British Cycling likes new Government emphasis on sport…

In a speech last week, James Purnell MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, announced a major shift in government sports policy. The speech identified community sport as the last piece in a jigsaw in which both school and elite sports were already well positioned. It also explicitly stated the government’ position that sport matters in itself and that competitive sport is a good thing.

James Purnell said that the government’s new focus should simply be “on the delivery of an excellent sporting infrastructure from the grassroots up. That means creating excellent national governing bodies, clubs, coaches and volunteers, supported by the investment we’ve already made in facilities.”

He also made an offer to sports governing bodies: “We want to create whole sports plans, with a single funding pot. We will free them up from the bureaucracy and bidding that they complain about today. But, in return, they will need to commit to clear goals to improve participation, coaching and the club structure. And in particular, they will need to show how they will reach groups who do less sport today, whether women, poorer groups or some ethnic minorities.”

James Purnell also used the speech to announce a review of Sport England and its priorities. In addition he announced that he will lead a cross-departmental review to ensure that government departments are working together to deliver a physical activity strategy for all.

The full speech can be found here.

British Cycling has welcomed this vision and change of direction:

“This new direction is in line with the approach British Cycling has consistently adopted over the past decade and our results speak for themselves, both in terms of the success we have achieved on the World Stage and in the dramatic growth in our sport at all levels. Support from Government, Sport England and UK Sport has transformed British Cycling during this time and we are confident that with this new change in policy we can do even more in the run up to 2012 to grow our sport, whilst continuing to excel in the International arena,” said Peter King, British Cycling’ CEO.

“National Governing Bodies have always been at the heart of sport and the bedrock of success will always be their clubs, coaches and members, who comprise competitive sport, regardless of the political context of funding for sport. The more support and resources that can be directed at that level through the NGB framework, working with Sport England at all levels, the more medals will be won and the more people will play sport.

“Cycling as a physical activity has the potential to make the single biggest contribution to the wider cross-departmental physical activity strategy for all and we are eager to engage with the DCMS and other Government departments over the coming months to outline how British Cycling can help drive forward that agenda.”

However, while the Government appears to be giving with one hand, it’s taking away with another.

Cycle sport may be OK, but ‘recreational cycling’ risks a demotion as it has been redefined as a non-sport.

As part of the new direction for Sport, a tighter definition of what constitutes sport has been introduced. This new definition excludes recreational cycling – along with recreational walking and going to the gym – and therefore excludes it from qualifying for Sport England funding.

Cycling is the only activity which has been segmented into distinct categories:

1. Cycling (Sport) – activities related to competition and, 
2. Cycling (Recreation) – casual or organised participation aimed at expressing or improving physical fitness and well being and forming social relationships.

For example, all forms of swimming would seem to be classified as Sport and recreational swimming would seem not to exist. Similarly, activities such as horse riding and sailing, which both involve significant amounts of recreational and leisure activity, are not segmented at all.

It is currently unclear exactly what the Department for Culture, Media and Sport means by ‘recreational cycling’ and there are cycling activities and interventions under this general description which might not be defined as sport. This tighter definition and segmentation should however be applied equally and consistently to all sports and physical activities, believes British Cycling.

“What is important for the DCMS to grasp is that there are activities and interventions which could be described as ‘recreational cycling’, in that they are not competitive, but which are organised and form a critical part of a participation pathway into the sport for many people. It is therefore unclear why the DCMS and Sport England would actively seek to exclude it from funding, given its clear contribution to increasing the capacity of the NGB, in this case through more people taking part in organised events and progressing from there into competitive cycling,” said King.

“We are obviously concerned and unclear as to the rationale behind the exclusion of recreational cycling going forward. We have raised this directly with the Secretary of State, DCMS and Sport England in order to ensure that the new definition does not significantly hinder our ability to increase participation in competitive sport in the run up to London 2012. It should be the NGB’ responsibility to define where investment needs to go to best create new opportunities for people to participate in sport. Any intervention should stand and fall by the role it has to play as part of a participation pathway which should ultimately be measured by increases in club membership and in participation in organised events.”