ABSTRACT
Until the late 1950s or early 1960s, sport was of only marginal interest to most governments. Prior to this, government intervention in sport was generally a reaction to specific problems such as poor standards of health in urban areas, military requirements or outbreaks of disorder and rarely the consequence of the recognition of sport (and recreation) as a distinct policy area. Yet, despite the absence of an explicit and sustained recognition of sport as a distinct focus of government interest there are, in a number of countries, clear thematic continuities between the early and more recent phases of government involvement.
