ABSTRACT
Sport for all policy is far from easy to define but may, initially at least, be defined as a government strategy designed to increase physical activity among the general population. The idea that government should support physical exercise among ordinary people has deep historic roots. In 1863 the Norwegian Parliament granted money to a voluntary association founded to promote physical exercise and the use of military arms (Goksøyr, 1992). In 1934 in British Columbia a substantial programme was launched to offer physical training for the unemployed in order to strengthen their position in the labour market (Kidd, 1996). In this early phase the promotion of sport participation was mainly intended to strengthen the employability or military capacity of young male adults. In England sport for all as a policy issue has its precursors in the discussions on the content of the physical education curriculum and the establishment of a youth service for adolescent youth based on cooperation between local education authorities and voluntary bodies such as the Boy Scouts Association and the Girl Guides Association (Houlihan and White, 2002). Early sport participation policies were mainly directed towards certain segments of the population especially the young and those of military age, and were based on instrumental values and specific social objectives.
