APPENDIX
The Future of Professional Rugby: Government
Response to the Second Report from the Culture, Media and Sport
Committee, Session 1999-2000
1. The Government welcomes this Report into the
future of professional rugby, particularly at this time when some
clubs of both codes are experiencing some of the challenges which
come with professional sport. We encourage the world of Rugby
to take note of this Report, particularly the Committee's advice
on "creating a sustainable financial policy"[7] for both codes.
Conclusions and Recommendations
(i) We recommend that the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and
Employment look carefully at the "Chalk and Talk" schemes
to see if this good practice can be replicated in other sports
(paragraph 29).
2. Sport has an important to role to play in
educational initiatives and we welcome and encourage innovative
ideas from sports governing bodies. One successful example of
this was the education programme prepared by the England and Wales
Cricket Board, in conjunction with the Youth Sport Trust, based
around last year's World Cup. The programme included the distribution
of activity packs to over 4,000 primary schools and nearly a thousand
secondary schools. These packs drew on themes from cricket and
the World Cup to produce exercises in geography, language, maths
and science.
3. The excitement that sport can generate has
the ability to spark the interest of pupils which can then be
focused through initiatives such as Saracens' "Chalk and
Talk" scheme. This cross-curricular scheme has been put in
place locally, after full consultation with the Hertfordshire,
Enfield and Barnet Local Education Authorities, as well as local
teachers. The education team at Saracens are providing 2-3 sessions
per week to local schoolchildren at Key Stage 2 and are looking
to roll the scheme out further both locally and through other
rugby clubs. The Government is working hard to promote schemes
that work, and we are pleased that the Department for Education
and Employment have recommended the Saracens Community programme,
of which "Chalk and Talk" is a part, as an excellent
example of best practice in their "Good Practice Series"
(Raising Standards, TEC/CCTE Activities to Promote National Vocational
Qualifications, Case Study 7) published in October 1999. There
is also a DfEE scheme, "Playing for Success", which
links local schools and football clubs for the provision of study
support. This scheme has been a success and DfEE are looking to
roll it out to other sports. Saracens have expressed an interest
in becoming involved in this scheme.
(ii) There is a very marked disparity in Lottery
grants with Rugby Union receiving five times as much money as
Rugby League. We recommend the National Lottery Sports Fund examine
the reasons for this disparity and the assumptions behind it (paragraph
37).
4. As we laid out in our written evidence to
the Committee, since the advent of the Lottery, awards totalling
over £5.7 million have been given to Rugby League club projects,
contributing to overall costs of £7.5 million, and it is
good news that Rugby League is receiving significant funding from
Sport England. However, we should be careful of direct comparisons
of Lottery spending between sports. The respective governing bodies
of rugby estimate that there are 300,000-500,000 people over 19
playing Rugby Union and 25,000 amateur and 15,000 professional
Rugby League players. On these estimates, the average award for
the two codes is £75.34-£45.20 per player for Rugby
Union and £216.14 per player for Rugby League. We can appreciate
that further funding would be of benefit to the development and
promotion of Rugby League.
5. It is a positive sign therefore that Sport
England is discussing ways in which it might broaden its support
for the game with the Rugby League authorities. The sport's new
development strategy should provide opportunities for the game
to have access to further support. In addition, following the
publication of its Lottery strategy, Sport England is now able
to solicit applications from areas of sport which have been less
successful in attracting Lottery support. This will enable a more
proactive approach to the distribution of Lottery funds allowing
more effective targeting.
(iii) In our view, the principal concern of
public policy with regard to sport is to maintain and enhance
participation in sport of all kinds. We expect this aim to be
at the centre of the Government's long awaited and much delayed
Strategy for Sport. In the context of public policy, the sustainability
of professional rugby matters insofar as the professional game
contributes to wider interest and participation in sport (paragraph
42).
6. Sport has a huge contribution to make to the
lives of all people in this country. It provides health benefits,
a sense of purpose, an opportunity to take part in something worthwhile
and it has a significant role to play too in pursuing Government's
social inclusion agenda. Government is working hard to increase
overall participation in sport, and this principle will form a
cornerstone of our sports strategy due to be published in the
very near future.
7. The top clubs and international sides of both
codes of professional rugby provide great shop windows for their
respective games, helping to promote interest and participation
as well as revenue which can be recycled into the development
of the games. As with all sports, Government keeps in close contact
with rugby governing bodies and encourages them to use their top
class game in a more structured and systematic manner as a means
of developing and delivering the sport at grass-roots level, as
we outlined in our evidence to the Committee. Innovative ideas,
such as Saracens' CashBack scheme, show how professional rugby
clubs can act positively to promote community involvement. It
must be made clear though, that the sustainability of either Rugby
Union or Rugby League as professional sports, or individual
professional clubs which are run as commercial concerns, is primarily
a matter for the rugby authorities and the clubs themselves.
(iv) We recommend to Sport England that further
public investment in facilities and grounds for professional clubs
should be subject to two conditions. First, as proposed by Hemel
Hempstead RLFC, grants for spectator facilities should be "linked
with a club's proven track record of youth, schools and amateur
development in the community". Second, conditions related
to the management and finances of professional clubs should be
imposed before grants are given for stadium development (paragraph
43).
8. These two conditions are already largely built
into existing criteria for Sport England Lottery awards. The questions
of community use and effective financial management for all Lottery
grants is taken very seriously. The only real exception to this
would be where safety considerations come into play, as may prove
the case for a number of Rugby League grounds under the Sports
Ground Initiative, though the highest standards of financial management
will still be expected.
7 HC
(1999-2000) 99, para 24. Back
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