After 1947 – Towards a Youth and Sports Policy Sports: The Bond of the French Union?

International audienceIn the context of reconstruction, sport was a component of education and considered useful to complete the individual’s training. Because sport brings people together, it was the ideal instrument to ensure the unity of a country racked by tensions and oppositions. Could not sport help restore the French Union, made vulnerable by the expression of Malagasy nationalism? The first part of this article describes the implementation and organisation of the new sports administration along the values it intended to promote. The second part covers the strategies developed by the colonial administration to regain control over sports structures, in line with the generalisation of the principle of free association in 1946. Thirdly, the paper analyses the revival of a sport policy officially focused on mass sports, but which in fact excluded the most popular activities