week 2-blake lawrie

Week 2

This week was focused on the sates involvement in the three sectors of sport and how the structures implemented by government can influence the success and sustainability of sport, not just in Australia but around the world. We delved further into how the three sectors differ and how they are similar. I would like to focus on the state’s role in sport on a professional level.  Defined by the text, the state is the structures that rule and govern societies.  The question that is to be answered is why do governments, particularly in western culture, spend so much effort, time and money into a social pastime? Sport, especially in Australia is used as a social tool to bring the population together and build nationalism and national identity. Encouraging participation in sport through funding can help other areas that the state is concerned with, like the health sector. A physical active population is a healthy population, and that means less money required for public health.  In certain societies sport is used to display the strength of the government. China and Cuba are two such countries that have spent a lot of money in an attempt to display this. The have used sport not only as a means of making its citizens physically and mentally fit, but also as a means to show the superiority of their style of government(communism) over western democracy. The display is evident ton the world stage at the Olympics. The Olympics is the pinnacle of athletic performance and the states involvement in Olympics is massive. We discussed the London Olympics and how important it was to London and Britain. The support by the state allowed for massive re-building of infrastructure not only for the Olympics but for the city itself following the Olympics. London like must Olympics is also used to promote the culture of the host nation to the rest of the world.  Sport has always the passion among many populations around the world, nowadays it has gone to a totally new professional level where billions of dollars are invested on it and its stars. It impact on economies and societies around the world is ever growing and the states interest in supporting its growth is vastly important at all 3 sectors of sport.