Amateur Sports Clubs. Their Salient Features and Major Advantages

The promotion of sport, the extension of the sporting experience into an ever wider section of the population, is an important aim which can be pursued in many different ways. Some of the most important agents in providing an initial experience of sport are amateur sports clubs, about which little is known. Such clubs have several advantages in sports promotion, being close to their actual and potential membership both physically and socially. For such reasons, clubs are often popular with sportsmen and women as an organisational focus of their activities. One of the clubs' strongest advantages is their ability to provide sports activity within a framework of demo cratic self-organisation. So popular are clubs that in an era of expensive public sports facilities, they continue to provide much needed facilities, organisation, and social support.