Minority sports plead with government not to let football row delay bailout

The community leisure sector is urging the Government to fast-track immediate financial help amid the ongoing debate over whether professional football should be included in the sports bailout.

More than 100 sports and governing bodies wrote a joint letter to prime minister Boris Johnson on Monday to request a recovery fund but, with huge focus now on whether the Premier League should also support the wider football pyramid, the urgent public health need has also been emphasised.

Around one third of public gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools have been unable to reopen even since Covid-19 restrictions were eased in July because of lost revenues during the initial lockdown and ongoing restrictions on numbers.

Around 6,000 permanent and casual staff have already lost their jobs and, having first asked for government support last month, numerous facilities are at risk of permanent closure in the coming weeks. “That’s impacting communities across the whole country, and that is impacting the health of those communities — there is a real urgency there now and we humbly encourage government to find resolution,” said Huw Edwards, the chief executive of ukactive, which represents public and private sector gyms and leisure centres.

Sport England research recently found that, for every £1 invested in community physical activity, there was a return of £4 in improved health and social incomes.

Edwards is arguing for a package that does not only include core funding, but which could also encompass stimulus like VAT cuts, an extension of business rates relief and initiatives such as extending the Cycle to Work scheme to include gym membership or equipment. He is also adamant that there is an overwhelming economic, as well as health and social argument, behind the request. “There is no trade off between health and the economy when it comes to investing in our sector,” he said. “You are making savings across health care, across social care, a massive impact on major NHS issues like diabetes and dementia, and you are reducing tens of millions of GP visits. Where are you going to find a sector that bridges that physical, mental and social wellbeing agenda so emphatically? There is such potential but, to provide those solutions, we need to survive.”