Let's Address the Cost Of Living Crisis

Park pitches and school halls reverberate to the sound of kids living their best lives up and down the UK on weekend mornings. 

To visit one of our groups is to see children and young people of all ages laughing and smiling - their weekly session with their friends is often the highlight of their week. It's the place where they feel safe, respected and understood. We've met young people who told us that their community group is like a second home to them, one that has kept them on the right path. Instead of run-ins with the police and being excluded from school they're now facing real opportunities in life. 

Because sport makes a positive difference at the heart of our communities. Whether it's football, boxing, paddleboarding, kayaking, or kabbadi, sport is an outlet for wellbeing, but also a source of comfort and joy.  Conjured up by magical volunteers who allow these young people to grow and thrive in the company of their peers. 

They come through the doors and are welcomed into a safe place. We know the drastic pressures our youth feel from the world outside: from social media, from educational attainment, from the complicated challenges of growing up and discovering who they are, and who they want to be.

Community groups are havens where they find boundless comfort and support. There’s the story of the 15-year-old boy, brought up in a violent home causing him to start taking drugs at the end of 9. By the age of 12 he spent time on the streets after running away from another care home and almost entirely leaving school. He was picked up by a Sported group focused on using time on the water, rowing and sailing, to build confidence, create aspiration and prepare them for employment. The feeling of being wanted, coupled with the practical support received has turned his life around.

But what if those doors were locked and the lights switched off, leaving our youth out in the cold?

 An alarming prospect. Yet also a very real one as the cost of living crisis threatens this vulnerable generation and puts these clubs under significant strain. 

Sported works with almost 3,000 community sports groups across the country, empowering the local heroes running these groups by providing much needed professional expertise, resources and operational support, free of charge, to help their group survive and thrive. 

And many of them turned to the charity for urgent guidance and support during Covid when the pandemic threatened their very existence. Demand for our services increased by 60% as groups sought funding, advice on navigating lockdowns and support around mental health issues – for them, as well as their young people. 

The models that allowed them to be sustainable to reach out beyond the touchlines and into every corner of our society, nearly suffered irreversible injury. Half of our groups operate on less than £10k per annum, meaning that funds are tight at the best of times, and they often rely on local business support or grants to top up the small amount of money that comes in through the fees young people pay. For many young people and families, even these small amounts to pay are sometimes too much, meaning groups have to make difficult decisions: either stop young people from coming, or, as is often the case, allow them to participate for nothing – creating an unsustainable situation.

Gradually, with support and much-needed funding, they have been nursed back to health. 

However, in recent weeks, we have witnessed countless warnings that the threat level has returned to high: this time, from an economic virus that is spreading rapidly and with casualties already totting up.

Our recent survey we conducted revealed that over nine in ten of these organisations are expressing fears that they will be damaged – along with the kids who rely upon them.  

Turning the lights on, especially as winter nears, is hitting these clubs in the pocket. The drastic rise in costs of electricity and gas means three-fold increases in the amounts many have to pay to open the changing rooms before football matches or to hire the basketball court.  

For those organisations who own facilities which double as hubs for so many essential activities benefiting young and old, it means impossible choices between slashing sessions, hiking charges and the prospect of going bust. 

But the crisis they are facing doesn’t just begin and end with utility bills. It heats up beyond that. 41 per cent of these groups have seen their funding drop already as others tighten their belts. The same number say they need up to £10,000 to deal with the priorities brought on by cost of living pressures, such as increased energy bills, higher rents and helping purchase equipment for young people.  

Sported’s army of mentors are on the front line, offering expertise and support to mitigate these issues and ensure that – in the first instance – these irreplaceable assets simply survive the winter. But every day, they are hearing a fresh tale of woe.  

Parents regretfully admitting an extra one pound per week in fees or travel costs is beyond their budget and being forced to keep their child at home.

Less revenue through the doors means a hit to these clubs’ ability to subsidise the less well-off. It’s a vicious cycle.

45 per cent of those we work with are located in the UK’s most deprived areas. These areas are spread across the UK, some caused by rural isolation, others left behind post-manufacturing days, and others in urban areas where families just struggle to make ends meet.  Already squeezed for cash, they are at the greatest risk of feeling the chill from being frozen out. 

This chill doesn’t just come from becoming inactive, with all the future health risks that brings into play. For so many kids in our society, their time in and around sport represents a lifeline. A place where they can learn to fail, then succeed. A place to interact with others and build bonds.  

While we understand how being active supports their physical and mental health, it also teaches lessons that are as valuable as any they will learn in the classroom. And it isn’t about just hitting the back of the net or dancing like no-one is watching. 

There’s the foodbanks or kitchens that ensure they get a warm meal. The homework clubs. The anti-crime initiatives at an impressionable age. We all appreciate how funnelling their time into something positive rather than the unfavourable alternative can make a life-changing difference.

Losing these rays of light could cast long shadows for years to come. 

One crisis threatens another. And the effects can only get worse without the urgent arrival of help and support. We welcome the support of our partners Sport England and Barclays who have enabled us to reach those most in need with grant funding but they must only be a start. Just like during Covid, a failure to act swiftly will cause irreparable harm. 

We must remove any immediate threat to young people’s ability to keep accessing the benefits of community sport and physical activities. Beyond that, governments – national and local – need to do more to encourage and enable all those with community facilities to make them available to local organisations this winter and beyond at a time and price that works for them. Only by doing this, will we enable all groups to have equal access to affordable, sustainable, safe facilities for long-term use, allowing them to grow their reach and impact right to the margins of our society. 

Without it, we fear the life chances of our youth will take a major hit. Action that keeps the doors open, the lights on and the noise roaring will allow them to aspire towards the top of their league. 

Nicola Walker is chief executive of Sported. Learn more about our Cost Of Living Crisis campaign here.