The second part of this mini-series on sports policy and independence looks at how Wales can boost sports participation more generally, what the best sports systems in the world look like and the key role of schools.
A “sports system” covers the governance arrangements, participation rates (particularly amongst young people) and the development of elite athletes.
Based on studies published by US-based Aspen Institute2 and World Athletics3, the sports systems deemed to be the best in the world have the following characteristics:
The next question is: “How much does sports infrastructure cost”?
I couldn’t find an equivalent set of documents from Sport Wales, but Sport England provides an extensive list of guideline figures for the cost of new sports facilities, updated quarterly4. Here’s a snapshot:
As you can see, sports infrastructure isn’t cheap.
This explains why new sports infrastructure in Wales is often piggybacked onto a new developments through planning guidelines and conditions (i.e. new school, new housing estate), or as part of a centrally-funded programme (i.e. the FAW’s Dragon Park in Newport & Colliers Park in Wrexham).
There’s not only the cost of building new infrastructure to consider, but the running costs too.
Traditionally, this would have fallen on the shoulders of local government. In light of budget cuts for the last 15 years, sport and leisure services have often been “low-hanging fruit” for cuts when compared to other council-run services.
As mentioned in Part I, local authorities have cut funding for sport and recreation by 43% in real terms since 2009-10.
As a result of this, many councils have taken actions such as raising fees to “full cost recovery” or negotiating the Community Asset Transfer of sports facilities to town & community councils or sports clubs.
Where does central funding for sports come from?
I put “central funding” because there’s no way to fully account for all of the private, commercial or individual sources of funding for sport in Wales: sponsorships, kit deals, broadcasting rights, image rights, membership fees, donations etc.
I’m counting “central funding” as funding from the Welsh Government (and Welsh Government sponsored-bodies like Sport Wales), the UK Government, local authorities, governing bodies and the National Lottery.
According to Sport Wales’ most recently published annual report5, the Welsh Government provided £33.9million in total – covering capital spending and spending relating to specific policy goals such as healthy living.
Sport Wales is a designated distributor of National Lottery funding. According to their statutory lottery distribution report6, Sport Wales drew down £16.7million from the National Lottery Distribution Fund during 2022-23.
There’s no clear information on UK Sport (the UK-wide/UK Government agency) and its activities focused on Wales or Welsh athletes. A proportional population-based Welsh share of its expenditure (4.9%) in 2022-23 would amount to around £7.8million.
Revenue spending by local authorities on “recreation and sport” amounted to £123.3million in 2022-23, though once income was accounted for, net revenue spending was £85million in 2022-237.
Taking it all together, at least £182million is spent on sport in Wales by government and partner agencies every year. The majority of this comes from within Wales.
Concerning independence, the biggest question remaining would be around what would happen to National Lottery and equivalent funding from UK Sport – amounting to at least £25million a year.
Any shortfall in direct UK Government funding to UK Sport (around £4million) would likely need to be made up by the Welsh Government.
As for the lottery, I’ve looked at that separately (IndyWales & The National Lottery).
Sport Systems & IndyWales
There aren’t any right or wrong answers here, but the issues worth considering include:
As noted concerning independence: sources of funding and how that funding is distributed. Should Sport Wales take a lead role over local authorities? Do we need a sports-specific lottery (as in Japan)?
Should Wales follow the likes of Norway and Sweden and introduce stronger children’s rights in sports, encouraging participation and fun over competition? Or do we go in the opposite direction and beef up school sports to focus on developing future talent and inter-school competitions (as in the United States)?
Do we need a rethink of how local sports are organised (coming up next)? You would imagine that most sports clubs in Wales would want to retain their independence from each other, but are other models (i.e. multi-sport clubs, regional athletic conferences) a better fit in light of declining numbers and an increasing need to professionalise behind the scenes?
Echoing what previous Senedd committees have recommended, should Wales make more use of schools as community sports centres? Many already successfully operate booking systems and alike, but schools could make good bases for minority sports in particular that lack proper community facilities.
2. Aspen Institute, Project Play (October 31st 2023). “World’s Leading Sport Systems”. Available at: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/worldsportsystemsfull.pdf
3. Helmut Degel, World Athletics. New Studies in World Athletic (2005). “Comparison of successful sport systems.”. Available at: https://worldathletics.org/download/downloadnsa?filename=1af92a69-6b8d-44f0-80ca-35553f5f8755.pdf&urlslug=comparison-of-successful-sport-systems
4. Sport England (figures as of Quarter 3, 2024). “Facility cost guidance”. Available at: https://www.sportengland.org/guidance-and-support/facilities-and-planning/design-and-cost-guidance/facility-cost-guidance
5. Sport Wales. “Annual Report 2022-23” (p136-165). Available at: https://www.sport.wales/download/file/2770/
6. Sport Wales. “Annual Report 2022-23, National Lottery Distribution Annual Report & Accounts” (p99-102). Available at: https://www.sport.wales/download/file/2770/ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6549ed1f2f045e001214dca6/sports-council-for-wales-lottery-distribution-account-2022-to-2023.pdf
7. Stats Wales (2022-23). “Revenue outturn expenditure by summary, by service”. Available at: https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Local-Government/Finance/Revenue/Outturn/revenueoutturnexpendituresummary-by-service
