Club Sport and Economic Crisis - The South American Case

Paper presented at the 2nd World Congress of Sociology of Sport of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA) - Sport and Social Order Challenges for Theory and Practice, Cologne, 18 June - 21 June 2003

Introduction
The following expositions refer back to research I have done within the last five years concerning sport and society in Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico. During my visits in these countries I could observe the effects the economic crisis has on club sport. Sport in North America and Western Europe is considered a means to improve social and economic standards. These expectations can only be fulfilled by means of external resources. The resources being of great importance in this context are money, political power, participation (time, work) and knowledge. The main sources are the economic as well as the political system (the market and the state) on the one hand and the members of the sport organizations on the other hand. Sport, physical education and recreation in the industrialized West are fed by the affluence of society.

In Latin America, we can observe, in which direction club sport and physical education may develop if neither the economic nor the political system or the population are able to transfer resources to the sport system. The exposition will show how this kind of change of society (globalization) affects sport by means of the example of the labour market. It refers to the thesis of the Latin Americanization of western societies, which was brought up by the German sociologist Ulrich Beck. Beck states that the future of the West can be inspected in Latin America, especially in the former welfare states in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile). The presentation will reveal the meaning of the notion of Latin Americanization of western Sport by delivering some empirical data about club sport in Argentina and Uruguay.

The main thesis can be expressed as follows: With the withdrawal of the market and the state, sport in the western industrial societies could/will regress to the direction of Latin American sport. The future of European sport and physical education can be inspected in Latin America.

At first, I would like to explain the thesis of the Latin Americanization of European societies. After that, I am going to sketch the way in which such a Latin Americanization of society would affect European sport. I will underline this idea by revealing some typical characteristics of sport in Latin America illustrated by the example of sport in Uruguay. Finally, I am going to give a short outlook.

Latin Americanization of European Society
In 1999 the German sociologist Ulrich Beck (1999) put forward a thesis claiming that the developments on the labour market in Latin America will repeat themselves in the West. Beck (1999, 93-111) points out the following characteristics of the Latin Americanization of the West:

• Rise of the unemployment rate,
  
  
• Decline in wages,
  
  
• Increase of informal and marginal jobs,
  
  
• Crisis of traditional forms of workers organisations (trade unions),
  
  
• Detachment of economic growth and an increase in profits from the  improvement of the working situation and the wages of employees,
  
  
• Deregulation of working relations.

The future will show to what extent the prognosticated development will occur or can be avoided. I myself consider the Latin Americanization of the West a real challenge to western societies. What is considered a short term weakness of the economic situation could be the beginning of a long term change in the economic structure of western societies that leads to an economic crisis for parts of the population.
 
Latin Americanization of Sport
The sociology of sport is interested in the effects this development has on popular sport. I particularly concentrate on the effects on doing sport and on sport policy. I am going to confine this discussion to the factors discretionary income and disposable time, which are directly linked to gainful employment as well as the restriction of public households. These factors have effects on the structure of sport facilities and participation and are able to lead to a long term change of values and norms linked to physical activity.

The enterprises of the economic system provide the individuals with an income and the state with money by means of taxes. Latin Americanization means polarization of the pattern of income. The so called working poor and the middle classes receive a decreased income. While the middle classes compensate the loss of income by declining working hours, the working poor have a lower income and less time at their disposal. The upper classes however have more time and a higher income. Apart from the fact that this unfair distribution entails a potential for social conflicts, there is a decrease in resources that might be invested in sports as an optional leisure activity.

In organised popular sport the decline in resources leads to a decline in the number of members. 
This entails increasing membership fees. The offer of sporting activities however remains unaltered. As a consequence, members leave their sport club because of their low income. For many people, there only remains the possibility of doing sport outside sport organisations. Thus, the sporting activity becomes informal. The variety of sporting activities within the lower classes becomes gradually restricted to inexpensive sports. The extent of this development, which might be temporarily weakened or aggravated, depends upon whether organized sport is mainly realized by means ofthe work of voluntary people or skilled workers. A decline in financial and temporal resources causes a decreasing possibility not only of doing sport but also of voluntary commitment. Thereby sport loses two of its decisive bases.

Moreover, Latin Americanisation refers to the fact that the mobility of capital as well as the neoliberal economic policy contains a reduction of the tax income and the state activity. The public households become tight, and the state has to consider its actions with regard to efficiency and quantity. The public financial support of sport also suffers from this situation. Above all, it is the popular sport, which is marked by intense expenses, that is confronted with the danger of being omitted. The comparably low expenses for participating in international top level sports are legitimized because they contribute to the representation of the state. It is the leisure and mass sport as well as the school sport and the training of physical education teachers that can be found among the potential losers. Costs are reduced by closing sports facilities or transferring them into private ownership. Besides, jobs are reduced and public funding is cancelled. Thus, the quantity as well as the quality of organised sport decreases.

This development is also very likely to happen if we have a sport system that is based mainly on skilled workers paid by public or private entities like schools. Due to the relatively small amount that public funding of mass sport needs compared to other areas of public funding, this development can be weakened by public subsidies.
 
Sport in Latin America
The concrete example of sport organized within clubs and governing bodies in Uruguay is to reveal the direction into which Western sport might move. Uruguay is a very suitable example as it was still at the beginning of the 20th century considered the first welfare state of South America. The economy was flourishing because of agricultural exports; the democratic system could be viewed comparably stable, and the welfare state could further expand its services. The sports club system that arose according to the European model brought forth small clubs with only one discipline in the field of competitive sports as well as big clubs offering a greater variety of disciplines and promoting popular sport. The Uruguayan state financially supported the clubs by granting them credit and offering them inexpensive building land for sports facilities. Besides, the state built public sport facilities on which it offered free courses for the whole population.

At the beginning of the 21st century society and sport in Uruguay are influenced by the incessant economic crisis. The sports clubs organizing about 40% of sport participants have to do without public funding. The sporting facilities are owned mainly by the clubs that have to pay the maintenance and running costs. It is particularly the big clubs with several disciplines, which attract about 70% of sports club members, that have to suffer from this situation as the payment for main professional instructors is extremely high. Only members of the upper classes participate in these clubs by paying a monthly fee of 50 US$. The national governing bodies receive a public funding of about 2000 US$ a year as well as free premises. Soccer as the only lucrative sport is dominated by corruption and financial interest. Public sports facilities cannot be maintained because of the lack of money. Consequently, they gradually decay. The active participation in sports can be rated 26%, from which 32% do not do sports in an organized form. The lower classes almost exclusively play soccer while a diversified sports culture is reserved for the upper classes.
 
Outlook
If we talk about civil society and social capital in club sport we have to realize, that voluntary associations form a basic element of the civil society in western industrialized countries and at the same time a luxurious result of the wealth of countries, companies and individuals. Even if this kind of luxury is quite common in the post war Europe it is very responsive to the economic crisis.

The modern popular sport in Europe is an element of the welfare state. Similar to the educational system, it cannot exclusively be beard by its clients. Sport can only make its contribution to socialization, health and education of the masses with the help of public funding. The withdrawal of the state from the support of popular sport has devastating consequences. A very similar development could be observed after the fall of the iron curtain and the reduction or total loss of financial support from the communist regime in Eastern Europe. I suggest to look very closely at the developments that might occur in the future and to be aware of tendencies that do not fit into western patterns of modernization and growth. The economic crisis is a real threat not only for professional sport but also for popular sport.

References
Beck, U.: Schne neue Arbeitswelt. Frankfurt am Main 1999.

Buzzetti, J. L./Cortinas, E. G.: Historia del Deporte en el Uruguay (1830-1900). Montevideo 1969.

Comisin Nacional de Educacin Fsica (CNEF) (Hrsg.): Gua Nacional de Deportes. Montevideo 1991.

Faktum (Hrsg.): Opinin Pblica. Montevideo 1993.

Gomensoro, A.: Situacin de los Clubes de la Ciudad de Montevideo. In: Nexo Sport (1996) Nr. 164, 5-11.

Schulze, B.: Sport und Gesellschaft in Uruguay. Mnster 2002a.

Schulze, B.: Sportverbnde ohne Markt und Staat. Mnster 2002b.

Contact Bernd Schulze:
 
Westflische Wilhelms-Universitt Münster
Institut für Sportkultur und Weiterbildung
Leonardo-Campus 17
48149 Münster
e-mail: schulzb@uni-muenster.de