ABSTRACT
In BASA the Commonwealth Government notes that ‘through the introduction of a major new participation program, the Government wants to see greater numbers of Australians participating in grass-roots sport, particularly young people. We want to see this achieved right across the country in rural and regional communities as well as in our cities’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2001: 3). Furthermore, BASA refers to the government ‘supporting a fresh approach to grass-roots participation, involving partnerships between the Federal Government, national sporting organisations, local sporting clubs, schools and the business community’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 2001: 6). The Government policy statement also includes the aim of having one million more registered sport participants by the end of the four-year period between 2001-2002 and 2004-2005 (Australian Sports Commission, 2002a: 6).
