Creating or awakening national pride through sporting success: A longitudinal study on macro effects in the Netherlands

Abstract

Like many other countries, the Dutch government increased investments in elite sports in the last decennium, partly driven by the ambition to organise the Olympic Games in 2028 in the Netherlands. One of the most important legitimations for this ambition is that elite sports events and national achievements should foster national pride, social cohesion and international prestige.In this article we present and discuss the results of a study on the relationship between Dutch international sport achievements and the development of national pride. The outcome is based on 27 longitudinal measurements among the adult Dutch population in the years 2008-2010 in which European and world Championships men's soccer and a summer and winter Olympic Games took place.The results support the common belief that international sporting success of Dutch athletes contributes to the testimony and expression of national pride and belonging. However, the extent to which national pride can be increased by national sporting success seems to be rather limited. The data show that national performances in international sport events may lead to small, shortterm eruptions in feelings of national sporting pride and well-being, especially among athletes, men and non-immigrants. However, the results indicate that national pride is a rather stable characteristic of national identification that cannot easily be increased by improving national sporting success and winning more Olympic medals.

Life Satisfaction and the UEFA EURO 2016: Findings from a Nation-Wide Longitudinal Study in Germany

“…Some scholars have argued that increased levels of well-being and pride that result from sporting success do not last for long and start to vanish shortly after a sport event is over (Elling et al 2014;Pfitzner and Koenigstorfer 2016). The data presented here buttresses this notion and, at the same time, reject the assumption of persistency (H#3).…”

“…In a German study, it was reported that two thirds of the Germans agree with the statement 'I am happy if German athletes win many medals at Olympic Games or World Championships' (Hallmann et al 2013). A Dutch study points to a small, short-term increase in SWB during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where a surprisingly strong Dutch national team advanced to the tournament's final (Elling et al 2014). However, other major sport events (e.g.…”

“…Studies have shown that witnessing sporting success of athletes of the own nation increases patriotic pride (Elling et al 2014;Mutz 2013;Mutz and Gerke 2017;Van Hilvoorde et al 2010;Von Scheve et al 2014). Moreover, it was demonstrated that identification with athletes and sport teams is associated with reduced feelings of loneliness and alienation (Branscombe and Wann 1991;Wann and Pierce 2005).…”

“…Only few events, in Germany for instance Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships, are popular enough to have the potential to influence SWB at the national level. So far, studies which analysed the impact of international sporting success for well-being in a whole country have mostly came up with mixed findings (Elling et al 2014;Kavetsos and Szymanski 2010;Kavetsos 2012;Van Hilvoorde et al 2010) or failed to provide evidence that the presumed happiness effect exists (Pawlowski et al 2014). …”

“…Given that studies critically discuss the longevity of sports effects on well-being (Elling et al 2014;Dolan et al 2016), it seems worthwhile to investigate inasmuch any initial well-being effect of sporting success can be sustained over two months. Therefore, the hypothesis is tested, if life satisfaction after the EURO is still elevated compared to the period before the event.…”