ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to chronicle the rise in attention that leadership in the sport governance setting is receiving, relying on an exploration of previous work in the field combined with real-life examples of leadership in the sport governance environment. Leadership research permeates many academic disciplines in one form or another, and governance research, although not as ubiquitous, has attracted scholarly interest from various perspectives including research centred on the corporate, nonprofit, and public administration contexts. Leadership at the sport governance level is clearly an important mechanism for setting policy and rules, building trust, facilitating face-to-face and other dialogue, and exploring mutually beneficial gains. Central to the issue of leadership in sport governance, regardless of which frame is being explored, is the issue of trust and distrust. Facilitative leadership at the governance level within federated networks such as sporting environments, requires the leader to actively engage key stakeholders in the network so talents and contributions can be maximised.
