Contributing factors toward an understanding of local sport club partnerships: A study of partnership forming behaviour in Australia, Canada and New Zealand

Burley, Peter , Joyce, William

Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Te Wananga Otautahi

2008

Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Te Wananga Otautahi

Unknown

Due to complex and dynamic economic, social and community pressures, there is increasing merit in local sports clubs pursuing partnerships. The purpose of this research is to examine the dynamics of sport partnerships among a cross section of local sports clubs in three Commonwealth countries. Factors known to be linked with clubs in the rhetoric used to support this approach, have been explored. The results revealed that clubs were prepared to ignore perceived increases in some costs of partnership: compliance and coaching, to be able to gain benefits such as increased access to Government grants and sponsorship; while other factors, administration and asset costs, and difficulty of retaining expertise and volunteers appeared to have no significant effect. This paper also examined social connections theory providing tentative support for a perception that the social capital of these clubs markedly increased as a product of partnership and may have been a key driver. Resource dependencies, particularly as they relate to access to playing space are indicators for sports clubs to develop new partnerships even if this increases club costs. Further, results confirm the key role played by local government in shaping clubs’ general environment and influencing their perceptions of resource scarcity.

Keywords:

Sports Clubs, Partnerships

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Cross-sectional

Canterbury

Sport

Clubs

1482

October 3, 2012