The notion of sport policy is a relatively recent subject of study, but it has been frequently used over the last 20 years, particularly referring to governmental sport policies. However, less research has been conducted in the field of national sport federations (NSFs), which are key non-governmental structures in governing, organising and sustaining the development of sports. The objective of this article is to propose a conceptualisation of the notion of sport policy adapted to NSFs. The proposed approach consists of two steps: first, we conducted an extensive integrative literature review around the notion of sport policy. Second, based on the literature review, we developed a model that conceptualises what an NSF sport policy is. This conceptual model is intended to be a useful analytical tool to design, implement and assess the success of a sport policy for both researchers and practitioners working in the field of NSFs.

The purpose of this research is to explore the process of engagement of actors initiated by the headquarters of a national sport federation during the formulation of its sport policy. The Actor-Network Theory and its four phases (problematisation, incentive, enrolment and mobilisation of allies) are used to understand the dynamics of actors during the process, with an emphasis on the constitution, expansion and stabilization of the actors’ network. As part of an intervention research within the French Rugby Union over the 2013–2016 period, three series of semi-structured interviews (58) were conducted with both national and regional actors with various statuses. The French case is of interest beyond France because the organisational configuration of the national federations has specific characteristics that are common to different countries: pyramid structure, state intervention (both financial and human) and relationships between volunteers and employees. The results of this study demonstrate that the process of designing a sport policy is not linear. In addition, some elements that are favourable for the engagement of actors are highlighted, such as having a defined scope of the sport policy to be designed and designating key actors regarding the formulation of the sport policy. These actors should be able to act as spokespersons in front of other actors in the network. The innovative methodology used in our research is relevant to policy makers because it helps them engage other actors during a concrete transformation project, namely, the formulation of a policy.

L'objectif principal de la thèse est de comprendre comment se construit la politique sportive d'une fédération sportive nationale. Le cas de la Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) est étudié sous la forme d'une Recherche-Intervention, cette organisation ayant souhaité engager des réflexions autour de sa politique sportive, un objet qu'il a fallu appréhender et conceptualiser dans le cadre d'une fédération nationale. Cet objet est envisagé comme un processus de co-construction, entre des acteurs fédéraux (siège) et territoriaux (structures décentralisées et déconcentrées). Pour étudier ce processus et notamment les logiques d'acteurs, nous avons mobilisé la théorie de la traduction (Akrich et al., 2006), associée au concept de rapport de prescription (Oiry, 2012). La théorie de la traduction évoque la notion d'actants, pour désigner ces acteurs et prendre en considération des éléments de l'organisation dits « non-humains » (actants non-humains), qui ont aussi une influence et un impact sur ce processus. Notre problématique centrale est ainsi formulée comme suit : quelles sont les dynamiques actantielles à l'oeuvre dans la co-construction d'une politique sportive fédérale ? L'idée générale, au travers de notre cadre d'analyse, est d'exprimer comment ces acteurs, par le biais de leurs visions et de leurs perceptions (leurs traductions) et leurs collaborations/confrontations (leurs rapports de prescription), vont coconstruire la politique sportive fédérale en question. Cette thèse ambitionne d'appréhender à la fois l'intégration de cette politique dans l'organisation fédérale, et la formation d'un réseau d'acteurs qui, parallèlement, se configure et se stabilise.