ABSTRACT
The term ‘sport’ has thus been socially constructed and has acquired different meanings at different times in its historical development as well as in different societies. Standeven and De Knop (1999) compare the different conceptions of sport across various continents comparing the much narrower definitions of sport in North America, where it is defined very much in terms of institutionalized, competitive activity, to those in Europe which are generally looser. For example, the Council of Europe (1992) defined sport as ‘all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organized participation, aims at improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships, or obtaining results in competition at all levels’ (in Sports Council, 1994: 4).
