After failing to meet targets agreed between them and Sport England in 2013/14, £1.53 million has been removed from four governing bodies. Every penny of the money, a mixture of National Lottery and government funding intended to get more people playing sport, will be reinvested in alternative projects to explore new ways of producing better results in those sports.
They include pilot programmes to attract even more people to swim, new club-led rugby league projects, investment in gymnastic clubs where demand is high and new opportunities for disabled horse riders to get on the saddle.
Whilst the new projects will not be delivered by the relevant governing bodies directly, Sport England will involve them in the rollout to ensure the projects have maximum impact and can help inform the governing bodies’ wider work.
Tough decisions
The decisions were taken by Sport England’s board following a detailed analysis of results in the latest Active People Survey, which is the contractual measure agreed with governing bodies to judge their performance. The decisions were also based on evidence from the governing bodies, all of which were invited to meetings with senior Sport England staff and board members to account for their performance in the last year and explain what plans they have in place to improve this year.
Sport England Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “Sometimes we need to take tough decisions to protect our much needed investment in grassroots sport. Today is one of those times.
“We invest significant sums of money in national governing bodies of sport to get more people active. But we can’t ignore falling numbers and missed targets where we believe there is scope for improvement, and in those circumstances we will divert money to projects that we believe will have more impact."
Jennie Price added: “The latest results show that some sports are moving in the right direction with more people playing every week. I’m in no doubt that this is because of the high priority those governing bodies are giving to grassroots sport, and the quality of the work they are doing.
"Sports like cycling, triathlon and disabled tennis are all great examples of how best to help people become more active.”
How the sports will be funded
Swimming
The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) will have £667,895 – 10 per cent of its remaining funding for getting more people swimming – diverted to invest in pilot prgrammes focused on improving the experience that casual and social swimmers get.
Following a Swim Summit held in January 2015, where over 100 swimming industry experts agreed that something needs to be done to make pools more customer-friendly environments, the pilots will look at improving the swimming experience for every day, non-club, swimmers and radically changing the way that opportunities to swim are provided. They will be led by swimming pool operators, alongside the ASA.
The pilots will be launched by the end of the summer and are expected to be delivered nationwide.
Rugby league
The funding being diverted from the Rugby Football League (RFL), which amounts to £573,133, will fund community projects which use local club faciltiies and staff to tempt new players into the sport.
Working alongside the RFL, the projects will be delivered by Super League or larger professional club foundations which can demonstrate a good track record of grassroots delivery.
Discussions with the clubs will start immediately.
Gymnastics
Clubs where demand for facilities is high will benefit from the £205,491 being diverted from British Gymnastics (BG).
Taking into consideration BG’s views on where the investment will have the greatest impact, facilities and clubs where demand currently outstrips supply will be helped to open their doors to new participants.
Equestrian
Funding of £83,881 being diverted from the British Equestrian Federation will be invested in new projects that make the sport more accessible to disabled people.
Delivered through a wide range of disability organisations who can work with livery yards and in consultation with the Riding for the Disabled Association, the projects will help address the recent decline in the number of disabled people taking part in sport and physical activity.