Mapp Quits In Wake Of Sport England Revamp

After just over a year in the job, Sport England chairman Derek Mapp has resigned following a government restructure of the funding body’s responsibilities.

Following a governmental School and Sport Partnerships conference, it was confirmed that Sport England would no longer take responsibility for getting the nation active – a remit which has now been handed to the Department of Health.

Instead, Sport England will focus exclusively on increasing sports participations, principally through ties with clubs and schools.

The restructure, which is the third such overhaul that Sport England has gone through in the last decade, is believed to have been a cause for concern for Mapp – a scenario that has led to his departure.

Mapp commented: ‘I am deeply unhappy. I was willing to continue to deliver the new agenda but that was not deemed acceptable. Politics is a dirty old game sometimes and I’m a businessman trying to do my best, not a politician.’

Mapp had advised James Purnell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to be cautious about pushing through the changes as he was concerned some organisations would be left without any funding.

Mapp believes that this stance saw him wrongly viewed as being opposed to the new agenda.

Commenting on Mapp’s departure, Sport England chief executive Jennie Price issued a statement which read:

‘We share the Secretary of State’s aspiration to create a world class community sports system. I am confident that Sport England has the skills and experience to develop a genuinely robust and innovative framework which will deliver both an excellent sporting infrastructure and increase participation in sport.

‘Going forward we welcome the prospect of an independent challenge process as we refine our strategy, and will work closely with all our partners –  DCMS, national governing bodies and others – to ensure that we have the right strategy and framework in place to deliver an excellent environment for people of all levels of sporting ability.’

Mapp became chair of Sport England in October 2006.