ABSTRACT
Various stakeholders now recognise sports events as sites through which to position sport as a means to achieve social and economic development and peaceful co-existence, particularly within emerging nations and communities in the global South. These sports events include ‘first order’ mega-events such as the Olympic/Paralympic Games and FIFA World Cup, characterised by their global size and scope, through to ‘second order’ events like the Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and World Championships in sports like cricket and rugby that tend to be pursued by smaller or more peripheral cities and countries, particularly in emerging polities (Black 2008). Indeed, international organizations (IOs) such as the United Nations (UN) as well as other (international) non-governmental organizations [(I)NGOs] now work to promote and leverage the potential impact of sports events in development terms. The term ‘International Non-Governmental Organizations’ describes such organizations that work both domestically and across defined borders (see Boli and Thomas 1997).
