ABSTRACT
The 1992 European Sport Charter argues that
Sport embraces much more than traditional team games and competition. Sport means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organized participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition in all levels.
As indicated by Downward et al. (2009), however, there are a wide variety of specific activities that can be described as sport, then monitored and promoted as such by public authorities. In this respect, as Gratton and Taylor (2000: 7) note, definitions of sport involve “the criterion of general acceptance that an activity is sporting, e.g. by the media and sport agencies.” Recognizing this potential for diversity, between the 1960s and the 1990s there was a significant increase in the number of people taking part in sport and in the frequency of sport participation in Europe (Gratton and Taylor, 2000). In Europe, the “Sport for All” campaign aimed at providing sporting opportunities for the general population. Many European countries developed sport policy programs which aimed to increase levels of mass participation in sport and physical activity (Green and Collins, 2008). Major public investment in new indoor sport facilities led to a striking increase in opportunities for sport (Gratton and Taylor, 1991).