Decline in number of ‘grass roots’ football
players in England
Getty
By James, BBC School Report
The Football Association has had its funding cut by Sport England after a sharp
decline in the number of people playing football. They will lose 1.6 million
pounds of public funding after Sport England stated that they are trying to
deliver a clear message that the FA needs to change its strategies.
Sport England is the body responsible for giving out public money in order to
increase the number of people playing sports. It has also cut five other sports
apart from the national game.
Alex Horne, the FA General Secretary, has said that the reduction is
“Disappointing” and said that the poor weather and increased costs were to
blame for the clubs and players suffering difficulties.
In an interview with a student at one of our state secondary schools, Shaun (14)
said that” I do not like football and never belonged to a football club, football
doesn’t interest me.” James (14) said “I like football and used to belong to a
club but I stopped because I lost interest in playing the sport. I just like to watch
it on TV now.”
Golf has also suffered losses: £500,000 of its funding has been cut making it the
second biggest loser. Other sports suffering include netball, hockey,
mountaineering and rowing.
However, four sports that have done better are Swimming Athletics, Cycling
and Boxing. They all experienced an increase of around £2m pounds each.
In 2012, the FA’s annual turnover was more than £300m, so £1.6m might seem
like a small amount. But this is not the case. Sport England says that the amount
they have cut is 10% of the money that was going to go to the FA.
Elsewhere in the review, Sport England said that they didn’t just consider
participation, but how the sport planned to increase interest from the public.
That is why other sports such as cricket, rugby union and badminton have not
had any funding cuts even though their participation numbers have gone down.
Sport England finished the report saying that the FA should follow the lead of
other sports such as cricket, which have adapted the traditional form of the
game to appeal to more people.