HOW GRASSROOTS ACTIVITIES In the week when the PM launched his drive to get Britain fit, we visit a boxing gym to see how Olympic legacy pledge has been lost SPORT IS
Press-ups PM hides behind his gimmicks
THE very mention of Boris Johnson and boxing gym owner Paddy Benson’s face darkens…
Then it’s gloves off as he sets about the PM’s boast as London mayor 10 years ago about an Olympics “legacy” to make sport accessible for everyone.
Because a Sunday Mirror investigation today reveals the exact opposite has happened.
The Tories have slashed funds for grassroots sports clubs by £400million in the eight years since those glorious Games.
And clubs in the poorest parts of the country have been hit the hardest.
“It makes me feel sick when I hear politicians like Boris Johnson making promises about sport,” says Paddy, whose boxing club is in Ladywell, Birmingham – the
UK’s fifth most deprived constituency. “At grassroots level, it’s very different. Two days a week we run nothing as we haven’t the funding – but we could bring in almost 200 people if we did.
“The knock-on effect would be those people wouldn’t go into crime and see their mental health deteriorate.”
Paddy lands a telling jab on PM Johnson’s new pandemic “obesity plan” to get the country fit to fight the virus.
“Obesity should not be on the rise in a developed country like ours,” says Paddy, 32, whose club – a safe haven for those with lives blighted by drugs, crime and gang violence – relies on donations and grants.
It makes me sick when politicians make promises about sport BOXING CLUB’S PADDY ON JOHNSON GAMES VOW
WORRY
“There should be investment which can tackle that, and hit it hard when people are young.
“We worry about making staff redundant here, but with all the blood, sweat and tears they give, that shouldn’t be happening. They literally change lives.
“Guaranteed government funding would be life-changing.”
The reality of government spending on sport is a far cry from Johnson’s boast in the heady summer of 2012 when athletes like Jessica Ennis-Hill helped net 29 gold medals for Team GB.
While Mayor of London, he wrote the foreword to a Tory document that set out plans for the Olympic legacy.
He said: “The legacy from holding the Games has been better secured in London than in any previous Olympic city.” The report vowed to help
His sports vow proved another idle boast everyone in the country find exercise they enjoy and pledged “high-quality sporting opportunities” to kids in “well-maintained and accessible facilities”.
The
Government insisted they wanted everyone inspired by the Games to take up sport and “stay connected with it for life”. In reality, the Tories were already preparing to make huge cuts.
In 2012, the total spend on sport, play and parks was £2.3billion but it has fallen every year since and now stands at £1.9billion – a 20 per cent cut. In Olympic host city London – where Johnson claimed the “legacy” was better secured, the decline has been particularly stark, with total sport spend falling by almost a THIRD from £334million to £234million.
And since 2015, 110 sports fields have been sold by schools raising money after budget cuts. Eight were sold in the last three months. A glimmer of hope for Paddy should be the arrival of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
But he says: “I don’t think there’ll be much money left for legacy funding.” Along with coaches at local sports clubs