13. Sport Clubs in Hungary

Based on the main political and historical changes in Hungarian society, which fundamentally restructured the economic, political and social composition of the country, such as World War II and the pluralistic changes in 1989–1990, the development of sports clubs in Hungary can be divided into the following three periods: first, the era before World War II (Bodnár and Perényi 2012), second, the state socialist era between 1945 and 1989 and third, the new democratic transition period since 1989–1990 (Földesi and Egressy 2005). Through a socio-historical analysis this chapter introduces the meanings, roles and importance given to sport, as well as how this formulated the position of sport clubs in the Hungarian sport system. It is in the characteristics of the former state-socialist countries that the pace and direction of their development differ from those of the Western European countries. Regardless of the different sporting practices in Western Europe, which were also models for implementation in Eastern and Central Europe, their historic difference was deeply ingrained in the foundation of their sporting culture and shaped their sporting practices in a special way. Before World War II, these countries were neither at such a level of development, nor did they have effective organisations in place. Following the war, political notions were strong; those influences formed the mentioned special character of sport also in Hungary. This underlines the reason for a socio-historical approach when introducing the role of sport clubs in policy and society, and gives an answer to the question of why sport clubs exist, how important sport clubs are for society and what contributions they make to local communities.