ABSTRACT
In the UK and in many other countries a large proportion of sporting opportunities, from the recreational to the competitive élite, is provided outside the government and commercial sectors. This third major provider of sport, the private not-forprofit sector, is made up of a number of different types, but all characterised by private ownership and the lack of a profit motive. The first and most significant part of it is the voluntary sector, which has one essential characteristic, voluntary labour, that makes it difficult to measure and analyse by conventional means. Voluntary labour in sport is not recorded systematically on a national basis and the actions and consequences of voluntary organisations are not monitored by official statistics. However, as a result of a recent study (LIRC, 1996), both the size and the value of the voluntary sector in UK sport have been identified and will be reported in this chapter.
