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A growing trend in welfare economies is governments´ use of voluntary organisations as tools to fulfil wider social goals (Peterson & Lupton, 2000). In Europe specifically, voluntary, non-profit and membership-based sport organisations are, as such, increasingly being used to attain health objectives (Österlind & Wright, 2012; Agergaard & Michelsen la Cour, 2012; Skille, 2008). In this development, policy processes for sport and health have become intertwined and have by that increasingly come to relate to the domain of public health (Stuij & Stokvis, 2014; Michelini, 2013; King, 2009; Coalter, 2013). In Sweden, the Swedish Sport Confederation (SSC) has been given (and taken on) increasing responsibility and has adapted the role of the premier public health promoter (Norberg, 2011; Bolling, 2005). But with this increased responsibility has followed a growing public debate about whether organised sport can deliver against public health objectives in practice. Some point to the deeply rooted tradition and logic of competition in sport as a constraint on the possibilities for sport organisations to implement health policies (Skille, 2011), while others argue that more thought should be given to what kinds of physical activities to encourage (Coalter, 2007; Murphy & Waddington, 1998), if the intention is to improve citizen´s health. Against this backdrop, this study explores sport´s significance and role in public health policy. Drawing on Norman Fairclough´s (1992; 2003) concept of interdiscursivity, it examines how Swedish Government Official Reports on public health treat issues related to sport and how corresponding reports on sport articulate public health issues. The results show how discourses on physical activity and democracy legitimize and consolidate sport´s role in public health, although they differ in their perspectives on health and people which allows for naturalized assumptions (about sport) to be maintained.

This abstract is based on an ongoing study in which data are collected during spring 2016 and preliminary results will be presented at the EASS conference in May 2016. The study aims at making a contribution to the research area of physical activity on prescription, in which knowledge about the role of activity organisers is called for (Kallings et al., 2008; Leijon, 2009). In heeding this call, present study puts focus on the Swedish Sports Confederation (SSC) and how it give meaning to, organises and arranges physical activities for people (patients) which are prescribed physical activity by health care providers. In doing so, this study will add to the existing literature on sport organisations' role in public health promotion (Michelini, 2015; Coalter, 2013; Geidne, Quennerstedt & Eriksson, 2012), and more specifically on the SSC’s potential as physical activity promoter and organiser of activities for people with prescription for physical activity. The study is theoretically based on Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2003, 1992) and data is collected through interviews with leaders, in charge of prescribed physical activity, in the 21 Regional Sports Federations and in a strategic sample of the 71 National Sports Federations.

Globally, public health is a political priority with governments´ increasingly supporting interventions in civil society for reaching health related objectives. There is a worldwide public health focus on increasing population levels of physical activity by prescribing exercise as a preventive strategy against the risk of developing a range of non-communicable diseases. The employment of voluntary sports organisations is increasingly becoming the mechanism for physical activity promotion and the implementation of interventions to raise physical activity levels. This study explores the Swedish Sports Confederation´s (SSC) implementation of physical activity on prescription (PAOP). While studies exist about the effectiveness of exercise referral schemes and programs, for participant adherence, increasing physical activity, fitness or health indicators, knowledge about the role of different organisations in delivering such schemes has been called for. In heeding this call, this study interviewed representatives from the 21 Regional Sports Federations in Sweden involved in leading, organizing and delivering physical activity. The results of the interviewee data provide detail on how PAOP is delivered and received. The presentation summarizes the findings and illustrates the complex barriers and facilitators involved in stimulating and engaging previously inactive participants in sustained physical activity in the Swedish Sports Confederation system.

This chapter examines the work of the organisation StreetGames, which is a UK-based charity launched in 2007. StreetGames aims to bring sport to the doorstep of young people living in disadvantaged communities and in so doing ‘change sport, change lives and change communities’. The insight documented in this chapter is based on this experience viewed through a lens informed by broader debates around young people’s participation and active citizenship. Such debates indicate that, despite considerable efforts, children and young people are still excluded from much of the formal decision-making that impacts on their lives.

In the area of public health, civil society involvement in attaining government objectives on physical activity participation is often carried out by voluntary sport organizations (Agergaard & Michelsen la Cour, 2012; Österlind & Wright, 2014; Skille, 2009; Theeboom, Haudenhuyse, & De Knop, 2010). In Sweden, this responsibility has been given to the Swedish Sport Confederation (SSC), a voluntary and membership-based non-profit organization, granted government authority to govern Swedish sport towards government objectives (Bergsgard & Norberg, 2010; Bolling, 2005). Research has pointed to difficulties for sport organizations to shoulder such responsibilities due to the deeply rooted logic of competition in sport and organizational structures adapted for competitive sport (Skille, 2011; Stenling & Fahlén, 2009). This article focuses on how public health is being constructed, implemented and given meaning within the SSC. Drawing on a critical discourse approach (Fairclough & Fairclough, 2012) this study explores the SSC’s role and position in public health promotion by interviewing SSC representatives and National Sport Organizations’ (NSO) general managers. Results indicate how discourses on democracy, equality and physical activity are used to legitimize the SSC’s role in public health. Also, how these discourses are compromised in practice, posing challenges for organized sport in meeting objectives of public health.