The politics of sport and symbolism in the city: a case study of the Lyon conurbation

Abstract

This article reviews the nature of sports policy to emerge in the French city in the period since the introduction of decentralization legislation in the early 1980s. It reports a case study of policy in the city of Lyon, focusing in particular on five communes of varying political complexion and seeking to identify whether significant differences are evident in the sports policy programmes followed by communist, socialist, and Gaullist controlled local authorities. The study concludes that sport reflects a policy area of increasing significance for those from a variety of political backgrounds, with little variation across the political spectrum in terms of the policy approaches adopted. The wide appeal of sport as a significant area of urban policy is explained in large part by reference to sport’s rich symbolic potential in conveying meanings or images of physical locations, and of individuals and groups, in the city.