The Dark Sides of Sport Governance

This chapter summarizes existing scholarship about the dark sides of sport governing bodies. We define as the dark sides of sport governance those behaviors that are detrimental for sport, sports associations and their civil and democratic nature, or those behaviors violating legal or organizational norms, or those that are deliberately harmful for sporting people, specific social groups or even for the whole society. Frequently, the dark sides of sport governance are expressed through power games, allegiances or various forms of corruption. On the other hand, the dark sides of sport governance shall not be confused with any form of struggle and conflict, which can be an inherent part of sport governance and democratic discussion among members and governance boards.