Grassroots Sport
Participation
(Birmingham, Northfield)
(Con)
4. What steps her Department is taking to encourage grassroots
participation in sport.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
()
Grassroots sports bind our communities together and make people
happier as well as healthier. Since 2019, Sport
England has invested over £200,000 in my hon. Friend’s
constituency, including £40,000 during the pandemic. In October,
I announced £35 million of Commonwealth games physical activity
legacy funding, opening up sporting opportunities across the west
midlands. The Government are continuing to invest directly in
grassroots sports facilities. I am sure that I can meet my hon.
Friend to discuss this further.
I recently met Matt and Alan from Northfield Town football club,
who have ambitious plans for a new all-weather football pitch and
female facilities for changing rooms and toilets. How can we
support Northfield Town football club to make the new facilities
a reality?
Government investment, along with that from the Football
Association and the Premier League, is delivered through the
Football Foundation. Since 2019, the foundation has invested
about £8 million in more than 300 projects in the Birmingham
area, targeted based on local football facility plans. I am sure
that the foundation would be keen to hear from Northfield Town
about its ambitions. We will facilitate that via my office.
(Paisley and Renfrewshire
North) (SNP)
As they say, you have to see it to be it, and it is well known
that, when cricket disappeared from terrestrial TV and went on to
paid-for satellite TV, participation levels at grassroots
plummeted. A great many Scottish football fans cannot view the
Scottish men’s national team on free-to-air TV, and that has hit
participation levels. The previous Sports Minister met me to
discuss how we might improve the situation. Might the Secretary
of State do me the same courtesy?
I would be delighted to meet the hon. Member.
Football Governance:
Fan-led Review
(Bury South) (Lab)
5. Whether she plans to implement the recommendations of the
fan-led review of football governance.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
()
The Government published their response to the recommendations of
the independent fan-led review of football governance in April
2022. We do recognise the need for football fans to be at the
heart of the game and for the reforms to ensure that the game is
successful and sustainable in the long term. Football clubs are
at the core of local communities and, for too long, fans have
been an afterthought for some club owners.
Football’s coming home, but it seems that a football regulator is
not. Without a football regulator, there will be no say for fans
and no financial or fit-and-proper assessment of new owners, with
more clubs like Bury being at risk. Almost a year on from the
fan-led review, the Government are no further on in implementing
any of the changes. In that time, we have seen the sale of
Chelsea and the near collapse of Derby. Why are the Government
dragging their feet?
It is important that I praise the work of my hon. Friend the
Member for Chatham and Aylesford (), who got the fans’ voice
right at the heart of her report. I and the Minister responsible
for sport have met multiple football supporters’ groups and will
continue to do so. The White Paper will be published imminently.
(Torbay) (Con)
At last week’s annual general meeting of the Torquay United
Supporters Trust, there was much debate about how the World cup
in Qatar and the discussions around it have yet again focused
attention on the governance of the game of football. Does my
right hon. Friend agree that it is absolutely vital that we make
changes to ensure fans get a voice, that there is real engagement
with their clubs, and that we do not see more of the incidents we
have seen across this country, where clubs have been moved from
their historic locations into other communities due to disputes
over stadium ownership?
We on the Government Benches understand how important it is to
get this right, and we will get it right. We will put fans’
voices right at the heart of what we do, and ensure that whatever
we do has the teeth to ensure change.
(Manchester, Withington)
(Lab)
In the years since the fan-led review was published, Southend
United faced a winding-up petition and a transfer embargo after
financial failings; Derby County was in administration; Chelsea
could only carry on because of special exemptions when its owner
was sanctioned; and the Mayor of the West Midlands wrote to the
Football League to express his worries that Birmingham City’s
future is in jeopardy under its current ownership. Which clubs
will face trouble next year, the year after, or each year until
the Government stop delaying the introduction of an independent
regulator? The Prime Minister committed to implementing all the
recommendations of the review, so why do they not just get on
with it? After the next election, a Labour Government will.
After the next election, a Conservative Government will continue
to get on with the job, as we have always been doing. The
Government recognise the importance of acting decisively, but
also of getting this policy right; we have been considering it
and consulting very carefully. Of course, in the meantime, those
in football can take forward some of the reforms themselves,
including financial redistribution, which we continue to urge
them to do. The report will be imminent.
