Should taxes fund sports we all play?
Setting a new fitness goal is a popular New Year’s resolution. However, if the physical activity we have chosen is too much grind, too little pleasure then it is unlikely our commitment will last the year.
So is it time to value the physical activities we do enjoy and encourage the recreational past-times of others as much as we support traditional sports?
Skills Active chief executive Grant Davidson has strongly criticised Sport NZ for devoting the bulk of its funding to traditional sports while ignoring the recreational activities favoured by Kiwis including walking, swimming, yoga and golf.
Sport NZ says a lack of physical activity causes one in eight deaths in New Zealand. Its 2015-2020 community sport strategy recognises the country is changing, becoming more urbanised and ethnically diverse with Kiwis taking part in more than 100 different sport and recreation activities. It acknowledges that traditional team sports are in decline while gym membership is on the rise.
It sets out a community sport strategy for 2015-2020 which emphasises participation while also growing traditional sports.
It sets out its goals of increasing the number of children taking part in regular sport, boosting participation by groups which currently have low involvement rates such as young women, while also better developing talented players in traditionally competitive sports.
Davidson commends this strategy for stressing improved participation, but then asks why Sport NZ’S funding for community sport appears to ignore the significance of recreational activities which engage the greatest number of New Zealanders.
In its recent funding announcement Sport NZ outlined its four-year budget in which it awards some $10 million to 66 organisations.
The 10 largest allocations go to national organisations overseeing football, netball, rugby league, hockey, basketball, rugby, golf, gymsports, cricket and tennis.
At the same time, Davidson points out, Sport NZ halved funding for community cycling, including mountain biking, despite it being one of the fastest-growing activities in New Zealand for all ages.
Of course public money has gone into community cycling and it appears to be paying dividends.
In 2009 the government devoted $50m to develop a network of cycle trails and in 2015 an estimated 1.3 million users had visited the 22 great rides which make up the national cycling network. Nearly nine out of 10 of these visitors were New Zealanders.
But more must be done as so many Kiwis continue to literally die from inactivity. Encouraging an active community may be as simple as creating a new dog exercise area or children’s playground.