Organization and Provision of Sport - Case Study Example

HFR1014 Organisation and Provision of Sport Introduction This report appraises the impact of three organisations on sports coaches. The three organisations considered in this paper are each sports governing bodies operating in England: the Football Association of England; Sport England; and West Yorkshire Sport. In this paper, we describe the purpose and activities of each organisation and their roles within sport. We then examine each organisation to appraise the positive and negative impacts their roles possibly have on sports coaches and their daily work. The Football Association The F.A., or Football Association, is the sports governing body of football within England. As such, it is involved in almost every aspect of the game. The F.A. is involved in promoting the sport of football to as many people as possible. The F.A. also plays a role in regulating the game of football, by providing rules and laws of the game. All matches played in England are sanctioned by the F.A. The F.A. is also responsible for organising competitions and participation in international matches. Another role of the F.A. is the administering of the disciplinary system. The F.A. has a governance division consisting of football regulation, financial regulation, regulatory legal advice, and disciplinary areas. Football regulation covers all on-field matters, including doping control. The regulatory legal advice section acts as prosecuting attorney in disciplinary cases. All sports participants are potential defendants in the F.A.’s adversarial system. The F.A. is able to take actions in any of these areas, for instance actions to enforce doping control, which can potentially affect a coach’s day to day work The F.A. can directly affect coaches by its standard of becoming an F.A.-qualified coach. The F.A. is behind the UEFA A-licence, and the higher qualification of a UEFA Pro licence. Only 80 coaches have reached this highest qualification. The F.A. presumably wields a lot of power with their licensing system, which must greatly affect the career of a coach. Besides for the UEFA accreditation, the F.A. also provides coaching courses. These are touted as the first step to becoming a qualified coach. For the first level of these courses, no experience is necessary. Taking these courses is described by the F.A. as “getting on the coaching ladder” (“Becoming a Coach” 2003), a ladder controlled by the F.A., and presented as a series of hurdles a potential coach must overcome. The F.A. would be involved in nearly every aspect of a football coach’s work in England. The national men’s football team is controlled by the F.A; the F.A. also governs all the professional football clubs in England. Almost certainly a football coach in England will be influenced by the decisions and operations of the F.A. The F.A. has been described as a dysfunctional organisation run by “amateurs with little commercial savvy” (Bower 2005). The F.A. has been subject to many scandals over the years. These include an affair between the England team manager and an F.A. secretary, who also had a secret past relationship with the F.A. chief executive. Other scandals involve match-fixing and bribes. Three chief executives have resigned within four years. Leadership has also been known to have conflicts of interest, with chief executives heading up different organisations simultaneously. There are also indications that the Premier League, created by the F.A. in 1992 for elite football, has almost constant disagreements with the F.A. There are disagreements about whether the F.A. should exert more control over the Premier League. Ironically, there are even disagreements about whether the Premier League should actually control the F.A. The Premier League has accused the F.A. of incompetence and flawed structure in the light of the scandals it faced. All of this dysfunction could presumably affect a coach affiliated with the F.A., if only to lower morale on the job or cause distractions on the job. But it is also a sign that the association may not be running effectively, and this could seriously impact the effectiveness of a coach affiliated with the F.A. in turn. It has been a criticism of the F.A.’s structure that they have a sort of duplicity in its goals now. Although the F.A. began as an amateur organisation, which wrote the Laws of the Game for football in 1863, there have been major changes to the F.A. organisation. The biggest of these occurred when the F.A. began the Premier League and became involved commercially, while still trying to handle the grassroots football. Depending on whether a coach works at the local community level or the elite level, this duplicity of the F.A. may or may not be a good thing for the coach. The F.A.’s structure may not be ideal for coaches because they do not focus on one level of sport; there is always the potential for a conflict of interests to impact all levels of the F.A. The F.A. also has a relationship with Sport England, through Sport England’s funding of the F.A. Sport England is a government body will large sums of money at its disposal. For instance, in 2004, Sport England provided the F.A. with £500, 000 for grassroots football. This money was used in large part for a “review of coach education, equity and inclusion” (“F.A. to Receive...” 2004). This shows that the quality of the F.A. organisation may be directly affected by levels of Sport England spending, and that one of the prime areas impacted is related to coaching. This is also a good indication that the F.A. is strongly influenced by and even answerable to the Sport England organisation. The F.A., on the other hand, is a non-profit organisation. It uses the money it makes mostly by putting it back into football. Because of this relationship between the F.A. and Sport England, a coach working for the F.A. or in other ways affiliated with it, may also be affected indirectly by Sport England and its policies. Sport England Sport England is the sports governing body for community sport within England. It is a government agency, deriving its funds from the Lottery and the Exchequer. Sport England runs a campaign called Everyday Sport, which encourages participation in sport and active recreation (“Sport England“ 2007). According to Sport Englands website: "Sport England advises, invests in and promotes community sport to create an active nation. We want to get two million people more active in sport by 2012" (“About Sport England”). The Sport England goal is also to make sure that participation level is sustained. Sport England’s official goal is to make England more active and encourage people to become more active in sports and physical activity. Sport England is in charge of distributing funds, supporting sports projects, and investing in such things as the Active England fund. Sport England is also influential on decision makers and public opinion on sport. Sport England achieves this through its research and surveys. These activities of Sport England affect a coach both directly, by influencing what programs are funded, and indirectly, by changing public opinion. Sport England is a source of funding for coaches leading sporting projects. The Sport England website contains information on how the funding works. There are also templates and other information to develop a project idea as well as the actual forms to apply for funding. This is likely to be a source of funding that a coach beginning a new sport project will seek out. Sport England influences decision making and public opinion on sport through its research and surveys. Sport Englands research aims to prove that sport is able to achieve many improvements in communities such as better health and reduction in crime. Sport England would likely affect the opinions of the population that a coach would come in contact with. Coaches aiming to develop new projects would probably also view Sport England as a potentially useful partner in gaining public support. Sport England also makes a Promoting Sport toolkit with the aim of promoting sport and active recreation to the public. The toolkit website contains how-to guides for promoting to different people, running events, and more, which can be useful and easily accessible information for coaches. There have been some complaints against Sport England, including the criticism that they have developed a British Cycling Team, as well as Scottish and Welsh teams, but apparently have not supported the creation of an English Cycling Team. This seems to stem from the fact that Sport England supports regional teams, instead of focusing on the separate national teams("Sport Who Now?" 2005). This could potentially be frustrating and impact negatively on a coach that was seeking funding for such a national team. The fact that Sports England has this regional outlook can be seen in the way it is governed by nine Regional Sports Boards. Each region is focused on the funding needs of its particular local area. Possibly because of this structure, Sports England is more apt to act on a local, regional level and may not have the same ability to organise on the national level as effectively. Because Sport England is a government organisation, it is presumably vulnerable to political issues of the UK that it wouldnt be otherwise, if it were an independent organisation. Because Sport England derives its funds from the Lottery and the Exchequer it may also be more answerable to these entities instead of to the English people per se. Although, the fact that Sport England stems from these two sources is the reason it can afford to pour so much money into sport. Sport England appears to be involved on the national level only with elite sport. Sport England has five National Sports Centres as an effort to develop elite English sport. These are Bisham Abbey; Crystal Palace; Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre; Lilleshall; and the Plas Y Brenin National Mountain Centre. These facilities also offer access and some programmes to the general public, but the main focus is on elite sport. Coaches that are involved in the elite level of sports will most likely be impacted by these centres, which accommodate elite athletes with just about anything they need for training and competition. West Yorkshire Sport West Yorkshire Sport was created in 2001 as a partnership between five existing entities. These entities are: City of Bradford MC, Calderdale MBC, Kirklees MC, Leeds CC, and Wakefield MDC. There is a direct relationship between West Yorkshire Sport and Sport England: “The impetus for making the Partnership more formal came from the desire to deliver Sport England’s Active Sports Programme in the County” (“What We Do”). The West Yorkshire Sport partnership is also committed to developing other aspects of sport in the county, but this commitment to delivering Sport England programmes appears to be paramount. There has been a debate within Sport England on the role that partnerships like West Yorkshire Sport should play, in light of Sport England’s goal to provide a single system for sport. And West Yorkshire Sport has been affected by guidelines Sport England made for county sports partnerships. Coaches involved with West Yorkshire Sport will be affected not only by the structure of that partnership, but also by the effect of how the partnership is devoted to delivering Sport England’s programmes. The direction of West Yorkshire Sport is heavily influenced by Sport England, as it is one of its key stakeholders. When the West Yorkshire Sport partnership considers its direction it takes into consideration the expectations of Sport England. According to the West Yorkshire Sport website, over a period of three years, 74 coaching jobs were created and hundreds of coaches have obtained education awards. This is a sign that the West Yorkshire Sport partnership is having a large effect on coaching opportunities within the county. Coaches that work within West Yorkshire are likely to be influenced by the West Yorkshire Sport partnership’s principles and values, or lack of them. For instance, the partnership’s own self-proclaimed principles include: that sport is fun; that there should be commitment to equity and equality; and that safety of participants is paramount. These are pretty basic principles, but there are many more, providing at least a chance that a coach will not agree with all of them. However, all of West Yorkshire Sport partners are expected to adhere to these official listed principles. One of West Yorkshire Sport’s goals is to measure performance of sport within the county. This gathering of performance information may impact upon a coach, especially if this information includes coaching performance. The information is used in planning and delivery of services. The West Yorkshire Sport’s goal of providing a single system of sport within the county guides much of the partnership’s activity. This demands that different organisations are working in a coordinated way. This may mean a demand on the local authorities, educational institutions, and sports governing bodies concerning efforts to streamline sport and make it easier for participants to experience sports. This objective of a single system of sport will also place a demand on coaches to spend time and efforts coordinating with these other organisations in order to streamline. It may not always be advantageous to a coach to work towards a single system of sport, but it is clear from the objectives of the West Yorkshire Sport partnership that a coach involved in this area will be greatly influenced by this goal in their daily work. The West Yorkshire Sports partnership contains a Coach Development Group that meets to discuss strategy involving coaches. This strategy is mainly concerning coach recruitment; the education and training opportunities facing coaches; and management of coaches within the system. Coaches may potentially be affected by the very nature of the partnership structure of West Yorkshire Sports. For instance, if a coach has a difficulty with one of the sports entities within the county, it is unlikely the coach can rectify the situation by walking away from that work relationship and working instead with a different sports entity. The partnership front that West Yorkshire Sport presents will only be useful to a coach if the coach’s relationship with West Yorkshire Sport is a positive one. Otherwise, the partnership is like a monopoly on sports within the county. It is this conformity in the nature of the sports governing partnership that can limit a coach’s choices and decrease the varieties of coaching opportunities available. West Yorkshire Sport also implements the Community Sports Coach Scheme. The objective of this scheme is to create 3,000 jobs for coaches at the local community level, creating greater opportunities for coaches in the area. The scheme supports a career structure for coaching; an increase in standards for coaches, in the areas of recruitment, development, employment and management; management of coaches and professional development; and focus on young people. The scheme also sets down guidelines, such as what minimum percentage of time a coach should be coaching instead of doing administrative work. The scheme outlines what areas a coach should be trained in, such as child protection, first aid, and several other categories. In addition, the scheme outlines the method a coach should use in schools and how they should work with teachers. This appears to be an extremely detailed coaching scheme. The level of detail in the Community Sports Coach Scheme will affect a coach in ways that is dependent on the coach’s personality. The scheme is detailed enough that it will provide good direction for a coach that desires a lot of direction. But a coach that desires freedom may view the scheme as too detailed, potentially limiting personal choices and decisions of a coach. Although the Community Sports Coach Scheme is impressive in its creation of opportunities for coaches, it also comes with many strings attached that will affect nearly every aspect of the daily workday for a coach. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been found in this report that sports governing bodies within England can potentially impact the work of a coach in several different ways. The type of control of a sports governing body can directly affect the influence it has on sport and coaches. For instance, it may be controlled by the government, as in the case of Sport England; formed out of a partnership, in the case of West Yorkshire Sport; or created specifically to govern a single sport, as in the case of the F.A. It has also been found that the three sports governing bodies studied in this report were not entirely independent; with Sport England funding the F.A. and the West Yorkshire Sport partnership devoted in large part to delivering the programmes of Sport England. Because of these relationships, it may become complicated to determine who is influencing the coach, with outside organisations having an indirect influence through the actual sports governing body that the coach interacts with day to day. Coaches may be impacted by a governing body’s goals, rules, values and principles. The structure of the governing body and whether its emphasis is on local or national organisation will impact the coach’s work. The sports governing body will directly impact a coach’s employment and educational opportunities; the sports governing body may also exert power over a coach’s career by instituting standards and licence requirements. Each sports governing body has a direction and objectives that a coach affiliated with the governing body will be expected to support; this amounts to the coach spending time and efforts in their daily work to achieve larger goals, such as developing a single system of sport through coordinating and streamlining. A coach will likely be affected each day by the level of financial funding that sports governing bodies in the area are able to obtain. This level of funding or lack of it will affect the coach’s ability to find employment, levels of coach education and training, and the quality of the sports programmes that the coach will be a part of. A sports governing body will affect a coach’s daily work by the level of management they decide to exert on coaches. Without good management a coach may become disillusioned with the direction of the sports governing body. A high level of management may help a coach to develop their career. But too much management may take away from the freedoms a coach desires and leave the coach feeling disempowered. And finally, the reputation and public perception of a sports governing body can affect a coach. If the organisation is dysfunctional or unpopular with people, this holds the potential of lowering the morale or effectiveness of a coach. The lack of effective leadership or lack of good organisation may also cause the sports governing body to impact a coach negatively. On the brighter side, a sports governing body with clear leadership, direction and good organisation may propel the coach into fulfilling her/his potential in coaching. References "About Sport England." Sport England. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://www.sportengland.org/index/about_sport_england.htm “Becoming a Coach.” (2003). TheFA.com. The Football Association. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://www.thefa.com/GrassrootsNew/FALearning/NewsAndFeatures/ Postings/2003/12/Becoming_a_coach.htm “Sport England.” (2007). Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_England. “Sport Who Now?” (13 Aug 2005). The England Project. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://www.theenglandproject.net/mt/archives/001191.html “The F.A. to Receive £500,000 Investment for Grassroots Football.” (9 Jun 2004). Sport England. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://www.sportengland.org/news/press_releases/press_releases-fa_grassroots.htm “The Football Association.“ TheFA.com. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/TheOrganisation/ “The Football Association.” (2007). Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_Association Bower, Tom. (2 July 2005). “Has the Blazer Brigade Doomed Football?" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. From http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1519706,00.html “What We Do.” West Yorkshire Sport. Retrieved 10 May 2007 from http://www.westyorkshiresport.co.uk/about-us/what-we-do Read More