The previous two parts in this mini-series looked at sport more generally – including how to boost participation amongst as many people as possible. This final part looks at the sporting elite and how an independent Wales can approach developing the next generation of Welsh sporting talent.
What is an “elite” athlete or competition?
You can probably categorise different levels of involvement in sports like this (from top to bottom):
- Elite – Top-tier team and individual sports, usually with professional or semi-professional athletes, coaches and competitions; clubs and individuals usually compete internationally in some form.
- A – Highest level of competitive amateur community sports usually as part of a national competition pyramid. This includes top-tier senior/masters, age-grade, inter-school, college and university competitions.
- B – Competitive amateur second, third, fourth etc. teams; intermural and informal competitions – “playing for fun, but with a winner at the end” (i.e. Leisure Leagues, club championships, Wales Sportive).
- C – Anyone who wants to take part can/play for fun.
The main difference between an elite athlete and the rest is an elite athlete usually makes a career out of their chosen sport or discipline it in some way.
That doesn’t mean those in the “A” category take sport any less seriously, they’re just not paid to do it (or not paid as much) and their club (where applicable) might not have the resources or facilities to be an “elite” club.
They might have fallen short of going full-time, but are still good enough to compete at a relatively high level. Or their clubs/teams have historically produced talent who have gone on to play at a high level at an elite team or as an elite individual.
Typical development pathway for an elite athlete
Here are some examples of talent pathways from athletics, netball, boxing (GB Olympics squad) and disability sports:
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Even sports which don’t have a handy graphic available follow a similar pattern. There’s a staged progression from local clubs, formal talent identification/scouting, club academies or regional representative teams (where applicable) and eventually to a national representative team or squad (including the Olympics).
The talent pathways generally work, with developing athletes likely to all be at the same level of development at the same age in different sports. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
One consideration would be the depth of involvement by schools. Schools might be better placed to introduce young athletes to competitive sports (particularly team sports) rather than community clubs because there’ll be a wider pool of potential players.
A school setting might not be suitable for all sports because of possible insurance or liability issues (i.e. boxing and martial arts), or a particular school might lack the necessary facilities.
A German-like system where community clubs have formal partnerships (i.e. coaching/training) with community clubs could work in Wales. Schools would become the age-grade teams /academies of the community clubs and compete against other schools.
The Role of Governing Bodies
Governing bodies act as a regulator for a sport in a given area. Their role includes regulatory/licensing functions, funding, safeguarding, discipline and developing their particular sport (i.e. multi-year strategies, talent pathways, coaching pathways).
Most of the sports you can think of have a Wales-based governing body. They could be independent (i.e. WRU, FAW, Hockey Wales), an umbrella body representing multiple sports (i.e. Disability Sport Wales) or a semi-autonomous affiliate of a UK or EnglandandWales governing body (i.e. Welsh Amateur Boxing Association, Welsh Cycling, Cricket Wales).
The national governing bodies have an independent representative body: the Welsh Sports Association.
Governing bodies organise themselves, so are unlikely to be affected by independence. The main change would be that Welsh governing bodies would no longer feed Team GB at the Olympics and Paralympics, but Welsh teams (coming up soon).
The Role of Sport Wales and UK-wide Bodies
It would be safe to assume that, post-independence, Sport Wales would continue to be the main sports agency, taking over most of the functions of UK Sport (which aren’t already undertaken in Wales).
At present, UK governing bodies and agencies (like UK Sport, British Athletics etc) take the lead when it comes to current and potential Olympians and Paralympians because Wales doesn’t compete in our own right. These bodies also receive a share of National Lottery sports funding.
UK or EnglandandWales bodies also take the lead in certain cases that would otherwise be dealt with by a Welsh governing body. For example, the Welsh football clubs that play in the English pyramid are subject to FA rules.
The biggest – and most obvious – change concerning independence would be that UK agencies and governing bodies would no longer support Welsh or Wales-eligible athletes.
The implications of this were covered in Part II concerning the lottery and cross-border sport. For example, when a Welsh team/teams compete in a cross-border competition, some authority would have to be ceded to the lead governing body (which will usually be the English one).
