Last summer, we supported the greenest and most sustainable Touch Rugby World Cup ever. Our Chief Progress Officer, David Cope, led the sustainability team in calculating travel emissions, engaging participants with sustainability actions and using GeoPura on-site Hydrogen generators to deliver clean power throughout the week-long event. Well done to England Touch and the University of Nottingham for conducting a thorough evaluation of the event's impact. #Sustainability #ClimateAction #SustainableSport
Working with @englandtouch and @UniversityofNottingham we have released the 2024 Touch World Cup impact report, unveiling a £10 million economic benefit, as well as social, reputational and environmental outcomes for the local area. The report was produced in-line with UK Sport's framework for measuring the impact of major events and draws from a range of data sets including a bespoke participant survey to assess the benefits of hosting the Touch World Cup. The headline number of £10 million, excluding travel to the event, was made up of £4.7m of participant spend from players, referees and support staff who on average spent £1570; and £5.3million from visitors, spending an average of £781 per person. Event Director and former CEO of England Touch, Chris Simon, believes the better-than-expected numbers are down to the increased number of visitors to the event: “The survey showed that on average, each participant was accompanied by 2.27 people – a higher number than we expected. This led to estimated attendances throughout the week-long competition of 10,000 per day, with a peak of 25,000 over the finals weekend. Many visitors stayed for most of the week, with many international visitors extending their stay beyond the end of the event.” Chris, who has now joined FIT as the organisation’s first Chief Operating Officer expects the popularity of Touch to continue to grow, both in terms of participation, but also the wider following for the sport: “Historically Touch hasn’t had the public following and has relied on a pay-to-play model. The World Cup has shown us that there is a wider appeal for the sport. We had the support of 15 partner organisations, both financially and in kind. Despite having over 3,000 players from 39 countries, more people watched the event than participated in it and the media reach and wider publicity created substantial awareness outside of our traditional audiences.” As event hosts, Christine Bailey, Assistant Director of Sport at the University of Nottingham said: “Sport is at the heart of our communities, fostering health, education, social integration, and economic growth. We are immensely proud of the positive impact the Touch World Cup has had, both locally and nationally. This prestigious event has been a fantastic platform to showcase Nottingham’s established reputation as the home of sport in England and we hope its success continues to inspire more individuals to get involved in sport and physical activity, driving a lasting legacy for future generations.” For further details check out the full story on the England Touch website: https://lnkd.in/eJfUAzKf A copy of the Impact Report has been sent to all FIT member nations directly. To obtain a copy, please contact Chris Simon on chris.simon@internationaltouch.org.
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