ECB backs National Sport plans

ECB chief executive David Collier has welcomed the investment in cricket © Getty Images

ECB chief executive David Collier has welcomed the £5.25m Government investment into grassroots cricket announced as part of the proposed National Sport Foundation.

Chancellor Gordon Brown and Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Tessa Jowell today pledged that, if re-elected on Thursday, a Labour government will establish the National Sport Foundation (NSF) - a new £40m fund for grassroots sport.

The NSF will create a partnership between the Government and national governing bodies for sport including the ECB, the Rugby Football Union, the Rugby Football League, the Lawn Tennis Association and the Football Association - who have each agreed to be the first participants in the new scheme.

The NSF will be an investment fund to channel money into local sports clubs to improve their facilities and expand coaching, volunteering and work with local schools. Government will match pound for pound the contributions by each sport. To qualify, projects must be socially inclusive, show how they are working with local schools and offer significant opportunities for multi-sport activity.

Collier said: "Investment in community cricket and encouraging the connection between schools and clubs were key pillars of Building Partnerships, the ECB's strategic plan for cricket.

"Cricket needs £82m to upgrade facilities in this country so that the clubs can continue to be not only the breeding ground for sporting heroes of the future but also a focal point for the community.

The proposals support the aims of the ECB's Building Partnerships strategy

"This funding needs to be spent in areas such as artificial pitches to allow multi-sport usage as well as improvements in clubhouse facilities to make them accessible to all areas of the community. It will also benefit our club/school links programmes.
"The Government's announcement of a National Sports Foundation is to be welcomed as it is entirely consistent with our aims as laid out in the Building Partnerships strategy. ECB also welcomes the one-stop funding model of the NSF."

The funding target for 2006/7 will be at least £10m (£1.25m from ECB, RFU, LTA and FA, £0.5m from RFL, matched with £5.5m from Government). This target should be raised to at least £33m the following year, with £4m from ECB matched by Government.

Gordon Brown said: "Sports with significant income from TV rights, tickets and sponsorship acknowledge that they owe it to their sport to invest in their grassroots. This new fund will be a partnership of Government with some of the biggest sports in the country to help local sports clubs offer good facilities and good coaching to the whole of the community around them.

"I'm delighted that rugby union, rugby league, cricket, tennis and football want to come together with us to help community clubs."

Tessa Jowell added: "We put a lot of money into sport already, through schools, local authorities and Sport England. This new scheme goes further by bringing together the commercial revenues of some of our sports with Government to invest in the people and facilities that make sport work at a local level."