AO5

Describe sources
of funding used to
support 2 sports
at a local level

By Sam Hawkes
11TW
 Funding

There are five main types of funding:

• Grants
• Loans
• Membership
• Lottery
• Media/Sponsorship

Grants

A club may receive money from its local authority in the form of cash or a
reduction in the cost of using the local authority’s facilities. There are
also wealthy benefactors or local charitable organisations to which sports
clubs can apply for a grant to hep them with their activities. Usually,
certain criteria must be met before an application can be made. For
example, a local charity may have as its main aim the aiding of local
community projects for children. An application from an adult football
team to this charity would not receive much consideration but an
application for financial assistance from a youth football team would be
welcomed.

Caplan, Smith (2005)

Sport Wales provides a ‘development grant’ to develop new training

facilities or purchase much needed equipment to take your project to the
next level.

If so, a grant between £1,501 - £25,000 is available to cover all of the

above projects as well as:

• Coach education
• Floodlighting for training purposes
• Purchase of land or rights in land to develop activity areas
• Start up grants to support new enterprises

This grant is available to any group as long as they hold a bank account in
the organisation's name.
However, some people cannot apply. If you are a member of the public,
member of a primary school, you associate with body arranging activities
for children or secondary schools that are part of the 5x60 scheme, you
are ineligible for a Development Grant.

In addition the following activities cannot be funded:

• Physical activities such as gardening, DIY, environmental

improvements, performance dance or circus skills
• Existing activities / projects that have already started
• Projects that are considered to be part of an organisation's normal
day to day running costs
• Projects based outside Wales

Or the following project elements:

• Maintenance, repair or replacement of current equipment or

facilities (however consideration will be given to replace equipment
that no longer complies with current legislation)
• Purchase of personal items of equipment
• Catering and hospitality
• Medals, certificates or trophies
• Domestic or foreign tours
• One off events with no links to ongoing activities
• Memberships

Membership

Most local clubs will charge a membership fee to join. This fee may be a
single, one-off payment or an annual charge. Some clubs also charge
match fees or weekly subs to help with cost of equipment, kit and
administration. Some clubs even have a life membership scheme but the
large injection of funds this produces must be measured against a
reduction in membership income in future years.

Lottery

Launched in 1994, the lottery has regular draws and the bulk of the
money it receives goes to good causes. People buy tickets in the hope of
winning cash prizes. Some of the money from ticket sales is retained by
the lottery operators but the majority is passed on to the government
for distribution to various agencies concerned with promoting the arts,
heritage of sport.

Organisations can make an application for funding but must match the
amount applied for. For example, if a local football club applied for money
to build a new clubhouse, it would need to fund this project partly from
its own money. If the cost of the project was £50,000, the lottery fund
would only fund half of this amount.

Certain criteria must be met in order to obtain a lottery grant. For

example, the cost of the project will be compared with the benefits it
will bring to the community. If the cost seems too high compared to the
numbers of people who will benefit, it may be refused a grant.

Sponsorship

A popular way for clubs to raise funds is to approach a local business for
financial help. The club will receive money or goods in return for
promoting the business in some way. The sponsor would expect to have its
image enhanced by its association with the club. For example, a club isn’t
likely to be attractive to a sponsor if it gains a reputation for dirty play.
The financial assistance a club receives from sponsorship is very
important and many clubs would not survive without it.

Individual sportspersons can also benefit from sponsorship through

various schemes. One such scheme is Sportsaid. Sportsaid helps aspiring
young sportsmen and sportswomen to develop their sporting potential.
 Sport 1 – Rugby Union

http://www.rfu.com/TakingPart/Referee/~/media/Images/2009/CommunityRugby/zSt%20Pauls%20run%20at
%20Marlborough2004.ashx?w=250&h=188&as=1

Funding

Funding is a critical in the development of all rugby clubs. All aspects of

a club’s operations, from developing facilities to providing kit or from
complying with health and safety regulations to securing equipment for
the junior teams, are determined by their funding. Funding is important
for community rugby clubs, both in terms of long term planning and
revenue for day-to-day costs incurred by running the team and community
facilities. Likewise, managing resources and navigating your way through
the web of legislation on employees, volunteer expenses and VAT can be a
daunting task. The RFU is committed to helping rugby clubs achieve their
funding and revenue ambitions, and is here to provide assistance crucial
issues such as sources of funding and how to manage resources within
your club. Funding has played a big part in the progression of local clubs
around the UK, especially funding from the lottery and grants.

Lottery Funding

Lottery funding has played a big part in the progression of the popularity
of rugby union over the past few years. This source of funding has
improved facilities of clubs at a local level and the pitches which has
encouraged more and more young pople to start playing rugby. An example
of a local rugby club that has been funded by the lottery is Ledbury
Rugby Club in England.

In Ledbury a focal point was needed for outdoor sport in the local
community. The rugby club pitches needed upgrading and additional
facilities to allow local clubs and groups to use the site and get
active. Lottery money provided a multi-purpose clubhouse extension,
community changing rooms, parking, drainage and improvements to
playing fields and floodlighting. The amount given to club from the
lottery was £300,000.

The project was good because Sport England's work centres on getting
people to start stick at and succeed in sport at every level. The multi-
sport hub has proven to be one of the most –effective means of bringing
sport and physical activity into communities. This approach combines
multiple sports and activities and also has the potential to bring health,
social welfare and educational services together under one
roof. Ledbury Rugby Club's application wasn't just about upgrading the
club's pitches but providing a centre for the whole community. Since it
opened the facility has not only led to the creation of four new clubs -
netball, athletics, cricket and junior rugby – but the indoor activity hall
is used for yoga, martial arts, kickboxing, land training for the swimming
club and live jazz.

Grants

An example of a rugby club at a local level is Lampeter Rugby Club. One of

Wales' oldest rugby clubs has won a £300,000 grant to create new
pitches and renovate its club house. Subject to planning permission,
Lampeter Rugby Club will develop one full-size pitch and three junior
pitches on land at Cwmann. The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG)
funds will also pay for a proposed revamp of the clubhouse based in the
centre of the town. Lampeter was one of the founder members of the
Welsh Rugby Union in 1881. Its first team currently plays in the WRU's
Division Three West and is a feeder club for Llanelli Scarlets. As well as
the first team, the club currently runs 10 junior teams, a ladies team, a
youth team, and a second team.
 Example of a local level of rugby that has been funded by may sources

Newport Sports Club:

A Newport sports and social club devastated by an arson attack is to rise

from the ashes with a new base. Last September the popular Llanwern
Sports and Social Club were gutted by fire after an arsonist set the
building alight. But now, thanks to the efforts of club members and
generous offers from local businesses, club officials are on track to raise
a total of £70,000 towards the new facilities.

At the weekend the secretary of Llanwern and Hartridge rugby football

clubs Bill Berry and other supporters began work on stripping the
portable offices that that will make up the site's new dressing rooms and
bar. The new club, which will welcome more than 200 people through its
doors weekly, will not be run by the old club's committee and will be
called Llanwern Sports.

Llanwern RTB football club, Llanwern RFC and Hartridge RFC are all set
to take to the pitches once refurbishments have been completed. Around
£20,000 for the works was raised from sponsorship, club funds and
tickets sales, while the same amount is available from a Welsh Rugby
Union loan. Corus, which runs the nearby steelworks, have donated £1,500
and material to refurbish the cabins from its own community fund. The
land has been leased by developer St Modwen.
 Sport 2 – Cricket

http://www.northmymmscc.co.uk/images/cricket-ball.jpg

Funding - Grants

Cumbria Cricket Board has supported Clubs to access funding for

facilities and other projects through other funding agencies such as the
Cumbria Community Foundation-over 31 Clubs supported to the tune of
£170,000

Other agencies such as Sport England Small Grants Fund have been
accessed by Clubs. In the past year over £30,000.00 has been secured
through Small Grants fund with the support of CCB.

Another cricket community that has benefited from a grant at local level
is Holmfirth High School. Holmfirth High School was identified by
the Yorkshire Cricket Board and by the ECB as a School of
strategic and developmental importance due to their ability to
contribute to the ECB’s goals to develop cricket through
energising people and partnerships to deliver national goals at a
local level, and to inspire people to play cricket.

The School has been awarded a grant of £99,999 towards the

major upgrade of their sports Hall. The total project cost was
£115,399.
 Lottery Funding

A cricket club in Wales called the Welsh Asian Club. The Asian
communities in Cardiff have been active in senior cricket for many years,
with several midweek and weekend league clubs. Cricket is possibly the
most popular sport in these communities reflecting its popularity in their
countries of ethnic origin.

Two senior league minority clubs, Welsh Asians and Cardiff Gymkhana,
needed funds to develop their youth players. The clubs needed a youth
club section, new sports equipment and wanted to train selected members
to become qualified coaches. The Cardiff and Vale Cricket Coaches
Association and the Grangetown and Butetown Healthy Living Programme
were jointly involved in the project. They provided a local grassroots
coaching project.

The lottery funded £750 to the club. The project opens up new and
additional opportunities for participation in sport, especially for young
people living in the inner city areas of Cardiff. The application targets a
priority area for support – the Black and minority ethnic community. The
cricket club have developed a sustainable programme that will be
delivered through volunteer leaders and coaches. Coaching and first aid
qualifications for the volunteers have been funded by the Community
Chest grant. The award provides essential equipment for the club for
new young players. This was a good application that will help the growth of
cricket in an inner city area and develop new opportunities for the Black
and minority ethnic community. The programme would probably have not
taken place without Lottery funding.

http://www.lotteryfunding.org.uk/uk/lottery-funders-listing/sports-council-wales/scw-welsh-asians-case-
study.htm