Social sport
Social sport, sometimes called informal sport, is a term used to identify engagement in sport in a less formal context.
'Social sport' also sometimes called ‘informal sport’ is a term used to identify engagement in sport in a less formal context, e.g., beach or backyard cricket, a group of friends who get together to play football or basketball, cycling or running groups. 15
Social sports may have many of the elements of modified or recreational sports, including elements of competition, and a similar look and feel to standard or traditional sports, but there is generally no governing organisation to influence the participants' intent, or assign external value to any competition outcome. 15
People engage in social sport for many reasons, most of them intrinsic, e.g., for enjoyment, personal health and fitness, emotional wellbeing (feeling good), and social interaction (inclusion and friendship). 15
Sporting organisations increasingly view social sport as a way to increase their brand appeal, satisfy consumer demand, create a long-term affiliation with their (potential) customers, and engage a wide range of ability levels within a single sporting context. 16, 17, 18
A common strategy underpinning a social sport product is to reduce the need for acquired skills and experience, while highlighting the social and fitness components of the activity. This approach is intended to create a wider appeal to different ages and persons having different skill levels, encouraging them to participate together.
The below examples illustrate how a standard sport can become more social (Barefoot Bowls, AFL 9’s) and a social sport (Basketball 3x3, Pole sports) can become more mainstream.
- Barefoot Bowls, opens in a new tab uses existing bowls venues in a (primarily) social context to stage the activity. Participants don’t need any experience to have fun with the game. Some expert guidance is provided as part of the hosting arrangements, as well as equipment. Sessions are organised upon request, so a regular playing schedule is not necessary.
- AFL 9s, opens in a new tab. A more ‘social’ version of Australian Rules Football that can be played on smaller fields with less players and is also being actively promoted internationally. 19 The game can be mixed gender and offers both tackling and non-contact versions, making it suitable for people of any age or skill level.
- Basketball 3x3, opens in a new tab. An informal street and playground favourite for many years 3x3 has been brought into the mainstream of sport as national and international governing bodies formalised this version of the game—including launching a World Cup in 2012. 20 In 2017 the sport was selected as an official Olympic sport for the Tokyo 2020 Games. 21 This is an example of a social sport that has become mainstream by standardising rules (ten minute periods, 12 second shot-clock, played on a half-court, etc.), and providing a pathway to formal competition.
- Pole sports, opens in a new tab. In around 10 years 'pole' moved from being a popular form of fitness training (2000), to first introduction as a sport (2006), the foundation of the International Pole Sports Federation (IPSF), opens in a new tab (2009), and continues to work towards recognition by the International Olympic Committee. The IPSF has worked to standardise elements including scoring, judging, and competitions. The first World Championship was held in 2012. A number of disciplines and categories have now been introduced including junior and senior men's and women's singles, doubles, mixed, artistic, para, and ultra. In January 2024 IPSF recognised 24 national federations (including Australia, opens in a new tab). It is an example of the potential for an 'activity' to develop into an organised sport. 22, 23
Further reading and resources
- The Rise of Informal Sport: Public Forum Summary, opens in a new tab, Dawn Penney, Ruth Jeanes, Monash University, (27 April 2020). A summary of the Forum including key issues raised and discussed. Discussion highlighted the complexities associated with the notion of ‘informal sport’, with examples shared of initiatives and programs that are designed to ‘semi-formalise’ and thereby support, informal participation. parkrun (https://www.parkrun.com.au) was associated with the notion of ‘formal-informal’ and as also illustrating the key role of volunteers in sustainability.
- Pushing casual sport to the margins threatens cities’ social cohesion, opens in a new tab, Amanda Wise, Keith Parry, Kristine Aquino, et.al., The Conversation, (30 April 2018). Park soccer, social cricket and street basketball bring the public spaces of our cities to life. For many of the most marginalised communities, access to public space for sport is crucial for developing and maintaining a sense of belonging. But as populations grow and competition for playing fields, courts and parks becomes fiercer, many communities are losing access to their sporting spaces.
- Building enhanced collaboration between recreation and sport, opens in a new tab, Canadian Sport for Life, (2013). The relationship between municipal recreation and sport delivery systems can vary from one jurisdiction to another and among sports within the same community. This report outlines and discusses the relationships between sport and recreation organisations and identifies the challenges each face and the key areas where a collaborative approach can take place.
- Informal Sport as a health and social resource, opens in a new tab, Ruth Jeanes, Justen O’Connor, Dawn Penney, et al., Monash University, (June 2023). This report summarises findings from phase two of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project (LP180100038), which aims to enhance our understanding of informal sport in ways that can inform future planning and provision across all tiers of government, sport and community stakeholders. Some key insights include:
- Informal sport offers flexible participation options that fit people’s lifestyles, while still offering the perks many people seek from club-based sporting experience, such as fun, fitness, skill development and social connection.
- Informal sport, as a participation format, ‘works’ for participants. It supports participants to include physical activity amongst other activities and commitments in their lives. Informal groups present opportunities for individuals to access sporting formats that are adapted to suit their ability and needs and within a safe and welcoming environment. Informal sport thereby addresses many of the exclusionary mechanisms associated with other formats of sport.
- Leveraging the potential benefits of informal sport participation locally and nationally requires a shift in policy and planning across all levels of government, to recognise and invest in this growth sector of sport participation.
- Many participants were highly committed and regular participants, playing at least once a week and sometimes two or three times weekly. The survey data indicates that all participants spend at least an hour a week participating in their informal sport, with 53% of respondents participating for three hours and over. However, despite high levels of participation, the importance of the flexibility in commitment that informal participation afforded was emphasised.
- Informal groups were mainly comprised of participants from multicultural and migrant backgrounds, who spoke of their participation enabling them to feel connected to a wider community. This was particularly emphasised by participants in culturally specific groups, who said that informal sports enabled them to connect with other migrants with whom they shared similar cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
- Participants believed informal sport participation contributed positively to their physical and mental health, including supporting them to engage in high levels of physical activity and relieve stress. A core theme of the interviews was the positive impact participation had on mental health, through fostering social connections, providing a space for emotional support and allowing the opportunity to destress and disconnect from day-to-day pressures. These benefits were important to participants and a key driver of their ongoing participation.
- Our survey data indicated that people from this sample who play informal sport have comparative levels of social connection to people who play formal sport or a combination of informal and formal sport.
- The Future of Australian Sport. The second report: Megatrends shaping the sport sector over coming decades - 2022, CSIRO/Australian Sports Commission, (December 2022). This report identifies six megatrends that will shape the Australian sport sector over the coming decade and beyond and provides a decadal update on the first ground-breaking report, The Future of Australian Sport: Megatrends shaping the sports sector over coming decades, released by CSIRO and the Australian Sports Commission in 2013. Several of the identified trends highlight the rise in modified, social, and virtual sport engagement.
- Informal Sport as a Health and Social Resource for Diverse Young People, opens in a new tab, Ruth Jeanes, Dawn Penney, Justen O’Connor, et al., Monash University, (September 2021). The research to date has highlighted the complexity and breadth of informal participation. This includes intersections with formal, club and/or sport association provision. Around 30% of the opportunities we have identified in the research so far, may be considered semistructured and/or characterised as facilitated informal sport. This reflects groups drawing on the mechanisms of more traditional forms of sport (such as leagues and competitions, wearing of uniforms) but in ways that enable participants to engage in informal ways (e.g. no membership fees, no requirement for training, participants can pick and choose when they play). Examples also include participants who move across formal and informal participation opportunities, and clubs and associations that seek to build relationships with informal participants or groups. Due to the diversity of informal sport that we have mapped to date, we would argue that informal sport is best thought of as a significant sector of sport participation in Australia – that intersects with and complements formal sport, contributes to multiple policy agendas, but currently struggles for recognition, access to funding and investment.
- Informal sport and leisure, urban space and social inequalities: Editors’ Introduction, opens in a new tab, Sarah Neal, Bonnie Pang, Keith Parry, et al., Leisure Studies, (11 January 2023). While informal sport may appear to be a poor relation of formal sport, participation in informal sport is now more popular than organised club sport. The special issue provides an opportunity to showcase international leisure studies research which variously explores the meaning and implications of informal sport as a growing form of collective leisure activity and the wider social affordances – and strains – of collective leisure practices. The Editors’ Introduction focuses on the ways in which informal sport and leisure depend on sometimes hard-won public (parks, city squares, designed leisure spaces) and reused incidental urban space (e.g. post-industrial areas). It sets out the ways in which informal sport and leisure involves marginalised and precarious urban populations, gives rise to co-ethnic and ethnically diverse identifications, secures senses of belonging and citizenship, is gender and age ex/inclusive and is attractive to policy actors. It outlines how the articles collected in the special issue address what are still under-examined aspects of the informal sport phenomenon.
- Spatial justice, informal sport and Australian community sports participation, opens in a new tab, Ruth Jeanes, Dawn Penney, Justen O’Connor, et al., Leisure Studies, (11 June 2022). Participation in Australian club-based sport has either plateaued or declined across a broad array of sports over the last 20 years. In contrast, participation in informal forms of sport has increased across the time. Despite the increasing popularity of informal sport, this form of participation continues to lack recognition as a legitimate and valuable avenue for population-wide sport participation. This article focuses on examining the spatial exclusion of informal sport within community sport systems. Theoretically informed by concepts of spatial justice and Lefebvre’s theories of spatial production this article utilises the perspective of multiple stakeholders and a multi-level policy analysis to demonstrate the current spatial injustice that manifests within policy, planning, and use of public spaces and the significant constraints consequently arising for communities wishing to participate in informal sport. We argue that the marginalisation of informal sport is at odds with Australian policy agendas that emphasise an urgent need to increase population levels of physical activity. The article concludes that action to counter spatial injustice within community sport is essential to capitalise on the opportunities that informal participation presents to address key health and social policy priorities.
- Managing informal sport participation: tensions and opportunities, opens in a new tab, Ruth Jeanes, Ramón Spaaij, Dawn Penney, et al., International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Volume 11(1), pp.79-95, (2019). This article critically examines the role of informal sport within attempts to increase sport participation. Informal sport is a contested concept that government and non-government agencies are grappling with. In this article, the focus is on participation that is self-organised and not club based. The research reported reflects that at present, policy makers and practitioners have not seriously considered how informal sport may be positioned as a central facet in efforts to respond to participation objectives and associated health and social policy agendas. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with stakeholders responsible for promoting community sport participation in Victoria, Australia, the authors explore some of the tensions and challenges that stakeholders experience in supporting and managing informal sport. The findings indicate that current practices limit the potential of informal sport. Drawing on concepts from collaborative governance, the article concludes that changes to both culture and practices within sport development systems are required in order for stakeholders to harness the potential of informal participation.
- Developing informal sport friendly communities: A guide for local governments, opens in a new tab, Monash University, (2023). Guidance in understanding, planning for, and supporting informal sport participation in local communities.
- Sporting facility booking systems, opens in a new tab, Monash University, (2023). Tips for developing a booking system to support informal sport groups.
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