The difficulties of making sport policy succeed: a case study of Sri Lanka

Although a new Sri Lankan sport policy framework was introduced in 2012, no research has been done to evaluate the implementation of the policy framework. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to evaluate and identify mitigating factors in achieving the strategic goals of the Sri Lankan sport policy framework. Qualitative data and a quantitative approach were used to analyse and investigate the sport policy framework. A questionnaire (N = 240) and interviews (N = 05) were utilised to gather data from sport participants, non-sport participants and top-level sport administrators. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses suggested that the goals of the national sport policy framework have not been achieved. Lack of financial support, deficiency of government provision, institutional structural issues, and negative attitudes of policy actors were identified as mitigating factors in the process of policy implication. Developing an umbrella organisation for coordinating sport and government’s support are vital to resolve those problems.