TICKING TIMEBOMB
Warnings over threat to public sport facilities if government won’t step in and help them survive the pandemic
Of the 30 sporting facilities which Alistair Robertson oversees in and around Aberdeen, the majority lie silent with their doors securely bolted shut. for almost a year now, the familiar echoes of balls bouncing and water splashing have been replaced by an eerie silence.
Someday soon, the managing director of Sport Aberdeen knows, an all-clear of sorts will be sounded and the green light to re-open will arrive. It is not as simple as turning a key and flicking a switch, he signals.
The system, as we knew it, has been torn apart by coronavirus. Repair and restoration may be an impossible task. A crisis looms.
‘It’s a ticking timebomb,’ he says. One that threatens to detonate and blow Scotland’s sporting infrastructure to smithereens.
‘We’ve had to document for the Scottish Government what it looks like in terms of provision and jobs, so there was a clear understanding of the potential risk to it all, without any government intervention,’ says Robertson.
‘Because the only funding we’ve been able to access from the whole Covid programmes is the Job Retention Scheme. We’ve not been eligible for anything else because we don’t fit the criteria.
‘Yet we’ve estimated that across the leisure trust network in Scotland, we’ve lost £129million since the pandemic.
‘In Aberdeen, we’re down £6.5m in direct income. You don’t need to be an expert in economics to understand that, without that money through the door, what happens to the sustainability of our businesses?’
Pre-Covid, he acknowledges, there were already immense challenges to run leisure centres, swimming pools and golf courses without dipping into the red. The benefit of sport which is affordable and accessible to all should be evident: healthy public, happier society, less pressure on the NHS.
In an average year, just 40 per cent of their running costs are injected from the public purse. The rest comes from money at the door. Income — estimated by the sector at £1.1m per month — that evaporated in March of last year.
Although sportscotland has issued some emergency help, its approach contrasts to Wales and England, where specific support schemes were initiated.
‘It’s been frustrating, the lack of recognition in Scotland for what public leisure facilities deliver,’ says Kirsty Cummings of industry body, Community Leisure UK.
from a recent survey of her members, 70 per cent expect to be ‘non-viable or in an insecure position’ by year end. The translation? Over 4,500 jobs at risk. Eighteen leisure centres and eight pools at risk of permanent closure.
‘That’s my concern,’ underlines Euan Lowe, the CEO of Scottish Swimming. ‘We’ve a number of older facilities that are costly to run, even in a good year. You look at Clackmannanshire, where they might have to shut the only leisure centre in the whole local authority area. If we lose these pools and centres, it’s not going to be good for the health of the nation.’
It is not so much the past but the future that is now of primary concern, he says. for the first time since it was recorded, his sport’s membership numbers have dropped. The priceless bank of volunteers has been cut free, and may not reattach.
‘And,’ he warns, ‘it could also damage the way we bring through elite stars that give us that success at Olympic and Commonwealth Games we all enjoy.’
The timetable for lockdown easing, announced last week by first Minister Nicola Sturgeon, means a gradual re-opening of indoor and outdoor facilities, including gyms, will not happen until late-April at the earliest.
It will not, Robertson (inset) cautions, be normal service immediately resumed. ‘It will be at least 18 months until we return to levels of business before the pandemic.’
The hurdles seem immense. Asking customers to wear face masks will be the simplest ask. Extra cleaning will be mandatory.
Limits on those allowed in signifies that the cost per use is set to rocket.
‘You look at a dance studio in your average centre,’ he says. ‘Normally you’d have a gym class of over 30 people. With restrictions, that will be down to eight to 12. In addition to cost issues, there is supply and demand pressure.
‘Lots of those users will have memberships which include programmes like swimming or the gym. They’ll look and say: “Hold on, I can’t get a place now”.
Beware a lost generation, says Lowe, who will have missed the chance to learn how to swim. Young and old alike who will not return to their local club — or who may find it remains bolted shut.
‘for so many people,’ he says, ‘that is a lifeline in the community.’ One in urgent need of a defibrilator in the form of funds, he says, before its pulse can no longer be restored.