Abstract
This article aims to add to the existing body of literature on sport mega-event legacy an analysis of stories as an innovative way of interpreting sport mega-events’ legacies. In our case study we show how citizens from one Johannesburg township make sense of the legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup one year after the event. For this we focus on the FIFA Football for Hope program, a sport for development program run by FIFA. We analyse stories from organizing parties behind the program and from residents that are familiar with the program. Using Coalter’s distinction between sport plus and plus sport in conceptualising sport for development, we show that organizing parties structure their narratives on a plus sport perspective, while local residents of the township of Alexandra use both perspectives in making sense of the legacy of World Cup. Residents perceive changes in public safety and the image of Alexandra as the most important positive legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. At the same time they take a critical stance towards the World Cup’s legacy by means of the Football for Hope program, because of implementation constraints.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 145-154 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2015 |
Keywords
- Legacy
- sport mega-event
- FIFA World Cup
- sport-for-development
- narrative analysis