Sport England Reveals Latest Funding
Sport England has announced a £493 million four-year investment to help fulfil Lord Coe’s pledge that the Games would get more people – young and old, women and men – playing sport, a feat that no other host nation has ever managed to achieve.
Cycling, netball, wheelchair basketball and triathlon are among the sports being rewarded for their plans grassroots sport, all receiving funding increases of over 30%. However, rugby union, rugby league and cricket have had their funding cut.
The key figures are:
- Cycling up by £7.3m from £24.7 to £32m after their Sky Ride initiative saw a huge increase in cycling numbers.
- Netball up to £25.3m from £18.7m after they showed an understanding what women want from sport to increase their participation numbers.
- Triathlon up by £2.8m from £4.7m to £7.5m after a dramatic increase in participants.
- Cricket investment is down by £15.2m to £20m, although there will be a further £7.5m investment in the Cricket Foundation
- Both rugby league and rugby union have had their funding cut by £10.1m and £8.8m respectively.
- Swimming, tennis and basketball have just one-year investments and will have to demonstrate they can increase participation to receive more.
- Handball, which has seen a huge participation increase since London 2012, has seen their investment doubled from £0.6m to £1.2m.
Swimming, tennis and basketball have only been given one-year funding awards, with the rest held back dependant upon agreed participation targets being met.
Meanwhile, British Swimming is bracing itself for a funding cut when UK Sport reveals how it will divide up its money for all elite Olympic athletes on Tuesday.
Team GB won three medals in the pool at London 2012 after UK Sport set a target of five to seven.
Sport England’s chief executive, Jennie Price, said: ‘This investment represents Years 5 to 8 of our long term plan to get more people playing sport. We’ve learned a lot over the last four years and with a record 15.5 million people already playing sport once a week, we are on track to deliver. We have worked very hard, with the governing bodies of sport, to make these decisions, and I believe they are right.’
Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson said: ‘This public investment of almost half a billion pounds for grassroots sport will help us deliver a real legacy from the London 2012 Games. We want all sports governing bodies to help inspire a generation and create a culture where people have a sporting habit for life.’
