industry Sport England
A lasting legacy to be proud of?
Alex Fordham speaks to Sport England’s Head of Press and PR Peter Dickinson about the organisations investment into grass roots level sport. Will this have any impact on the sports retail trade?
U
ndoubtedly 2012 is an essential year for British
sport. The Olympics will hopefully leave a lasting legacy that the whole country can be proud of and will see an upsurge in sporting participation for years to come. Sport England, the brand name for the English Sports Council and the non-departmental body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is focused on helping people and communities across the country to create a sporting habit for life. Over £1 billion of National Lottery and Exchequer funding between 2012 and 2017 will be invested into a series of organisations and projects to help create more opportunities to play sport and ensure the right facilities are in place across the country. “Our real agenda now and
for years to come is to invest heavily in the grass roots side of the sport”, commented Peter Dickinson. ”Our main focus is on the 14-25 year old demographic to ensure
the right facilities are in place so that young people are encouraged to participate and enjoy sport. This will hopefully see a continued involvement in sport in later years.” For Dickinson, this
increased investment in sports participation has benefits to sports retailers. “Both retailers and Sport England share a common goal. Our investment in participation will lead to more demand for sports equipment and ensure more traffic into local sports shops.” Sport England’s Inspired
Facilities programme is aiming to do just that. The scheme will aim to make it easier for local communities and volunteer groups to improve and refurbish sports clubs or turn non-sporting venues into modern grassroots sports facilities. £50 million of National Lottery funding has been pledged in up to 1000 community projects between 2011 and 2014. For Dickinson, this has multiple benefits to society aside from the obvious increased participation.
14-25 year old demographic to ensure the right facilities are in place so that young people are encouraged to participate and enjoy sport. This will hopefully see a continued involvement in sport in later years
Our main focus is on the
“By improving sports facilities and making sport more accessible, sport will become more attractive to youngsters and help combat other problems in society such as anti-social behaviour. Sport is a great tool to help teach discipline and learn respect for your peers.” Turning attention to the Olympics, you would think that the event would be a marketers dream to encourage participation. However Dickinson insists caution should be exercised
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and instead the Olympics should be used as a tool in a longer-term strategy. “Contrary to popular belief, the Olympics usually leads to a decreased number of participants after the event. We are trying to buck the trend by setting the foundations in place first with schemes such as the Inspired Facilities Programme and Sportivate which pledges £32 million to give 14-25 year olds access to six-week courses ranging from judo, golf, athletics and free running.”
The same should be
said for the retail industry. It is unreasonable to think that trade will increase solely due to the Olympics. Sure enough, during and immediately after, participation is likely to increase. However this is not necessarily a long-term strategy for growth. Other initiatives and schemes need to be utilised so that the Olympics are fully benefited from. This may include schemes in the community encouraging participation or sponsoring local sports clubs and teams. Whatever the next few months have in store for the sports trade, it is undoubtedly an exciting time and let’s hope Sport England and our industry can create a legacy that we are proud of and, crucially, profit from.
Mary Portas
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