Sport and climate change: ‘bottom‑up’ manager perspectives of climate impacts, climate adaptation and implications for sport policy

Community sport is the foundation of sport systems, yet it faces a contemporary challenge: climate hazards and a diverse set of impacts associated with climate change. Sport policy research gives little guidance to policymakers about climate hazards or how to adapt to their impacts. The aim of this study is to examine managers’ perceptions of climate impacts on sport at a community level, how managers at this level interpret and respond to such impacts, and implications for sport policy. To address this research aim, a mixed‑methods research design was used. Qualitative data were collected through 23 in-depth interviews with managers from clubs and state sporting organisations for the sports of cricket, football, tennis and triathlon in Australia, and from local government managers of community sport facilities. Data themes and sub-themes were developed using reflexive thematic analysis. Quantitative data were collected using an online survey. From the qualitative data, five themes were developed: (1) a range of climate hazards disrupted sport; (2) perceived future climate risks; (3) multifaceted climate impacts on sport; (4) participant interpretations of climate hazards and climate change; (5) climate adaptation was incremental, not transformative. From the quantitative data, only incremental climate change adaptation was evident. A policy void was apparent. There is a role for sport policy to encourage community-level managers to become transformative climate change adaptation actors. One-size-fits-all sport policy appears inadequate for climate change adaptation in climatically diverse nations like Australia. The findings indicate a new frontier for sport policy and sport policy research.