Abstract

This article explores the impact of UK sport policy on the governance of athletics in the UK. It argues that UK Athletics (UKA) has been profoundly influenced by the Labour government's wider modernisation agenda, which saw the increasing involvement of central government and its agencies in public policy. The article draws on the debates around the term 'New Managerialism' as a way of understanding how and why UKA has modernised its values, techniques and practices along business lines. The paper traces the impact this has had on UKA policy and how this has led UKA management to develop a narrow, short-term target-centred approach to athletics. Finally, the paper argues that the modernisation of UKA along 'new managerialist' lines has led to a shift in national governing body (NGB) accountability away from its stakeholders, including the grass-roots, and up towards UK Sport. Verf.-Referat