Sport Organisations Call for sport to be at heart of 2021 recovery efforts

January 8, 2021 

More than 50 leaders from the UK sport and physical activity sector have signed a "New Year's resolution" calling for a new government action plan in support of community sport during the Covid-19 crisis. It is part of the #SaveOurSports campaign which launched in September 2020. Sport organisations across the UK signed a New Year’s resolution to ensure sport is put at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery in 2021. 

Leaders from more than 150 bodies wrote to the Prime Minister in September asking him to provide funding for the recovery of the sport and activity sector – or risk fuelling physical inactivity and related illnesses for a generation.  

Using the campaign hashtag #SaveOurSports, the group requests a support package which: 

• Creates a Sports Recovery Fund to ensure that COVID-19 doesn’t lead to a lost generation of sport and activity 
• Extends the VAT reduction that has been applied to the culture and hospitality sectors to the sport and physical activity sector 
• Maximise access, in a safe way, to sport and physical activity during any local lockdowns or additional national restrictions 

The group, including The FA, LTA, UK Athletics and the ECB, have pledged to make plans for the return of supporters as well as participants to grassroots facilities as well as tailoring ‘financial and regulatory support to rebuild and revitalise our nation’s health’.

They have also committed to ‘redoubling’ efforts to increase participation, particularly among the groups ‘most impacted’ by the pandemic, which it says includes children and young people. 

The message praises the government for its support in getting elite and community sport back being played and describes efforts to increase sporting participation as "vital". "We all share an absolute focus for sport and physical activity to be at the heart of our nation's post-Covid renewal in 2021 and beyond, helping everyone to get fitter and healthier," it adds. 

The organisations also highlight their plans for the return of fans to full stadia in order to help create "the income needed to reinvest" into grassroot facilities. 

“Grassroots sport, fitness and wider recreational activity is proven to support physical, mental and social wellbeing. This makes our sector essential to the nation’s recovery from the damage caused by the pandemic."  

"All of us possess a determination to rebuild this year and believe that as the nation emerges from Covid, there is a golden opportunity for sport and physical activity to build back better. Our specific aim is to see activity and levels of participation return to their pre-Covid levels by 2022.”