This paper reports on a cross-cultural study aiming to determine and to compare constraints relating to participation in recreational sporting activities. Data were collected from two student surveys at Manchester (England) and Esfahan (Iran) Universities. Both sets of samples were divided into participation and non-participation groups. In the light of indicators from previous studies (Jackson and Dunn, 1991; Crawford and Godbey, 1987 and McGuire et al., 1989), constraints were subjected to factor analysis. They were then classified into three categories: intra-personal, interpersonal, and structural constraints and analysed to determine the differences between the English and Iranian students and between the participation and non-participation groups. The study found that structural constraints (money, facilities, time, and transportation) were rated significantly higher than intrapersonal and interpersonal constraints amongst both English and Iranian samples. However, all the mean scores for the constraint factors for the Iranian samples were higher than the English samples. For participants and non-participants in both English and Iranian samples, the investigation provided support for the hierarchical model of leisure constraints (Crawford, Jackson and Godbey, 1991), and the "hierarchy of importance" (Crawford et al., 1991), "negotiation" and "balance" (Jackson, Crawford and Godbey, 1993) propositions, which followed the introduction of this model. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the planning, provision and management of sport-related services in the area of the study, and a cross-cultural comparison. The paper also discusses methodological and theoretical considerations and implications.