Sport for all? Why Australian sport needs to embrace informal participation

This article was co-authored by Professor Ruth Jeanes, Associate Professor Justen O’Connor, Professor Dawn Penney, Professor Ramon Spaaij, Dr Jonathan Magee, Dr Eibhlish O’Hara & Lisa Lymbery

 

Participation statistics show a continued decline in organised sport participation over the last decade, with the Intergenerational Review of Australian Sport report predicting that sport participation in organised sport will further decline to 10% of the population by 2030. On the back of a successful medal tally at the Tokyo Olympics and with a focus on the Brisbane 2032 Games, the Australian Sports Commission (consisting of Sport Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport) are now doubling down on their efforts to get more Australians to participate in organised sport by helping ‘Australians understand the value and benefits of organised sport’ (2021-2025 Corporate Plan, p.7). In seemingly ignoring the many and varied forms of sport participation that have growing appeal for Australians, the ASC could be missing a golden opportunity to move with the times.

Whilst Australians may be turning away from organised formats, particularly around the pre-teen and teen years, they are still participating in sport through a range of informal, community-generated opportunities. Across a range of sports we’ve witnessed a rise in other forms of participation that sit outside of club-based, organised formats. People are congregating to play pick-up soccer, forming cycling pelotons on public roads, joining in park fitness groups, entering challenge events (half marathon, Tough Mudder, open water swims) and engaging in sport on their terms with a degree of flexibility that fits their increasingly complex lifestyles. The Future of Australian Sport report was the first national level document to acknowledge this trend – and the current Sport Australia 2030 National Sports Plan appears to recognise both its growth and significance. Notably, Sport 2030 states that ‘sport’ and sport policy encompass a ‘broad range of physical activities including informal, unstructured activity… structured sport and new and evolving sport and physical activity offerings’ (p.6).

The newly launched ASC Corporate Plan appears staunchly defiant of these shifting participation patterns and the corresponding broadening of the sport participation landscape in Australia. It directs attention instead to the prime intention of reversing declining involvement in organised sport. In doing so, Australia’s sport policy makers miss out on opportunities to capitalise on the desire for different sporting formats that clearly exist in the population and fail to extend the reach and meaning of sport to include many individuals and community groups who are active outside of the organised sport sector.

As ARC funded researchers exploring informal sport as a health and social resource for diverse young people, we are examining shifts in participation and considering how government and sporting stakeholders may better support informal forms of participation. We define informal sport as individuals and groups who are not affiliated with a club or governing body, self-organising their participation in sport, outside of traditional structures. Our findings to date point to informal sport as a significant part of sport participation in Australia. This format is particularly popular with communities traditionally underrepresented in organized sporting opportunities including newly arrived and Multicultural communities and individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Data collected from over 100 interviews with stakeholders and informal groups illustrate the multiple benefits for participants and their communities including the opportunities for physical activity, enhancement in mental wellbeing and the facilitation of social connection and networks. Informal sport opportunities are generally free or low cost, they are flexible in terms of timing and commitment and groups can dictate terms of involvement through rules modifications and equipment to best suit the needs of the group. They are self-regulating without the need for coaches, umpires of referees. Many of the groups we have studied have been playing together for over a decade, regularly bringing together groups of 40-50 people from their local communities multiple times per week. One informal women’s soccer group was attracting upwards of 100 participants weekly pre-COVID-19 lockdowns. Such participation serves the community in multiple ways, including providing a base for more formal sporting forms.

An ongoing theme of the research has been the challenges that informal groups face in being able to play sport in their local community. Groups struggle to access facilities. They are often unable to formally book due to a lack of public liability insurance, organized sport frequently has priority and where groups attempt to use facilities without bookings (even at times late in the evening when facilities are not in use), they are often moved on and prevented from gaining access.

Thus, while across Australia there may be significant numbers of people who may not wish to participate in organised sport, our research affirms that there are substantial numbers of people who are passionate and want to play sport, but in different and more flexible formats. The new corporate plan fails to recognise this, focusing policy and ultimately resources towards organised formats. The twin strategic pillars of ‘more Australians involved in organised sport’ and ‘a thriving organised sport sector’ seem to overlook the broader sport participation landscape and what communities actually need and want from their sporting involvement - a thriving sport sector that embraces and supports multiple forms of participation, including organised sport.

Based on our research, and on a broader social imperative to address physical inactivity and support mental health, we would argue that this broader vision and policy direction is urgently needed. The Sport 2030 plan echoes the need for a diverse sport sector that ‘represents our population’ (p.6) but the ASC’s corporate plan seems directly at odds with this intention. Different forms of sport participation need to be recognised as complementary, with important potential to be mutually beneficial. Participating informally may support individuals to move into organised sporting opportunities and vice versa. Informal groups provide avenues via which some individuals who are involved in organised sport can maintain their participation all year round (or ‘out of season’). Similarly, sports such as soccer have recognised that informal participation and play is important in helping children develop their sporting skills and abilities and is a foundation of any talent pathway.

By broadening our understanding of sport participation, we will be able to capitalise on the rich opportunities presented by informal formats to address physical inactivity, support mental health, community connection and social cohesion. Whilst organised sport has the capacity to generate these impacts for some of the population, widening the types of participation that are supported and valued in policy and society will mean that these benefits are more widely available for all.

 

 

Community sport and COVID-19: An opportunity to make sport more inclusive?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on sport. At the elite level we have witnessed the cancellation and postponement of global events, national leagues and competitions that have caused a crippling financial burden to the sector. The impact on the sports industry is already evident with professional players taking pay cuts and organisations that manage and administer sport declaring huge revenue losses and standing down staff.

The effects of COVID-19 are also being felt by community sport, with teams unable to train, play competitively and come together socially.  As a consequence, many clubs are losing funding through membership fees, social events, food and bar sales and are eagerly awaiting news that they can re-commence at least some of their activities.

Even when restrictions are relaxed, community sport will face further challenges with the impact of COVID-19 expanding well beyond the period of lockdown. With the rise in unemployment caused by the pandemic, many individuals and families will not have the disposable income available to pay membership fees and other associated costs with sport participation. Membership numbers and in turn funding may therefore be reduced. There is also a possibility that people are gradually becoming comfortable in their COVID-19 adjusted leisure patterns and that they will not want to re-commit to club-based sport participation. One of the benefits of the pandemic for some parents has been the opportunity to claim back time and reduce stress levels created by modern family scheduling and taking children from one extra-curricular activity to another. It may be that parents are also less willing to engage with the intense commitment required to support their child’s sports participation when restrictions ease.

So what does the future of community sport look like post COVID-19?

The pandemic represents an opportunity to reimagine community sport and consider what opportunities are best suited to meet community needs and align with evolving lifestyles. Pre-pandemic community and club-based sport particularly was already facing an uncertain future. Some 40% of the 6,600 young people surveyed (age mean = 13.9 years old) by the Australian Sports Commission in 2016 had not engaged in organised sport within the last 12 months. Formal sport is not necessarily providing the ‘fun with friends’ that young people say they are looking for (ASC 2017). Club environments also represent a potentially challenging space for young females and people from marginalised backgrounds including minority ethnic communities and people with disabilities. Whilst for many people, club-based sport is simply not providing the flexibility to participate on their own terms, at their own convenience, amidst time-poor lives.

In contrast to the pre-COVID-19 decline in formal club-based participation, informal and non-affiliated sport participation are on the rise. Among UK adults, a million more people were active in 2018/19 than in 2015. Yet participation in organised sports decreased in the same period by over one million people (Active Lives report, 2019). Self-organised, flexible, local opportunities, including park sports, park run and fitness activities have been filling the place of club-based participation. Groups of all ages are now connecting through social media and come together regularly to participate. They join multi-age, unaffiliated leagues, events and tournaments where individuals can participate as frequently or as little as they would like without having to worry about losing their place on the team or membership costs. For example, the Bayside Women’s Futsal League in Melbourne is a free weekly informal futsal competition for women of all ages and abilities, promoted only through Instagram. It attracts around 100 women and girls each week. There are no fixed age groups, no set grading of ability and no need to commit to the full season.  Informal opportunities are appealing because they are affordable, flexible and local. They can also be more safe and welcoming and less competitive than traditional club settings.

The re-start for community sport post-COVID-19 offers the opportunity to rethink what might be the most effective way to support ongoing participation for all community members. There is the opportunity to consider how to support other models of participation that can complement structured club sport and in turn, encourage participation growth.

Informal sport potentially offers a flexible and responsive model, which is able to meet the needs of many residents transitioning out of lockdown. What is required from the sport sector to harness the potential of informal sport as a community resource? From a local government perspective, securing space for informal sport is crucial to ensure that groups have access to facilities for informal participation. This may require creative thinking of how to open up existing spaces, for example partnering with schools, working with established clubs to support shared access and considering ways to manage the use of space. For example through flexible booking systems similar to what sports such as tennis have been doing with their Open Court Sessions. It may require the development of local equipment libraries, similar to toy libraries, where individuals and informal groups can hire sports equipment to participate informally.

We are by no means suggesting that there is no place for traditional community sports clubs in a post-COVID-19 society. But the pandemic provides a unique opportunity to re-evaluate the community sport sector as a whole, review support and investment models, and innovate to open up sport participation and its associated benefits to a much broader section of the community.

The Rise of Informal Sport: Public Forum Summary

Informal Sport: Challenges and Opportunities for Expanding Participation
Wednesday 11th March 2020, Perth, Western Australia.

A summary of the Forum including key issues raised and discussed.

What is informal sport?

Informal sport was identified with people getting together with a group of friends to ‘just play’
sport on ovals and parks, enjoy activities at skate-parks and other open spaces including the
beach. Running, cycling and swimming were recognised as often a focus for informal
participation.

‘Social sport’ offerings in a variety of formats were noted as examples of sport provision being
directed towards more informal participation. Regular pick-up baseball, cricket and soccer,
and roller-hockey in car parks, were examples cited of known ‘social informal’ activities
happening locally. Many of these activities were reported as ‘just springing up’, with people
exploring where they can establish and sustain their participation.

In discussing reasons for people choosing informal sport, socio-economic factors were
highlighted as impacting the accessibility of formal sport for many people. Direct and indirect
costs, the logistics of travel to venues, and other challenges facing for example, newly arrived
migrants who may speak limited English, were recognised as important in this regard. The lack
of a welcoming, inclusive environment in some formal sport settings was also cited as a major
reason why many people instead turn to informal participation. Drop-off in young people’s
involvement in sport from age 14-15 was identified as reflecting in part, sporting structures
not offering what young people are wanting in participation.

Should we seek to formalise and/or regulate informal sport?

Caution was emphasised in relation to attempts to formalise or regulate this arena. ‘There are
people doing what they are doing very happily for various reasons.’ A challenge identified for
sport associations was to accept that not all participation can be or should be controlled. It
was also highlighted that for sports ‘numbers = funding’, so it is a balancing act to secure
funding while also seeking to respond to ‘what the market is calling for’ – more informal
opportunities.

‘Formal-informal’

Discussion highlighted the complexities associated with the notion of ‘informal sport’, with
examples shared of initiatives and programs that are designed to ‘semi-formalise’ and thereby
support, informal participation. parkrun (https://www.parkrun.com.au) was associated with
the notion of ‘formal-informal’ and as also illustrating the key role of volunteers in
sustainability.

(How) can we plan for informal sport?

Informal sport was acknowledged as something that typically, is not planned for by local
government and that calls for notable flexibility in relation to management and future
planning. Where informal participants want to participate was acknowledged as a key issue in
relation to local government accommodating informal sport. Provision of designated spaces
for informal sport was recognised as a matter for planning to address.

The spontaneity of informal sport becoming established within a local authority was explained
as giving rise to ‘ad hoc’ support. Encouraging groups to approach councils to discuss needs
was seen as important for establishing and sustaining more opportunities for informal sport.

Resourcing, recognising and developing informal sport

Capacity building in communities was seen as central to growing and sustaining participation
in informal sport, and in that process, promoting more inclusive communities. Informal sport
was recognised as invaluable for community engagement and youth development. Social
connectedness was stressed as a major appeal and benefit - through participation and through
people actively contributing to informal groups and activities in communities. The opportunity
for people to belong was seen as major appeal of informal sport.

Many instances of informal sport were noted as being on a small scale, with a close-knit group
of participants involved. Informal sport was identified as in many instances, low cost to
resource and not necessarily requiring expansive support or resources. Space, dedicated for
informal sport, was acknowledged as the greatest need and as often the point of tension in
relation to other users and local government planning and resources more broadly. Informal
participation was described as not constrained by formal structures or rules and as involving
adaptations to suit the participants, space available and so on. As a result, the space and setup
needs of informal sport are different to formal sport. Opening schools for informal sport
use, was regarded as potentially a ‘game changer’ for informal sport and communities.

From a management perspective, it was highlighted that informal sport participants get
involved in activities accepting that there is a level of risk involved in what they do. Planning/
planners need to be on the same page in this regard, rather than a risk-averse culture
preventing development of informal sport.

Informal sport is also associated with ‘out of season’ participation and ‘season overlaps’ that
present space management challenges and choices for owners of facilities. In WA, there are
now a number of 365 day-a-year soccer facilities – but within this, the challenge is still to
balance club-community use.

It was stressed that government at all levels needs to recognise that ‘there is a significant
informal sport sector’. Adaptability amongst government and state sporting associations, was
seen as vital for recognition and legitimation of these different forms of participation, so that
coordination and resourcing of the informal sector can be meaningfully explored.

Informal and formal sport were stressed as complementary – and that outlook key to positive
stakeholder engagement on all sides, with a more coherent approach to developing
participation and developing communities. Current structures and funding models were
recognised as presenting challenges for development of informal sport. All stakeholders were
challenged to model the re-balancing of support for informal sport in relation to formal sport.
This was seen as key to influencing thinking in higher levels of government.

From a community development perspective, the social capital that comes from formal and
informal sport was described as huge, with the challenge therefore of how to leverage the
potential of both. Sport – at all levels - was challenged to ‘think like a community organisation’
and focus on community. How many sport development officers are trained in community
development? In any consultations, where are community? and how and/or should clubs be
more involved in/with informal participation?

A focus on connectedness, a shift in culture and
a ‘change in the conversation’, were all associated with moves to prioritise community and
inclusion. Engaging community in a systematic way was seen as critical moving forward, with
‘the answers’ for positive ways forward seen as lying in and with the community – their voice
is key in relation to what developments are wanted and what role state sport associations,
clubs and local government can play to effectively support informal sport.


Future visions – 10 years on in WA, what is the vision?

• Sports organisations are community organisations.
• Social outcomes, rather than numbers, are the focus in planning and funding models.
• More of a focus on having fun and having a go.
• Greater collaboration, particularly at a local level, in planning and provision.
• Community reclaiming space and the participation opportunities those spaces offer.
• Every person knowing where they belong in the wider structure of society and sport.
• Relevance and a shift in thinking – it is not about sport, it is about community.
• More and more informal sporting space developed and prominent in how we plan within
local government.
• Sport and informal sport and recreation recognised as a preventative health measure
that needs more investment.
• Recognition that informal sport is very important to the individual and the community.

The forum was presented by Professor Dawn Penney (Edith Cowan University) and Associate
Professor Ruth Jeanes (Monash University) and hosted by the Department of Local
Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. It was convened to connect local government,
sport and community organisations with the project and to facilitate open discussion of key
issues being explored by the research team.

The panel discussion was facilitated by Dr. May Carter, a Senior Research Fellow at Edith
Cowan University and member of the project team. Panel Members were Rob Thompson
(CEO, SportWest); Rebecca Hall (Leader, Community Connections and Learning, City of
Canning); Troy Kirkham (Participation Manager, WA Football Commission); Joe Moniodis,
(Development Leader, Edmund Rice Centre, WA); Denver D’Cruz (General Manager, Inclusion
Solutions); and Mitch Davies (Leisure Services, Recreation and Leisure Services, City of
Stirling).

For inquiries relating to the project in Western Australia, please contact Dawn Penney
(d.penney@ecu.edu.au). Please contact Ruth Jeanes about project work in Victoria and with
any other inquiries (ruth.jeanes@monash.edu).

OPEN ACCESS PAPER: Managing informal sport participation: tensions and opportunities

In this free to access article we examine the role of informal sport amongst attempts to increase sport participation. The article explores participation that is self-organised and not club-based and highlights some of the tensions and challenges that stakeholders experience in supporting and managing informal sport. The findings indicate that current practices limit the potential of informal sport. Drawing on concepts from collaborative governance, the article concludes that changes to both culture and practices within sport development systems are required in order for stakeholders to harness the potential of informal participation.

For your free copy, click here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19406940.2018.1479285

Informal Sport: The Future of Sports Participation? SPECIAL EVENT

A forum discussing the opportunities, challenges and possibilities of informal sport for the sport, health and community sectors.

This is a special forum for the sport, health and community sectors to discuss the opportunities, challenges and possibilities of informal sport.

When: Tuesday 12 November 2019, 9:30am – 12:30pmWhere: Cricket Victoria, Junction Oval, Lakeside Drive, St Kilda VIC 3182Cost: AUD$22 (includes GST)

For more information about the event and to register and pay, please go to the event page.