about this kind of thing, and have been so long under a
corrupt Government that they can hold their own counsel far better
than any white man—for even now in out-of-the-way districts such as
the oases, where the English inspectors cannot properly supervise
the native officials, the extortionate ruler is at times most
unpleasantly en evidence.
In their hunts for buried riches the natives are frequently guided
by old “books of treasure.” Every self-respecting native, who is
wealthy enough to procure one, possesses at least one copy.
Before leaving Kharga I was fortunate in meeting E. A. Johnson
Pasha, so well known as the translator of the whole of Omar
Khayyám’s “Rubaiyat” into English verse—Fitzgerald, of course, only
translated a portion of it. He was the proud possessor of the only
complete copy known to exist of a book of this description, dating
from the fifteenth century.
One of the problems of the Libyan Desert, beyond the western
frontier of Egypt, is that of the oasis known as Zerzura, or “The oasis
of the Blacks.” It was, I believe, first heard of by Rohlfs, who, in his
attempt to go westward from Dakhla Oasis to Kufara, found the sand
dunes impassable for his big caravan, and so had to turn up to the
north and make for the oasis of Siwa instead. During this journey he
encountered three blacks, who said that they were escaped slaves
from the oasis of Zerzura, a place that they described as being some
distance to the west of his route.
On mentioning this place to Johnson Pasha, he told me of this old
book, and said that it contained a description of the road to this
oasis, and of what might be found there by anyone who was
fortunate enough to reach it. His book also described the road to the
mines of King Cambyses.
He very kindly gave me a translation of the portions of this queer
old volume that related to these two places. There were two
descriptions of the road to Zerzura in a section of the book headed
“In the Oases” They ran as follows:—
“Go to the Der el Banat (the girls’ convent), near it you will find a
hollow place, three mastabas (platforms), a round hill and three red
stones. Burn incense here.” Then follow two lines of cipher writing
and cabalistic signs, which presumably give instructions for following
the road, and the description ends.
The second reference was much more to the point. It was as
follows: “Account of a city and the road to it, which lies east of the
Qala’a es Suri, where you will find palms and vines and flowing
wells. Follow the valley till you meet another valley opening to the
west between two hills. In it you will find a road. Follow it. It will lead
you to the City of Zerzura. You will find its gate closed. It is a white
city, like a dove. By the gate you will find a bird sculptured. Stretch
up your hand to its beak and take from it a key. Open the gate with it
and enter the city. You will find much wealth and the king and queen
in their palace sleeping the sleep of enchantment. Do not go near
them. Take the treasure and that is all.”
The book also contained two separate directions for finding the
mines of King Cambyses. One of them instructed the reader thus:
“Go to the Der el ’Ain, west of Esna, where there is a medical spring,
and go north from the Der and the well five farasangs, which make a
barid and a quarter, to where there is a red hill with a beacon mark
on the top of it. You are to go up and look towards the east. You will
see a pillar divided into two halves. Dig there.” Then the aggravating
book—just when it comes to giving the final definite directions for
finding the mines, breaks off into line upon line of cabalistic signs, as
it did in the case of Zerzura.
The second instruction for finding the mines, however, is much
more explicit, and goes into minute details of the road to be followed,
so much so that it would appear to be impossible for anyone to miss
it.
It runs as follows: “By the town of Esna, north of Edfu. If you go
there seek the mines of King Kambisoos (Cambyses). Ask for the
Holy Der, which is called ‘———’ but to give away directions for
finding such wealth of treasure would be foolish. King Cambyses
was a son of Cyrus the Great—the Conqueror of Babylon—and ruled
over the Medes and Persians when the Persian Empire was at about
its height. He was a real big King, and the much-vaunted mines of
King Solomon—a mere petty Sultan by comparison—probably bear
about the same relation to those of King Cambyses as a threepenny-
bit bears to the present National Debt. The mere description of them
in Johnson Pasha’s book of treasure makes one’s mouth water.”
First the directions lead you—in the clearest possible way—to a
valley called the Wady el Muluk (the valley of the kings). Here you
find the crucibles and all the apparatus and tools necessary for
smelting, merely waiting to be used. You go a little farther on and
you come to the “high class mine”—and very high class it is. You
have only to dig half a cubit deep into it and you come at once on to
a mineral “like yellow earth in stony ground.” First you find it in lumps
the size of beans, which “is sent by Allah,” and you are directed to
take “His good fortune.” Then if you dig deeper, you will find it in
lumps the size of melons. This you are explicitly told “is gold of
Egypt. There is none better”—a statement it would be rash to
contradict.
Having dealt with these particular mines, the old Arab astrologer
directs his son, to whom the book is addressed, to go on to where
two great rocks stand up, with a hollow before them, stating that in
the hollow will be found “a black earth with green veins like silver
rust,” and directs him to take it. It is “sent by Allah.” Unfortunately he
omits to mention the nature of this mysterious mineral.
He then directs his son to “go with the blessing of Allah” to
another place, where he states “You will find, oh! my son, before you
a high hill in which they used to get the peridots.” Next he tells him
how to go on to the “Emerald pits which are three in number,” and
after that, directs him to the “Copper mine which is in a cave closed
by a door,” adding that the copper ore is “green earth very like green
ginger and having veins in it like blood.”
With the dazzling prospect of acquiring such untold wealth as that
to be obtained in the very “high class mines,” described in books of