International Sport Success in a Non-Sovereign Nation: The Case of Judo in Scotland

Abstract

Scotland, often described as a ‘stateless nation’, has a strong cultural identity and rich history, but lacks full independence. The 1998 Scotland Act devolved certain policy and economic responsibilities to Scotland, including sport. The complexities of sport governance in the UK means that some sports have a single national governing body (NGB) at UK-level or home nation level, while others have both. Judo has the latter arrangement therefore, in some settings, judokas can represent Scotland. The rationale for exploring judo in Scotland specifically is that it is a priority sport at performance level for the national sport council, sportscotland, which has resulted in strong international performances over a sustained period. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore why judo became a priority sport in Scotland and the impact of this in terms of the sport’s development. Data were drawn from interviews with informed individuals currently or previously working in the sport in Scotland and review of documents from key organisations.