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Sport England funding revealed, with netball among biggest beneficiaries

England will aim to bounce back from defeat to New Zealand when they face Australia on Sunday
Image: Netball was given the biggest award on Monday, with £16.9m for development and £3m to help the England team prepare for the 2019 World Cup in Liverpool

Netball, rugby union, table tennis and tennis have all been given significant government grants for grassroots sport but the FA must wait to find out how much funding it will receive over the next four years.

Following December's announcement of £88m between 26 sports, Sport England has awarded a further £101m between 25 more sports.

The FA, which is under government pressure to reform itself or lose public money, has been allocated £5.6m for its disability and women's development programmes over the next four years, with a decision on the full award still to be announced.

Football's governing body received £30m from Sport England between 2013 and 2017.

Netball was given the biggest award on Monday, with £16.9m for development and £3m to help the England team prepare for the 2019 World Cup in Liverpool.

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The GB basketball team, ignored by elite funding agency UK Sport, also received £1m for the national team, with a further £4.7m going to basketball development in England.

Meanwhile, the Rugby Football Union has been given £12.6m, Table Tennis England £8.3m, the Lawn Tennis Association £8.2m and British Athletics £7.3m.

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In a Sport England press release, sports minister Tracey Crouch said: "National governing bodies have an important role to play in strengthening sport at the grassroots, bringing new participants in, keeping people involved by offering a great experience and developing the next generation of talent.

"This investment of over £100m from the government and National Lottery will help boost community sport and have a positive impact on people's lives."

As with December's funding awards, these decisions appear to signal the new strategy Sport England has been asked to follow by the government: less money on sport for the sporty and more on persuading the inactive to do some exercise.

Minister of Sport, Tracey Crouch
Image: Minister of Sport Tracey Crouch

This means sport's traditional governing bodies are facing average cuts of a third in their Sport England grants from four years, with the bigger, richer sports typically losing even more public subsidy.

For example, the £5.6m the FA received for developing talent in disability and women's football is relatively unchanged on the amount it was given for this four years ago, as these are the less commercially successful parts of the game.

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Sport England's new focus, however, will be obvious when the governing body finalises its application for the men's game.

The FA - along with archery, boxing, sailing, volleyball and wheelchair basketball - is still working on its wider pitch for Sport England support and it knows any funding it wins will be subject to football meeting Crouch's new code for improved governance.

Sport England's Phil Smith says changes need to be made
Image: Sport England's Phil Smith

"Every single pound leaving this building depends on the sports meeting the code," said Sport England director Phil Smith said.

"The FA is aware of this and there is no conspiracy here: they were ready to apply for one bit of development money but not quite ready for the full application.

"But even if they make a brilliant application, and I hope they do, they will not get the same amount as four years ago as we are purposefully spending less on traditional sport so we can spend more elsewhere."

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There is another issue Sport England, the national governing bodies and everybody else in receipt of lottery-based funding must address, however.

"After more than two decades of steady success, the National Lottery is under threat.

"Looking around the world, we know national lotteries have life cycles," added Smith.

"And we also know the National Lottery is facing more competition than before, so it must be suitably marketed and its competitors must be fairly regulated."

The new Vitality Superleague netball season starts on February 21 with Sirens v Wasps. Watch the action on Sky Sports Mix from 7:15pm.

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