TALKBACK
Sports Management asks:
Can sports clubs get adequate
access to sports facilities?
By Crispin Andrews
F
ive hours a week of sport for every Kenton Park in Harrow is a case in point. Rumours are afoot locally that the council
child by 2012; a sports strategy It offers several large playing fields, around is keen to sell the land to property develop-
demanding one million people do which stand a good number of hard-court ers. And why not? No one is using it!
more sport by 2012/13; an increas- tennis courts, which are in a state of disre- This is just a snapshot of the problem
ing army of highly trained professionals and pair and of use to no one. facing those whose remit is to develop
volunteers chomping at the bit to deliver It’s over a year since the Tennis Founda- people and communities through sport,
activity and large amounts of finance being tion launched its strategy to rejuvenate Parks but the question remains: are local authori-
ploughed into upgrading existing and Tennis – so how can this be? Harrow Bor- ties and schools – through their lettings
developing new sports facilities. There is ough Council’s leisure department doesn’t policies and facilities strategies – providing
however one fatal flaw, which makes the know. “We don’t have any say in what goes sports clubs, governing bodies and other
task of embedding sport into the daily rou- on, that’s up to the parks department,” says deliverers of organised sport with the kind
tines of the British people extremely difficult. sports development officer Clifton Jackson. of support they need to deliver the quality
RICHARD YULE CEO ENGLISH TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION
I
n my opinion, local government and can’t continue to be satisfied with scout huts, community cen-
sport need to sit around a table at the tres and village halls. Yet many local authorities still see their
highest level to thrash out a strategy facilities simply as a way of raising revenue and hold computer
that enables sport to flourish. fairs and dog shows as part of what for them, is simply a
Structures and funding policies are not lettings exercise.
set up to facilitate the development of A badminton court can cost as much as £12-16 an hour and a
organised club sport on the scale needed. young family cannot afford that, so their only option is to join
The predominance of the ‘pay as you play’ a club – but if halls are booked out to those who can afford the
model works against the efforts of governing bodies and com- costs, their options to take part are severely restricted.
munity organisations who try to engage hard to reach groups. What we need are new pricings and building models for com-
Clubs need regular access to good quality facilities to provide munity sports facilities that will support community organisa-
people with the sort of activity they will give up their time for. tions and national governing bodies in their delivery of the
If we are going to drive up participation levels, table tennis government’s strategy for sport.
ADRIAN CHRISTY CEO BADMINTON ENGLAND
L
essons need to be learned from the look at the benefits of having organised sporting activity for
best practice going on around the children, the local community and the school’s reputation.
country. There are local authorities, Where headteachers are enlightened as to the benefits of
leisure providers and schools which have physical activity or a PE department, sports college or school
managed to overcome the barriers that pre- sport partnership is responsible for lettings, things can work
vent sports and community organisations fantastically well. The letting of school facilities needs to be
from making the best use of their facilities. taken out of the hands of administrative or finance staff.
Unfortunately, bureaucracy in the form We need to think of ways of giving high-quality, accredited
of health and safety requirements, child protection issues and clubs more responsibility for running the facilities they use.
insurance-driven requirements to have a member of staff on This means training and funding to enable clubs to take re-
site, scares off many facility providers from allowing sports sponsibility for security and health and safety while on site.
organisations to use their facilities as often as they could. A pilot scheme is underway involving the Youth Sport Trust,
Look at how many schools are closed during the evenings. Badminton England and other sports hall sports: netball, vol-
Nearly every school has badminton courts, but how can we use leyball, table tennis and basketball. The idea is to offer schools
them if they’re not available after 5pm? Rather than weighing after school activity for their students in return for a use of
up the cost analysis in terms of finance alone, schools need to the facility in the evenings which the group itself will manage.
24 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital Issue 3 2009 © cybertrek 2009
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