Sport for all: Some public health policy issues and problems

This paper has two central objectives: (1) to examine critically the assumption underlying a central objective of many ‘Sport for all’ programmes, namely to improve people's health; (2) to illustrate, via the use of two recent British case studies, some of the complexities involved in the administration of sports policy and in coordinating sports policy with health policy. It is argued that almost all the studies which are cited to support the idea that sport is good for health refer not to sport but to physical activity or exercise. But physical activity and sport are not the same. The paper explores some of the key social differences between sport and physical activity–for example the fact that sport is inherently competitive and that many sports are mock battles in which aggression and the use of physical violence are central characteristics–and examines some of the health consequences of these social differences, for example in the terms of the injury risks. It is argued that if ‘Sport for all’ policies are intended to improve people's health, then more thought should be given to the kinds of physical activities we wish to encourage. The complexity and fragmentation of policy making in relation to sport and the lack of coordination with health policy are illustrated by two case studies: (1) the Sport: Raising the Game policy announced by the Government in 1995 and (2) the implementation within schools of a programme of health-related exercise (HRE) as part of the National Curriculum in Physical Education.