Netherlands: sports clubs at the heart of society and sports policy (2020)

Sports clubs in the Netherlands have an important societal position. They play a role in the everyday life of many Dutch people, and they are increasingly asked to take up roles in public health promotion and societal integration. Given their characteristics, it is not surprising that sports clubs are ascribed these roles in policies.

On average, Dutch sports clubs have a relative large organisational capacity, because they have relatively large numbers of members and volunteers and they often possess their own sports facilities. These traits make them interesting potential partners for national and local policy-makers from different policy domains. Sports clubs also ascribe this societal position and role as policy partner to themselves.

However, this chapter also shows that Dutch sports clubs are still mainly focused on organising their core sports activities, which is challenging enough for many clubs. Policy initiatives aimed at strengthening sports clubs could help to enrich their societal functions. In addition, this chapter illustrates that clubs have difficulty to get their members active in democratic decision-making and volunteering. New ways of designing the volunteering positions are needed to maintain the clubs’ strengths.