I’m not particularly into sport, it’s true. I watch very little of it, don’t really follow what’s going on and don’t tend to read about it. However, I’ve recently become interested in the politics behind the sporting headlines because a) I believe everything is political and b) the Olympics is proving to be bloody amazing! What a fantastic televised visual of all that is inspirational!
The irony felt at watching Boris Johnson on a zip wire with his underpants stuffed under his armpits and David Cameron basking in the glory of athletic success that he has contributed little or nothing too, was becoming a little nauseating for me.
It is said that we should keep the politics out of sport but I’m not certain that this is possible.
How have we somehow managed to create this incredible crop of an athletic generation? It seems that per head of the population, Britain is one of the most successful sporting nations.
In 1996, on the back of 17 years of a Tory government, we came 36th in the Olympics held in Atlanta, the worst ever performance in the games. The under investment from those years can be epitomised by the selling off of 10,000 school sports playing fields, no central school sport system, crumbling sports facilities and poor school links.
In 10 years under New Labour (from 1997 -2007), the situation was changed dramatically.
- 86 per cent of 5-16s doing two hours of PE and sport each week
- 3,000 Community Sports Coaches
- 450 School Sport Partnerships
- 90 Competition Manager Co-ordinators and over 18,000 link teachers
- Over 1.5 billion invested (http://www.sportsthinktank.com/uploads/labour-sports-manifesto.pdf
- The establishment of Youth Sports Trust
Traditionally sport was the reserve of the elite for two reasons. Firstly, because they could afford to take part time jobs or be ‘professional’ and secondly because the access to sports facilities at private or independent schools far superseded what the state sector was offering.
Like it or not, the policies of the Last Government laid the foundations for the sustained success of the British sports men and women that we saw in Beijing four years ago with an unprecedented 19 Gold Medals (47 in total), which will be surpassed at the games of the 30th Olympiad, London 2012.
With this in mind, lets hope that our current Government ‘s austerity programme doesn’t do to much damage to the progress made that we are all celebrating united as a winning country.
Remember, there is a political dimension to almost everything in this life….
“You may not be interested in war (read Politics) but war is interested in you” Trotsky
About Lisa
Purchase on Amazon
Purchase on Amazon
Purchase on Amazon
Lisa is the founder and owner of Lisa Cherry Ltd, an organisation that’s the culmination of all she’s passionate about.
I wonder if the United States may be following down a similar path in some ways. The mantra nowadays is cut, cut, cut. Cut municipal services, cuts for education, cut and cut some more. PE is almost unknown in more and more schools. Excellent post; tweeted and shared on Facebook.
Thank you Alana for your comments and pleased you enjoyed my post. It’ll be interesting to see what happens after the Olympics regarding Sports and cuts, here and in the US.
Lisa x
Ah, but…….a disproportionate number of Team GB went to private schools….as in everything else in this country, class and privilege are big determinants of success in many sports.
And don’t forget John Major………..an idiot, no doubt, but responsible for introducing the National Lottery, effectively a levy on the poor that has paid for a lot of this………
And another thing, ‘London 2012′ (well named) has done little to help the rest of the country.
Aye, it’s all politics!
Fred
Good points Fred and thank you for your comments although I would dispute your final comment. Having watched the excitement in the winning Athletes local areas, I think that communities have been brought together rather well and a sense of connectedness across the country is being felt at a time when most of us are very aware that we’re not “all in this together.” With London 2012, I suspect a lot of people feel a connection that may not usually….
Lisa x
Actually, this article breaks it down and the findings are very interesting… http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/aug/06/team-gb-medal-winners-background?CMP=twt_gu#school
“It seems that per head of the population, Britain is one of the most successful sporting nations.” Please see this site for the success of the Olympics per head of population: http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics.html
It would be interesting to know the recent comparative political policies towards investment in sport in the other successful countries shown on this table. Regardless of the government in power, I know in New Zealand the prevailing mentality naturally leans towards being outdoors and active- it is almost the default setting!
Thanks for an interesting article.
Really interesting link…thanks Kirsten (and NZ are second!). Impressive.
I agree, it would be very useful to see cost per head on Sport for each country.
Thanks for commenting
Lisa x