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Regular Sport on the
Increase in England
New research by Sport England shows an
increase in the number of people playing
sport regularly. Over 600,000 more
people are playing sport regularly since
2005 when London won the bid to host
the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The number of adults in England who
play sport at least three times a week
has reached 6.93 million, continuing the
positive upward trend over the past four
years.
The encouraging news comes despite a
fall in the amount of money people are
spending on sport and recreation during
these challenging economic times. Sports
which cost more to take part in, such as
golf, sailing and snowsport, do appear
to be facing challenges in retaining their
participants. Also, whilst male participation
has increased, participation by females
and disabled people has decreased in the
same period. The number of adults with
a limiting disability doing regular sport
has decreased by 42,800 to 386,700 and
regular participation among women has
fallen by 61,000 to 2.727 million.
The figures cover the first six months of
a four-year funding period in which Sport
England will invest up to £880 million of
Exchequer and National Lottery funding
in community sport. Almost half a billion
pounds is going to 46 sports’ national
governing bodies, all of which have
been set individual targets to increase
participation over the four years.
Half a dozen sports are already meeting
their growth targets for year one. In
addition to cycling and athletics, which
have delivered a combined increase of
over 240,000 weekly participants, the
other sports are boxing, table tennis,
canoeing and netball.
Tennis, which has seen significant
increases in participation since Andy
Murray’s strong performance at
Wimbledon, is also on course to achieve
its year one growth target.
There are four sports with over one million
people taking part each week, swimming
(3,162,400), football (2,122,700), cycling
(1,880,000) and Athletics (1,739,700).
“This is an encouraging set of results,”
said Richard Lewis, Sport England’s Chair.
“It’s clear we’re making progress both in
getting the right sporting opportunities in
place, and in changing people’s sporting
behaviours.
“Six months into a four-year funding
period, we’re delighted that sports such as
athletics and cycling are already delivering
substantial growth. However, the figures
clearly show we face challenges on
participation among women and disabled
people, and Sport England is committed
to tackling these, as demonstrated by our
allocation of £10m to projects specifically
focused on women’s sport.”
