No abstract

In this study, we investigated the intensity of sport participation in the Netherlands comparing urban and rural areas. Using a socio-ecological theoretical model, we focussed on the extent to which the rural-urban divide in sport participation is explained by micro-level (socio-demographics), meso-level (safety and socioeconomic status of neighbourhoods) and exo-level (variety and proximity of sport facilities) characteristics. We tested our theoretical expectations using representative data on 17,910 Dutch inhabitants between 6 and 79 years of age. Our study reconfirmed the importance of individual socio-demographics (micro-level), such as age, education and household income for sports participation. Furthermore, our results showed that weekly sport participation was more common in rural than in urban areas. This rural-urban divide in sport participation especially was attributed to social environmental factors (meso-level); physical conditions of the environment provided no explanation. Our findings should, however, not be taken as a denial of the importance of the physical environment (exo-level). This study was conducted in the Netherlands, a country with a high density, abundant sport facilities and a supportive sport climate. Moreover, variety of sport facilities nearby proved significant in explaining an individual's monthly sport participation. To conclude, this study enhances our understanding of the rural-urban divide in sport participation and highlights the importance of especially meso-level features in addition to the socio-demographics. It thus may inform policymakers to critically assess sport promotion policies.

This article explores the geographical distribution of sport facilities in the Netherlands and evaluates the supply and proximity of such facilities in relation to area level deprivation and urbanity. In today's context of financial austerity, many municipalities must critically assess their spending on sport provision. Most government funding to sports goes to construction and maintenance of sport facilities, so there is an increasing need for information and indicators by which to gauge the adequacy of such facilities. The current study draws on sports place theory and the deprivation amplification model to examine the presence, variety and proximity of sport facilities in the Netherlands as a whole and according to area level deprivation and urbanity. Data were provided by the Sport Facility Monitor, a national dataset offering geographical information on (nearly) all sport facilities in the Netherlands. These data were linked with population statistics from Statistics Netherlands to allow spatial analyses. Our results indicate that by assessing the distribution of sport facilities in a structured way, relevant information can be obtained for sport facility planning and sport participation policy. Furthermore, our results show that certain standard sport facilities are fairly evenly distributed throughout the Netherlands, irrespective of the local population size. For more specialised facilities, however, higher population thresholds appear to be required. We conclude that, even though there are inequalities in the distribution of sport facilities, the Netherlands overall provides a sufficiently dense sport infrastructure with various types of facilities offered in close proximity to most inhabitants.