Sport England today announced the 20 key sports to receive prioritised investment, its streamlined funding plans to ensure that these sports deliver sporting success, and a £130 million fund specifically available for sports governing bodies.
Key sports include 10 Sport England priority sports: badminton, cricket, football, golf, hockey, netball, rugby union, rugby league, squash, and tennis; and 10 UK Sport priority sports: athletics, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, gymnastics, judo, rowing, triathlon, sailing and swimming.
Funding will be based on a transparent business plan for each sport. Each governing body will be accountable for delivering the targets in its plans in order to receive – and continue receiving – funding.
Sport England provides the strategic lead for sport in England and is a distributor of lottery funds to sport. All funding will remain the same in the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics. Funding thereafter will be synchronised with the Olympic four-year cycle, beginning in April 2005. The next round of funding will begin in April 2009.
Sport England is also committing to working with the following sports to develop whole sport business plans: basketball, boxing, bowls, karate, lacrosse, movement & dance, outdoor pursuits (angling and mountaineering), rounders/baseball/softball, table tennis, and volleyball.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Patrick Carter, chairman of Sport England, said, “Since taking office a year ago, my main objective was to simplify the confused picture of sport in England. We have researched how other nations have streamlined their sporting infrastructures and are applying lessons learned to increase participation in England and become a successful sporting nation.
“Our investment strategy is under-pinned by reducing our funding streams from 75 to just 2, one for community and one for national. In the national stream, we have allocated £130 million to 20 sports – those sports considered most important by the nation – to act as a driver for increased participation and sporting success.
“All sports we fund will be accountable for delivering opportunities for people to start in sport, to stay in sport and succeed in sport.”
Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, said, “A key focus of ours is to bring modern management techniques to sport in England. We will be working with the governing bodies to develop whole sport plans. These plans will present one vision for the whole sport – from playground to podium.
“All governing bodies will be accountable for delivering agreed sporting outcomes in return for the public funds they receive. We, at Sport England, have a duty to monitor the effectiveness of these sporting investments.”
Sport England www.sportengland.org
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