Sport for Development in the United Kingdom

This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of the sport for development (SfD) sector in the United Kingdom and outlines the UK’s long history of harnessing sport to achieve social and political outcomes. The discussion then explores how recent government policies and long-term austerity have impacted the SfD context, resulting in an increasingly complex, fragmented and financially challenged landscape. The challenges presented by the SfD context inevitably have consequences for harnessing sport policy for realising non-sport objectives. The chapter also presents an illustrative case study of recent attempts to harness sport to reduce serious youth violence, which highlights some of the opportunities and challenges for effectively harnessing SfD in the United Kingdom.