This article proposes that sport policy problems exhibit the characteristics of ‘wicked problems’, in that they are difficult to define/interpret, are based in competing/uncertain causes, and generate further issues when solutions are applied. Drawing from the existing body of empirical work in Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, it is further suggested that the modernization of government's partner national sport organizations (NSOs) is effectively wicked because it results in their commercialization and introduces challenges, dilemmas and tradeoffs. Possible consequences for central government agencies include a further emphasis towards elite sport, and a challenge of ensuring the responsiveness of NSOs in relation to diversity issues and their traditional representative functions. The author speculates on the paradox in the government expectation that commercialized NSOs can be repositories of ‘social capital’.

Insight into the unique benefits of sport participation above and beyond those associated with participation in other physical activities among adolescents is limited in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). The purpose of this study was to examine the association between wellbeing and organised sport participation among adolescents whilst accounting for demographic characteristics and other recreational physical activity. Demographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, deprivation, (dis)ability status), organized sport, recreational physical activity, and wellbeing were assessed in cohorts of NZ adolescents (11–17 years) between 2017 and 2019. After adjusting for demographics, better wellbeing was associated with participation in any recreational physical activity (OR = 2.49, 95%CI = 1.97–3.13), meeting physical activity recommendations (OR = 1.63, 95%CI = 1.47–1.81), and each additional hour of recreational physical activity (OR = 1.03, 95%CI = 1.02–1.04). After adjusting for demographics and overall recreational physical activity participation, better wellbeing was also associated with participation in any organized sport (OR = 1.66, 95%CI = 1.49–1.86), and each additional hour of organized sport (OR = 1.09, 95%CI = 1.07–1.11). Although participation in recreational physical activity appears to be beneficial for wellbeing, organized sport appears to offer unique additional wellbeing benefits. Positive experiences of organized sport participation may offer additional wellbeing value above and beyond other recreational physical activity types in young people who are active.

Targeting funds to a select ‘few’ organisations is an increasingly recognised principle of government funding distributions for elite sport. This paper explores the principles of performance-based targeting in sport and traces its historical development alongside New Public Management reforms. Drawing from data in New Zealand, it is suggested that targeting schemes generate unintended consequences including: (a) the paradoxical tendency for the central agency to be blamed for having too much control over sport and for not being sufficiently accountable for results and (b) the propensity for National Sport Organisations (NSOs) to become less innovative over time due to increased accountability requirements and tighter monitoring. Each carries implications. The former reminds us that broader political risks cannot be ruled out, and may effectively negate targeting's promise of allocative efficiency and responsiveness. The latter warns that such regimes may hinder organisational learning and induce NSOs to follow ‘best practice’ at the expense of developing new best practice.

As match-fixing has emerged as a global problem, states and sports organisations have proposed a range of countermeasures. However, despite their neutral, technocratic appearance, these instruments produce their own political effects. Drawing from a case study of the 2011 South Korean ‘K-League’ football match-fixing scandal that resulted in a raft of countermeasures, this article examines how match-fixing countermeasures (re)organise the power relations within the sports betting industry. Using a qualitative, interpretive multi-method approach, three consequences are suggested. First, the education programme redefines sports ethics by delivering new codes of conduct that are aligned to the demands of betting. Second, regulations instituted by the K-League and the government frame the illegal activity as infringing upon the key stakeholders’ economic interests, further privileging the importance of the betting regime. Third, the sports betting monitoring system itself empowers the sole betting company as a trustworthy ‘fixer’ of the match-fixing problem through co-optation into its policy framework. Consequently, this study shows that key stakeholders manage the risk of losing legitimacy by showcasing their efforts to fight against match-fixing, while also taking advantage of the countermeasures to normalise the business of sports betting, thus furthering their own interests.

Sport policies are underpinned by particular interpretive frameworks or paradigms . These paradigms shape: a) the construction of policy problems, b) the alternative approaches to resolving these problems and c) what is considered to be an acceptable government intervention. This article investigates how a policy paradigm shaped the findings and recommendations of New Zealand’s Ministerial Taskforce on Sport, Fitness and Leisure. Using empirical data gathered from observations of the Taskforce’s consultations, interviews with Taskforce members and a review of public submissions, it is argued that a paradigm (stressing rationalization and integration) served as the basis for recommendations to reduce the number of regional sports trusts, to centralize control over the sector and to coordinate the administration of sport. Two fundamental contradictions and paradoxes arising from this paradigm shift are discussed. The first notes the historical contingencies that gave rise to the problem of fragmented sport delivery structures, including government’s preference for contractual agreements and decentralized control. The second examines the appropriateness of centralizing powers given the inherent need for specialized (and autonomous) delivery mechanisms. This study’s focus on paradigms helps to explain how policies can alter institutional relations and the lived world of actors with respect to their identities, opportunities and capacities to act.

National taskforces and inquiries are used extensively by governments wishing to review their involvement in sport. Underpinning these reviews are dominant ideas like “national unity” or “excellence.” Ideas matter in public policy because they form the basis for framing political judgments and because their meanings are continually translated into future plans and actions (Hoppe, 1993). This study investigates the role of ideas in shaping and circumscribing the findings and recommendations emanating from a national taskforce in New Zealand. Information was gathered through interviews with Taskforce members, observations of public consultations, and analysis of submitted documents. Key ideas included notions of efficiency, competitiveness, and leadership. These ideas are discussed, focusing in particular on their contradictory/paradoxical nature and their role in (re)producing power relations. The paper concludes with future research questions and a call for more critical investigations into sport policy-making.