Funding boost for youth sport in England
€20 million programme over 3 years
Could it be replicated in Ireland with GAA, IRFU and ISC?
The English Premier League and Sport England have agreed a three year funding programme which will encourage tens of thousands of young people to ‘find the sport that inspires them’.
The value of the fund will be just short of €20 million split between two programmes that will be equally funded by the two organisations.
The investment will drive the expansion of two community programmes – Premier League 4 Sport and Premier League Kickz. The funding will be equally split with each partner committing £1.3 million per year to PL4Sport and £1.5 million per year to the new Kickz initiative.
Combining the youth and marketing appeal of top football clubs with the experience and expertise of Sport England and the sports organisations it supports, the deal is intended to target youngsters from some of the country’s most disadvantaged communities.
The closest equivalent in Ireland would be if the GAA and potentially the IRFU combined with the Irish Sports Council and were confident enough in their own appeal to encourage support for participation in other sports.
Given that most metrics between sports spending between England and Ireland, both public and private, run at about 10 to one, this would mean a contribution of €1 million from the sports and the same from the Sports Council to introduce a similar series of programmes.
Whether it would have the same benefit at that lower scale and with smaller numbers involved is open to question but the English model is interesting in using stars from the major sport to encourage general sports participation and involvement.
“Sport has played a massive part of my life, so it’s brilliant to see how the Premier League and Sport England’s Lottery investment is helping other young people to get involved,” said sprinter Adam Gemili who spent seven years in the Chelsea Youth Academy before turning to athletics.
“Like so many kids, watching and then playing football was the way I first got into sport, but of course I’ve ended up a sprinter and these programmes are giving thousands of youngsters the chance to try different sports and find the one they love.”
“Premier League clubs have great pulling power and this £17 million partnership with Sport England will encourage thousands of young people to try out different sports. It shows how the private and public sectors can come together to strengthen community sport across the country,” added Culture, Sport and Media Secretary Maria Miller
Sport England and the Premier league first combined in 2009 to create PL4Sport, which has already engaged 60,000 young people and created 320 of the clubs that formed the basis for the satellite clubs now being introduced across the country by Sport England and its partners. The new PL4 Sport partnership will see:
- Athletics, boxing, golf and tennis added to the eight Olympic and Paralympic sports already on offer through PL4Sport
- A further 270 satellite sports clubs created, where tens of thousands of young people will enjoy these sports
- More than 1,500 volunteers trained, 450 competitions delivered and 2,500 sports qualifications obtained.
Since 2006, Kickz has helped 71,500 youngsters to get involved in sport, targeting the hardest to reach young people from disadvantaged areas. The expansion of the re-branded programme will see:
- An extra 30,000 young people engaged over the next three years
- A further 3,000 volunteers trained and 600 competitions delivered.
Transparent accountability and governance will be provided by the Premier League Charitable Fund and investment will be directed through community foundations which are financially separate from their parent club.
Read more of our analysis of Youth Sport and join us for The Business of Youth Sport seminar to be held in Dublin on November 28th.
