England Basketball Funding Cut By £1.2m

England Basketball was dealt a huge blow today when Sport England announced funding cuts of £1.2million covering the next three years to 31 March 2013.

Sport England’s funding for England basketball was structured to incentivise increased participated in basketball outside the governing body’s core affiliate clubs and members. The maximum award included £1.2 million which was available only if England Basketball was able to produce a robust strategy for growing the whole sport, a condition that, as concluded by the Board of Sport England today, has not been met.

Sport England’s Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said:

“England Basketball has not demonstrated the necessary focus on improving its plans for increasing participation, despite continued support and encouragement to do so. This was an important factor in our decision.The Board has not taken this decision lightly, but from the outset of this funding period Sport England has been clear that poor performance would lead to a governing body’s overall funding levels being reviewed.”

“As an investor of public funds, we have a responsibility to ensure that our investment is properly managed and delivers value for money. We remain firmly committed both to the sport of basketball and to working with England Basketball on our remaining investment to support the development of the sport.”

Sport England’s Active People Survey shows that the number of adults playing basketball at least once a week has declined from 186,000 at the start of this funding period to 154,100 at the latest update-just under a 20% reduction.

England Basketball, in a statement on their website today, said:

Despite the considerable efforts of England Basketball and its many partners, along with support from Sport England staff members, there is no argument that the estimated number of basketball participants aged over 15 has fallen and that the target to 31 March 2011 has not been reached.

Basketball, is not the only sport reflecting sharply reduced participation numbers from the Active People Surveys, nor is it the worst.

As evidenced in its Annual Report, England Basketball’s overall performance in recent years reflects consistent and significant increases in numbers.

England Basketball will continue to work with Sport England in order to increase regular weekly basketball participation opportunities among people over the age of 15 and outside the governing body’s membership.

The news is a huge blow to the sport in England, and will make it more difficult to capitalise on the potential growth of the sport through the London 2012 Olympics-where the Great Britain teams have just been awarded automatic qualification. Compounding the problem, England Basketball had already seen a £380,000 cut as a result of reductions to Sport England’s Exchequer funding in the Comprehensive Spending Review last October

The decision however, will not affect the Great Britain teams as they prepare for the Olympics. They are overseen by British Basketball, an umbrella organisation over the home nations of England, Scotland and Wales.

How much of a blow do you think this is? Who, if anyone, is responsible? Why are participation rates falling? Should funding be based on just participation rates? Drop a comment and let us know!