The state and sport in Trinidad and Tobago, 1947–2019

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the transition of the Trinidad and Tobago State from a minimalist role in the development of sport to a more interventionist one in the period 1947–2019 based on documentary sources, while also examining some of the social, political and economic factors that facilitated or shaped this process. To this end, it is structured around two broad periods, a colonial period marked by British rule and a post-colonial period after independence was granted in 1962, which is itself sub divided into 4 periods. In examining this transition, particular attention is paid to the early arms-length, almost apolitical approach of the state to sport, the role of foreign business companies, civil society and the gradual change towards sport following political independence in relation to its (re)positioning in the State apparatus, policy formulation, implementation, funding and facility development. The consequences of greater State involvement in sport in relation to the (over)dependence of the non-profit sector on state funding, the priority given to elite sport and the management of billion dollar sport facilities are also interrogated, together with the ongoing issues of the under-involvement of the local private sector in sport, the lack of sport research and the governance of some of the various National Sport Organizations (NSOs).