New Active People survey shows drop in sports participation in England

Approximately 125, 100 fewer people took part in sport in England last year, with swimming seeing the steepest drop in participation, new figures have revealed.

The Active People survey measured sports participation between October 2013 and October 2014 and has revealed a drop with only 15.6m taking part in sport compared with 15.7m for the same period for the previous year.

Swimming was the worst-hit sport - with 245,000 fewer people taking part once a week.

Sport participation was also down among the poorest people with 8 per cent fewer in the lowest socio-economic groups taking part in sport in the last year - down from 4,756,100 to 4,380,400.

Sports governing bodies have long argued that they can bring new people to their sport and funding should go via them but some are simply not delivering and it's not good enough.

The annual survey run by Sport England is the biggest measure of sports participation at grassroots level and measures those 16 years and over who take part in a sport at least once a week.

The survey revealed there was good news for team sports with increased playing of football, rugby union, cricket and netball. Athletics participation was also up with a jump from 2,016,400 in October 2013 to 2,161,600 in October 2014.

Basketball participation was down from 154,700 to 131,100, despite the sport’s governing body being granted funding in November on the back of assurances they would increase their participation.

Golf participation is down by 20,000, which is a worrying figure alongside previous figures that show club membership is also down.

At the same time as the publication of the Active People survey, Sport England announced that they had agreed to lift funding restriction previously placed on tennis, table tennis and fencing. The sports had had their funding held back due to concerns about participation but Sport England decided they had shown ways of improving their participation figure in the future.

Review

Swimming and basketball also had some of their funding held back but Sport England felt the two sport had not showed enough progress to warrant release of their full funding. The four-year funding package for swimming and basketball is now under review. A decision will be announced in March.

Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sport England said: "This decrease is equally concerning, especially given last year’s record level in the number of disabled people playing sport.

"I am determined to address this, which is why we’re now working with a much wider range of organisation from the disability sector to ensure that sport is a practical and attractive option for disabled people."

Minister for Sport Helen Grant said: "There are 1.6 million more people playing sport regularly now than when we won the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2005 and I am encouraged that the number of 16-25-year-olds participating is on the rise - proof that our youth sport strategy is working.

"But I am very concerned by the overall dip in participation over the last 12 months. Sports governing bodies have long argued that they can bring new people to their sport and funding should go via them but some are simply not delivering and it's not good enough.

"I expect Sport England to take tough decisions and redirect funds from governing bodies that are failing to projects and organisations that will deliver. We may also need to look at setting bespoke targets so that sports up their efforts in getting more women, BME people and those from a lower social economic background into sport.

"Sports governing bodies should be left in no doubt that public funding to them is a privilege not a right."

Clive Efford MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Sport, said: “The Government were handed a golden sporting legacy which they have completely failed to capitalise on.

"The fact that participation is down overall three years since the Olympics and down by nearly half a million in the last year for those on lowest incomes, shows the Government has no coherent plan to increase participation in sport whatsoever.”

'Major issue'

The Government were handed a golden sporting legacy which they have completely failed to capitalise on.

Amatueur Swimming Association Group Board chairman Edward Lord, said: "We share Sport England's disappointment that their statistics point to a fall in the number of those swimming on a regular basis. There is clearly a major issue here and we will be putting all our resources into finding out both the cause of the fall in participation numbers and in identifying how we can move quickly with our partners to reverse that decline.

"In terms of making sure our own organisation is fit to respond to these challenges, we have already embarked upon a major internal change programme. Since the new ASA Group Board came into office late in 2013, we have seen the departure of our long standing Chief Executive, as well as both our marketing and participation directors.

"With the full support of Sport England, we have recruited Adam Paker, formerly at Commonwealth Games England, as our new CEO, and Damian Stevenson as Head of Insight. Adam, who started with us in November, is now building a strong executive leadership team focused on our core business of getting more people swimming."