A thematic analysis of community engagement initiatives in Australian football

Introduction: Sporting organisations are in a unique position to promote social inclusion and positive health behaviours including physical activity (PA). Although most professional Australian football clubs of all codes have an interest in promoting health and wellbeing in their communities, many conduct programs in a nontargeted manner without independent evaluations of their impact. The purpose of this study was to systematically collate, evaluate, and thematically analyse publicly available information about community engagement programs delivered by professional football clubs in Australia. Methods: Information about community engagement programs delivered through professional football (men's and women's) was sourced from club websites and publicly available reports between August and October 2017. Using an interpretivist, inductive approach, a textual analysis identified common themes related to the key characteristics of community engagement programs such as target population groups, commonly targeted lifestyle behaviours, and (when provided) the details of formal program evaluations. Results: In the National Rugby League (NRL), the primary target population groups for community engagement initiatives included school students (13/16 clubs), Indigenous Australians (7/16 clubs), and those from disadvantaged communities (5/16 clubs). In the Australian Football league (AFL), initiatives were designed to engage school students (14/18 clubs), Indigenous Australians (9/18 clubs) and those from culturally diverse backgrounds (6/18 clubs). In the A-League (soccer), the majority of initiatives engaged school students (8/10 clubs). Australian Super Rugby clubs reported on few community engagement initiatives and focused primarily on charity work, player appearances and athlete, coach and referee development. Primary themes within community engagement initiatives included general health and wellness, mental health, bullying, violence prevention, educational attainment (such as school attendance and tertiary education pathways), community cohesion and social inclusion. Only fifteen clubs (∼31%) conducted programs with PA as a specific target behaviour. Stakeholder engagement varied across programs and partners included not-for-profit organisations, local councils, corporate sponsors and universities. Few clubs reported on outcomes of their initiatives, so the effectiveness of community engagement initiatives is largely unknown. Discussion: Football clubs conduct community engagement initiatives across a breadth of topics, yet many fail to evaluate and report on the outcomes of these initiatives. Sporting clubs are encouraged to collect evidence of, and report on program effectiveness, to inform future initiatives. In doing so, clubs can better capitalise on their success and level of engagement with the community to encourage higher levels of PA and sport participation.