Memorandum by the Football Foundation
(WP 77)
INTRODUCTION
A unique partnership funded by the FA Premier
League, The FA and the Government, the Football Foundation is
the UK's largest sports charity. Our mission is to improve facilities,
create opportunities and build communities. We are:
— Putting in place a new generation
of modern facilities in parks, local leagues and schools.
— Providing capital/revenue support
to increase participation in grass roots football.
— Strengthening the links between football
and the community, harnessing potential as a force for good in
society, promoting health, education and social inclusion.
In particular, football can play an important
role in promoting improved health outcomes by:
— Encouraging participation in physical
activity—helping people meet the Chief Medical Officer's
"At least five a week" message.
— Engaging people who the NHS finds
hard to reach—enabling communication and interaction with
excluded groups on health issues.
— Promoting positive attitudes to health
and well-being—encouraging people to look after themselves
and seek help when they need it.
The Football Foundation supports the objectives
and broad themes of the Public Health White Paper and we welcome
this opportunity to contribute to its scrutiny.
Will the proposals enable the Government to achieve
its public health goals?
The Football Foundation welcomes the explicit
recognition in "At least five a week" that regular participation
in physical activity has major health benefits, including leading
to a lower risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes
and certain types of cancer.
We also welcome the recognition in the White
Paper that: "Football and other sports have a huge reach
and engagement, and a strong community base." (Choosing Health:
making healthier choices easier, page 90, paragraph 51). We consider
that the Public Health White Paper does contain initiatives, which
will help meet the objective of increasing participation in physical
activity. Encouraging initiatives include:
— The establishment of a Physical Activity
Promotion Fund to roll out evidence-based physical activity interventions,
building on the LEAP Programme.
— Regional Physical Activity Co-ordinators
to manage delivery of activity interventions.
— A commitment to build on the successful
partnerships already established between health services and football
clubs, including a pledge to publish a guide for PCTs and sports
clubs to encourage good practice and foster links on health improvement
work.
Are the proposals appropriate, will they be effective,
do they represent value for money?
The proposals in the White Paper relating to
football and physical activity do have the potential to deliver
significant improvements to the health of the nation and therefore
are appropriate. The Football Foundation is involved in a number
of existing initiatives, which demonstrate that real benefits
can be delivered by linking health and football. Some examples
of the 1,140 projects funded to date are:
— Kidderminster Harriers Football
in the Community scheme—the Foundation has provided
a grant of £72,396 to establish a healthy lifestyle football
project for local children. Working in association with the Worcestershire
Health Authority, County Council, Local Education Authority and
the British Heart Foundation, Kidderminster Harriers coaches visit
schools and provide football-coaching sessions, passing on the
benefits of regular exercise, healthy living and good diets, involving
up to 6,000 local children.
— Fit Through Football—the
Foundation provided a grant of £148,920 to help the Middlesbrough
FC Football in the Community Programme to deliver a comprehensive
healthy lifestyle programme, embracing positive lifestyle messages,
drug awareness information, citizenship classes, physical activities,
literacy and numeracy education as well as after-school coaching
clubs. By providing positive messages, alongside regular football
sessions, the club hope to promote health, as well as encourage
and stimulate future football participation. The scheme will offer
additional community benefits by addressing such issues as crime
reduction and anti-social behaviour.
— Dads Against Drugs (DADs)
—the Foundation provided a grant of £95,000 to a Hull
group to fund a project co-ordinator over the next five years
to continue their expanding work, which includes running regular
annual football and drugs education events. DADs has proved particularly
effective in targeting youngsters at risk, using innovative approaches
to combating drug abuse, such as primary school five-a-side tournaments
and drug awareness project and sponsoring a comic to tour primary
schools talking to children aged 7-11 to increase drug awareness.
— Northumberland Primary Care Trust—the
Foundation provided a grant of £3,080 for the PCT to undertake
a football project aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles, increasing
participation in sports and improving the levels of understanding
about the dangers of smoking amongst young people and encourage
them to quit. The project is linked to initiatives such as Positive
Futures and the Government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy.
The White Paper recognises the potential of
projects such as these and offers the opportunity to extend and
embed them in England's public health system. However to do so
will require additional investment and a willingness on the part
of Primary Care Trusts to engage with the football community.
The decision in the Spending Review of 2004 to extend Government
Funding of the Football Foundation is a welcome start and the
White Paper makes clear that the Department of Health recognises
the potential of football to make a difference.
This recognition now needs to be turned into
action and we await the Implementation Plan with interest. For
our part we are committed to developing further relationships
with local NHS bodies and we hope to work closely with the Spearhead
PCTs to ensure that the contribution that football can make is
maximised. In return we urge the Government and the NHS to prioritise
the funding of public health projects involving sport, harnessing
the power of football to help promote better health for the nation.
Do the necessary public health infrastructure
and mechanisms exist to ensure that proposals will be implemented
and goals achieved?
Traditionally the NHS has not interacted with
other organisations with a stake in improving public health as
well as it could have. For example, links with local football
clubs have not in the past been optimised. There are indications
that this is changing (see examples above) and the Football Foundation
is committed to playing a part in facilitating this. We are also
hopeful that some of the initiatives announced in the White Paper
will help to develop structures, which enhance the interaction
between sport and traditional health providers.
January 2005
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