ABSTRACT
2In recent years a number of studies have been published which have charted the extensive changes in the nature and context of sport that have taken place over the last 50 years or so. Studies have variously examined the interconnection between sport and internationalisation and globalisation (e.g. Maguire, 1999; Houlihan, 2003), commercialisation (Amis and Cornwell, 2005; Slack, 2004), the growth of state involvement (Riordan, 1978; Goksøyr, 1992; Houlihan, 1992, 1997; Mangset and Rommetvedt, 2002; Bergsgard, 2005) and the expansion of media interest in sport (Bernstein and Blain, 2003; Rowe, 2003). Although focusing on different aspects of the contemporary context they collectively attest to the dynamism of that context for sport and sport policy. The pace of change has prompted debate and expressions of concern in many countries and regions about the place of sport in the spectrum of public policy and the vulnerability of distinctive national models of sport to erosion by powerful global forces or particularly dominant countries. For example, in Canada the impact of the US on the domestic sports system is viewed by many as undermining the distinctiveness of Canadian sport and weakening the relationship between sport and broader welfare and diplomatic policy objectives. In Germany following reunification there was considerable concern to ensure that the highly centralised, highly politicised, corrupt and elite-focused sports system of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) should be dismantled in favour of the more decentralised, club-based and welfare-oriented system established in the Federal Republic. The European Union has attempted to define a European model of sport (European Commission, 1998) in contradistinction to the heavily commercialised model typified by the US and, to a lesser extent, by England. Finally, the concern with the impact of commercialisation on sport in the European Union is one that is substantially shared by many sports administrators and politicians in Norway where there is a long tradition of sport being a decommodified practice deeply rooted in the every-day culture of the community.
