Tottenham’s Eric Dier says he is extremely concerned about the cost of living crisis’ impact on grassroots sport with more than two thirds of community groups expecting kids to be prevented from participating in activities over the next six months.
Charity Sported, the UK’s largest network of community groups, on Wednesday released the findings of a survey answered by over 500 organisations providing sports services for kids, with 94 per cent admitting to having fears about the effects of the crisis on their young children.
The rising price of venue hire and energy has already seen 72 per cent of community sports groups forced into changes to offset their increasing bills by reducing membership fees, offering fewer sessions or reducing the number of children they offer services to.
“It’s extremely concerning,” Dier, a Sported ambassador, told Sky Sports News on his visit to Rap-Aid Youth Football Club in north London. “It’s going to have a huge impact on all these boys here and all the clubs that Sported support.
“It’s a huge problem for the clubs and it’s becoming more and more difficult for these clubs to run and for the kids to come and take part in them.”
He added: “My visit to Rap-Aid was inspirational but also sobering. Young people desperately need community sports groups like Rap-Aid. I am very concerned at what the next few months will bring and the lasting impacts this crisis will leave and I would urge people to do what they can to help keep the doors of these groups open.”
‘I can’t go to sleep – how are we going to pay this?’
Tim Aleshe is kept up at night by the cost of living crisis and how it will it impact Rap-Aid Youth Football Club
Three quarters of community sports groups expect their costs to increase by 50 per cent on average and almost one in five groups fear they will need to halt activities altogether.
Founder of Rap-Aid Tim Aleshe admits his fears about the cost of living crisis and its impact on his club are keeping him up at night as he fights to keep sessions on for children in the area.
“I can’t go to sleep,” Aleshe told Sky Sports News. “I’m wriggling in bed and thinking, ‘How are we going to pay this? Who should we ask for money?’ We don’t have time to be sitting there writing funding applications.
“I could see it coming up. I’m dealing with it in a silly way, I’m just asking everyone to come and play. If you can’t pay, come and play, and we will find a way. I’m hoping we will find a way.
“If this is taken away, we will probably just go to the park and start playing football in the park. You can’t stop that. As long as we can get our hands on that round ball and find a surface to play, we will carry on.”
Dier described his visit to Rap-Aid as ‘inspirational but also sobering’
Fifty-one percent of organisations need between £1,000 and £9,999 over the next six months to support their cost of living priorities, but almost half are reporting a drop in financial support from local businesses, trusts and foundations.
These funding shortfalls represent an existential threat to many groups, with the majority surviving on less than £10,000 per year.
“It is difficult because a number of funders who would have either traditionally helped us or our groups directly, spent a huge amount of money in Covid,” Sported’s deputy chief executive Tom Burstow told Sky Sports News.
“So there was a lot of support for us and our groups during that time and so far we’ve not seen a lot of grant money out there for these groups to try and attract.”
What will the impact be?
Almost one in five community groups fear they may have to stop activities altogether
Nearly half of community sport groups (43 per cent) are concerned about children and their families being able to afford sessions with potentially tens of thousands of young people set to miss out on sport.
Even when activities are free, 67 per cent of the groups surveyed expect the crisis to force young people out of participating in sport sessions.
“I listened to a message the other day when the parents said, ‘We don’t know which one to select to play football so we are going to stop’,” said Aleshe, founder of Rap-Aid.
“We have to ask them to come in and to play without thinking about their social and economic issues. But my fear of them actually stopping playing football itself, is the mental impact that it will have on the young people.
“This is their escape, whatever has happened at home or at school – this is where they let it all out. So taking that away from people will affect people mentally.”
Forty-five per cent of the groups are located in the UK’s most deprived areas where sport plays a vital role in combating key social issues such as youth violence, mental health issues and knife crime.
“It is a really difficult time to be a young person growing up in the UK right now,” said Sported’s chief executive Nicola Walker.
“Covid-19 has already disproportionately affected the most disadvantaged members of society, widening inequalities, and creating a time bomb in terms of mental health. The cost of living crisis will only exacerbate this.”