The case for sports infrastructure

Dec 05, 2020

The gap is still too wide and to compete with developed countries with excellent sports infrastructure is harder than we imagine.

Mariam Mell'Osiime Mpaata

Recently I had a thought-provoking conversation with my twenty-one-year-old son regarding the relationship between infrastructure and sports excellence. My son is not an expert on this matter but as a student of football studies, picking his brains on the matter was an interesting angle.

According to Imran Mpaata, a student at Solent University, elite infrastructure almost guarantees elite players. Having experienced pitches both in East Africa and Europe, the young man believes the low numbers of African professional players in the international big leagues can be traced to among other things the low investment in our sports infrastructure.

The gap is still too wide and to compete with developed countries with excellent sports infrastructure is harder than we imagine.

I couldn't agree more, the breakdown of sports facilities and infrastructure is still a relatively new area of research. This elevates the challenge to create optimal and yet affordable and sustainable facilities for athletes of all levels to train and compete within. However, it is also sensible to note that there are quite several players who pursued excellence even though they kicked off their careers from a poor state of sporting infrastructure. Players like Pele begun their rise to success from the streets of Bauru in Brazil, we later witnessed his full potential when he was recruited to Santos football club, one of Brazil's top football club. It is therefore possible to spot many talents from the sandy and dusty pitches within Africa, but this talent cannot blossom to its full potential unless it is backed up by upgraded and sustainable infrastructure. That is the missing link. We have potentially talented players but we don't have the facilities and conditions to produce world-class talent. It is a painful truth.


From a practical point of view, sports infrastructure can be defined as the primary physical and organizational construction needed to facilitate sport participation. This kind of infrastructure not only includes playing fields and stadiums, sports halls, swimming pools, fitness centres but also transparent and sustainable systems, and policies within the sports industry.

We continue to see sport policies aiming at increasing mass participation stressing the importance of sports infrastructure, unfortunately, this necessity appears to be ignored by the majority of officials and governments. On the other hand, as we continue to applaud and celebrate some of the noticeable performances from our sports achievers like the recent outstanding win by Jacob Kiplimo in the World Half Marathon in a Championship Record and National Record time of 58:49 in Gydnia, Poland,  perhaps we should be asking ourselves, what more should be done to produce more world-class athletes like Kiplimo?  

It is quite evident that West African countries like Egypt and Nigeria who have displayed their dominance in sports like football for years have financial investments that have contributed to their outgoing development in the sports industry. Their continued brilliant performances during the international stages speak for themselves. Football players such as Mohammed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt), Sadio Mane (Liverpool & Senegal), and Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City & Algeria) are just a few of the successful players, not to forget Mahrez leading Algeria to win the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The mentioned countries have excelled in developing their football industry and continue to close the gap between the African and European/Asian countries in sports infrastructure.

Uganda on the other hand is among the many African countries that are yet to take this sports investment to the top. We have a handful of stadiums concentrated in Kampala city mainly Mandela stadium, St. Mary's Kitende, StarTimes Arena, and Nakivubo stadium,  together with others like Kyambogo cricket oval, and Lugogo stadium which host quite a large number of fans, especially during international and highly anticipated club matches. However, the need to increase modern sports facilities across the country is wanting and much needed.

Oftentimes, subjective measures of infrastructure are employed, leading to biased results. For example, inactive people have a worse perception of the actual supply of these facilities and might not see the need for increased investment in the area if they are within decision-making systems. However, as we head into the era where research has shown us that sports is big business, and that to gain from it, we must be willing to change our mindset and invest heavily in the industry.  

Apart from developing talent and competing on international levels, sports is increasingly seen as a central strategy for communities to promote their image, create economic opportunities and global position, undertake regeneration, and tackle problems of social exclusion. Governments and stakeholders, therefore, have a lot to gain by investing in the sports industry.  

I believe equipping stakeholders with sports knowledge like sports management, facility management, and so forth could be another angle towards professionalising sports and reaping more benefits.

The writer, Mariam is a sports activist with a master's in sports management from Real Madrid Graduate School.  

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