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 CHAPTER
4 The sociology of sport
Learning objectives
After completing this chapter the student should be able to:
✔✔ Understand the reasons behind the study of
sport in society
✔✔ Identify and understand the different social
theories about sport and society
✔✔ Understand what is involved in becoming
socialised/involved in a sport
✔✔ Discuss participation and equity issues in sport
4.1 Introduction
Most, if not all, of you have experienced sport
personally, as athletes, spectators or both. You
probably are familiar with the physical and
emotional experiences of playing sport and
you may know the rules and strategies used in
certain sports. You may even follow the lives of
high-profile athletes in your school or on the
national sport scene. Most of you have watched
sport, read about it, and participated in discus-
sions about it. In this chapter, the aim is to go
beyond the scores, statistics and personas in
sport and to focus on the meaning associated
with sport – the process through which sport
becomes part of the social and cultural worlds
4.2 Definition of the sociology of sport
The sociology of sport, also referred to as
sport sociology, is the study of the relationship
between sport and society. It examines how
culture and values influence sport, how sport
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 57
✔✔ Understand deviance in the sporting context
✔✔ Explain the effect of commercialisation of sports
and how it has changed the way in which certain
sports are played today
✔✔ Identify underlying images and messages that
are shown in, and selected by, the media
we live in: the worlds that are created by indi-
viduals and their actions, relationships and
ways of life. People who study sport in soci-
ety are concerned with the deeper meanings
and stories associated with sport in different
cultures or ways of life that people create. As
sport manager, you can use this research to
develop an understanding of (1) the cultures
and societies in which sport exists; (2) the
social worlds that are created around sport;
and (3) the experiences of individuals and
groups associated with sport. You can better
manage and/or plan a situation, programme
or event.1
influences culture and values, and the relation-
ship between sport and the major social spheres
of life such as the media, politics, the economy,
religion, race, gender and youth.2
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 58  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
4.3 The importance of studying the sociology of sport
Sport, at a social, recreational or competitive
elite level, can be considered as a microcosm, or
small-scale version, of society. The same social
issues that exist in larger society also exist in
sport. These social issues, which can be seen in
larger society and also in sport, are the concepts
of values, race, gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality,
youth, politics, religion and economics. When
we consider sport as a microcosm of society
and/or we determine that sport teams mirror
4.4 Studying the sociology of sport
Studying sport as a social phenomenon leads to
research questions such as: Why are some sports
popular in one society but not another? Why are
sporting events and sport teams organised in dif-
ferent ways from one society to the next? How is
sport connected with other parts of society, such
as the family, religion, education, government,
the economy and the media? Who sponsors
sport, and for which reasons? In summary, sport
is an important part of culture, which differs from
place to place and generation to generation. How
sport is defined, organised and integrated into
social life varies from one society to another. This
means that to understand sport in its entirety we
must view it as an aspect of the social world that
is created in a particular social context. Sociology
provides us with tools that help us to view and
understand sport as an aspect of the social world
that is created in a particular social context as we
discuss major issues related to sport in society.3
4.4.1 Why study sport in society?
There are several reasons why it is necessary to
study the important part that sport plays in a
society. The three most important reasons are
the following:
• Sport is a part of people’s lives.
• Sport is connected with important ideas and
meanings in life.
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 58
society, we see an important likeness between
the two and must thus engage with social issues
such as racism, discrimination, inequalities
and homophobia that are revealed in sport and
society. The sociology of sport uses essential and
conflicting approaches that force us to explore
alternative ways of viewing the place and organ-
isation of sport in our society and how issues
and problems presented by sport in society
affect individuals.
• Sport is connected to major spheres of social
life.
4.4.1.1 Sport is a part
of people’s lives
Sport is all around us and has become an
important part of our everyday social life. Mega-
sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the
IRB Rugby World Cup, the Tour de France and
the FIFA World Cup are worldwide events that
are televised globally.
Television audience for the 2010 FIFA
World Cup4
The in-home television coverage of the 2010
FIFA World Cup South Africa reached over 3.2
billion people around the world, 46.4 per cent of
the global population and an 8 per cent increase
in the reach achieved at the 2006 FIFA World
Cup Germany. Based on viewers watching a
minimum of 20 consecutive minutes of coverage,
the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa reached
nearly a third of the world population – 2.2 billion
viewers. This is a 3 per cent increase in the
in-home television reach of the 2006 FIFA World
Cup Germany.
3/24/15 12:54 AM

Children around the world grow up with vivid
images of televised games and sport figures. They
play video games based on sports and are encour-
aged to participate in sport by parents, teachers,
and the elite athletes who are often presented as
role models in their lives. People of all ages con-
nect with sport through the media. Newspapers
in most cities devote entire pages to the coverage
of sport. Radio talk shows on sport, and television
shows like SABC Sport, gsport and SuperSport,
all capture the attention of millions of people
around the world as they share their interest in,
and interactive experiences of, sport. Team logos
are imprinted on hats, shirts, posters, jackets
and other memorabilia. In turn, there is a direct
connection between sales and the popularity of
a specific team or athlete. People schedule their
vacations but also their weekends and other free
time around playing and watching sport.
Sport images are so pervasive today that many
young people are more familiar with the tattoos
and body piercings of their favorite sport star
than they are with the local politicians who make
policies that have a significant impact on their
lives.5 In conclusion, it is clear that sport and the
athletes partaking in sport can directly influence
the society around them and, in turn, that the
surrounding society can also influence sport. It
is therefore very important to study this relation-
ship and understand how the different parties
can influence one another.
4.4.1.2 Sport is connected with
important ideas and meanings in life
We also study sport in society because the two
are closely linked with how people think about
and see the world. Sociologists try to understand
these links by studying connections between
sport and ideologies.
Ideologies are sets of unified ideas that people
use to give meaning to, and make sense of, the
world. Ideologies are important parts of cultures
because they embody the principles, orienta-
tion and viewpoints that underlie our feelings,
thoughts and actions. Different people in dif-
ferent societies develop their own set of ideas
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 59
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  59
for giving meaning to, and making sense of, the
world. The ideologies that will be mentioned in
this chapter are those of gender ideology, race
ideology and class ideology.
Gender ideology6 consists of a set of unified
ideas about masculinity, femininity and rela-
tionships between men and women. People use
these ideas to define what it means to be a man
or woman, evaluate and judge people and rela-
tionships, and determine what they consider to
be natural and moral when it comes to gender.
It is so deeply rooted in our cultural being that
we seldom think about it and almost never raise
questions about it. We take it for granted and
use it as a form of ‘logic’ to make sense of the
world – for example, pink is a colour for girls and
blue is for boys, and dolls are for girls and guns
are for boys.
Dominant gender ideology in most societ-
ies has traditionally emphasised that men are
naturally superior to women in any activity that
involves strength, physical skills and emotional
control. Therefore, when a person throws a ball
or kicks badly or ineptly, many people learn
to say that he or she throws or kicks ‘like a girl’.
Consistent with gender ideology is the notion
that sport is physically demanding and there-
fore assists with turning boys into men. At the
same time, when women excel at a type of sport
normally associated with men (such as contact
sport), these ideas cause people to become con-
fused and to say that playing sport is unnatural
for ‘real’ women. They assume that heterosexual-
ity, femininity and athletic excellence, especially
in physically demanding or heavy-contact sport,
cannot go together. This ideology has also led
people to describe strong, competent women
athletes as lesbian.
You can also see this ideology in coaches’
behaviour towards men’s sport teams. Male
players who make mistakes or do not play aggres-
sively enough are often criticised for, or ‘accused’
of, ‘playing like a bunch of girls’. This assumes
that being or showing feminine values means
being a failure. These ideas about gender clearly
served for many years to privilege boys and men
in sport and disadvantage girls and women, who
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 60  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
were never considered to be equal to men when
it came to allocating resources and providing
opportunities and encouragement to take part
in sport. Gender ideology regarding the position
of men and women in sport could very easily lead
to discrimination and it is therefore very impor-
tant to study the relationship between sport and
society by looking at how women and men are
treated within their surrounding society and how
this moves into the sporting environment.
Sport is a site for many ideological struggles.
Racial ideology consists of a set of unified ideas
that people use to give meaning to skin colour
and to evaluate people in terms of racial classifi-
cation. Racial ideology may be used when peo-
ple evaluate athletic potential or explain athletic
success in terms of race. The notion that light-
skinned people can’t jump and that dark-skinned
people are natural athletes are expressions of
dominant racial ideology in certain cultures. In
South Africa, this racial ideology is evident spe-
cifically in rugby where players of colour are posi-
tioned in the wing positions as it is believed that
they have good speed. In swimming, it is often
believed that people of colour are too big-boned
and therefore battle to tread water or swim. It is
important to understand these racial ideologies
as they are prevalent in the South African context
and permeate the sporting environment.
Ideas about socio-economic differences and
social class are also connected with sport. Social
class refers to categories of people who share a
similar economic position in society based on a
combination of their income, wealth, education,
occupation and social connection.7
Class ideology is a web of ideas and beliefs
that people use to:
• understand economic inequalities;
• identify their class position; and
• evaluate the impact of economic inequalities
on the organisation of social worlds.
In all societies, class ideology influences who
plays sports and who watches sport. Participation
patterns are closely related with power, money
and privilege. Organised sport can be regarded as
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 60
a luxury in many nations where money and time
determine how and where sport is consumed.
Whether one participates actively, attends sport
events and/or consumes media sport is all
directly dependent on one’s income, education
and occupational status. Athletes from lower
socio-economic classes will take part in less
costly sports such as soccer, running and netball.
People in low-paying jobs do not participate in
sport as much as their high-earning counterparts
during the weekends or on holidays. This pattern
is seen throughout the life course for younger
and older people, men and women, where chil-
dren in rural areas walk long distances to school
and manual labourers perform jobs that require
high levels of physical labour. Their access to
sport and sport opportunities (i.e. sport acade-
mies, equipment and tours) is low and their ideas
about fitness and sport are much different from
the ideals held by upper-income earners. For
example, if you play golf, you are automatically
associated with the upper social class, wealth,
success and ambition. In many African coun-
tries, not all people have opportunities to achieve
success and wealth or to take part in sport that
involves paying membership fees or purchasing
sport equipment, for example. The misconcep-
tion often exists that these individuals are not as
ambitious as people of a higher social standing
who can take part in sports such as polo or golf.
4.4.1.3 Sport is connected to major
spheres of social life
Another reason to study sport in society is that
it is clearly connected to major spheres of social
life, including the family, the economy, the
media, politics, education and religion. We will
discuss these next.
The family
Organised youth sport plays an important role in
the life of the family in South Africa. It serves as
a unifying agent, because it may bring the family
closer together; parents and siblings support the
athlete, taking him or her to practices and attend-
ing games. The family may unite as spectators,
3/24/15 12:54 AM

watching televised or live events. Today, the daily
routine and/or weekend schedule of many fami-
lies is often geared around the children’s involve-
ment in sport. The family can act as an influence,
a socialising agent, when it comes to the involve-
ment of the individual in sport. The degree of
support and encouragement (i.e. having a par-
ent who is a past Olympian and who encourages
his or her child to take part in sport) can push
the individual to participate in a specific sport,
open doors, and decide the level on, and serious-
ness with which, the individual will participate
in sport. Conversely, if parents view taking part
in sports as a waste of time and money, they will
most likely discourage their child from taking
part in sport and the child might even feel nega-
tive towards sports in general.
The economy 8
The relationship between sport and the economy
cannot be overlooked as we examine the other
social institutions. The money spent by consum-
ers on tickets, concessions, club fees, member-
ship fees, sport equipment and clothing, and
gambling has a direct effect on the economy.
Corporations seem to have ever-increasing bud-
gets for advertising and sponsorship of sport-
ing events, particularly the Olympic Games; an
advertiser may spend millions of dollars to have
its name associated with such an event.
The connection of major corporations with
sport and other contests is clearly evident in the
sporting world. In South Africa, for example, the
Proteas team is sponsored by Castle Lager, and
the Blue Bulls rugby team is sponsored by, and
named after, Vodacom. The amount of money
paid to teams, coaches and/or athletes is directly
associated with the value and marketability of
the sport in society. Sponsors look to sport to
add value to the brand proposition. In almost
all sectors of all markets there is intense com-
petition among companies and brands. Often
there is little to choose from in terms of qual-
ity, content or price. In order to make a brand
stand out from the crowd, a sponsor will use
sport to create a unique position in the mind of
the consumer.
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 61
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  61
At the highest levels, sport involves gold med-
als, world records, championship cups and
global awareness. A worldwide, leading brand
such as Coca-Cola wants to associate itself with
such excellence and will choose the Olympics
and World Cup events for its sponsorships. But
in order to personalise and localise its image and
activity, Coca-Cola also supports grassroots sport
to reinforce its global message. Smaller compa-
nies can also benefit from improved awareness,
image and sales through sponsorship at a local
or regional level. The principles are the same: the
only difference is scale.
Sponsorship is a commercial agreement
between a company and a sport. Both par-
ties enter into this agreement for promote
their interests. The sponsoring company gives
a financial contribution and receives rights
to use a sports organisation’s name commer-
cially in return for doing so. Familiar sponsor
exposure includes using the company’s name
on the athlete’s clothing, merchandise, flags,
banners, and in programmes that outline the
sport event. In a sponsorship deal, the com-
pany uses the name of the sports organisation
(club or team), the individual athlete and/or
the event in its campaigns and promotions.
Sponsorship also involves the team and/or
athlete actively using the company’s products
to endorse them. Examples of sponsorships are
Manchester United’s Vodafone sponsorship and
Tiger Woods endorsing Nike products.
Companies use sports sponsorship for a
variety of reasons; to attract sponsorship, it is
important for a company to understand which
objective it is addressing:
• Brand or corporate awareness – seeks to put
a name in front of the consumer so that he or
she will give it favourable recognition when
exposed to other specific marketing messages.
• Brand or corporate image – attempts to cre-
ate a personality and style that distinguishes
a product from another in the market and
allows, for example, premium pricing.
• Customer relations – sports sponsorship
can open dialogue between companies,
3/24/15 12:54 AM
 62  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
showing the sponsor as a global player
worthy of recognition and suitable for doing
­business with. Sponsorships can also serve
as hospitality vehicles for meeting and doing
business with clients.
• Employee relations – sports sponsorship
can encourage company pride and loyalty to
help attract and retain staff.
• Community relations – sponsorship can
show that a company cares about its com-
munity and is prepared to invest in its future
and the welfare of its citizens.9
This issue raises numerous questions, par-
ticularly regarding the worth of entertainment
and entertainers (sport and athletes) compared
to that of other institutions within our society,
such as education. The question is, why is so
much money being spent on entertainment and
sport, which is for the minority middle- to upper-
income class, when companies could sponsor
more important projects that make a sustainable
difference to deserving individuals and commu-
nities by supporting charitable organisations and
projects in the following main areas:
• Education, which includes school-based
educational projects, early childhood devel-
opment (ECD), rural school refurbishment,
teacher training, tertiary education and
other government-identified priorities;
• Community development, with a particular
focus on initiatives that support and care
for communities in need and vulnerable
groups;
• Skills development, which includes training
enterprise support and development; and
• Health, which includes interventions for
people with disabilities, diseases like HIV/
Aids, cancer, diabetes and TB, as well as
community training and infrastructure
development.
The political and economic ideologies of a
country affect how its society regards the impor-
tance, value and place of sport. Much impor-
tance is placed on the values of competition,
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 62
hard work and success. The economies of most
countries, especially the wealthy post-industrial
countries, have been affected by the billions of
dollars spent every year for game tickets, sport
equipment, participation fees, athletic club
memberships and bets placed on favourite
teams and athletes. Most countries use public
taxes to subsidise teams and events. The build-
ing of five new world-class soccer stadiums and
the facelift of the other five (at a cost of R11.5 bil-
lion) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup caused much
public debate.10 The Cape Town Stadium, situ-
ated in Green Point, caused bitter local fighting
as thousands of people were uprooted from the
surrounding areas and abandoned in a make-
shift area considered a ‘temporary’ arrange-
ment in order to clean up the environment for
international visitors. This settlement, known as
Blikkiesdorp (Tin Town), has become perma-
nent and its inhabitants have been increasingly
marginalised.11
The media
The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa made
R19.264 million through the sale of televi-
sion rights. Overall, the 2010 FIFA World Cup
accounted for 87 per cent of FIFA’s total revenue.12
Television networks and stations pay billions
of rands for the rights to televise major games
and events. The National Broadcasting Station
(NBS), an American commercial broadcast tele-
vision and radio network, paid the i­ nternational
Olympic Committee (IOC) $1.181 billion for the
rights to the 2012 Olympic Games. Similarly, the
broadcaster SuperSport won the rights to broad-
cast the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games in South
Africa and 43 sub-Saharan nations on the conti-
nent. SuperSport acquired broadcasting rights on
satellite pay-television, the Internet and mobile
for South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, which
includes populous nations such as Nigeria,
Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Kenya and Tanzania, among others. Broadcasting
rights revenues, the biggest source of income for
the IOC, have already raked in more than R32
billion for 2014 to 2016, with some territories still
to be decided.13
3/24/15 12:54 AM

Mega-sporting events have become dependent
on the media and would not be as widely followed
or watched without it. The images and messages
presented in the media coverage of these sporting
events communicate certain themes and ideas
that influence how people see and think about
sport and social life. Themes that are presented
in media coverage are, to name a few, success,
achievement and triumph. Hence, Vodacom
sponsors three top soccer teams in South Africa:
Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Bloemfontein
Celtic. This symbolizes Vodacom’s success and
triumph as a brand.14 Similarly, consumers who
are soccer fans or who follow these soccer teams
are more tempted to buy into Vodacom products
as the company is associated with winning teams.
The consumer will also feel like a winner for being
part of South Africa’s leading cellular network.
In addition, satellite technology has made it
possible for the images and messages associated
with a single competitive event to be w ­ itnessed
by billions of people simultaneously. In the
process, athletes become global entertainer-­
celebrities, and the corporations that sponsor
mediated sport – sport that is promoted and cov-
ered by different media channels such as TV, the
Internet, radio and newspapers – imprint their
logos in people’s minds and promote a lifestyle
based on product consumption. The reason for
this is that these logos become associated with
a famous sport star and/or associated with one’s
favourite sporting event. In turn, a conclusion is
made that this logo, brand and/or sporting event
is automatically the best, because one’s favourite
sport star’s name is associated with it.
The future direction and success of varsity,
professional or Olympic sport has been paved
by the broadcast media. However, the manner
in which all forms of the media inform, inter-
pret, create drama, and establish particular ideas
about sport and society must be realised and
examined. For example, the media provides con-
siderable knowledge about sport, and the ways
in which the media choose to characterise or
emphasise certain aspects of sport contribute to
the mindset of individuals in society. The media
defines which sporting activities are important or
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 63
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  63
require the most skill, as well as the importance
of sport; interprets concepts such as the athletic
body, femininity and masculinity; and creates
sport heroes and anti-heroes. The media has pro-
moted sport as a product and the athlete as an
entertainer. There is no doubt that sport provides
a great deal of enjoyment for the participants and
spectators; however, the value of sport, how that
value affects our culture and the role that power
plays in the representation of sport by the media
cannot be overlooked.15
Sport and politics
Despite frequent complaints about mixing sport
and politics, most people around the globe give
no second thought to displaying national flags
and playing national anthems at sporting events,
and some may quickly reject athletes and other
spectators who don’t share their views and feel-
ings about the flag and the anthem. Various the-
ories propose how sport and politics use each
other. Although countries use sport to enhance
their image and power or the image of their
leaders, sport has also been used as a medium
to unite and bring about peace. The challenge
of building South Africa into a stable and united
nation has continued to preoccupy South African
leaders across different historical epochs.
South African state elites rather ingeniously
saw sport and sport mega-events as a means to
unite a divided society and provide a focus for
national identity and, in particular, to pursue the
much-vaunted national agenda of racial recon-
ciliation. The process of a democratic transition
from the apartheid regime to inclusive democ-
racy is seen as an important project of the ‘rain-
bow nation’.16 Affirmative action was introduced
to counter the effects of apartheid and ensure
that qualified people from designated groups
have equal opportunities in the workplace.
However, the first democratic elections took
place 20 years ago, yet affirmative action poli-
cies have strengthened. The policies, although
implemented for an admirable purpose, have
done the economy and morale of the country’s
citizens some harm. In sport, affirmative action
took the form of racial quotas. The quotas require
3/24/15 12:54 AM
 64  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
that a certain number of ‘players of colour’ (with
an emphasis on black Africans) be included in
teams selected for various competitions, such as
the second-tier professional rugby competition,
the Vodacom Cup. These quotas are reminiscent
of similar measures implemented during the
early years of South Africa’s post-1994 democ-
racy, and represent the highest-profile measure
employed in the name of transformation of sport
in a country that was characterised by the notori-
ous apartheid policies of racial division and sys-
temic disadvantage experienced prior to 1994.
Earlier attempts at ensuring ‘representative’
sports teams included some controversial exam-
ples. In the run-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic
Games, the National Olympic Committee of South
Africa (NOCSA) disqualified the men’s national
hockey team from participating in the Games.
Even though this team was, at the time, the con-
tinental champions in Africa, NOCSA’s selec-
tion criteria for Sydney included a provision that
‘[teams would be considered for participation in
the Games] if the qualifying team, individuals or
combination of athletes are made up of an accept-
able portion of athletes from the historically disad-
vantaged sector of South African society.’17
The manager of team preparation for inter-
national competition of the more recently
established iteration of the country’s national
Olympic committee, the South African Sports
Confederation and Olympic Committee
(SASCOC), told the parliamentary sports com-
mittee in June 2007 that South African sporting
codes that do not have at least an equal number
of black and white athletes would not be allowed
to send teams to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
One wonders whether this stance of SASCOC
reflected the proper function of a national
Olympic committee under the Olympic Charter.
These events followed an earlier incident in which
the controversial ANC chair of the parliamentary
sports oversight committee, Butana Komphela,
threatened that government would request the
Department of Home Affairs to withdraw the
passports of white rugby players in the national
team who were scheduled to tour to France for
the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 if the team was not
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 64
demographically representative and did not con-
tain ‘at least six black and/or coloured players’.18
Another controversial example is the use of
race quotas in women’s netball. Netball South
Africa announced in 2007 that it had been
decided that ‘instead of docking points from
teams that do not meet the quota, any team that
had the required five-two ratio [of black African to
white players] on court at all times would receive
an additional six goals’.19 If they fielded a 6:1
ratio, they would receive three additional goals.
In the past, some teams were docked so many
points that they went into negative territory.
Most troubling from a moral perspective, how-
ever, is the fact that such race quotas have also
been applied at the level of youth sport, and it is
unknown how many young athletes have been
impacted negatively by such measures in the past
two decades. The South African Games, held in
Port Elizabeth in March 2004, were tainted by an
incident in which a young white tennis player,
Adele van Niekerk, was stripped of her medal by
tournament director David Kampele, apparently
because her team did not meet the required 50
per cent black quota as prescribed. A month ear-
lier, white athlete Erna Wedemeyer’s team was
disqualified from the South African Lifesaving
Championships because the team did not comply
with the prescribed racial quotas.
South Africa’s Constitution contains a Bill of
Rights, which is generally recognised as one of
the most progressive of such instruments to be
found anywhere in the world. Section 9 of the Bill
of Rights contains the equality clause, which pro-
vides that everyone is equal before the law and is
entitled to equal protection under law. This sec-
tion also provides for the passing of legislation
to promote equality.20 The question remains, are
quotas being utilised ethically and morally?
Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has
hosted four sporting mega-events, namely the
1995 Rugby World Cup, the 1996 Africa Cup of
Nations, the 2003 Cricket World Cup and, most
recently, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This can be
considered a great achievement for a country
that has experienced international isolation,
including suspension from FIFA in 1961.21
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The reason for South Africa’s interest in host-
ing such high-profile sporting events after apart-
heid is threefold. Firstly, through these events,
post-apartheid South Africa has been able to
announce its presence globally following years
of isolation. Secondly, post-apartheid South
Africa can be best described as an ‘aspirant
nation, which recently gained democracy and is
plagued by a weak sense of nationhood hence
South Africa is using sporting events to build
the nation’.22 Lastly, post-apartheid South Africa
aspires to be a leader in the southern African
region and on the African continent in general.
Therefore, by successfully hosting sporting mega-
events South Africa creates a positive image that
projects its leadership credentials.
Furthermore, when it comes to politics in sport,
the display of flags and the playing of national
anthems have raised controversy at Olympic and
other international competitions, because of the
interpretation that such displays promote political
ideologies. Sport does offer a setting for national
pride and unity but at the same time raises ques-
tions about issues of power, particularly in regard
to the selection of athletes for international com-
petition and the control of sport events. People in
many societies link sport to feelings of national
pride and a sense of national identity. These events
allow spectators at sporting events and television
audiences to experience widely shared feelings
and to reaffirm their sense of national identity.
Sport and education
Sport is inextricably intertwined with the insti-
tution of education in our society. At all levels
of education, but particularly high school and
tertiary level, high-level competitive sport or
varsity sport competition is present. The value of
sport within education raises numerous ques-
tions, because sport has become so important
that a school or university’s worth is judged by
4.5 The social functions of sport
Some sociologists hold that because sport is a
product of society, it can often reflect larger
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 65
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  65
the success or failure of its sport teams. Students
have even been known to choose a school or uni-
versity based not on the academic programme
in which they will enrol but on the success of the
institution’s sport teams. There is no question
that sport creates positive values and opportuni-
ties for all students; however, one must carefully
examine the extent to which the value of sport is
placed above the value of education. Educational
institutions need to address why varsity sport has
become a marketable product instead of an edu-
cational programme.
Sport and religion
Athletes performing religious rituals – for example,
stopping to pray as they step onto the field – are
becoming increasingly prevalent at sport events.
Athletes in some cultures have become increas-
ingly likely to display religious beliefs as they play
sport, and even to define their participation in
religious terms. Not only do churches sponsor
leagues, but athletes themselves publicly profess
and promote religious beliefs. Organisations for
Christian athletes in particular have been estab-
lished for such purpose (e.g. Athletes in Action).
Just as family schedules have been altered by par-
ticipation in sport, religious services have been
changed to accommodate practitioners so that the
start of a contest is not missed. College and profes-
sional athletes often openly engage in religious
practices or rituals before, during, or after a con-
test. Sports fans go to outrageous lengths, wearing
lucky jerseys or religiously watching every game
to prove their loyalty for their teams. There have
been claims that the majority of preaching about
Christian faith now comes from televised sports
and entertainment instead of inside churches.
Religion has become overwhelmingly promi-
nent in sports; it may even be appearing more in
people’s lives from watching football games than
attending church services.23
elements of the society that created it. Some
believe that particular sports teach important
3/24/15 12:54 AM
 66  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
principles, rules and values that form key life
skills, such as how to learn from defeat or encour-
age self-discipline and drive through the rewards
of deserved success.
But such approaches may also cause problems
in society. Some have argued that winning is val-
ued more highly than lessons of self-improve-
ment or social co-operation. In other words, how
well you play the game takes a backseat to victory.
There are five basic social functions of sport.
The socio-emotional
4.5.1 nication skills, co-operation and respect for the
function
The socio-emotional function of sport is seen to
operate at the level of the individual and is con-
cerned with the socio-psychological stability
of the individual. The stable functioning of the
individual as a member of society depends upon
his being ‘well adjusted’ psychologically and
socially. Examples of this function are evident in
two socio-emotional components:
• The management of tension and conflict
-- Participation in sport is believed to help
release frustrations and aggression, known
as catharsis, avoiding people releasing this
on others in everyday life.
-- Sport allows for extreme emotions – such
as sadness, joy and hate – to develop in
ways that are considered non-threatening
to the self and to others.
• The production of feelings of community
and camaraderie
-- Sport helps to reduce the social distance
between people. The 1995 Rugby World
Cup, 1996 All Africa Cup of Nations
and 2010 FIFA World Cup are examples
of this.
-- Fans of specific clubs unite to become
‘one’ and feelings of belonging are
generated in non-participants. In other
words, even if people are only spectators,
they also feel that they ‘belong’ to the
team and automatically have something
in common with other supporters of
the team.
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 66
4.5.2 Socialisation function
Socialisation is the process through which people
learn the expectations of the society in which
they live. Through socialisation, people absorb
their culture (customs, habits, laws, practices,
language, etc.) and form their own identity. The
socialisation function allows for the acceptance
of cultural morals and beliefs, social values and
personality characteristics of an individual to
take place. Traits such as friendships, commu-
rules of a game are highlighted in this function.24
Sport fosters identity and friendship and, in turn,
helps to create a social identity. In high school,
youths who participate in organised sports activi-
ties view sports as a place to meet other young
people who have at least one shared interest.
Indeed, quality sport programmes can help to
develop and maintain healthy relationships
amongst youth.25
Additionally, sport may help boys and girls to
socialize in different ways, which may be a posi-
tive or a negative consequence of taking part in
sport. Sport participation socialises boys into
traditional gender roles, while similar partici-
pation socialises girls into non-traditional gen-
der roles. Sport has an additional social benefit
for female high school student athletes who
find participation in sports to be a way to break
gender stereotypes, enhancing their sense of
possibility and identity. Youth sports can also
help children to learn to interact with adults
such as parents and their teachers. Quality
sport programmes that can benefit interactions
between children may also benefit exchanges
between youth and adults. Parents promote
children’s social development and social skills
by enrolling them in sport programmes and
these skills can improve children’s relation-
ships with their teachers.
4.5.3 The integrative function
Sport brings people together. It is a universal
language and creates a common bond between
people who might have nothing else in common
and who might have had no reason to interact
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 Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  67

with one another in the past. That said, sport is
seen as a medium that promotes a shared sense
of belonging and participation and may therefore
also be an important tool for the integration of
people from different backgrounds. The integra-
tive function focuses on the unification of sepa-
rate individuals into a group and their identifica-
tion with that group.
4.5.4 The political function
The political function is concerned with sport
being used as a political instrument. As an exten-
sion of the integrative function, sport can be used
to unite a country. However, sport can also be
used politically as a means of sanctioning other
countries and expressing a nation’s feelings over
the actions of another country.
• Examples of a nation using sport to sanction,
and express its feelings about the actions of,
another nation:
-- Zimbabwe pulled out of Twenty20 Cricket
World Cup in 2009
-- South Africa was sanctioned because of
apartheid laws
• Examples of sport uniting a country:
-- 1995 IRB Rugby World Cup
-- 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Zimbabwe suspends itself from the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup26

Zimbabwe looks set to suspend itself from the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup in England, but has retained its
full-member status with the International Cricket Council. The Zimbabwe Cricket delegation at the ICC annual
conference will recommend to its board to withdraw from the tournament next June as it has become clear that
England would not grant the team visas to compete, the sport’s world governing body said on Friday. The British
government withdrew its invitation last week for Zimbabwe to tour next May in protest after President Robert
Mugabe won a widely discredited election that was boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
marked by violence and voter intimidation. South Africa has also severed all cricketing ties with Zimbabwe.
‘The Zimbabwe delegation has agreed to take this decision in the greater interest of world cricket and the ICC. This
recommendation should be viewed as a one-off and will not be taken as a precedent,’ the ICC said in a statement.

4.5.5 Social mobility function or her parents) or intragenerational (occurring

Social mobility is a person’s movement over time
from one class to another. Social mobility can be
upwards or downwards and can be either inter-
generational (occurring between generations,
such as when a child rises above the class of his
within a generation, such as when an individual
changes class because of career success). Sport
is frequently known as a source of upward social
mobility. Jomo Sono is a local example where
sport represented a social mobility function.

Jomo Cosmos’ rise to stardom27

[When Jomo Sono was eight, his] father, Eric ‘Scara’ Bamuza Sono, a midfielder for Orlando Pirates in the
1960s, died in a car crash. At this time Jomo’s mother also abandoned him and he went to live with his ailing
grandparents. At the age of 10 he used to sell apples and peanuts at soccer games and train stations in order to
clothe himself, buy food for his grandparents and go to school. Sono was given the nickname ‘Jomo’ meaning a
burning spear, by Rocks Mthembu, a Pirates fan, who saw in him the same leadership qualities as those of Jomo
Kenyatta, the president of Kenya at the time. Fate played a part in Jomo becoming a first string player. One day
while sitting on the bench, one of the in-field players was absent, and Sono was called to stand in for that player
and that was the beginning of his soccer career. Having accomplished everything with Orlando Pirates,

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 68  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
Sono went to the USA and played for New York Cosmos alongside the greatest footballer of all time, Pele. After
his stint in the USA, Sono purchased the Highlands Park club and renamed the team Jomo Cosmos.
4.6 Social theories of sport
As we engage in studying and changing sport, we
use social and cultural theories to assist us. These
theories help us to identify issues and problems
to study. They enable us to be more informed
citizens and, in turn, better sport managers as
we apply what we have learnt in our planning,
organising, implementation and control of sport.
When we study sport in society, we use theories
or general views to understand how and why the
world works as it does. In the sociology of sport
there are six major theories that can be used to
study sport in society.
4.6.1 The functional theory
The functional theory looks at how sport con-
tributes to the stability and social progress in
organisations, communities and societies. Sport
is studied in terms of its contribution to the
system and how it helps keep societies, com-
munities, groups and organisations operating
smoothly, as well as how it influences individuals
to contribute to the social systems in which they
participate. Sport is seen as a source of inspira-
tion for individuals and society.
4.6.1.1 Using the functional theory
in everyday life
Many people use the functional theory to make
decisions about using sport to promote social
integration through development and growth in
organised youth sport. Sport participation and
individual development can combat deviance
through elite programmes, build values and
expose children to sporting role models.
Weaknesses of the functional theory include
the following:
• It assumes that all social groups benefit
equally from sport
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 68
-- What is good for society must be good for
all of its members.
-- It argues that inequalities are good for
society.
• It overstates the positive consequences of
sport in society.
• It does not recognise that sport is a social
construction that privileges or disadvantages
some people more than others.
4.6.2 The conflict theory
People using the conflict theory view society as
a continually changing set of relationships that
exist because of different economic interests. In
other words, society is ultimately shaped and
organised around money, wealth and economic
power. The people who hold the economic
power use that power to coerce and manipu-
late others to accept their view of the world as
the correct view. This means that those who use
this theory are concerned with class relations.
The social order exists because people do not
all have access to equal resources. Thus c­ onflict
theorists see sport as a means of promot-
ing capitalism in society, as a set of activities
and spectacles that reduce awareness of eco-
nomic exploitation among those without the
power while maintaining the privilege and
position of those who control wealth and the
economy.
4.6.2.1 Using the conflict theory
in everyday life
The conflict theory focuses attention on eco-
nomic factors, class inequality and the need for
changes in how society and sport are organised.
Relationships between people with and with-
out economic power are highlighted. Athletes
and spectators are not aware of how they are
3/24/15 12:54 AM

being manipulated and oppressed for profit
and the personal gain of the economic elite –
sport is used as an opiate. Those who play sport
have no effective control over the conditions of
their preparations; this is left up to the coach
or trainer.
Weaknesses of the conflict theory include the
following:
• It assumes that all social life is driven and
shaped only by economic factors (‘market
needs’)
• It ignores the importance of gender, race,
age, sexual orientation and other factors in
social life.
• It ignores cases in which sport participation
consists of experiences that can empower
groups and individuals.
4.6.3 The critical theory
The focus of the critical theory is explanations
of culture, power and social relations. It con-
sists of various approaches designed to under-
stand where power comes from, how it operates
in social life and how it shifts and changes as
power relations (in the political, historical and
economic context), narratives and discourses
change. It sees sport as a social construct.
The critical theory assumes that sport is more
than a reflection of society, so it studies the
struggles about the meaning and organisation
of sport and of sport as a site for cultural transfor-
mation. It focuses on how dominant narratives
and images are used to form and give meaning
to sport.
4.6.3.1 Using the critical
theory in everyday life
Critical theories are based on concerns of fair-
ness and the desire to understand, confront
and transform systems of exploitation and
oppression in social life through sport. The
critical theorists are interested in increasing
diversity in sport, challenging the dominant
debates and ideologies in sport, challenging
those in power in sport and society, and giving
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Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  69
the marginalised a voice. South Africa is a good
example of critical theory in that affirmative
action in sport was brought about to rectify past
power imbalances.
Weaknesses of the critical theory include the
following:
• There are no clear guidelines for identifying
and assessing forms of resistance and strate-
gies for producing transformation.
• There are no unified strategies for dealing
with social problems, conflicts and injustice.
4.6.4 The interactionist theory
According to the interactionist theory, society
is created through social interaction. It stud-
ies sport through the meanings and symbols
that people create through social interactions.
People use these meanings to make decisions
in their everyday lives, which also govern their
involvement in sport. Interactionist theorists
are interested in researching how individuals
experience sport and how identities are cre-
ated through the social processes of becom-
ing, being and unbecoming an athlete. Our
identities influence our choices, actions, rela-
tionships and the processes through which we
form and change our social worlds. In turn,
the interactionist theory is often used when
people study the experiences of athletes and
their relationships with others, and the ways in
which athletes make sense of their participa-
tion in sport. This theory sees sport from the
individual’s perspective.
4.6.4.1 Using the interactionist
­theory in everyday life
Using the interactionist theory in everyday life
is based on lived realities as people engage with
others and give meaning to the complex world
in which they find themselves. Interactionists
call for changes that increase discussion and the
mutual sharing of ideas, experiences and under-
standing of sport experiences.
The interactionist theory has two main
weaknesses:
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 70  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
• It does not explain how meaning, identity
and interaction are connected with social
structures and material conditions in society.
• It ignores the issues of power and power
relations in society and how they affect
sport, sport participation and sport
experiences.
4.6.5 The feminist theory
The feminist theory is based on the assump-
tion that knowledge about social life requires an
understanding of gender and gender relations.
This theory has grown out of a general dissatis-
faction and frustration that intellectual traditions
base knowledge on the values, experiences and
insights of men and ignore or devalue those of
women. Social life is regarded as pervasively
gendered in a patriarchal, or male-dominated,
world. Sport, in turn, is regarded as a set of gen-
dered activities based on masculine values and
experiences. The widely accepted norms and the
celebration of strong, aggressive and tough male
athletes exclude women, who are expected to
display femininity and look beautiful in sports
like tennis and gymnastics or fill caring and
supportive roles. Feminists are interested in
researching how sport reproduces patriarchy
through physicality, sexuality and the body, how
women are (mis)represented in media coverage
of sport and how women can use strategies to
resist or challenge dominant gender ideology.
4.6.5.1 Using the feminist theory
in everyday life
Using the feminist theory in everyday life is
mainly focused on our awareness of how culture
informs sporting practices and gender-related
issues in sport. For example, we know that gen-
der equity is difficult to achieve because it often
requires that men share resources, which mostly
leads to competition. Homophobia influences
the participation in sport as well as the experi-
ences of heterosexual women, who may face
being called gay if they participate in sporting
activities usually associated with men. This the-
ory also looks at the experiences of gay women in
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 70
sport. Feminists use sports as sites of empower-
ment of women and promotes forms of sport that
reflect women’s interests.
Weaknesses of the feminist theory include the
following. The feminist theory focuses on social
justice, equality of opportunities and existing
ideologies that undermine fairness related to
gender, sexuality, social class, race, ethnicity
and disability. However, there is no clear guide-
line on the interrelated experiences of women of
different ages, race, ability and religions across
cultures. Not every woman experiences the
same discrimination and/or unfairness within
the same context or in the same way. Secondly,
feminists assume that there is a unified ‘wom-
en’s interest’, while many women argue that this
is not their interest. Certain women are happy
to uphold the traditional gender role that is
expected of them (i.e. motherhood and feminin-
ity) and believe that sport is a ‘man’s territory’.
4.6.6 The figurational theory
The figurational theory is a theory in which figu-
rations of humans – evolving networks of interde-
pendent humans – are the unit of investigation. It
sees sport as a social phenomenon. Also known
as process sociology, the figurational theory
explains that social life consists of networks of
interdependent people in formations or ‘figu-
rations’ over time (i.e. many amateurs in sport
led to the social trend of amateurism; similarly,
figurations of professional athletes surfacing
in sport led to the sociological trend of profes-
sionalism in sport). These social connections
shift and change, which gives special meaning
to the social worlds that are formed and recog-
nised through them. Shifts and changes within
the figurations happen according to changes in
power relations within the economic, political
and emotional dimension of social life. Sport
is seen as important as it is regarded as a set of
‘collective interventions’ that provides people in
highly regulated modern societies with forms of
enjoyable excitement. Those who use the figu-
rational theory are concerned with how social
figurations emerge and change over time, how
modern sport emerged and became important in
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certain societies, and the complexities of global
sport and local and national identities.
4.6.6.1 Using the figurational theory
in everyday life
Studying the development of pastimes and folk
games into competitive sport provides insights
into national and global figurations. The global
migration of athletes, the global sport industry,
the global media, and the impact of global sport
on national identity formation as global phenom-
enon have helped us to understand sport from
a global perspective. This theory is based on the
idea that knowledge about social life is cumula-
tive and enables people to develop the ­knowledge
that will give rise to strategies for controlling
expressions of violence, exploitation and the
abuse of power, and will increase access to sport
participation among the historically powerless.
The primary weakness of this theory is that it
gives too little attention to problems and strug-
gles that affect day-to-day lives: it focuses on the
long-term historical interconnections between
people. It understates the immediate personal
4.7 Sport and socialisation
As a sport manager, you need to understand why
people participate in sport, why they change
sports or stop participating in sport, and what
happens to them as a result of their participation
in sport. This process of learning and develop-
ment in and through sport is known as sociali-
sation. Socialisation is an active process of
learning and social development, which occurs
as we interact with one another and become
acquainted with the social world in which we
live. It involves the formation of ideas about who
we are and what is important in our lives. We
are not simply passive learners in the socialisa-
tion process. We actively participate in our own
socialisation as we influence those who influence
us. We actively interpret what we see and hear,
and we accept, resist, or revise the messages that
we receive about who we are, about the world,
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 71
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  71
consequences of oppressive power relations and,
in turn, has not given enough attention to the
experiences of women and the gender inequi-
ties that affect their lives.
Theories are tools that help us to ask
­q uestions, collect and analyse information,
and interpret the implications of our analy-
ses. The decision about which theory is best is
influenced by the goals and political agendas of
the sport manager, organisation, community,
or nation. The best theories are those that help
us to find ways to make the world more demo-
cratic. In the management of sport, no single
theory is suitable on its own. An integrated
perspective and a combination of the various
theories should be used to study and interpret
social phenomena accurately so that the right
strategy or plan is chosen and its implementa-
tion is successful. Take, for example, the need
to introduce a sport programme, to compile
a sport marketing plan or to organise a sport
within a community. Failure to understand the
community within which you are working in
will make your strategy, sport programme or
sport marketing plan ineffective.
and about what we should do as we make our
way in the world. Therefore, socialisation is not
a one-way process of social influence through
which we are moulded and shaped. Instead, it is
an interactive process through which we actively
connect through others, synthesise information,
and make decisions that shape our own lives and
the social world around us.
How do individuals learn
4.7.1
to participate in sport?
People learn how to participate in sport by
means of the social process called socialisation
into sport and exercise, which is a lifelong and
complex process in which no two individuals
share the same life story. Commitment to regular
exercise requires an individual to come to terms
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 72  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
with three basic understandings related to their
own role in moulding their participation habits,
namely:
• Correctly interpreting skills and traits unique
to themselves;
• Developing a connection with others
through social interactions; and
• Being able to understand a large number of
influences present within their own social
environments.
There are two socialisation models that can
help us to understand why some individuals do
not choose to participate in physical activity,
namely the social learning model of sport and
exercise and the role of transition within sport
and exercise. We will look at these two models
more closely in the next sections.
The social learning model
4.7.2 sions (coping skills, social interaction skills).
of sport and exercise28
Fitting into physically active roles is a complex
process, and no two individuals experience
the same process. Predicting whether an indi-
vidual is likely to participate in any of the forms
of physical activity is best understood by uti-
lizing a social learning approach. In Becoming
involved in physical activity and sport: A pro-
cess of socialization (1973), Gerald Kenyon and
Barry McPherson introduced a framework for
consolidating the overwhelming number of fac-
tors that play a role in an individual’s likelihood
of participation in an organised sport or other
physical activity. Drawing on general theories
of social learning, predictors of participation in
physical activity roles can be categorised into
three groups:
1. A person’s abilities, characteristics and
resources;
2. The influence of significant others, includ-
ing parents, siblings, teachers, peers and
role models (socialising agents); and
3. The availability of opportunities to play
sport (socialising situations).
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 72
Figure 4.1:  Predictors of participation in physical activity
Personal attributes
Socialising agents Sport participation
Socialising situations
Source: Kenyon, C.S. & McPherson, B.D. (1973).
Becoming involved in physical activity and sport:
A process of socialization. In R.G. Lawrence (ed.).
Physical activity: Human growth and development. New
York: Academic Press.
Personal attributes are any descriptive features
that characterise the individual. They include
the physical dimensions (height, weight, age,
physical condition) the psychological dimen-
sion (­personality, competitiveness, psychological
maturation) and the social psychological dimen-
Socialising agents are significant people in
one’s life who provide social influence. The fam-
ily is considered the most significant socialising
agent for all age groups, but particularly for chil-
dren. Social support, whether from family mem-
bers or friends, is an important factor in whether
people start and continue participation in sport
and other forms of physical activity. Social sup-
port takes a variety of forms. It may consist of
accompanying someone to an exercise class, call-
ing someone to see how a programme is going, or
providing information about new programmes.
The third group, socialising situations, con-
sists of an individuals’ unique blend of oppor-
tunities and life experiences. Factors such as the
social class of a family, the amount of dispos-
able income available to buy sport equipment
and the physical environment in which the indi-
vidual lives all play a role in the socialisation
process. Growing up in sunny South Africa, for
example, one cannot expect to practise snow-
boarding unless you visit special facilities that
replicate an environment conducive to snow-
boarding. Russia, with its geographical position
and weather, cannot expect to provide champi-
ons in windsurfing or surfing.
3/24/15 12:54 AM

The role of transition
4.7.3 4.7.3.2 Resocialisation
within sport and exercise
While an athlete or participant’s transition
through sport may seem to develop in a smooth
and continuous way from beginning to end, it
is, in fact, characterised by specific phases and
transitions. These transitions can occur simul-
taneously and in any order in an individual’s
socialisation journey. They are primary social-
isation, resocialisation, desocialisation and
aversive socialisation. Gender, race, age, socio-
economic status, and social and emotional sup-
port networks are only some factors that shape
the manner in which one makes the transition
through sport.
Figure 4.2:  The transition through sport
Primary
socialisation
Transition
Aversive
socialisation
through Resocialisation
sport
Desocialisation
Source: Coakley, J.J. (2015). Sports in society: Issues and
controversies. New York: McGraw-Hill.
4.7.3.1 Primary socialisation
Primary socialisation is the process by which
individuals first learn a sport or physical activ-
ity role. It occurs mostly during childhood, dur-
ing physical education – for example, children
learning to play mini hockey, mini soccer and
rugby. Primary socialisation could also occur in
adulthood when an individual takes up tennis at
a local club or joins a senior or masters league,
for example.
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 73
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  73
Resocialisation is when individuals transfer
from one level, form or role in the same activity
to another – for example, from primary school to
high school level sport, or from being an Olympic
swimmer to being a college swimming coach.
4.7.3.3 Desocialisation
Desocialisation is the process by which individ-
uals leave sport roles temporarily – for example,
due to moving from one city to another, an inde-
pendent decision to quit, being dropped by the
coach, sustaining a minor injury, or any other
reason that would cause an individual to stop
taking part in a particular sport. Other reasons
could include socio-economic reasons (such as
the inability to carry the costs of fees and equip-
ment) and negative experiences (such as a fight
with the coach, being benched, negative media
exposure or a personal trauma).
4.7.3.4 Aversive socialisation
Aversive socialisation is long-term withdrawal
from sport and physical activity due to possible
heightened stress levels and pressure as a result
of growing up, adapting to different levels of
sport, burnout or achieving a sporting goal.
An example of an athlete who may be in the
aversive socialisation phase is Oscar Pistorius.
Personal circumstances have resulted in him
withdrawing from sport due to a prison sen-
tence he is currently serving for fatally shoot-
ing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. One could
say that he had no choice but to aversively
socialise from sport – his circumstances have
left him no choice and, if the shooting had not
happened, he would most likely still be partici-
pating in athletics. Similarly, Lance Armstrong,
seven-times Tour de France champion, aver-
sively socialised from cycling due to a doping
scandal and charges for illegal substance use
in his cycling career. Another example is an
athlete who aversively socialises from sport
due to having won and broken records and,
in doing so, having reached his or her goals).
Michael Schumacher and Michael Jordan have
both reached many milestones in their sporting
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 74  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
careers and chose to aversively socialise from
their sports.
These two socialisation models, the social
learning model of sport and exercise and the
role of transition within sport and exercise, can
help us to understand why some individuals
do not choose to participate in physical activ-
ity. For example, the personal attribute of being
female predicts a low likelihood of participation
in a male-dominated sport such as a football
4.8 Children in sport
Sport helps children to develop physical skills,
exercise their bodies, make friends, have fun,
learn to be team members, learn to play fair, and
improve self-esteem. The global sport culture has
increasingly become a money-making business.
The highly stressful, competitive, win-at-all-costs
attitude prevalent at universities and among pro-
fessional athletes affects the world of children’s
sport as well. It is important to remember that
the attitudes and behaviour that children learn
through sport carry over to their adult lives.29
Sport sociologists’ research has influenced how
people think and organise children’s sport and
provides valuable information that parents,
coaches, programme administrators and sport
managers can use when organising and evaluat-
ing youth sport. As a sport manager, you could
be exposed to managing children’s programmes
and should therefore be knowledgeable about the
different types of these programmes, what they
entail, and the experiences that children gain
from them.
The origins of organised
4.8.1 liberal societies. A neo-liberal society is a society
youth sport
During the 20th century, society began to
realise that children’s development is strongly
influenced by the social environment. This
created a culture of youth sport that believed
that organised activities would assist in the
development of sport character and turn the
youth into hard-working, productive adults in
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 74
league. A junior high school boy who has not
reached his height potential may be drawn
away from the high school basketball team.
The transitions and phases that form and shape
the athlete or participant’s transition through
sport can assist a manager to understand and
describe the barriers that children, teens and
adults face in developing and maintaining a
physically active lifestyle.
capitalist societies. Schools, communities and
church groups increasingly began to organise
activities for boys with the philosophy of ‘mak-
ing boys into men’. Team sport would specifi-
cally support schooling about obeying rules,
teamwork and discipline. At the same time,
physical activities were provided for girls that
would teach them to be good wives, mothers
and home-makers: the belief was that girls
were to learn domestic skills and boys sport
skills. Organised youth sport grew rapidly in
many industrialised countries after World
War II.
Social change and the
4.8.2
growth of organised youth sport
Since the 1950s, there has been an increase in
children’s after-school physical activities in the
form of organised children’s sport programmes.
This development has occurred due to cultural
expectations related to family life, childhood
and parenting over the past four decades in neo-
in which individualism and material success are
highly valued, and in which there is a decline
in publicly funded programmes and services.
An increase in the demand for organised and
adult-controlled after-school and summer pro-
grammes has resulted from an increase in the
number of families in which both parents work.
Another reason for the increase in the numbers
of organised children’s programmes is that there
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is a growing belief that the world is a dangerous
place for children and that merely allowing them
to play outside in the garden or on the road would
be unsafe. Organised programmes in closed and
supervised environments, with organised activi-
ties that are planned and involve skills, discipline
and supervision by an adult, are seen as being
of more benefit to children and as keeping them
out of trouble.
Since the early 1990s, cultural values have
changed in terms of what it means to be a good
parent. Good parents are those who can account
for the whereabouts and actions of their children
at all times. This has led many parents to seek
organised, adult-supervised programmes for
their children. Lastly, parents favour organised
programmes because they provide their chil-
dren with adult leadership, predictable sched-
ules and measurable indicators of a child’s
accomplishments.
4.8.3 Major trends in youth
sport 30
In addition to its growing popularity, youth sport
is changing in socially significant ways:
• Organised programmes have become
increasingly privatised. This means that
more youth sports are being sponsored
by private and commercial organisa-
tions and fewer by public, tax-supported
organisations.
• Organised programmes increasingly
emphasise the performance ethic. This
Table 4.1:  Adult-controlled versus player-controlled youth sport
Adult-controlled organised sport
Relationships with authority figures
Learning formal rules and strategies
Systematic guidance by parents and coaches
Rule-governed teamwork and obedience to coaches required
Winning and personal achievement is important
Source: Larson, R.W., Hansen, D.M. & Moneta, G. (2006). Differing profiles of developmental experiences across
types of organized youth activities. Developmental Psychology 42(5): 849–863.
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 75
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  75
means that participants in competitive
as well as recreational programmes are
encouraged to evaluate their experiences
in terms of the progress they make in
developing skills and achieving higher
levels of competition.
• There has been an increase in private,
elite training facilities that are dedicated
to producing champion athletes who will
be able to compete at the highest levels in
youth sport.
• There is increased parental involvement and
concern about the participation and success
of their children, and parents are most likely
to act in extreme ways as they support the
interest of their children.
• Participation in alternative or action sport
has increased. Many young people prefer
unstructured, participant-controlled sports
such as BMX events and skateboarding.
4.8.4 Different experiences:
Adult-controlled versus
­player-controlled sport
Sociologists have done a great deal of research
on the different experiences that children have
in formally organised or adult-controlled sport
such as club soccer versus player-controlled,
informal sport such as stuck in the mud or run-
ning red rovers.31 Table 4.1 summarises the dif-
ferent experiences of the two types of organised
youth programmes.
Player-controlled informal sport
Action and personal involvement
Interpersonal and decision-making skills
Co-operation and improvisation are required
Challenges, problem-solving and individual expression
Reaffirmation of friendships is important
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 76  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
As a sport manager involved in youth sport,
you can use Table 4.1 to identify the type of
model that is being practised in your immediate
environment and address the possible shortcom-
ings of the programme.
Recommendations for
4.8.5 cultures of those sports more inclusive.
improving youth sport
Many positive changes can be made to encourage
the improvement of youth sports. The ­following
are a few of the main recommendations:
• The challenge for adults is to be supportive
and provide guidance without controlling
young people who need their own space to
create physical activities.
4.9 Gender and sport
Gender and gender relations are a main topic in
the sociology of sport. It is important to explain
why most sports around the world have been
defined as men’s activities, why half the popu-
lation of the world was generally excluded or
discouraged from participating in sport through
most of the 20th century and why there have
been such major changes in women’s partici-
pation since the mid-1970s. In this section, the
focus will be on trying to understand the rela-
tionship between sport and popular beliefs about
masculinity and femininity, homosexuality and
heterosexuality. When people talk about gender
relations and sport, they usually focus on issues
related to fairness, equity, ideology and culture.
Participation and
4.9.1 approved of the 3 000 m race and marathon for
equity issues
The single most dramatic change in sport in the
world over the past generation has been the
increased participation of girls and women in
sport. The history of women’s involvement in
sport tells a story of opposition and oppression. At
the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, women were
barred from public events. Sources suggest that
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 76
• Make play spaces safer and more accessible
to as many children as possible.
• Be sensitive to social class and gender ­patterns.
The gender exclusion that exists in certain
alternative sports is especially problematic
and begs for creative solutions that make the
• Introduce a hybrid sport model that combines
characteristics of informal, player-controlled
games and organised, adult-controlled sport.
As more adults learn that positive child devel-
opment requires involvement in unstructured
play and informal games as well as formal, adult-
controlled organised sport, there will be attempts
to facilitate the hybrid sport model for organised
youth sport.
women, prohibited from entering the Olympic
Games, held their own games at Olympia.
In the ideology of muscular Christianity, Baron
Pierre de Coubertin perceived the Games to be a
celebration of male prowess in which there was
no room for the ‘indecency, ugliness and impro-
priety of women … [because] women engaging
in strenuous activities were destroying their
feminine charm and leading to the down-fall and
degradation of … sport’.32 Only 11 women com-
peted in the summer Olympic Games in Paris
in 1900, compared with 1 319 men. Despite an
increase in the numbers of women entering elite
sport, women have always participated in fewer
events, appropriated by the male-dominated
International Olympic Committee that only
women in 1984.
In the 1920s, the female body became a
marketable commodity and female Olympic
­champions endorsed and advertised products,
projecting femininity, health, vitality and sexu-
ality. Despite female champions’ athletic excel-
lence, the media wanted to present them in the
cultural ideal of womanhood and femininity.
Female athletes are often stereotyped as sex
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symbols, whereas a more muscular body is per-
ceived to be unnatural and ‘butch’.
The issue of equity in gender and sport also
relates to national priorities, access to resources,
budget cutbacks and priorities, females in profes-
sional sport vocations, emphasis on ‘cosmetic fit-
ness’, media presentation of sporting females, and
the limited coverage and trivialisation of female
sport. Girls are also cast in the role of glamourising
competitive male sport by acting as cheerleaders
or pom-pom girls. The marginalisation of female
sport is, however, linked to the process of cultural
production, ideology and media presentation.
The relatively high political profile of women
and the movement for equity in political debates in
South Africa, which is somewhat absent in media
debates and intellectual research, outlines and
reflects the local male orientation among sport
leaders and decision-makers.33 South African
women’s participation in sport and leisure has
been restricted, marginalised, under-reported
and mediated to reproduce male stereotyped ver-
sions of feminine sporting bodies. Female sport
is seldom televised in prime-time viewing, which
results in women being socialised to a large extent
(by their sport-loving husbands, male friends or
sons) in becoming active supporters of prominent
male sports such as rugby, cricket and soccer. The
main obstacles that women face in their sports par-
ticipation or that cause them to drop out of sports
participation are ideological (their role as wife and
mother and gender discrimination), structural
(the lack of user-friendly facilities, transport and
Table 4.2:  Women’s participation in the Olympic Games
Year Sports Women’s Total events % of women’s
events events
1992 19 86 257 33.5
1996 21 97 271 35.8
2000 25 120 300 40
2004 26 125 301 41.5
2008 26 127 302 42.1
2012 26 140 302 46.4
Source: Olympic Studies Centre. (2014). Factsheet: Women in the Olympic movement. Available at http://www.olympic.
org/Documents/Reference_documents_Factsheets/Women_in_Olympic_Movement.pdf. [Accessed 15 February 2015].
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 77
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  77
sponsorship) and environmental (unsafe travelling
or training conditions). Women of colour also cite
the absence of role models because South African
female sports stars are predominantly white
(Penny Heyns, Elana Meyer, Amanda Coetzer and
Zola Budd).34
The under-representation of women in all
aspects and at all levels of sport – be it at the
level of participants, decision-makers, officials
or coaches, and national role-players – should
be recognised in order to address cultural and
socio-economic problems as well as the lack of
recognition and funding. However, despite resis-
tance in some countries, girls and women around
the world now participate in a variety of school,
community and sport club programmes, which
did not exist 35 years ago.
4.9.1.1 Factors that could inhibit
the future increase of female
­participation in sport
Increases in sport participation rates for girls
and women have not come easily. They are the
result of the dedicated efforts of many individuals
and groups. Progress has been remarkable, but
gender equity still does not exist in many sport
programmes in most areas around the world.
If we look at the participation numbers and the
number of events for women at the Olympics, we
note a gradual increase, but the participation of
women makes up only 44.2 per cent of the total
number of participants.35
Women % of women
­participants participants
2 704 28.8
3 512 34
4 069 38.2
4 329 40.7
4 637 42.4
4 676 44.2
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 78  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
There are five reasons to be cautious about the
pace and extent of future increases in the sport
participation rate of girls and women:
1. Resistance among those who resent changes
favouring strong women
2. Under-representation of women in deci-
sion-making positions
3. Continued emphasis on ‘cosmetic fitness’
4. Trivialisation of women’s sport
5. Homophobia and the threat of being
labelled as gay.
1. Resistance among those who resent
changes favouring strong women
When women play certain sports, they become
strong. Strong women challenge the gender ide-
ology that men are stronger and more powerful
than women. Both women and men who resent
changes favouring strong women do all they
can to discredit most women’s sport and strong
women athletes, and they call for the return of
the ‘good old days’ when men played sport and
women watched and cheered. As a sport man-
ager, one could possibly provide workshops
and educate both men and women on ways in
which they could work together to achieve better
­equality in sport.
Battle of the sexes
On September 20, 1973, women’s tennis star
Billie Jean King faced off against Bobby Riggs in
an exhibition match dubbed the ‘Battle of the
Sexes’. The 55-year-old Riggs, a former
Wimbledon champion, believed he could still beat
any woman player, and, after much prodding, King
eventually took him up on the challenge. Riggs
hyped the contest with a slew of misogynistic
comments, including that ‘the best way to handle
women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot’.
Yet King ended up eviscerating him 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
in front of more than 30 000 fans at the Houston
Astrodome, the largest crowd ever to watch a
tennis match. King’s victory – along with the
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 78
passage of Title IX, an anti-gender-discrimination
law – is often credited with sparking a boom in
women’s sports.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fQt4TkDUHew
2. Under-representation of women in
decision-making positions
Despite large increases in the number of sport
participation opportunities for girls and women
since the mid-1970s, women have suffered
setbacks in the ranks of coaching and sport
administration in women’s programmes. It
is very important for young girls and women
to see that key decision-making roles within
sport programmes are filled by other women.
In South Africa, programmes such as gsport,
with commentator Kass Naidoo, promote
sportswomen and their sporting structures.
This will encourage women to believe in the
importance and relevance of female sport in
the future and to take their participation in
sport seriously.
3. Continued emphasis on ‘cosmetic
fitness’
There are many competing images of female
bodies in cultures today. Many girls and women
see and hear confusing, and sometimes contra-
dictory, messages about the ‘ideal’ body type.
These messages include that women should be
‘firm but shapely, fit but sexy, strong but thin’.
Although women see images of powerful female
athletes, they cannot escape the images of very
thin fashion models. These images might deter
young girls and women from taking part in
certain sporting activities out of fear that they
would acquire more muscular features. Sport
managers could facilitate workshops that sen-
sitise sport journalists to the continued empha-
sis on ‘cosmetic fitness’ so that female bodies
are not associated with sexual innuendos. The
focus should also be on the athletic ability of the
female participants and not necessarily on their
physical attributes.
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4. Trivialisation of women’s sport
‘Okay, women play sport, but they are not as
exciting to watch as men’s sport and I wouldn’t
pay to watch them’.36 Statements like these are
based on ideas that ‘real’ sport must involve
‘manly’ things, such as intimidation, violence
and physical domination. Therefore, if sport
involves grace, balance and co-ordination, all
regarded as feminine values, it is often seen as
second-rate or boring. Even if women participate
in traditionally male sporting activities, such as
soccer, rugby or cricket, they still do not receive
the same level of attention and respect as their
male counterparts. This is also evident in the
amount of time allocated to broadcasting male
sporting events versus a women’s soccer match,
for example. Media houses could possibly intro-
duce more programmes dedicated to female
sport and have female sport journalists reporting
on the athletes’ achievements to avoid trivialising
women’s sport.
5. Homophobia and the threat of
being labelled as gay
Homophobia is a generalised fear or intoler-
ance of homosexual and bisexual individuals.
Homophobia causes some parents to steer their
daughters away from sporting activities that
they believe are too masculine. The wider public
sometimes shares these negative connotations of
women taking part in certain sporting activities,
which often deters women from taking part in
them. As a sport manager, you should educate
about gender stereotyping and prevent gender-
bashing, should it occur.
4.9.1.2 Reasons for increased
participation
The increased participation of girls and women
in sport is due to a number of reasons. However,
since the early 1970s, five main factors have
helped with this increase:
1. New opportunities
2. Government and equal rights legislation
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 79
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  79
3. The global women’s rights movement
4. The health and fitness movement
5. The increased media coverage of women
in sport.
1. New opportunities
New participation opportunities account for
most of the increases in sport participation
among girls and women over the past three
decades. Prior to 1970, girls and women did
not play sport for one simple reason: teams
and programmes did not exist. In recent times,
women have not only taken part in different
sports but have also entered the more ‘male’
contact sports such as rugby, soccer and box-
ing. The South African women’s national rugby
union team is a national sporting side that first
played in 2004. There is no consistent participa-
tion in women’s rugby in South Africa across all
the provincial unions. Currently, in the majority
of the provincial unions, participation struc-
tures revolve around the U16 inter-provincial
tournament organised by the South African
Rugby Union (SARU). Fewer than half of the
provincial unions (7/15; one union was sub-
divided, 47 per cent) introduce rugby to young
girls and only 20 per cent (3/15; one union was
subdivided) of the provincial unions have girls
participating across all the junior age catego-
ries.37 Even though there are still limited pro-
grammes for women to take part in rugby, the
situation has definitely improved.
2. Government and equal rights legislation
In 1972, the USA passed Title IX. This legisla-
tion declared that no person in the USA shall,
on the basis of sex, be excluded from par-
ticipation in, be denied the benefits of, or be
­subjected to discrimination under, any educa-
tional programme or activity receiving federal
financial assistance. In South Africa, gender
equity was first driven as a policy directive of
the National Sports Council, the South African
Sports Commission and the current Sport and
Recreation South Africa (SRSA). In May 2011,
members of several women’s groups in South
Africa took the initiative to improve their
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 80  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
situation, and started to contribute to the draft-
ing of the proposed Gender Equality Bill. The
Women Empowerment and Gender Equality
Bill, published in the Government Gazette of
August 2012, mainly focuses on addressing
issues of discrimination and mainstreaming
gender in South African society. Within the
Sport and Recreation Ministry, gender was
integrated into the second National Sport and
Recreation Amendment Bill. The government’s
policy directives on transformation stipulate an
equity clause (paragraph 9 of the Bill of Rights).
Under the heading ‘Equality’, the section states
that: (1) Everyone is equal before the law and
has the right to equal protection and benefit of
the law; (2) Equality includes the full and equal
enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To promote
the achievement of equality, legislative and other
measures designed to protect or advance per-
sons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by
unfair discrimination may be taken; (3) The state
may not unfairly discriminate directly or indi-
rectly against anyone on one or more grounds,
including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital
status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual ori-
entation, age, disability, religion, conscience,
belief, culture, language and birth; and (4) No
person may unfairly discriminate directly or indi-
rectly against anyone on one or more grounds in
terms of subsection (3).38
However, after 20 years of democracy, South
African women still face an uphill battle when
it comes to competing against their male coun-
terparts, especially in the workplace. Although
the country has a number of legislative proce-
dures in place to uphold the rights of women
and girls – such as the Promotion of Equality and
Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (2000),
the Employment Equity Act (1998), the Domestic
Violence Act (1998), and the Constitution
of South Africa (1996) – there is still work to
be done.39
3. The global women’s rights movement
Women’s rights have become an important issue
in the English-speaking world. By the 1960s,
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 80
the movement for women’s rights was called
‘­feminism’ or ‘women’s liberation’. Women
wanted the same pay as men, equal rights in
law, and the freedom to plan their families or not
have children at all. The International Council
of Women (ICW) was the first women’s organ-
isation to work across national boundaries for
the common cause of advocating human rights
for women. The global women’s rights move-
ment over the past 30 years has emphasised that
females are enhanced human beings when they
develop their intellectual and physical abilities.
The global women’s rights movement has also
helped with national and i­nternational aware-
ness of promoting women and has helped to
define occupational and family roles. This has
given more women the time and resources they
need to take part in sport activities.
In South Africa, gender equity became a
political issue in the late 1980s as part of the
dismantling of apartheid and the unification of
racially segregated sport structures. Government
structures such as the Gender Equity Task Team
(GETT) and the Women’s National Coalition
focused mainly on legal and political empower-
ment. The racial divide produced unique forms
of gender oppression, with little shared identity
and sisterhood between black, Indian, Coloured
and white women. Despite the divide between
‘womanists’ (predominantly black women) and
‘feminists’ (predominantly white women), gen-
der inequality united them.
4. The health and fitness movement
Since 1970, a great deal of research has been
done regarding the health benefits of taking
part in physical activity. This created wide-
spread awareness about the positive effects
that physical activity can have on people’s
physical and emotional well-being. This
awareness has encouraged women to seek
opportunities to exercise and play sport.
Initially, the emphasis was on being thin and
sexually attractive to men, but there has been
a shift towards emphasising the development
of strength and competence. This, however,
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has also led to the debate about femininity
versus masculinity, which will be discussed in
Section 4.9.2.
5. Increased media coverage of
women in sport
Even though female sporting events and female
athletes are not covered as often or in the same
manner and detail as male sporting events
and male athletes, young girls and women
can now see and read about the achieve-
ments of other female athletes who take part
in a variety of sports in a variety of formats. For
example, we can read about female athletes
in magazines, see them taking part in sport-
ing events on television and see them endorse
products via advertisements and other forms
of media. Seeing female athletes on television
and reading about them in newspapers and
magazines encourages girls and women to
be active as athletes and to act as socialising
agents.
4.9.2 Ideology and culture
The term ‘dominant ideology’ denotes the
attitudes, beliefs, values and morals shared
by the majority of the people in a society.
As a mechanism of social control, the domi-
nant ideology frames how the majority of the
population thinks about the nature of, and its
place in, society. Ideologies are often so deeply
entrenched in our social worlds that we sel-
dom think about or question them. We simply
take them for granted and use them as forms
of cultural logic to make sense of the world.
This is also the case with gender ideology.
Gender ideology influences our gender iden-
tities and relationships, as well as how we
­organise our social worlds. It influences how
we present ourselves, what we wear and how
we think.
Gender ideology varies from culture to cul-
ture. The culture of a society is expressed and
transformed through various outlets, such
as schools, commercial shopping centres,
the mass media, the Internet and sport. Both
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 81
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  81
gender ideology and gender role ideology refer
to attitudes towards the appropriate roles,
rights and responsibilities of women and men
in society. The concept can reflect these atti-
tudes generally or in a specific domain, such
as an economic, familial, legal, political and/
or social domain. Traditional gender ideolo-
gies emphasise the value of distinctive roles for
women and men. According to traditional gen-
der ideology about the family, for example, men
fulfill their family roles through instrumental,
breadwinning activities and women fulfill their
roles through nurturing, home-making and
parenting activities.40
Gender ideology is based on a simple
binary classification model. According to this
model, all people are classified into two sex
­categories – male or female. These categories
are defined in biological terms. All people in
the male c­ ategory are believed to be naturally
different from all those in the female cate-
gory and they are held to different normative
­expectations when it comes to feelings, appear-
ance, thoughts and actions. These expectations
shape the ways in which people define and
identify gender – that is, what is considered
masculine and what is considered feminine in a
group or society.
4.9.2.1 Gender ideology in sport
Throughout the past century, gender roles have
started to change greatly in our society and espe-
cially in the world of sport. Women have begun to
participate in many previously male-dominated
sports and have represented masculine values of
aggression, violence and strength. Some of these
sports, such as soccer, rugby and hockey, have
been perceived as ‘manly’ sports and many feel
that women should not participate in them due
to their physically demanding nature. Instead,
women are expected to participate in sport that
represents feminine values such as grace and
elegance and do not involve body contact, such
as tennis, gymnastics and golf. Caster Semenya
is a good example of gender ideology hindering
sporting successes.41
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 82  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT

‘Femaleness’ – the injustice towards women athletes

Recent claims about the sex of South African Olympic runner Caster Semenya bring to light important questions
regarding modern society’s limited gender classification scheme. The 18-year-old self-identified woman was forced
to undergo genetic testing due to her ‘masculine appearance’ and her repeatedly record-breaking performance.
The short-distance female athlete defends herself against the accusations of gender verification in the interview
following her success in the 2008 Olympics. The controversial focus of gender testing in female athletes has
continuously surfaced for debate, as women athletes are forced to undergo multiple biological tests to prove that
they are indeed competing within the right gender. Athlete Caster Semenya is one example of a female athlete who
was questioned about her gender, with respect to her greater ability and athleticism in sport. The video depicts the
Olympic champion defending a female’s opportunities of athleticism as equal to that of male.
Source: https://pub209healthcultureandsociety.wikispaces.com/’Femaleness’-+The+injustice+of+women+athletes

Reasons for gender inequality in society and
sport fall into three main categories:
• Environment (patriarchal or
male-dominated);
• Structures (low representation of women in
media structures and decision-making posi-
tions); and
• Ideology (beliefs of a people, group, nation
or culture).

4.10 Race and sport

Sport involves complex issues related to race
and ethnicity. These issues have increasing
social relevance as global migration and politi-
cal changes bring people together from differ-
ent racial and ethnic backgrounds and create
new challenges for living, working and playing
together. The challenges created by racial and
ethnic diversity are among the most important
ones we face in the 21st century. Cultural beliefs
about race and ethnicity influence social rela-
tionships and the organisation of social life.
Sport not only reflects this influence but is also
a site at which people challenge or reproduce
dominant ideas and forms of racial and ethnic
relations in a society. The social meanings and
experiences associated with skin colour and
ethnic background influence access to sport
participation, decisions about playing sport,
the ways in which people integrate sport into
their lives and the organisation and sponsor-
ship of sport.
Discussions about race and ethnicity can be.
Race refers to a category of people regarded as
socially distinct because they share genetically
transmitted traits believed to be important by
people with power and influence in a society.
An example is the colour of one’s skin. Ethnicity
is different from race in that it refers to the cul-
tural heritage of a particular group of people.
Ethnicity is not based on biology or geneti-
cally determined traits. Instead, it is based on
characteristics associated with cultural tradi-
tions and background. An example of ethnicity
is a religion. ‘Minority group’ is a sociological
term used to refer to a socially identified col-
lection of people who experience discrimina-
tion and suffer social disadvantages because of
this discrimination.
4.10.1 Creating race: The origins
of an idea
Racial classification systems were developed
in the 1700s as white Europeans explored
and colonised the globe and found that there
were physical differences between people.
They assumed that their own appearance and
actions were normal and that any variations

9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 82 3/24/15 12:54 AM


were strange, immoral or primitive. These sys-
tems were used to justify colonization, conver-
sion, and even slavery and genocide. According
to these systems, white skin was the standard,
and dark skin was associated with intellectual
inferiority and stunted development. Ideas that
people use to give meaning to skin coloor and
to evaluate people in terms of racial classifica-
tions are seen in both the non-sporting and the
sporting world.
4.10.2 Racial ideology and sport
Traditional racial ideology used in sport
describes the achievements of white athletes as
due to their character, culture and organisation,
and the achievements of black athletes as due
to biology and their natural physical abilities. In
South African rugby, black and Coloured players
are mainly played on the wing as they are per-
ceived to have exceptional speed.42
4.10.3 Racial
ideology and its
shortcomings
The problem with racial ideology is that research
shows that race is not a valid biological concept
because external traits are not linked with pat-
terns of internal differences. Secondly, race is
a social construct that is based on social defi-
nitions and the meanings that people give to
physical traits. Furthermore, racial classification
systems to vary by culture and over time, and
4.11 Sport deviance
Sport once seemed to be a social institution
that was immune to deviant behavior. This is
no longer true. The incidence of deviant behav-
iour is increasing, and so is the reporting of
deviant acts and the study of deviant behav-
iour by scholars and journalists. It is difficult
to study deviance in sports with commonly
used theoretical frameworks, especially when
athletes are allowed and even encouraged to
behave in ways that are prohibited or defined
as criminal in other settings. Much of the
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 83
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  83
they are based on arbitrary distinctions related
to continuous physical traits.
4.10.4 Prospect for change
It is clear that people do not give up racial and
ethnic beliefs easily, especially when they come
in the form of well-established ideologies rooted
deeply in their culture. Those who have bene-
fited from widely accepted racial ideology resist
changes in the relationships and social structures
that are built on their beliefs. These individuals
also tend to focus on concepts that reinforce their
beliefs and tend to ignore concepts and ideas that
would disprove these deep-rooted beliefs. Sport
may bring people together, but it does not auto-
matically lead people to question how they think
about race or ethnicity or how they define and
interact with people from other racial or ethnic
groups. For example, white team owners, general
managers and athletic directors in South Africa
work with black athletes for years before they hire
black coaches, and it continues to require social
and legal pressures to encourage those in power
positions to act more affirmatively when it comes
to hiring procedures.
For racial and ethnic relations to be improved
through sport, those who control sport teams and
sport events must make organised, concerted
efforts to bring people together in ways that will
encourage them to confront and challenge racial
and ethnic issues.
behaviour of athletes in contact sports would
be classified as a felony assault if it occurred
on the streets. For example, boxers would
become criminals and racing drivers would be
arrested, and even banned from driving, for
speeding.
When serious injuries or deaths occur in
sports, criminal charges are not filed and civil
law suits are generally unsuccessful. Even in
non-contact sports, the use of hate as a source
of motivation contradicts norms used by most
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 84  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
people to guide their behaviour in ­families,
religious congregations, classrooms and work
settings. Compulsive or self-destructive behav-
iour, the use of drugs, ignoring the physical
well-being of others to the point of ­causing
injuries, and using the ends (winning) to jus-
tify the means (violating the rules), are not as
quickly condemned in sports as they are in
other activities.
Deviance or deviant behaviour is defined
as unacceptable behavior that is sharply differ-
ent from a customary, traditional, or generally
accepted standard. Studying deviance in sport
presents unique problems because participants
in sport are allowed, and even encouraged, to
behave in ways that are prohibited or defined as
criminal in other settings.
Cases of deviance among athletes, coaches,
agents and others connected with sport have
attracted extensive attention in recent years.
Regular media coverage of on-the-field rule
violations and off-the-field criminal actions
has led some people to conclude that deviance
in sport is out of control. Criminal charges
against athletes as a result of their behind-the-
scenes drug and substance use have attracted
ample media attention. Because popular
beliefs have emphasised sport participation as
a character-building experience, these highly
publicised cases of deviance among athletes,
coaches and others in the sporting arena have
shocked and disappointed many people. As
a manager in the sporting arena, it is help-
ful to be able to examine and understand
deviance and how one deals with this issue.
We can distinguish between three types of
deviance.
Negative deviance is violating the norms
of society or underconforming to the rules.
Negative deviance or underconformity occurs
when a player, manager, spectator or anyone
involved with the sporting activity in ques-
tion behaves in a way that knowingly breaks
the rules or ethics of the sport. Using perfor-
mance-enhancing drugs, cheating within a
contest, being bribed to influence the results,
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 84
fan violence and hooliganism, illegal betting on
the outcome, financial irregularities and player
violence are all examples of negative defiance.
Off-the-field deviance includes players and/or
spectators getting involved in pub fights and
using alcohol or drugs before, during or after a
sporting event.
Sport deviance often involves overconfor-
mity or positive deviance. It is possible to
move away from the norm without an inten-
tion to do harm or break the rules. Examples of
this are an athlete who trains or plays so hard
that he or she injures himself or herself, or an
athlete who plays when injured (often praised
by media). Because these athletes’ actions are
within the rules of the game and are an attempt
to win, their deviance form the norm is seen
in a positive light. One could also argue that
an athlete who accidentally injures another
player within the rules of the game is display-
ing positive deviance.
Deviance can also be relative to time and
place, because what is considered deviant
in one social context may be non-deviant in
another (e.g. fighting during a hockey game
versus fighting about the outcome of hockey
game). In other words, actions that are con-
sidered acceptable in sport but unacceptable
in society are regarded as relative deviance.
For example, players in a rugby match might
get into a scuffle on the field. This is gener-
ally seen as part of the game and, to a certain
extent, is accepted. However, when specta-
tors start fighting over the result of the rugby
match, it is seen as unexpected, immature and
unacceptable. In some cases, the issue goes
beyond the governing body of the sport to the
police. Examples are Marion Jones, who was
jailed for six months for lying to investigators
about using performance-enhancing drugs and
her role in a cheque-fraud scam; Ben Thatcher,
who was charged with Actual Bodily Harm
(ABH) for his forearm smash that hospitalised
Pedro Mendes; and Oscar Pistorius, who was
charged with culpable homicide for shooting
his girlfriend.43
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 Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  85

Figure 4.3:  Types of deviance in sport

Negative deviance = Positive deviance =

underconformity overconformity

Normal behaviour
Relative deviance

Source: Coakley, J.J. (2015). Sports in society: Issues and controversies. New York: McGraw-Hill.

4.11.1 Causes of deviance
The following are some of the causes of deviance
in sport:
• Individuals lack the moral restraint to resist;
• Individuals value winning more than they
fear the prospect of punishment;
• The rewards for winning are so great that
people are prepared to risk deviance;
• Deviant behaviour is more common and less
socially unacceptable in some societies;
• Governing bodies feel less able to punish,
owing to commercial interests or fear of
being taken to court; and
• Growing emphasis on self-medication.

4.12 Sport and the economy

Sport has been used throughout history as a
form of public entertainment. However, sport
has never been as profitable or commercialised
as it is today. Sport as a sector contributes sig-
nificantly to the economy of South Africa and
attracts tourists. According to research, in 2011
sport contributed about USD180 billion to
the global tourism industry, representing an
18 per cent contribution to global tourism and an
8 per cent increase in growth since 2006. South
Africa has also benefited from this trend and has
successfully hosted three World Cup events – the
1995 Rugby World Cup, the 2003 Cricket World
Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup – amongst
other major international sporting events. The
2010 FIFA World cup alone contributed over
R55 billion to the South African economy and
created over 400 000 jobs.44 Sporting events today
are evaluated in terms of gate receipts and rev-
enues from the sale of concessions, licensing
fees, merchandise, media rights and website
hits. Corporate interests influence team colours,

9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 85 3/24/15 12:54 AM

 86  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
uniform designs, the scheduling of events,
how the media covers events, and even what
announcers say during coverage.
4.12.1 Conditions for the
­emergence and growth of
­commercial sport
Commercial or commercialised sport is organised
and played for profit. Commercialised sport grows
best under five social and economic conditions:
• A market economy – sport is most preva-
lent in a market economy where material
rewards are highly valued by athletes, team
owners, event sponsors and spectators.
• Large, densely populated cities – c­ ommercial
sport exists in societies that have large,
densely populated cities with a high concen-
tration of potential spectators.
• A standard of living that provides people
with time, money, transportation, and media
access – commercial sport is regarded as a
luxury and it grows when the standard of
living is high enough for people to have the
time and resources to play and watch events.
• Large amounts of capital (for venue con-
struction and maintenance) – commercial
sport requires large amounts of funding to
build and maintain stadiums and arenas in
which matches are played and watched.
• A culture emphasising consumption and
material status symbols – commercial sport
flourishes in cultures where lifestyles empha-
sise consumption and material status sym-
bols. This enables everything associated with
sport to be marketed and sold – for example,
athletes (including their names, autographs
and images), merchandise, team names
and logos. The success of commercial sport
depends on selling symbols and emotional
experiences to audiences, and then selling
audiences to sponsors and the media.45
Reasons why corporations buy into commer-
cial sport include the following
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 86
• Sport organisations look for global markets.
-- FIFA, the NFL, the NBA, etc. seek global
media exposure and expansion.
• Corporations use sport as a vehicle for global
expansion.
-- One goal of this is to make money through
advertising and global expansion.
-- Another goal is to sponsor enjoyment
and pleasure so that the consumer will
associate a good time with the sponsoring
corporation’s product.
4.12.2 Changesin sport due
to commercialisation
Commercialisation has influenced, and keeps
influencing, the structure and goals of most
newly developed sport (e.g. Twenty20 cricket,
BMX and rugby sevens), but it has not produced
dramatic changes in most long-established
sports (e.g. tennis, soccer, rugby). Established
sports have undergone some rule changes to
make the events more exciting and to ensure that
the rules are easy enough for spectators to follow
and understand. In Twenty20 cricket, beach soc-
cer and sevens rugby, for example, rule changes
have increased the pace of the action so that
fans do not get bored. This includes increasing
scores and scoring chances to create excitement
for spectators and TV audiences. Furthermore,
rule changes have brought about a greater bal-
ance between competitors, making the outcome
of the sport events more uncertain. This results
in more frequent dramatic moments, heighten-
ing attachment to players and teams and provid-
ing commercial breaks for sponsors to advertise
their products.
Commercial sport is a visible part of many
societies today and it grows and prospers best
in urban and industrial areas. The recent world-
wide growth of commercial sport has been
increased by sport organisations seeking global
markets and corporations using sport as a vehi-
cle for expansion. Commercialisation has led to
changes in the structures and goals of certain
sport that is now packaged as entertainment
for spectators.
3/24/15 12:54 AM

4.13 Sport and media
The days in which sport could only be watched
on television channels have long gone. The
Internet is now a significant medium for sport
coverage, allowing fans to access the latest news
about their favourite team, sport or event. The
technology and means available for delivering
sport to different sections of society continue to
grow rapidly. Changes in contemporary tech-
nologies and the economics of the broadcast
and print media have contributed significantly
to an expansion in the volume of sports texts
and to the emergence of new styles of sport
writing. The media frames and influences many
of our thoughts, conversations, decisions and
experiences.
4.13.1 Characteristics
of the media
While the era of sponsored and programmed
media for mass consumption is changing to an
era of multifaceted, on-demand, interactive and
personalised media content, it is important to
have a basic understanding of the different types
of media and their connection to sport. Media is
often categorised as print or electronic media.
Print media consists of newspapers, magazines,
catalogues and books – words and images on
paper. Electronic media consists of radio, tele-
vision and film. New media (the Internet, video
games, mobile phones etc.) has brought these
two types of media closer. The list of possible
outlets for sport is seemingly endless: high-
definition and 3D television, Internet Protocol
television (IPTV), mobile phones, YouTube, web
streaming, digital radio, iPlayer, game consoles
and social networking sites.
4.13.2 Functions of the media
The functions of the media are to provide infor-
mation, interpretation, entertainment and
opportunities for interactivity. These functions
aim to achieve one or more of the following
goals:
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 87
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  87
• To make a financial profit;
• To influence cultural values;
• To provide a public service;
• To enhance personal status and reputation;
and
• To express technical, artistic or personal ideas.
In sport, those who control the media not only
select which sport and events will be covered but
also decide which kinds of images and commen-
tary will be emphasised in the coverage. Those
of us who have grown up with television seldom
think about media in this way. For example,
when we watch sport on television, we don’t
notice that the images and messages we see and
hear have been carefully designed to heighten
the dramatic content of the event and emphasise
dominant ideologies in the society as a whole.
The camera angles, the close-ups, the slow
motion shots, the attention given to particular
athletes, the announcer’s play-by-play descrip-
tions, the colour commentary, the quotes from
players and the post-game summary and analysis
are all presented to entertain audiences and to
keep sponsors happy.
4.13.3 Sport
and the media:
A two-way relationship
Although sport survived for many years without
media coverage, the structure of contemporary
sport has benefited tremendously because of its
relationship with the media. Perhaps the most
significant aspect of the media’s role in sport
centres around money. A great deal of the eco-
nomic success that commercial sport enjoys is
the result of the media and its commitment to
sport entertainment programming. The media
has the power to transform a sport game into
a social event or spectacle.46 Most media for-
mats do not, however, depend on sporting
news as their main source of income. This is
true especially for magazines, books, radio and
the Internet. The Internet does not depend on
3/24/15 12:54 AM
 88  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
sport, but certain online services focus solely
on reporting on sport events and news related
to sport. While very few books or films have
focused on sport in recent years, some exam-
ples are Rocky (1976) and its five sequels, Million
Dollar Baby (2004) and Invictus (2009), which
told the story of South African rugby during
apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s relationship
with Francois Pienaar.47
4.13.4 Media representations
of sport
To say that sport is ‘mediated’ is to say that it is
represented to readers, listeners and viewers
through selected images and/or narratives. A
growing number of people who study sport in
society conduct research that involves breaking
these selected images and narratives down to
identify the ideas or themes presented through
men in decision-making positions who are enti-
tled to exclude women’s sport and to decrease
women’s participation in sport.
Sporting events covered by the media reflect
dominant ideologies and cultural ideas about
gender and gender relations. Indeed, medi-
ated sport seems to reflect the balance of power
between the sexes in sport and society more
broadly. Established images of manliness in print
media, such as the newspaper, tend to frame rep-
resentations of sport in the media. Masculine ide-
als such as strength, toughness and aggression are
celebrated and reinforced in the media. Violence
and aggression on the playing field is often the
focus of media photographs and narrative. This
type of ritualised aggression has strong links
with the values and behaviours of maleness and
4.14 Summary
Sport is a social construct, meaning that we
play a role in making it what it is today and
what it will be in the future. As sport manag-
ers, we can play this role actively by envisioning
what we would like sport to be and then work-
ing towards making this a reality. The goal of
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 88
masculinity. The media often sees the ­physical
attributes of sportsmen as powerful weapons of
destruction and domination, symbolising both
mental and physical toughness that defines
images of masculinity. In literature, it has been
noted that sport media concentrates on success
stories about men and, more specifically, on the
theme of fighting back from adversity, such as
injury or drug addiction. Indeed, the media does
not ordinarily focus on men who fail to measure
up in sport or life. Traditional ideals of femininity
are reflected in media coverage of sportswomen.
Coverage is dominated by references to grace,
beauty and finesse. The coverage of female ath-
letes usually emphasises their appearance and
attractiveness rather than their athletic skills. The
media tends to focus on female athletes as sexual
beings rather than serious performers.
Tennis is a good example of a sport in which
attention on sportswomen centers on feminine
beauty. Players such as Anna Kournikova and
Maria Sharapova receive more media cover-
age for their attractiveness than players whose
physiques are muscular and powerful, such
as Arancha Sanchez and Serena Williams. The
most lucrative financial sponsorships and the
highest volumes of positive media coverage
go to ‘sexy’ players. Whereas male athletes are
‘valorized, lionized and put on cultural ped-
estals’, 48 female athletes are infantilised by
sport journalists who refer to them as ’girls’
or ‘young ladies’ – while referring to male
athletes as ‘men’. It is difficult to understand
social life today without giving serious atten-
tion to the media and media experiences. This
is why we study the relationship between sport
and media.
this chapter was to provide a foundation for the
different sociological themes that exist within a
specific context and to use this information to
make the best choices about planning, organis-
ing, executing or evaluating the management
of sport.
3/24/15 12:54 AM

GLOSSARY
➜➜ Aversive socialisation: A long-term withdrawal from
sport and physical activity due to possible heightened
stress levels and pressure
➜➜ Class ideology: A web of ideas and beliefs that
people use to understand economic inequalities,
identify their class position and evaluate the impact
of economic inequalities on the organisation of
social worlds
➜➜ Desocialisation: The process by which individuals
leave sport roles temporarily, for example because of
moving from one city to another, making an
independent decision to quit, being dropped by the
coach, suffering injury, or any other reason that could
cause an individual to stop taking part in a
particular sport
➜➜ Deviant behaviour: Unacceptable behaviour that is
sharply different from a customary, traditional, or
generally accepted standard
➜➜ Gender ideology:49 A set of unified ideas about
masculinity, femininity and relationships between
men and women
➜➜ Intergenerational: Occurring between generations
➜➜ Intragenerational: Occurring within a generation
➜➜ Mediated sport: Sport that is promoted and covered
by different media channels such as TV, the Internet,
radio and newspapers
➜➜ Negative deviance: Behaviour that violates the
norms of society or underconforms to the rules
➜➜ Neo-liberal society: A society in which individualism
and material success are highly valued, and in which
there is a decline in publicly funded programmes
and services
➜➜ Personal attributes: Descriptive features that
characterise an individual
➜➜ Positive deviance: Behaviour that moves away from
the norm without an intention to do harm or break
the rules and that overconforms to the rules
➜➜ Primary socialisation: The process by which
individuals first learn a sport or physical activity role
➜➜ Racial ideology: A set of unified ideas that people
use to give meaning to skin colour and to evaluate
people in terms of racial classification
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 89
Chapter 4  The sociology of sport  89
➜➜ Relative deviance: When actions that are
considered acceptable in sport are considered
unacceptable in society
➜➜ Resocialisation: Resocialisation is when individuals
transfer from one level, form or role in the same
activity to another
➜➜ Social class: Categories of people who share a
similar economic position in society based on a
combination of their income, wealth, education,
occupation and social connection
➜➜ Socialisation: An active process of learning and
social development, which occurs as we interact with
one another and become acquainted with the social
world in which we live
➜➜ Socialising agents: Significant people in one’s life
who provide social influence
➜➜ Socio-psychological stability: The stable
functioning of the individual as a member of society,
dependent upon being ‘well adjusted’ psychologically
and socially
➜➜ Sociology of sport: Also referred to as sport
sociology, the study of the relationship between sport
and society
➜➜ Sponsorship: A commercial agreement between a
company and a sport to enter into a joint venture to
promote their mutual interests
➜➜ The conflict theory of sport: A theory of sport that
sees sport as an opiate
➜➜ The critical theory of sport: A theory of sport that
sees sport as a social construct or form
➜➜ The feminist theory of sport: A theory of sport that
sees sport as pervasively gendered
➜➜ The figurational theory of sport: A theory of sport
that sees sport as a social phenomenon
➜➜ The functional theory of sport: A theory of sport
that sees sport as an inspiration
➜➜ The interactionist theory of sport: A theory of sport
that sees sport from an individual’s perspective
3/24/15 12:54 AM
 90  PRINCIP L ES OF S P ORT MA NA G EMENT
CHAPTER QUESTIONS
Multiple-choice questions
1. The functions of the media as well as
the media within sport are to:
A. Provide information, interpretation,
entertainment and opportunities for
interactivity
B. Make a financial profit
C. Influence cultural values
D. Provide a public service
E. All of the above
2. Some sociologists hold that because
sport is a product of society, it can often
reflect larger elements of the society
that created it. The five basic social
functions of sport are:
A. To assist someone to socialise into
sport and with people
B. To bring people together
C. To be used as a political instrument
D. Only A and C
E. All of the above
3. Sport sociologists use theories to better
understand sport in society. Which of
the following are regarded as social
theories?
A. Sport seen as an inspiration
B. Male theory
C. Feminist theory
Review questions
1. Describe in your own words how sport
has become commercialised.
2. Increases in sport participation rates for
girls and women have not come easily and
are the result of the dedicated efforts of
many individuals and groups. Discuss four
9780190400590_sport management_chapter 4.indd 90
D. A and C
E. Only C
4. Sociologists have done a great deal of
research on the different experiences
that children have in formally organised
sport. The following are experiences
that come from adult-controlled sports:
A. Friendships
B. Discipline and skills
C. Freedom of expression
D. Both A and B
5. The saying ‘white men can’t jump’ in the
sport of basketball is representative of:
A. Gender ideology
B. Lack of power in the legs
C. Race ideology
D. The culture of the basketball game
6. Sport once seemed to be a social
institution that was immune to deviant
behaviour; this is no longer true. Which
of the following are types of deviance
that can be found in sport?
A. Positive and negative deviance
B. Neutral deviance
C. Positive deviance
D. Negative deviance
factors that can inhibit female participa-
tion in sport and four factors that would
support female participation in sport.
3. Describe your own personal socialisa-
tion into sport by making use of the two
socialisation models.
3/24/15 12:54 AM

ENDNOTES
1. Coakley, J.J. (2015). Sports in society: Issues
and controversies. New York: McGraw-Hill.
2. Crossman. A. (2014). Sociology of sports.
Available at http://sociology.about.com/
od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Sports.htm.
[Accessed 19 October 2014].
3. Brown, S.P. (2006). Introduction to the
Sociology of Sport. Baltimore: Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
4. KantarSport. (2009). 2010 FIFA World Cup
South Africa: Television Audience Report.
United Kingdom: KantarMedia.
5. Coakley, J.J & Burnett, C. (2014). Sports in
society: Issues and controversies. (South
African edition). Pretoria: Van Schaik.
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