Member Article

UK Sport funding- abolition could free up cash for fairer distribution

The head of UK Athletics, Ed Warner, has suggested that the country’s leading sports bodies could receive more funding if UK Sport was abolished. Warner has argued that a funding system, in which Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic bodies could determine sport funding would be beneficial. This is a funding system that has been adopted in countries, such as the United States, the Netherlands and Germany and Warner has suggested that this should be extended to the UK.

Warner has suggested- “why don’t you… embrace the British Olympic Association and the British Paralympic Association as the deliverers of the high- performance funding?”

Warner’s comments have arisen in light of the appeals made by eleven unfunded sports sectors, for UK Sport to redress their grievances surrounding the way in which funding is distributed to the various sports across the UK.

With UK Sport being founded twenty years ago in order to distribute the National Lottery funding, British success in both Olympic and Paralympic contests has soared. This has not, however served to squash all of the qualms held by many of the sporting institutions, as UK Sport has come under increasing criticism, regarding recent allegations of bullying and scare-mongering among some sporting organisations.

Many have levelled criticism at the funding culture within British sport, which heralds winning at any cost over personal development and progress. This has seen sports which have not typically yielded British success, fall to the wayside. An independent inquiry into British cycling found that this bullying tactic was discovered within the institution, a sporting sector which has brought an abundance of Olympic and Paralympic medals and been one of the success stories of British sport.

The new chairwoman of UK Sport, Dame Katherine Grainger has supported those eleven organisations who expressed their concerns surrounding the culture of bullying and fear-mongering within UK sporting organisations. Grainger has expressed her own concerns surrounding the allegations and being a former athlete herself, has suggested that athlete welfare is a real issue that needs addressing within sporting institutions across the UK. Grainger has further asserted that there would be a review and inquiry into the way in which funds are allocated to UK sports but states that, ironically the more success yielded by British sports, the harder it is to stretch the money as far.

Grainger has stated: “If there is anything that can be cut… not at the expense of success, then it will be”.

Despite the clamour of the eleven underfunded sporting sectors against UK Sport, some sporting institutions have expressed their support for the new chairwoman, in light of her call for a review. A spokesperson on behalf of the British Equestrian Federation has reiterated the fact that UK Sport has been subject to reduced funding, as well as a drastic increase in British medal success and thus that they cannot be held fully accountable for the unequal distribution of funds.

Despite calls to drastically change the way in which funding is allocated to UK sporting sectors, the Sports minister, Tracey Crouch has denied that there are any plans to abolish UK Sport in favour of Olympic and Paralympic bodies taking on this role. Crouch has further called for people to appreciate the integral role that UK Sport played in delivering the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, setting a precedent for sporting organisations worldwide.

Such funding issues has sparked debate about how sports should be judged and how funding should be allocated based on their perceived regard and prestige. Cycling for instance, which has wielded a lot of British success in Olympic and Paralympic sport, only draws it competition from a small number of nations, namely New Zealand and Australia. Sports like basketball, on the other hand, which are vastly popular in inner-city areas have become underfunded and seemingly forgotten about at the bottom of the pile.

Some sporting experts have suggested that significant British sporting success has come at a costly price, with this cut-throat ‘win at all costs’ attitude being heralded over the intrinsic value that some sports provide, despite their medal prospects.

This debate will inevitably continue but it is clear that a balance must be found between keeping and maintaining British sporting success in terms of medal achievement as well as distributing funds fairly to sports that aren’t perhaps as successful, but which hold just as much value in terms of legacy and progress in society.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jennie Campbell .