Chair Future of the Sport

In the nineteenth century, sport – as a new social concept – was from the start also socially innovative, and female pioneers could practice their sport just as men could (cf. Delheye, 2017; Luitzen, Bollerman & Delheye, 2015). It is striking, however, that this equal treatment did not last for long. Due to conservative and paternalistic forces, sports became institutionalised in bastions of elite, white, male power. 

After the Second World War, there were moves towards emancipation, however the governing bodies still largely remained male and white. It is only recently, as a result of changes in society and thanks to socially progressive campaign groups, that there has been increasing criticism of the fact that the sports world is regulated by white men. Female athletes, for example, have been demanding equal pay, equal media attention, and more input into governing bodies, and are calling for tougher action on harassment and transgressive behaviour. ‘Disadvantaged groups’ (people in poverty, people with a physical or mental handicap, ethnic minorities, those with a migration background, the LGBTQ+ community) no longer want to be side-lined but wish to be taken seriously. Sport is not inclusive by definition, however, but it can further reinforce social segregation.

In addition to the social barriers that are increasingly being criticised, there are also administrative and technological transitions that will impact the future of sport as we know it today. How can the drive to professionalisation be combined with volunteer work? Or with the administrative participation of all stakeholders? How can we strengthen fair play (including financial fair play), or improve the ‘competitive balance’, and combat match fixing? Are international championships – in the literal sense, with athletes competing under their national flag – still relevant today, seeing as top athletes are often naturalised citizens? Will it be possible to combat doping in the future? How should top sports organisations and WADA deal with ‘bionic humans’, or with the selection of embryos? Should there be a separate class of competition for transgender athletes? Etc.

Objectives

Through the Ghent University Chair Future of the Sport, we want to break new ground by promoting a more connected, intersectoral political / official approach to sports and movement. The chair is not in any way a passive observer nor a gatekeeper , but an active facilitator, aiming to build bridges between the different policy areas where sport is – or could be – used as an aim or means.

Through targeted political science research, and also by means of publicly accessible ‘meetings’ about the big social challenges of the future, providing a space where theoretical experts and also actors from the field can enter into dialogue with one another, the Ghent University Chair Future of the Sport is hoping to become a physical (and digital) point of reference for research and knowledge exchange. The chair also aims to pay extra attention to disadvantaged groups, and thus also serve as an emancipatory facilitator with an eye to empowering said groups.

Public donors

Period

2018-present

Supervisor 

Prof. Dr. Herwig Reynaert has been Vice-Rector of Ghent University since October 1, 2025. Previously, he was Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and Chair of the Center for Local Politics. He taught courses on local politics, current issues in local politics, Belgian domestic politics, and internal Belgian politics. He has a keen interest in sports and World War I, which led to the book Olympians in Flanders Fields, which he co-authored with Bart Vangrysperre. This publication also resulted in an exhibition and a music project with Wannes Cappelle and the Royal Harmony Ypriana, with whom Herwig regularly performs. Wannes Cappelle wrote the song ‘Spelen in Berlin’ (Playing in Berlin) especially for the book, which was also translated into English by Luka Bloom. The English version of the book was presented in London. In 2021, the follow-up publication Olympische (over)winnaars (Olympic Winners) was published, in which Herwig and Bart focus on Olympic athletes who survived the First World War and competed in the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

Chair-holder

Prof. Pascal Delheye studied physical education, sports management and history at KU Leuven and at the Claude Bernard University Lyon I. In 2001 he was awarded a PhD fellowship from the FWO (the Flanders research foundation). His doctoral research on the ‘scientification’ of physical education was awarded the Young Investigators Award by the European College of Sport Science. Following his postdoctoral research at KU Leuven and the University of California, Berkeley (USA) he became head of the Department for Historical Kinesiology and Sports History at KU Leuven. 

He has published extensively on the history of sports and physical education, and in 2014 he edited “Making Sport History: Disciplines, Identities and the Historiography of Sport” (Routledge, London & New York). From 2003 to 2008 he was chief editor of Sportimonium, and from 2014 he was co-editor of Sportwereld (www.desportwereld.nl). In 2005, as a literary sidestep, and together with Willie Verhegghe, he also published Ook wij waren winnaars: 150 sportgedichten uit Nederland en Vlaanderen, (We too were winners: 150 sports poems from the Netherlands and Flanders – De Geus / Poëziecentrum Gent). Since 1 January 2017, he has been affiliated with the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at Ghent University, where his sports-political research interests and his social engagement have come together in the Ghent University Frans Verheeke Chair. 

Links

• https://www.detoekomstvandesport.be/ (Dutch)