Olympic sport legacy is a disaster - Foster

Fewer people have been taking part in sport in the last year, and there have been significant drops in participation in many sports, Liberal Democrat analysis of today’s Sport England figures has shown. Analysis of the figures reveals:

• Drops in participation in rugby union, swimming, rowing, gymnastics and golf despite huge increases in funding last year
• Participation in gymnastics has fallen by over 30% since the last survey while funding had increased by 130%
• Falling participation among women and those with a disability across all sports
• No progress overall against the Government’s target of getting a million more people playing more sport by 2012

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said:

“These disastrous figures show the Government’s Olympic legacy strategy is going badly wrong.

“Many sports which have had huge funding increases are actually witnessing a decline in participation.

“There are also worrying drops in participation among women and the disabled - two of the Government’s target groups.

“Money must be better targeted to make sure people have access to high quality sports facilities and opportunities to form longstanding links with local sports clubs.

“Granting gift-aid on junior membership to sports clubs would be a good step in the right direction.”