The stimulation of sports participation in deprived communities : evidence from British coalfields areas

This article uses evidence from a sport initiative by a UK non-sport agency, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, to demonstrate what kinds of sport interventions work in deprived areas and why. Although constrained by the short time period covered by the evaluation of eight pilot models, the evidence of outputs, inputs, value for money and processes involved does lead to conclusions that informed a national roll-out of the programme. In particular, it highlights critical success factors and critical risk factors and it enables four models to be selected as having a greater chance of long-term success.