Spain: Conviviality, Social Relationships and Democracy at the Basis of Spanish Sports Clubs’ Culture

This chapter provides an overview of the main functions of sports clubs in Spanish society with regard to social integration, democratic involvement and voluntary work. At the European level, Spanish sports clubs are among the front-runners in terms of presence of people with disabilities, at the average when it comes to people with migrant background and far below the average concerning people over 65 years old and women. Talking about democratic involvement and engagement for the community, most of the clubs try to involve members when making important decisions and delegate decision-making from the board to their committees. On the other hand, their members report the democratic culture and freedom of expression they enjoy in their clubs. With regard to voluntary work, only one third of Spanish sports clubs have more than ten volunteers in fixed or non-fixed positions, although they tend to agree that voluntary work should continue to play a fundamental role in sports clubs. This is consistent with their lower repertory of recruitment and retention of volunteers’ strategies, which, in turn, is connected with the fact that they are among the youngest and smallest sports clubs in Europe.