SETTLEMENT-LEVEL CHARACTERISTICS OF HUNGARIAN NATIONAL PITCH-BUILDING PROGRAMME

Abstract

In the past decade, the investments implemented under the Hungarian National Pitch-building Programme constituted an important part of the sport facilities development activities of local governments. In the spirit of that, the aim of the study – relying on the database of the Hungarian Football Federation - is to identify the peculiarities of the project on the settlement level, to analyse the temporal changes and to demonstrate the relationships between the football pitches constructed and the various specificities of the settlements (e.g. number of population, economic development, administrative role).

The researches have shown that the size of settlements determines to a significant degree the size of the pitches built, and the economic power of the local authorities (especially the amount of local taxes) considerably influences the willingness to construct football pitches. Relevant time-trend analysis revealed the growing role of settlements with lower population number, and the declining importance of the administrative role (preference of district centres).