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Press
Release
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Cycling
and athletics lead the way
in
delivering sporting legacy |
|
For
immediate release |
Date:
|
The number of adults
in England who play sport at least three times a week has reached 6.93 million[i], continuing the positive trend of the
past four years.
New research[ii] shows Sport England is now 115,000
closer to its legacy target to get one million people playing more sport by
2012/13, and takes the increase in regular participation to 635,000 since the
Olympic and Paralympic bid was won in 2005.
The
encouraging picture comes despite a reduction in the overall spend on sport and
recreation during this challenging economic period[iii]. Sports with a higher cost of
participation, such as golf, sailing and snowsport, do however appear to be
facing challenges in retaining participants. Other indicators also suggest that
many people are opting to do free leisure activities or switching from formal
settings to informal participation such as pay & play activities[iv].
Other
findings from Active People Survey 3 show that:
- Individual
sports are growing at a faster rate than team sports
- The number of
men playing sport three times a week has risen by 176,000 to 4.203
million
- Regular
participation among non-white adults has increased by 98,800 to
713,800.
The figures
cover the first six months of a four-year funding period in which Sport England
will invest up to £880 million of Exchequer and National Lottery funding in
community sport, with almost half a billion pounds going to 46 sports’ national
governing bodies. The sports have been set individual targets to increase
participation over the four years, with the latest sport-by-sport figures also
published on our
website today.
Six sports[v] are already meeting their growth
targets for year one, just six months into the funding period. In addition to
cycling and athletics, which have delivered a combined increase of over 240,000
weekly participants, the other sports are:
- Boxing, an
increasingly high-profile sport, which is showing increases in participation in
both recreational and organised competitive boxing
- Table tennis, which
is showing strong growth among 16- to 34-year-olds and informal
participants
- Canoeing, which
appears to have benefited from a larger number of people taking domestic
canoeing or kayaking holidays this summer
- Netball, which is
building on the success of the Back to Netball programme by developing more
opportunities for people who want to play the game in a more recreational/pay
& play setting.
Tennis, which has
seen significant increases in participation in the three months since Andy
Murray’s strong performance at Wimbledon, is also on course to achieve its year
one growth target.
Sport
England’s strategy recognises that a number of sports have a particular capacity
to grow participation. Four sports have more than one million adults
participating once a week - athletics, cycling, football and swimming. Of these,
athletics and cycling have each achieved increases of over 112,000 in the past
year. Both have benefited from the development of strong grassroots programmes
alongside a growing number of mass participation events, low participant costs
and a strong and improving performance at elite level which has led to increased
profile of the sport.
British
Cycling’s Chief Executive, Ian Drake, said:
"We are
delighted that cycling is proving so popular and we welcome all newcomers to our
sport. Our vision to inspire participation in cycling through achieving
worldwide success is clearly working as our athletes continue delivering
impressive performances and establishing themselves as sporting role models.
Equally important to getting more people on their bikes has been the Skyride
initiative, launched in partnership with BSkyB and Sport England last summer,
which attracted over 100,000 people to mass participation cycling events across
Britain.
“With
fantastic public and private sector partners on board and the support of Sport
England and UK Sport, I am confident we will further widen the appeal of cycling
and make our sport a grassroots success story."
Participation
in football and swimming has failed to grow in the past year. For football, the
picture for women’s participation is better than for the men’s game. We have
high expectations for the FA’s major drive to increase adult participation that
will begin early next year and continue beyond the World
Cup.
Once-a-week
participation in swimming remains below last year’s level, at 3.162 million.
Significant resource is being invested in working with the ASA to understand and
reverse this trend. Specific interventions that give us confidence that the
sport can deliver increases include the ASA’s investment in a network of
swimming co-ordinators across the country, and a growing focus on the casual
swimmer.
Further areas of
concern include participation among women and disabled people. The number of
adults with a limiting disability doing regular sport has decreased by 42,800 to
386,700 and regular participation among women has fallen by
61,000 to 2.727 million.
Measures taken to
tackle this issue include Sport England’s £10 million National Lottery funding
round to encourage ‘Active Women’, and our work with the Women’s Sport and
Fitness Foundation to support governing bodies in increasing sporting
opportunities for women.
Sport England’s
Chair, Richard Lewis, said:
“This is an
encouraging set of results. It’s clear we’re making progress both in getting the
right sporting opportunities in place, and in changing people’s sporting
behaviours.
“Six months into a
four-year funding period, we’re delighted that sports such as athletics and
cycling are already delivering substantial growth. However, the figures clearly
show we face challenges on participation among women and disabled people, and
Sport England is committed to tackling these, as demonstrated by our allocation
of £10m to projects specifically focused on women's
sport."
The Minister for
Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe MP, said:
“The trend in sports
participation is up " and that is news everyone should welcome. It is great that
some key sports are seeing really significant increases, as well as the rises in
London and the West Midlands.
“But we all know that
there is still a lot of work to be done. Governing bodies are getting £480m to
help drive up participation in 46 sports. They are accountable for that
investment of public money and we expect them to deliver increases. We have
provided the money, 2012 the inspiration, and Sport England is now working with
the sports to change the whole country’s attitude towards being active. They
must " and will " succeed.”
ENDS
Notes to
Editors
Sport England
invests National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and projects
that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create
opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport.
Sport England is
committed to creating a world-leading community sport system, and has set
specific and measurable targets to achieve by 2012/13:
- One million people
doing more sport
- A 25% reduction in
the number of 16- to 18-year-olds who drop out of at least five key
sports
- Improved talent
development systems in at least 25 sports
- A measurable increase
in people’s satisfaction with their experience of sport
- A major contribution
to the delivery of the five hour sports offer for children and young
people.
For more information
please contact the press office: Peter Dickinson on 020 7273 1800 or Andrew St
Ledger on 020 7273 1593.
Peter
Dickinson
Head
of Press & PR
T:
020
7273 1800
M:
07977
558 775
Out
of hours: 07881 502
207
E:
peter.dickinson@sportengland.org
Creating
sporting opportunities in every community
Sport
England, 3rd Floor Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B
4SE
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