Can 2012 be an inclusive Olympics – or will they be scuppered by political inertia and squabbling?
Can 2012 be an inclusive Olympics, or will political inertia and squabbling mean we renege on the pledge we made when we won the bid?
Last October, I described my dismay after attending a meeting about the Olympics organised by Editorial Intelligence. The panel of Olympic organisers and experts did nothing to refute my allegation that the goal of the Olympics acting as a catalyst for greater sporting participation in London had been all but abandoned. In fact, as further statistics have since revealed, participation levels in most parts of London (including the Olympic boroughs) are neither rising nor catching up with the rest of the country.
But it’s not the RSA way to walk away from a problem if we think we can make a difference. The last two months have been busy. Drawing on a combination of my own speaker and media fees and a kind donation from the London Region of the RSA, we have funded a young researcher, Ashish Prashar, to develop an outline action plan for a three year campaign to deliver mass sporting participation in the capital ahead of 2012.
Ashish has had great support from the wide range of organisations committed to participation and we have developed four main ideas:
• A mass coaching scheme in which employers give staff time off and/or help pay the fees for their staff to do a Level One coaching qualification. We believe it is possible for another 50,000 people to be trained as coaches between now and 2012. That’s a real human legacy.
• A London-wide Timebanking scheme in which people who volunteer (particularly in ways which help participation) get credits for access to sporting facilities and events.
• A new scheme and clearing house to identify and match up with demand sporting facilities and resources which could be made available free or subsidised. Key partners would be private gyms, independent and state schools, local authorities and the Royal Parks.
• A new high profile website and portal to act as the single contact point for people wanting to get involved or help others get involved .
Yesterday we hosted a meeting to discuss these ideas with a wide range of people who could play a part in a London participation campaign. The good news was that, although some of the people there could have felt the idea trod on their toes and others might have worried about the demands that could be made on them, there was unanimous support for the idea of an independent umbrella campaign (working title ‘Let the Games Begin’).
We have set ourselves two weeks to make this into a concrete proposal which we will then send to the various Olympic bodies and in particular the Mayor’s Office, which is currently preparing its own sports strategy.
To do all the preparation necessary to be able to launch the campaign in July this year (exactly three years before the games) is a huge task and the RSA can do very little more without backing (indeed we are more than happy to hand the idea over to whoever is best able to deliver it). But it can be done. The real barriers now are political.
The more closely I look at the politics of the Olympics, the more dispirited I become. But if this idea is killed off – not because it isn’t needed or couldn’t work – but because the various agencies put their self importance or petty organisational rivalry ahead of what London needs I’ll make sure everyone knows about it!
Olympics – what sort of legacy?
To a breakfast hosted by Editorial Intelligence to discuss the legacy of the 2012 Olympic Games. From which I drew three conclusions:
The good news: As the always impressive Neale Coleman (the Mayor’s senior advisor on the Olympics) outlined, the building project is going well. One in ten of the workers on the site were previously unemployed and one in five lives in the surrounding area. The innovative and sustainable techniques being used to clear, equip and build on the site are setting a new benchmark for major development schemes.
The mixed news: The main legacy will be the redevelopment of the Lea Valley into a pleasant, modern quarter with many good facilities. But some of the hopes for a life for the Olympic facilities beyond 2012 are starting to look forlorn. In particular, it looks increasingly unlikely that an investor will be found to ensure that the media centre turns into a permanent facility.
The bad news: When London bid for, and after it won, the Olympics much was made of the intention massively to increase sporting participation, particularly among disadvantaged groups. This intention seems to have been largely abandoned. It is true that there has been improvement in school sports but central London is lagging even in this. Meanwhile the costs of sports at the grass roots – whether its athletics or kids’ football – continue to rise with little or no extra revenues funding going in.
This issue was raised this morning by Professor Stefan Szymanski from the Cass Business School and then reinforced by me from the floor. But the reaction of many others there was a mixture or complacency and indifference. To give one example, my own sons play for a really good Sunday youth football team but with rising referees’ fees and pitch costs already three teams in our league have folded and the fees we have to charge are at over £100 per child – making it really hard for poorer kids to stay involved. To be told in the face of this that the issue isn’t really about facilities and funding but ‘that’s its all a matter of parental commitment’ rather gives the lie to all those videos emphasising social inclusion that accompanied the London bid.
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