Changing their game? : the institutional effects of Sport England's lottery fund on voluntary sports clubs.

This thesis investigates the expectations placed on voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) in
exchange for Lottery funding awarded by Sport England. the resulting effects of those
pressures on VSCs' organisational structures and VSCs' responses to these
pressures. Using institutional theory as a framework. it is argued that receipt of
funding from Sport England's Lottery Fund exposes VSCs to the normative
prescriptions of the sports policy sector to a greater extent than they ever were before
applying to the Fund. These normative pressures are reinforced by Sport England
through coercion and the provision of legitimate models for VSCs to mimic resulting in
a more bureaucratic structure for VSCs in receipt of funding.·
The research was conducted in three phases. Phase one constituted the
identification of institutional pressures exerted by Sport England through its Lottery
Fund on VSCs through semi-structured interviews with Sport England staff and
analysis of Lottery Fund documents. A survey of VSCs in receipt of Lottery funding
from Sport England was conducted in phase two to establish any change in the
VSCs' structures since receiving funding. Finally. in phase three. six case studies of
VSCs were selected from phase two. Pairs of VSCs from three sports were selected
for qualitative investigation. One of the pair exhibited an increased level of structure
while the other demonstrated no change or a reduction in its level of structure.
The majority of VSCs surveyed in phase two experienced an increase in structure to
some degree after receiving Lottery funding. However. the case studies in phase
three demonstrate that the changes in VSCs' level of structure cannot be attributed
only to receipt of Lottery funding from Sport England. Two of the six case studies
also made resistant responses to the institutional pressures of Sport England's
Lottery Fund.