ABSTRACT
Public-sector organisations have a mandate to achieve essential social missions, including provision in education, employment, health-care and other areas that are not adequately provided for by the private sector. The role of the public sector is also a compensatory one because its policies, programmes and services provide remedies for the social problems created by market failures, and therefore contribute to the ‘public good’ by focusing on disadvantaged groups whose needs are not met in the marketplace.1 Like other local government services that ensure safety and basic living requirements (such as water, sewerage, police and fire services or waste management), departments responsible for the provision of sport and leisure provide local governments with direct and positive links to citizens. As advocates for active participation in community sport and leisure, the services offered by these departments are believed to enhance quality of life by contributing to physical, psychological and social health, and serve as the main avenue for mass participation.2 The mission of sport and leisure departments in local government is therefore a social one, to provide sport and leisure opportunities to all citizens in order to improve quality of life.3 Through the provision of facilities such as parks, fields, swimming pools, ice rinks and community centres, and the delivery of programmes at no or minimal charge, sport and leisure departments in local governments have been able to fulfil their social mission by providing recreation, fitness, sport and skilldevelopment opportunities for the community at large, regardless of ability, age, race, class or gender.
