Global Sports Policy Review (GSPR) is an e-journal established by Subhrajit Chanda, a young law student, that promotes all kinds of sports among students, researchers and enthusiasts by addressing overall sports curriculum and sports policy.   

The spirit of sport spreads far and wide; it touches lives across boundaries and broadens its gamut among people of different professions. And so, in a friendly chat, the team of Sportsavour found a Master of Laws who got bowled away by the charisma of sport and thus, amalgamated his profession along with his passion. Subhrajit Chanda, a young Indian with a vision of his own. An LL.M in Energy Law, Subhrajit went to study Sports Law at Nottingham Trent University in United Kingdom with an international scholarship so that he could contribute towards sport. While pursuing his degree, he also worked as a sports mentor volunteer at the University. After returning to India, Subhrajit initiated a sports e-journal known as Global Sports Policy Review (GSPR).      

Concept of GSPR

Subhrajit Chanda: When I was studying at Nottingham Trent University, I understood how sports law was an important and developed subject in the UK. Even small countries like New Zealand, West Indies, Croatia and Ghana have a proper developed knowledge of sports and education related to it. The people undertaking sports education there have access to several journals. However, I soon discovered that most of these journals have a number of drawbacks, like having high accessible fees, limited scope of content which is only focused on the legal aspects of sports and a virtual oligopoly on sports law journal market.  These shortcomings make difficult for true sports enthusiasts to have multidisciplinary stream of research content without spending a fortune on the same.

This is exactly what clicked in my mind and this was how Global Sports Policy Review (GSPR) came into existence. This is a journal for sports enthusiasts irrespective of boundaries. See, where every sport itself believes in the fact that there should be equal opportunities, then creating certain barriers to prevent true sports enthusiasts from learning about latest development in sports is not justified.

Principle determining factor behind the name

Subhrajit Chanda: I think it came naturally when we realised what our journal wanted to do since its inception. ‘Global Sports’ because we wanted to cover all kinds of sports and not to be focused on any popular sport. We want to have elaborate discussion on niche sports like kho- kho, kabaddi, wrestling, e-sports and others too. And ‘Policy review’ is so used because like I said before, we want to bring a change, i.e. review the way we perceive sports research and education not just in India but globally. Therefore Global Sports Policy Review seems apt given our objectives.

Objectives of GSPR

Subhrajit Chanda: See the primary objective of GSPR is to ensure that sports education is made affordable to everyone who is enthusiastic about sports. Through my team and me we want to assure people that if you are really interested in researching and studying about sports, you do not have to spend a fortune for the same. And I know this because, even I am from middle-class family and I know how I had suffered to earn my knowledge in Law of Sports. So I want to make a try to make this accessible to anyone who have interest; so that you can sit anywhere, can open your internet, and study or submit your research thoughts. That’s why GSPR will be coming out with a small course soon.

Uniqueness of GSPR

Subhrajit Chanda: What makes GSPR unique is that it is the first of its kind multidisciplinary online sports journal which combines articles addressing the overall sports curriculum and sports policy matters revolving around legal, administrative and all other sports-related policies. Also we pride ourselves in accepting research articles from all divisions of scholarly society, as well as students and sports enthusiasts. Additionally, in furtherance of our objective to make sports education affordable to everyone, we have a library section that contain both popular sports fiction and non-fiction books, free of cost to those who really want to gain knowledge and understanding. These books are expensive, so we are trying to make them affordable. That’s the reason we have a tagline “a complete sports journal for the people.”

Setting goals for GSPR

Subhrajit Chanda: The ultimate goal of GSPR is to bring a revolution in the way we study and perceive sports education not just in India but all over the world. We do that through an effective and dedicated team of students who are focused on improving the quality of sports research and education. We aim to be the first journal from India to cover sports law, sports management, sports journalism and other sports education-oriented subjects by maintaining our uniqueness. People normally complain about lack of sports education in India but no one tries to bring the change that is needed. So I thought except complaining and saying we need to develop, why not take the initiative myself and come out with something and set a goal for others to develop themselves too.