An approach to the sport practice of immigrants in their free time in Catalonia

The recent arrival in Catalonia of immigrants from the four corners of the world is testing Catalan society’s limits of inclusion. Free time is one of the privileged spaces for fomenting such inclusion, and sport and physical pursuits are highly appropriate activities. First, this article reviews the current policies in this respect at three levels: European, Spanish and Catalan. This is followed by the presentation of data from a small ad hoc study on six medium-size cities conducted with the aim of ascertaining the impact these policies have had on a local scale. The paper concludes by exploring possible means for further probing in the light of the shortages and new areas opened up by the research carried out.