A Sports Based Social Enterprise. Huddersfield Lawn Tennis and Squash Club Ltd

Abstract of the Case
The case study is about a Tennis and Squash club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom (UK) that has been in existence for over 135 year. It has faced and overcome many challenges in its history but none as great has those faced today. The surrounding political, cultural and socio- economic environment has seen huge shifts in emphasis. The industry it operates in, sports and leisure has become more competitive as lifestyles have changed.
It is only in the last decade that social entrepreneurship as a concept has been introduced to sports based clubs at the practical level. These pressures have driven sports based members clubs to be more innovative and take risks in order to find new ways for financial sustainability and survival. Those that fail to make this shift ultimately go out of existence. Yet have these types of clubs the resources, capabilities and vision to achieve the dual mission of financial sustainability and participation in sport? Or is success highly subject to luck?
Surprisingly very little academic inquiry and research has been carried out in this field at the theoretical level. Yet at the same time there has been a growth and sophistication in the level of theoretical research of other types of social enterprises that now stretches back over 30 years. Commentators have identified that there is a growing need to bring together these disciplines. That is: the management of traditional UK sports clubs and the more developed research field of social entrepreneurship. Only by doing this it can be fully judged if there is an opportunity for a transfer in learning.