This edited collection includes articles which examine the complex relationships between sport, physical activity and public health. It reflects a current expansion in academic, policy and practice interest in sport and physical activity for public health. Our contributors discuss issues connected to the politics and policy of sport, physical activity and public health by focusing on a range of theoretical themes including evidence and knowledge production, national policies and the political promotion of sport and physical activity for health, sports mega-events and public health, social diversity in community sport for health programming, education and training in physical education and fitness sectors, and critical perspectives on partnership working in sport and public health. Overall, the chapters reflect debate about the motivations of national and local government intervention in policy making on public health that includes the role of sport and / or physical activity, and explores the discussions about the impact that such policy decisions have on people and their communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.