"People Have Nowhere to Go": Stakeholder Perceptions on Sustainability of Funded Community Sport Programmes

Abstract

Overstated promises of hosting the Olympic Games to deliver sustainable participation legacies have been a common occurrence, and a lesson that the UK did not learn from London 2012. Despite this, schemes like Sportivate that sought to distribute public funds to community intervention initiatives have emerged to promote long‐term engagement in physical activity and sports. This research aims to build further understanding on sport programme/intervention sustainability. Stakeholders of recipient organisations of Sportivate funding through London Sport offered insights on aspects that aid sustainability of their programmes. Semi‐structured interviews took place with 33 board chairs, board members, CEOs, project officers, and coaches positioned at 12 different Sportivate‐funded organisations. For analysis purposes, the organisations that these individuals represented were categorised into Target Achieved and Target Not Achieved to indicate success in meeting Sportivate key performance indicators. Analysis suggests the relevance of policy remodelling, capacity, funding, programme fit, leadership, communication, and social bonds as key areas in achieving sport programme sustainability. However, Target Achieving organisations portray signs of strength in some of these sustainability areas, unlike Target Not Achieving organisations. The complexities of sustainability as a multi‐layered construct provide a starting point for further study, while recognising the relevance of organisation type, capacity, and staff roles in influencing sustainability perceptions.