Funding Axed For GB Volleyball Teams

British Volleyball has announced that public funding for Great Britain’s women’s volleyball team and men’s beach volleyball team will cease from 1st October, leaving their participation in the London 2012 Olympics in doubt.

Volleyball was one of eight sports that had its London 2012 funding slashed by UK Sport because of a £50m budget shortfall.

British Volleyball, the game’s governing body, saw its pre-Beijing 2008 budget of £4.3m cut to £2.2m for the years up to the London Olympics.

As a result it has decided to concentrate its available budget on the men’s indoor volleyball, women’s beach volleyball and sitting volleyball programmes.

The women have already begun seeking funding from sponsorship and commercial sources and the men may follow suit.

The Great Britain volleyball programme is the largest of any team sport and consists of indoor volleyball for both men and women, beach volleyball for men and women, and Paralympic volleyball for men and women.

All six teams have automatic host-country qualification for the London Olympics, as laid down by the respective international federations the International Volleyball Federation and World Volleyball Organisation for the Disabled.

In February 2009 British volleyball chiefs said the sport faced ‘extreme challenges’ because of pre-Olympic funding cuts by UK Sport.

Great Britain’s women volleyballers recently embarked on a 272-mile bike ride to raise £250,000 to keep their Olympic dreams alive.

Liz Nicholl, chief operating officer at UK Sport, stated: ‘For the London Games, UK Sport has invested record sums in volleyball, with over £4m supporting the Olympic and Paralympic programmes.

‘The decision made today by the BVF board maximises the support for those teams with the greatest performance potential.’