Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Support for rugby league The
petition of the residents of the constituency of Normanton,
Pontefract and Castleford, Declares that Castleford Tigers rugby
league club is at the heart of the town of Castleford, and supports
the whole community, but is now under pressure; further declares
that the rugby league faces financial difficulty as covid-19
restrictions mean that supporters cannot go to the Jungle or other
grounds but clubs still have outgoing bills...Request free trial
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Support for rugby league
The petition of the residents of the constituency of
Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford,
Declares that Castleford Tigers rugby league club is at the
heart of the town of Castleford, and supports the whole community,
but is now under pressure; further declares that the rugby league
faces financial difficulty as covid-19 restrictions mean that
supporters cannot go to the Jungle or other grounds but clubs still
have outgoing bills to pay; and further declares that it is vital
that the Government provide proper support for the rugby league
over the course of the pandemic.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons
urge the Government to recognise the importance of the rugby league
to towns by ensuring that they get the support they need to survive
the pandemic.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by , Official Report, 22 October 2020; Vol. 682, c. 1338
.]
[P002617]
Observations from the Under-Secretary of State for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport ():
The Government recognise that rugby league is vitally
important to communities across the country, with towns and
villages making the sport the centre of their civic
life.
That is why the Government announced on 1 May that the Rugby
Football League (RFL) would receive a £16 million cash injection to
safeguard the immediate future of the sport for the communities it
serves. Rugby league was the first sport to receive such emergency
loan support, reflecting both the Government commitment to
protecting the sport and the precarious financial position of
professional clubs. It has helped the sport to deal with the
financial impact of covid-19. The RFL has been fully engaged with
the process and is ensuring that the sport as a whole is aware of
the assistance available and how to access it.
In November we announced a further provisional allocation of
£12 million to rugby league as part of the sports winter survival
package, to help the sport navigate the period to the end of March
without supporters in stadia. Clubs are also able to access a range
of support for the grassroots game via Sport
England’s coronavirus funding.
The events of recent months have shown that the impacts of
sport clubs reach beyond sport itself, and rugby league clubs have
proved themselves the bedrocks of their communities during this
pandemic.
We know this is a challenging period for all sports and we
continue to work closely with the whole sector to understand the
issues they face and how we can best support them through this
difficult time.
