Sport England funding to help recruit people from under-represented backgrounds
Sport England are investing £28 million of National Lottery and government funding into four national governing bodies of sport. The NGBs that have been chosen to receive funding are The Football Association, England Boxing, England Squash and British Wheelchair Basketball.
The latest investment will help target people who have a strong relationship with sport, including talented athletes trying to reach the top, and also those from under-represented backgrounds.
Sport England believes that everyone across the country, regardless of age, background or ability, should be able to have the opportunity to take part in any sport or physical activity. The NGBs that have received funding are also committed to targeting these under-represented groups, to help more people feel able to participate in sport.
In 2016, Sport England launched the Code for Sports Governance alongside UK Sport. The code set out gold standards of governance that organisations must meet in order to receive public funding from them. Each of the governing bodies awarded funding this week have met these governance standards.
Sport England will continue to measure the NGBs' performance in delivering the plans each year, with decisions on future funding based on results.
Investments announced this week include:
British Wheelchair Basketball: Core market (£1,212,665), Talent (£222,335)
The investment will help the organisation to support those people who play wheelchair basketball more regularly, either in structured competitions and leagues or more informally as part of a local club.
The talent award will also allow the NGB to focus on their network of regional performance centres, making sure that all those who attend receive the best quality coaching and support.
The Football Association (£8,988,000)
Earlier this year, Sport England awarded the Football Association just over £5.6 million to support a number of grassroots programmes, including its disability programme and women and girls talent projects.
The funding announced this week supports the FA in providing high-quality experiences to the 1.6 million people that play 'affiliated football' each week. Affiliated football refers to the many thousands of teams who register their team/league with the local county football association.
Kelly Simmons, director of participation and development for the FA, says: “This funding will help us maintain, as well as unearth, players, coaches and officials, from all backgrounds and abilities.”
England Boxing (£2,835,366)
This new award will support the NGB in recruiting and retaining more boxers from a wider range of backgrounds.
It will also be used to develop stronger clubs and governance infrastructure, including an improved competition offering and education initiatives for volunteers and staff.
England Squash: Core market (£3,937,375), Talent (£2,134,000), High Performance (£750,000)
This week’s investment means the NGB can focus on providing more informal and social opportunities for everybody to play the game.
Currently 75% of people that take part in squash are male. This funding will help England Squash work on reducing the barriers to women taking part.
Sport England’s director of sport, Phil Smith, says: “Each of the four national governing bodies here will be working hard to provide their regular players with the experience they want, so they will keep playing.
“They are also trying to make those regulars a more diverse group, with some specific efforts to attract more women, more people with disabilities and those less well-off to enjoy their sport and live an active life.”