38 Indonesian Journal of Sport Management Original Article Strategic Approach of Managing Violence During Recreational Sports Events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria Authors’ contribution: A. Conception and design of the study B. Acquisition of data C. Analysis and interpretation of data D. Manuscript preparation E. Obtaining funding Article History: Received: November 11, 2021 Revision: February 13, 2022 Accepted: April 4, 2022 Published: April 10, 2022 Ibraheem Tajudeen Olanrewaju1A-E Abdurahman Owoade2A-E* 12*Department of Human Kinetics Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin Nigeria Corresponding author: Abdurahman Owoade, Department of Human Kinetics Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin Nigeria E-mail: abdurahmanowoade@gmail.com How to Cite: Owoade, A. (2022). Strategic Approach of Managing Violence During Recreational Sports Events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria, Indonesian Journal of Sport Management, 2(1), 38-44. https://doi.org/10.31949/ijsm.v2i1.1733 Abstract. This study examined strategic approach of managing violence during recreational sport events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government area, Ogun state, Nigeria. descriptive design of survey type was employed with a population of 144 respondents sampled purposively for the research. A researcher structured questionnaire of strategic management of violence during recreational sports (qsmvdrse) of 4 Likert scale, validated by three experts in Human Kinetics and tested for reliability was used to collect data from respondents. The postulated hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha level using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient. The results (0.320 > 0.147 at df = 142), (0.240> 0.147 at df = 142) and (0.310> 0.147 at df = 142) respectively revealed that Facilities, Organizational Pattern and community involvement are correlates of management of recreational sport violence. I was concluded that availability of Facilities, good organizational pattern and community involvement leads to reduction or eradication of violence during recreational sports events. By this, it was recommended that new facilities should be built while old ones are upgraded to standard, previous events should be properly evaluated, community heads, parents, community security outlets and other stakeholders should be included in the organization and planning of sports event. Keywords: Strategic, involvement, facilities, organizational pattern, violence. Copyright ©(2022) Abdurahman Owoade https://doi.org/10.31949/ijsm.v2i1.1733 Indonesian Journal of Sport Management Owoade, 2 (1), 2022, 38-44 39 INTRODUCTION The value for recreational sports has increased across the globe, owning to the exposure and comments on its physical health benefits and its socio-cultural ability to foster unity, peace and teamwork among other values. Based on the aforementioned, government at different levels, non-governmental and community, based organisations among others now have diverse policies and programs to promote participation in recreational sports among the populace with the underrepresented or marginalized groups in especial. Yet, some members of the population, don’t find it safe to participate due to violence that erupts during recreational sports events (Ramón, et al., 2020). Worthy of note for immediate intervention of stakeholders is the alarming rate at which recreational sport events which is meant to enhance and facilitate peaceful coexistence turns into battle fields leading to chaos and enmity that brings about the opposite of the objectives associated with participation in recreational activities in communities is an eyesore which calls. Violence during recreational sport events has becoming a strong hinderance to the participation of elites and various classes of people who does not like been associate d with chaos and further reduces the level of participation in active recreational activities generally and further prevents the populace from enjoying the benefits of participation. The benefits of recreational sports are evidenced in the works of Olaitan, et al. (2012) stating that sporting activities provides opportunity for social interaction, cost-effective health prevention, building community strength, decrease anti-social behavior among participants and promotes ethno-cultural harmony within the host community. Recreational sports are an integral part of human existence, it has outstanding effect on the development of a whole man in the psychomotor, affective and cognitive domains. Sturts and Ross (2013), revealed that recreational sporting activities aids recovery process from stress and a chance to socially interact with peers. It further avails youths the opportunity to exhibit inbuilt talent and create room for the incubation and development of talents which in turn helps to create jobs and other opportunities for community and individual development. Zou et.al (2019) defined recreational sports (RS) as all forms of sport engaged in by individuals voluntarily for enjoyment purpose during leisure time. It was further stated to be practiced at different levels of the society as amateur sport, this includes various sports played for the fun of it and not to earn a living by it. Furthermore, Ibraheem and Ojo (2014) submitted that recreational sports events are organized to accommodate people from different backgrounds in sports of choice providing a platform for the peaceful coexistence among participants and spectators. Recreational Sports create an avenue for relationship between individuals from different with a leveled playing ground for all participant to enjoy the benefits accrued. Notwithstanding all the benefits mentioned above, some communities Ado -Odo Ota Local Government Area inclusive witness the occurrence violence durin g recreational events. Violence in recreational sport is generally described as all actions against the rules and regulations guiding participation of the games, prone to cause harm or damage to others. Fields, Collins and Comstock (2010) classified violence in sport into two major parts including, the athlete violence and spectator violence, the athlete violence is perpetrated by a player against the rule of the game and injurious to his others, while the latter is based on acts of the spectators which is offensive and could cause chaos at the venue of a sporting event. Young (2012) stated that sports being competitive in nature requires defense and attack in the course of play. For this reason, athletes have bodily contact and sometimes due to the quest to win they make harmful moves. Spectators on the other hand gets violent due to their passion for their team and may eventually engage in actions that may be harmful. Nwaogu, (2020) emphasized that that proper officiating of sporting events maintains order liness and ensures the success of such events by maintenance of rules and regulations governing the process of all sports designed to prevent and manage violence to the barest minimal. However, Indonesian Journal of Sport Management Owoade, 2 (1), 2022, 38-44 40 in recent times it is observed that the presence of rules and regulation and proper officiating alone have not stopped the report of sports violence making it an obligation on recreation and sports managers and administrators to research and make professional submissions which can be employed in the management of sports violence noting that violence during recreational sports events reduces the enjoyment and participation in sports to a large extent. According to the United Nations (2015), community involvement means joint and harmonious participation or cooperation of individuals and groups in a certain community to proffer feasible solutions to their own problems. Kyung (2018) emphasized that the relevance and values of community involvement has been regained across the world giving birth to a wide range of innovation and the inclusion of the concept in solving community-based problems. Notwithstanding, some fields like sports are yet to utilize this in abundance. Asodike (2008), posited that the historically, involvement of communities in sport can be traced back to the colonial administrators who made use of the local communities in the provision and furtherance of western education. This resulted in the creation of the Parent Teacher Association as an avenue for collaboration between schools/structures and the community. Furthermore, The Federal Government of Nigeria emphasizes the role of the community in its own development and management system listing Parent, Religious organizations, Town Unions, Alumni Association, Business Organizations as stakeholders required to get involved in the development of sport in the community (Ogbonnaya, 2011). Travis et.al (2019) is of the opinion that when the community is involved in sporting events there is high possibility of reduction in the tendency of violence among other a nomalies. This in turn increases success rates. Arowolo (2014) further opined that recreational sport events with community member’s involvement in strategic phases of organisation records significant success and less or no violence. However, the involveme nt of the community in recreational sport will go beyond ordinary organisational roles, hence, it is essential to contribute immensely through donation of funds and provision of sporting facilities to reduce violence in secondary schools. Community involvement is however considered a strategy for managing sports violence due to its history of accomplishment in many other social fields such as conflict resolution, health and governance. The function of facilities in the management of sports violence cannot be overemphasized. Adesoye (2012) is of the opinion that one of the means to the achievement of successful sport events in schools and other establishments depends to a great extent, on adequate maintenance and proper management of sport facilities. Sport facilities is a significant device in managing sport violence through provision of seats to spectators, provision of security posts and having a facility which restricts entrance to wanted guests alone goes a long way in managing sports violence. Ogunleye, (2012) further emphasized that inadequate sporting facilities among other inadequacies leads to violence during sports events at all levels exposing athletes, spectators and host communities to havoc and unquantifiable tragedy. Administrative practices of organizers of recreational sport events goes a long way in ensuring the success of such events. Zaman (2012), opined that, organizers should educate spectators on the adverse effect of violence and should control entrance to the venue by denying entrance to known fanatics and hooligans. He further stated that there is usually variation in the nature of Sports events depending on the forms of institutions. In the submission of Fawz (2013), it was established that the success of a recreational sports event can only be achieved through credible and proper organization and management thereby involving effective organizational pattern which makes provision for inconsistencies observed in the process of evaluation of past events. Hall (2014) further submitted that organizers of secondary school sporting events lack proper organizational pattern revealing their failure to plan properly and train key personnel responsible for security management of sporting events. Indonesian Journal of Sport Management Owoade, 2 (1), 2022, 38-44 41 Ado-Odo Ota local government is one of the 19 local government areas in Ogun state, it has been in existence since May 19 1989 after the merging of Ota a part of the old Ifo/Ota local government to the Ado Odo/Igbesa area parts of Yewa south local government, the local government with headquarters in Ota which boarders metropolitan Lagos is said to be the second largest local government area with a population of 526,565 populaces according to the 2006 population census. Ado odo ota local government consists of towns namely Ota, Ado -Odo, Agbara, Igbesa, Itele, Iju Ota, Kooko Ebiye,Owode, Sango Ota and other villages, the local government consists mainly of the Awori people, a subset of Yorubas who are indigenously hunters and farmers. Statement of the problem The researcher observed that most recreational sports, football competitions in especial in Ota township of Ado-Odo Ota local government end in riot or violence with reverence to the competition organized in 2016 which went smoothly until the award of penalty kick to the visiting team against the home team, the penalty kick led to protest by the home supporters eventually leading to physical combat between players and supporters. The absence of security personnel made the free for all last for hours affecting movement of people and hinderin g people from engaging in their everyday activities. A lot of properties were damaged and lots of people injured. It is observed that ordinary management does not assure a perfect success story in the management of sport violence, thus the proposal of strategic management pattern which channel investigations on the community, organizational pattern and facilities are required in the management of sports violence in Ado-Odo/Ota local government area Ogun state. Most times the simple aggression in some sports turns into an uncontrolled situation leading to riots and crises causing major and minor physical injury, psychological and emotional tension. The issue of most sporting events ending up being disrupted and resulting into violence is prominent in this area. In the works of Hanafiah, et al. (2010), sports violence and some other factors were recorded to result to thousands of deaths and injuries during and after sports events. The study of Ibraheem, et al. (2015), observed that credentialing of sports venue, poor facilities and officiating usually lead to sports violence, therefore recommended that credentialing of participating athletes, availability of good sports facilities and officiating determined sports venue security. However, the variables worked upon need to be beefed up in which this research investigates The following research questions were answered: How adequate are sports facilities as provisions against violence in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun state? METHOD This research was conducted in Ado-Odo Ota local government area of Ogun state to examine strategic ways of managing of recreational sports violence among youths. adopting a descriptive research of survey type. The population of the study contains all the 48 principals of public secondary schools, 48 games masters of all public schools and all 48 chairmen of Parent Teachers Association (the selected respondents are active members of based community organisations and major stakeholders in administration of recreational sports in Ado-Odo/Ota local government Area). Purposive sampling was used to select 144 respondents for the study. A researcher designed questionnaire was used to elicit data from respondents. The questionnaire consisted of two sections; Section (A & B). Section A seeks information of demographic data and Section B ask questions to gather information on the postulated hypotheses. The questionnaire was validated by three experts of Human Kinetics. A test-retest method of reliability was used to test the consistency of the instrument. 10 copies of the questionnaire were administered within the interval of two weeks to principals, games masters Indonesian Journal of Sport Management Owoade, 2 (1), 2022, 38-44 42 and chairmen of Parent Teacher Association of secondary schools in Ifo local government Area, Ogun State and a correlation of 0.82r was obtained which confirmed that the instrument was reliable. The instrument was administered by the researchers, respondents were requested to fill and return the questionnaire after completion. Descriptive statistics of frequency count and percentage was used to analyze the demographic data of the respondents while inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. RESULT AND DISCUSSION There is no significant relationship between facilities and managementof violence during recreational sports events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. Table 1. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation analysis showing the correlation of facilities and management of violence during recreational sports events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. Variable N Mean St. Deviation R-value Critical Value Sig Remark Facilities 21.20 1.312 0.310 0.147 0.01 Reject 144 142 Sport Violence 30.11 1.153 Table 1 indicates that the mean and standard deviation 21.20 ± 1.312 calculated value of 0.310 and the critical value of 0.147 with the degree of freedom of 142 at 0.05 alpha level. Since the calculated value is greater than the table value, the null hypothesis is rejected. This implies that provision of standardized facilities supports the management of sports Violence in Ado - Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. The tested hypothesis one revealed that there is significant relationship between facilities and management violence during recreational sports events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. This finding supports the view of Fried (2012) who emphasized that inadequate sporting facilities among other inadequacies leads to violence during sports events at all levels exposing athletes, spectators and host communities to havoc and unquantifiable tragedy. Revealing that a facility which controls the entrance of spectators to checkmate potential violent spectators which could disrupt the peace of the venue goes a long way in preventing sports violence. The tested hypothesis two revealed that there is a significant relationship between organization pattern and management of violence during recreational sports events in Ado- Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. This finding is in the support of the view of Roth and Theodore (2006) who established that the success of an intramural sports event can only be achieved through credible and proper organization and management thereby involving effective organizational pattern making provisions for inconsistencies observed in the process of the evaluation of past events. The tested hypothesis three revealed that there is a significant relationship between community involvement and management of violence in recreational sports events in Ado - Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. This finding support the view of Arowolo (2014) who stated that sport events which admitted community member’s involvement from planning to the staging of the event recorded significant success and less or no violence, community members involves in sport through contributions, donation of funds, building of sporting facilities and support of the events with security personnel who have first grade knowledge of the community and its members. Indonesian Journal of Sport Management Owoade, 2 (1), 2022, 38-44 43 CONCLUSION Based on the finding of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: there is significant relationship between sporting facilities and management of violence during recreational sports events in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. 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