Adopting a case study approach, this article examines the impact that austerity has had upon a Third Sector sport organisation (TSSO) that specialises in delivering disability sport provision in Liverpool, England. Research Methods In-depth qualitative data was collected from 15 semi-structured interviews with senior officials belonging to the TSSO. Data were thematically analysed to explore stakeholders' perspectives of how the wider fiscal environment has affected the organisation and how such impacts have been managed. Results and Findings The findings illustrate the financial challenges faced by the TSSO as a consequence of reductions in available funding. The article then demonstrates how the TSSO weathers such financial challenges and attempts to grow its delivery capability through partnership and network development. Implications This article identifies the implications imposed upon the TSSO in a time of austerity and explores the management and growth strategies employed by the organisation to navigate these complex circumstances without compromising a steadfast commitment to its mission values.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has already impacted both elite and grassroots sports in a series of ways. Whilst accepting that many answers to emerging and relevant questions cannot be provided at this stage, this commentary discusses some of the organizational prospects of "post-pandemic" sports mega-events by focusing predominantly on the topics of volunteering and security management. Importantly, these are two central facets of mega-event organization that are likely to be impacted by the current crisis in some way as the world of sports aims to resume. By considering a number of emerging questions, this commentary calls for an engagement with some of the individual and social implications related to future mega-event organizations. It sheds light on some of the potential organizational challenges and management issues related to "restarting" sports and provides some directions for future interdisciplinary work.

The purpose of this study was to determine for the first time whether VO2max could be predicted accurately and reliably from a treadmill-based perceptually regulated exercise test (PRET) incorporating a safer and more practical upper limit of RPE 15 ("Hard") than used in previous investigations. Eighteen volunteers (21.7 +/- 2.8 years) completed three treadmill PRETs (each separated by 48 h) and one maximal graded exercise test. Participants self-regulated their exercise at RPE levels 9, 11, 13 and 15 in a continuous and incremental fashion. Oxygen uptake VO2 was recorded continuously during each 3 min bout. VO2 values for the RPE range 9-15 were extrapolated to RPE(19) and RPE(20) using regression analysis to predict individual VO2max scores. The optimal limits of agreement (LoA) between actual (48.0 +/- 6.2 ml kg(-1) min(-1)) and predicted scores were -0.6 +/- 7.1 and -2.5 +/- 9.4 ml kg(-1) min(-1) for the RPE(20) and RPE(19) models, respectively. Reliability analysis for the VO2max predictions yielded LoAs of 1.6 +/- 8.5 (RPE(20)) and 2.7 +/- 9.4 (RPE(19)) ml kg(-1) min(-1) between trials 2 and 3. These findings demonstrate that (with practice) a novel treadmill-based PRET can yield predictions of VO2max that are acceptably reliable and valid amongst young, healthy, and active adults.

The English Premier League possesses multiple global dimensions, including its clubs' economic ownership, player recruitment patterns and television broadcasts of its matches. The owner of Hull City Association Football Club's economic rights, Dr Assam Allam, announced plans to rename the club 'Hull City Tigers' in an attempt to re-orientate the club towards seemingly lucrative East Asian, and specifically Chinese, markets in 2013. This article, first, draws upon Manuel Castells' work in The Rise of the Network Society to critically discuss the logic of Hull City's proposed reorientation to suit 'new middle class' consumers in China and the East Asian global region and second, uses the example to theoretically engage with Castells' idea that 'networks' replace 'hierarchies' as social structures. This leads to the argument that while these plans might intend to strengthen the club's financial position, they overlook a concern with local environments that Castells guides us toward. By looking toward the local consumer practices in China and the East Asian global region, Allam would find: (a) the normalisation in production and consumption of counterfeit club-branded sportswear and television broadcasts which makes increasing the club's revenues difficult; and (b) that the region's 'new middle classes' (marked by disposable income) are unlikely to foster support for Hull City, even if 'Tigers' is added to its name.

Volunteers in sport and recreation represent the largest contribution to volunteerism in the UK (Sport and Recreation Alliance, 2016). In England, for example, 12.7 per cent (5,600,600) of adults over the age of 16 years volunteered in sport between October 2014 and September 2015 (Sport England, 2016). Nichols et al. (2014) state that these volunteers help to sustain approximately 85,000 national governing body affiliated voluntary sports clubs (VSCs) (Nichols et al., 2014). Despite what has proved a relatively stable sport volunteer rate in England since 2010 (Sport England, 2016), 70 per cent of VSCs stress that they desperately need new volunteers (Join In, 2015). Although general levels of formal monthly volunteering in 2014-15 were the same as those recorded in 2001 (27%) (Cabinet Office, 2015), the number of students volunteering in the UK in this period has risen. In 2013, over 725,000 students were reported to be participating in a range of voluntary initiatives organised through their higher education institution (Ellison & Kerr, 2014), compared with the 42,000 recorded by Student Volunteering England in 2004. Those 725,000 students accounted for 31 per cent of all students in higher education in 2013, with their voluntary contributions averaging out at 44 hours across the average 32 week taught term (Ellison & Kerr, 2014). Ellison and Kerr (2014) also reported that 51 per cent of all student volunteers were involved with organising or helping to run an activity or event, and 18 per cent specifically involved in coaching or refereeing sports. This trend coincides with an increase in university-organised and university-led volunteer programmes and placements in recent years, particularly in Western countries (Smith et al., 2010). Many such opportunities are offered as part of integrated community