Abstract
This study departs from the premise that previous research, which focused on sport tourism participation, including motivation, has largely been conducted with specific reference to male dominated sport, particularly soccer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the motivations and challenges linked to women’s soccer in Gauteng province in South Africa and understand how this motivations influence the decision to participate in sport tourism activities.
This study adopted a mixed-methods approach, where quantitative data was collected at three different women’s soccer events in Gauteng, and qualitative interviews were conducted with key stakeholders directly involved in the advancement of women’s soccer. The study adopted the spatially based systematic sampling technique to collect the quantitative data and 167 useable surveys were collected. The five key stakeholders were purposely selected for the qualitative interviews, based on their role and involvement in women’s soccer. The study findings are based on the responses of the participants. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), and qualitative data was analysed using thematic content analysis where themes were identified and grouped together based on the responses.
The key findings of the study revealed socialising, and observing the skill of the players as some of the main motivations for attending women’s soccer events. In terms of challenges, it was noted that the late release of fixture dates, delays plans to attend women’s soccer events.
The study concluded that stakeholders directly involved in the advancement of women’s soccer need to work together to combat these challenges; furthermore, communities need to show more support for women’s soccer.
M.A