ABSTRACT
The aim of this special issue is to encourage critical discussions about the political issues connected to the contemporary role of sport and physical activity in public health. The relationships between sport, physical activity and health are not neutral but reflect complex temporal and spatial struggles over political positions, social ideologies, policymaking and policy enactment. It is, thus, timely and significant for this special issue to raise questions and present critical analyses about the politics and policy of the sport/physical activity/health dynamic. Public health is an established and powerful policymaking sector in the UK and worldwide. Public health policymaking involves several approaches connected to research and evidence-building, commissioning and managing, service delivery and public participation in programmes intended to prevent disease, promote health and prolong life at a population level.
