‘Overbrugger of onderscheider?’: hoe frequent ontstaat interetnisch contact via het sportverenigingsleven in Nederland?

Abstract

On the one hand, sports clubs are viewed as an ethnic ‘bridger’. On the other hand, they would offer an excellent opportunity to affiliate with people of similar backgrounds. In this article, we develop indices, which we use to describe the number of interethnic ties via sports clubs in the Netherlands at the end of the twentieth-century. We employ both survey and administrative data. Some key findings are: 50 per cent of all sports club members are member of a least one club for a mixed sports branch, 19 per cent of ethnic minority sports club members are member of an ethnic sports club, and 34 per cent of ethnic majority members participate in an ethnically mixed sports group. Taking into account the number of members, the number of members per team, and the composition of its membership base, the vast majority of interethnic ties are forged by soccer clubs.