Basketball in Britain gets cash boost from Sport England
Last Updated: 07/11/14 1:59pm
British Basketball will receive a £1.18m injection from Sport England over the next two-and-a-half years.
Basketball was among a number of Olympic disciplines to have their budgets cut by UK Sport after failing to reach medal targets for London 2012 on the back of the government agency's ‘no compromise’ stance. That meant the sport had its £7m funding cut with evidence suggesting no medals could be won in 2016 or 2020.
The sport attracts the second-highest team participation rate in the UK for 14-16 year-olds and is played by nearly 218,000 people each week, but Britain's men's and women's teams secured only one win from 10 matches at the London Games.
A public consultation was set up with UK Sport chief Liz Nicholl hoping her organisation would decide on whether their policy was too focused towards medals at the expense of participation.
The Minister for Sport Helen Grant said: "I am delighted that Sport England and UK Sport have responded to my call to see what more we can do to support basketball in Britain.
We look forward to building a better future together for a sport that not only means so much to so many, but also provides opportunity and aspiration for young people across Great Britain
British Basketball Performance Chairman Roger Moreland
"The sport has a huge potential to grow and I want there to be a route for young people taking up basketball in this country to get to the top. British Basketball understands that with this funding and support it has to step up, but I am confident that the sport will do that.”
The news will also be welcome to London-raised NBA superstar Luol Deng, who played for Team GB at the 2012 Olympics.
The Sudan-born 29-year-old, now playing for Miami Heat, said in the summer: "I really don’t know what comes next. We have come a long way since day one and I think that has been taken away from a sport which could help with so many issues and help a lot of kids."
British Basketball Performance Chairman Roger Moreland was delighted at the cash injection and said: "The last few months have been tough ones for everyone involved with basketball in this country.
"The Minister has listened carefully to our case and I would like to thank her for the role she has played in brokering a solution. Sport England’s investment is most welcome and provides a vital platform on which to take the sport forward on and off the court for which we are very grateful.
"Together with the expertise of UK Sport, we look forward to building a better future together for a sport that not only means so much to so many, but also provides opportunity and aspiration for young people across Great Britain."
Chief Executive of UK Sport Liz Nichol added: “We are delighted this has now been agreed with UK Sport’s technical expertise in high performance support complementing the investment from Sport England to help Basketball continue to progress to become more competitive at the elite level."
While the investment will enable the GB teams to continue to compete at an elite level, it will come with new and stronger conditions, set by UK Sport, around the governance of the sport – including more independence on the board.
Expert support from UK Sport will look to address the root causes of basketball's underperformance against its targets in previous years. UK Sport and Sport England will also provide British Basketball with commercial advice, as appropriate.
UK Sport will conduct reviews of the sport twice a year, as part of its UK Sport Mission 2016 process, to ensure the sport is progressing performance wise.