Six sports, including swimming and tennis, have been warned that they will have millions in grassroots funding taken away unless they can show that they can improve participation figures in the next 12 months, as Sport England unveiled its investment priorities for the next four years.
The grassroots investment body has revealed how £493.4m in lottery and exchequer funding will be divided up between 46 sports over the next four years as it attempts to drive government promises to buck the trend of previous Games and use the 2012 Olympics to increase the numbers playing sport.
Among the biggest winners were those sports that have already shown they can deliver. Cycling will receive a total of £32m over the next four years, up £7.3m on the previous four-year cycle, and netball will receive £25.4m, up from £18.7m. Smaller sports also benefited, with triathlon’s investment up from £4.5m to £7.7m. “If you have put in a good plan and succeeded in driving participation, there is more money. We have always said we’d back winners, which we’ve done,” said Sport England’s chief executive Jennie Price.
