A case study investigating the impact of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on participation in two non-traditional English sports, Judo and Fencing

Abstract

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ AbstractThe hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOPG) brought with it detailed legacy plans aiming to 'Inspire a Generation'. The idea that hosting a sports megaevent will encourage the host population to engage in more physical activity (PA), is commonly used by governments to justify the large investments they made (Frawley and Cush, 2011). The aim of this research paper was to investigate the impact that hosting the 2012 Games had on grass-root sports participation within the host nation. This paper focuses on two non-traditional English sports, Fencing and Judo and investigated the changes in mass sports participation. The membership rate analysis of our sample highlighted an overall increase in participation between 2007-2013, in both Judo and Fencing. The data gathered from the interviews with the head office staff at the National Governing Bodies (NGB's) and local club coaches suggested that the grass-root participation programmes were the most effective way of increasing participation, rather than the reliance, solely on the inspiration effect from hosting the LOPG itself. Finally, the study highlighted the importance of strengthening communication between local voluntary clubs and the NGB, to ensure sports could promote themselves and capitalise on this global sporting phenomenon, which provided unprecedented media coverage and opportunities for these non-traditional sports. This case study provides initial results relating to the effect that a major international multi-sport event can have in the development of non-popular sports in the host population, in terms of membership variations, participation programmes and organisational dynamics.

Post-Event Volunteering Legacy: Did the London 2012 Games Induce a Sustainable Volunteer Engagement?

“…These short term events are often utilised with the aspiration to create long-term post-event impacts for the hosting nation [2]. The hosting of the London 2012 Olympic Games not only intended to deliver a great level of sport to the host city, but also promised to provide a legacy for the years to come [3][4][5]. The term legacy refers to all 'planned and unplanned, positive and negative, intangible or tangible structures created through a sports event that remain after the event' [6].…”

Delivering Sports Participation Legacies at the Grassroots Level: The Voluntary Sports Clubs of Glasgow 2014

“…Charlton's (2010) research into the potential impact of London 2012 stressed that community sports clubs would struggle to deliver on the participation legacies that had been set out. This was an area of focus for Pappous and Hayday (2015), who studied the impact of London 2012 on participation in fencing and judo in England and indicated that grassroots VSCs play a key role in encouraging post event participation. They have argued that communication should be improved between the head office staff of the NGB and the local clubs to help them build in a way that will allow them to capitalise on the event, for example through marketing and media (Pappous & Hayday, 2015).…”

“…This was an area of focus for Pappous and Hayday (2015), who studied the impact of London 2012 on participation in fencing and judo in England and indicated that grassroots VSCs play a key role in encouraging post event participation. They have argued that communication should be improved between the head office staff of the NGB and the local clubs to help them build in a way that will allow them to capitalise on the event, for example through marketing and media (Pappous & Hayday, 2015). Therefore, when researching participation legacies our attention should certainly be directed towards VSCs and their ability to deliver on participation goals, and so this was the focus of this study.…”

“…In the UK, as Reid (2012) has stressed, most organised sport takes place through a voluntary sports club. These VSCs are accredited by or linked to their sport's National Governing Body (NGB): a non-profit organisation with responsibility for managing amateur and professional sports and the public funds allocated to these sports to encourage development (Pappous & Hayday, 2015). While informal participation, physical recreation "Delivering Sports Participation Legacies at the Grassroots Level: The Voluntary Sports Clubs of Glasgow 2014" by Macrae E HR Journal of Sport Management © 2016 Human Kinetics, Inc. and private gym memberships are separate to the VSC system, all national and international sports-with recognised NGBs-have and need VSCs at their grassroots level to obtain and retain members locally and encourage progression and development to elite level.…”

Paralympic Judo: Is there Evidence for Match Rigging among Athletes with Disabilities?

“…Moreover, Paralympic Games also bear a very important message being the representative of the disability rights through integration, equality, opportunity, and non-discrimination (9).…”