The Rugby World Cup is about to start but it’s moves by players off the pitch that could be of greater national importance. Last week the plan for the future health and wellbeing of the UK was played out in a game of two reports spearheaded by rugby legends.
The first saw the publication of the long-awaited new UK government strategy for sport and physical activity, “Get Active”. It contains good intentions, new targets and positive language but little clarity about how, this time, it’s actually going to work. A second report from the Centre for Social Justice published just days later then joined the fray, offering a more compelling vision and details on how to achieve it in “Game changer: a plan to transform young lives through sport”.
Reading the first report is a bit like watching a match where the team want to win but seem to have tired legs from the go, mistiming moves, half a yard behind the action. The title issues the nation with the basic instruction: “Get Active”. I know when I start using “get” with my children that things have reached a point where I really want them to do what I think is right, but it rarely ends in the action I’m hoping for.
You can almost hear the governmental weariness: it’s so obviously better for everyone to be active, if people could just get on with it, then we could focus on something else, goodness knows there are plenty of issues. The updated targets – 1 million more adults and 2.5 million more children active by 2030 – are pleasing, round numbers but feel too easily plucked from the air. They leave you wondering what happens to everyone else, and whether once this neat metric has been surveyed to death and ticked off on a civil service spreadsheet, anything would really have changed in anyone’s life.
The creation of a new national physical activity taskforce recognises that accountability in this area needs to increase. Bringing in Ugo Monye as co-chair brings hopefully more than a touch of celebrity. It should count for something when a former international sportsman (rather than a short-term politician) is willing to stake their reputation on ensuring progress in an area where targets for an active nation have been missed for as long as I can remember.
There was little joy in sports sector responses. Clubs, charities, NGOs and passionate people who know the potential for sport and activity to play a major role in the social challenges of our time saw nothing new. The inclusion of an aim to strengthen integrity in sport lacks clear direction. A consultation was announced, six years after Tanni Grey-Thompson’s thorough Duty of Care in Sport review recommended significant action and the need for an independent safeguarding body, and after numerous culture reviews across Olympic and Paralympic sport including the damning Whyte Review into the mistreatment of gymnasts. Our athletes deserve better. National governing bodies including British Gymnastics have made urgent calls for better support for some time. There is knowhow within the sporting community nationally and internationally on this issue and there should be no further delay to ensuring safe sport in practice, not just rhetoric.
In contrast the tone of the Centre for Social Justice report differs from the start. There are fresh ideas based on evidence and experience, underpinned by a tangible belief and greater sense of purpose that we can transform the health prospects and opportunities for young people.
John Nash, chair of the advisory board that wrote the report and former minister at the Department of Education, echoes Nelson Mandela’s words about the power of sport to change the world. Lord Nash writes: “Sport has the power to transform lives. Of course, it keeps us fit. But so much more. For the young people of this nation, sport unlocks life-long friends, introduces mentors, provides purpose, builds confidence – and keeps us out of trouble. It boosts academic prospects, combats mental ill health, and gets us ready for the world of work.”
The CSJ report is rich with evidence of how sport can make a positive impact on young people, from reducing offending and cutting violent crime, to supporting learning and engagement in education and strengthening mental health. It’s bold in its demands for whole-hearted government commitment with a taskforce led by the prime minister, and feels like a call to action that leaders across the sector and beyond could get behind.
Nash and his colleagues demand a fully funded right to sport for all pupils alongside long-term match-funded investment in youth infrastructure, services and facilities. They highlight the potential to leverage private wealth, philanthropic appetite, and new innovation surrounding youth sport, which they see as largely untapped to date. They cite the experience of charities such as OnSide, which creates youth zones in economically disadvantaged areas, and the Nick Maughan Foundation which rolled out the innovative BoxWise boxing programme at 42 venues across the UK and partnered with youth homeless charity Centrepoint.
Brands including Nike and Adidas have led innovative schemes, matching employee donations to their impact funds and collaborated with Premier League clubs to address issues including knife crime. Advisory board member Lawrence Dallaglio supports children excluded from schools in his charity “RugbyWorks”. I’ve seen similar in rowing, with Fulham Reach Boat Club’s “Boats not Bars” innovative programme working with young offenders; and London Youth Rowing and Love Rowing using the experience of sport to change lives for the better.
This report simmers and bubbles with possibilities. It envisions collaboration on a scale not seen before, “bringing together government, schools, governing bodies, community organisations and philanthropists who can widen opportunities for all young people”.
The ideas in the CSJ report restore hope again and belief in the wider role that sport can play in our communities. But change won’t come if sport remains tacked-on to the end of the government agenda. The whistle has gone, and there’s no time to lose.
