Sport has become one of the main forms of mass communication helping to shape world public opinion. Physical education and sport is also vital for the overall education of young people. It helps children to achieve mind-body unity, to learn how to seek victory and accept defeat and to become citizens of the world without ceasing to be a citizen of their own country. Thus, sport is education. Yet, governments the world over are neglecting the physical education and sport programmes of schools, often channelling funds to privately-run sport associations.
Sport today is a sound investment.
In the United Kingdom, for instance, the resources that sport provides to the state are four times greater than the state's investment in this sector. A Dutch study reckoned that if, for one reason or another, the country's sporting activities were dropped, some 300,000 jobs would be lost. Competitive sport has therefore become a business linked to the world of finance. If sport is good for the economy, it is also good for health and the full development of the individual. The colossal sums generated by major sporting events generally go, he says, to private sports associations and clubs.