Changing policy priorities for sport in England: the emergence of elite sport development as a key policy concern

Abstract

This paper reviews the emergence of ‘sport’ as a sector of public policy interest from the 1960s to 2002. Central to the paper is the manifestation of ‘elite sport development’ as a key policy concern from the mid‐1990s onwards. While the emergence of elite sport policy objectives is the focus, the increased activity around sport at regional and sub‐regional levels in England also requires attention. The paper's theoretical argument is that, in large part, the effect of policy is primarily discursive; it changes the possibilities we have for thinking ‘otherwise’. In this respect, the discursive construction of sport policy is problematized. Here, the literature addressing ‘policy as discourse’ and, more specifically, that which analyses the ‘discursive strategies’ shaping school sport and physical education policy is helpful in sensitizing us to the inherent power relations hidden within the contours of sport policy debates. This analysis leads to questions surrounding opportunities for ‘alternative voices’ within a context of discursive activity that privileges elite performance. In this regard, the study concludes by offering avenues of future research for the analysis of sport policy processes.