The civilized skateboarder and the sports funding hegemony: a case study of alternative sport

Abstract

This paper critically investigates public funding of alternative and niche sports. Based on research examining the funding of skateboarding in Scotland, the paper demonstrates that sports funding and policy decisions are based upon a hegemonic conceptualization of sport and its benefits which clashes directly with the typically referenced motivation for participation in alternative sports. Subsequently, an environment is created in which such sports are the victims of funding discrimination, leading to fundamental problems for providers and causing social exclusion among participants. The paper draws upon the work of Norbert Elias to argue that funding methods for sport represent a ‘civilizing process’ which is directly at odds with emerging, alternative sporting forms such as skateboarding and other lifestyle sports and, that as such, greater consideration for alternative funding strategies and conceptualizations of sport is required in future.