Sport England has announced investment of £3.1 million into community sports clubs and coaches in the East Midlands. A total of £38.3 million is being invested throughout England to get more people involved in sport.

The funding will create 241 enhanced and improved sports clubs and 84 coaches in the East Midlands between now and March 2010. This will increase opportunities for over 40,000 people across the region to get more involved in sport.

Len Jackson, Chair of Chair of the East Midlands Regional Sports Board, said:

“Clubs and coaches are at the heart of community sport. This investment will help us achieve our ambition of getting 158,850 people in the region participating more in sport by 2012. This investment is a major boost for community sport and will make the job of people on the ground who make sport happen much easier.”

Each of Sport England’s nine Regional Sports Boards decided in March how the investment should be spent in their region to increase participation in sport. Every region has a vital role to play in helping Sport England achieve its ambition of getting 2 million people participating more in sport by 2012.

The money will be invested into sports clubs and coaches via national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) in each Sport England region. Sport England will be working closely with national governing bodies over the coming weeks and months to finalise exactly where and how the funding will be allocated. The funding will help sports clubs create sporting pathways so that everyone has the ability to reach their potential.

Minister for Sport Richard Caborn said:

“We are investing £160 million of public money into community sports clubs and coaching in the four years to 2008.  We have put 3,000 community coach posts in place and have built or refurbished over 1,000 sports clubs. This additional £38 million will help to strengthen community sport further and underlines the commitment Sport England and the Government has in increasing sport participation up and down the country.”

Derek Mapp, Chairman of Sport England, said:

“This is much needed good news for community sport. What we at Sport England are now focusing on is how we can energise the nation and get them doing more sport”.

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For further information, please contact Robert Knott, Communications & Knowledge Manager for Sport England East Midlands region (020 7273 1751) or Alex Russell, Regional PR Manager (020 7273 1866).

Notes to Editors:

Sport England:
Sport England exists to sustain and increase participation in community sport. It is a non-departmental public body and Lottery distributor. Our ambition is to get two million people participating more in sport by 2012. We do this by promoting, advising and investing in community sport.

Additional information about the Club and Coach fund:

A total of £38.3 million will be invested in community sport through the Club and Coach Fund.

The majority (£32.8 million) will be invested into sport at a regional level via national governing bodies for sport. The regional breakdowns are, in principle, as follows:

• East: £3174971
• East Midlands: £3181764
• West Midlands: £4020990
• South East: £3760910
• South West: £2,129,346
• North East: £2998501
• North West: £5103690
• Yorkshire: £4376419
• London: £3552605

The remaining £5.5 million will be invested into NGBs at a national level to provide support officers for clubs and coaches.

Club and coach announcement
This announcement is subject to NGBs agreeing to the terms and conditions of the grant allocation.

The Club and Coach funding will be invested between April 2007 and March 2010 but is unaffected by the recent announcement concerning future lottery funding for Sport England. In addition, the decision to invest £38.3 million into community sport via the Club and Coach fund was made before the Olympic budget announcement was made.