Prime Minister launches Premier League community sport clubs
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16 January 2009
Badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball to be offered to thousands of young people in partnership with football’s top tier.
Premier League football clubs are to offer thousands of young people the chance to get involved in Olympic sports in a groundbreaking £3.8 million partnership with the Government.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Andy Burnham and Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore launched the ‘Premier League 4 Sport’ scheme at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground in Chigwell, Essex today.
They were joined by Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp and Spurs players Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Dawson and Luka Modric.
All 20 clubs in football’s top flight will link up with community sport clubs to help attract young people in their local area and offer them opportunities in badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball.
The initiative will help the Government’s ambition to offer young people five hours of sport a week, as part of its 2012 legacy plans. It will also address the drop-off in sports participation when young people leave secondary school.
Working with the sports governing bodies, the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, the Premier League clubs aim to get 25,000 young people, aged between 11 and 16, to join local sport clubs in the four Olympic sports during the three year scheme.
Each Premier League club will be linked to four community sport clubs in their local area which will work in partnership with the football club. The 80 community sport clubs will be linked to four secondary schools in the area creating a total of 320 satellite clubs. Each Premier League club will appoint a project co-ordinator who will manage the scheme locally and work with clubs and school sports departments to maximise opportunities for young people.
The community clubs and schools will benefit from the strength and use of Premier League clubs’ brands.
Premier League 4 Sport will build on the success of the Premier League’s current community programme and aims to get children from all backgrounds involved in non-traditional, club-based sport.
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The Prime Minister said:
"This initiative is great news for young people and communities and will help get thousands more teenagers participating in sports over the next few years, building on our goal to get young people doing five hours of sport a week.
“The Premier League, under Richard Scudamore's leadership, has shown a continuing commitment to community sport and shown how the power of football and strong links with clubs can be used to engage young people and strengthen communities.
“In the run up to 2012, we want to see more young people from all walks of life getting involved in sport. These new clubs are an excellent example of the how the Olympic legacy will benefit people right across the country for years to come and how the Games can be used to inspire more people to get active.”
Andy Burnham said:
“This ground-breaking partnership with the Premier League will use football's unique ability to touch the lives of young people and encourage them to take part in more sport. The clubs' expertise and pulling power will be used to boost participation rates in badminton, judo, volleyball and table tennis – and create a network of sports clubs linked to schools. Once again we are showing how the Olympics can inspire more young people to get active and help deliver the Government’s ambition to offer all young people five hours of sport a week.”
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Richard Scudamore said:
“Premier League clubs are at the heart of their communities, delivering quality projects that tackle a range of important issues. In fact, under the banner of our Creating Chances community initiative, over 1.4 million people took part in the many different activities run by our clubs last season.
“Premier League 4 Sport will build on this existing work, encouraging young people who love football to think about taking up another sport. With the pedigree that our clubs have in delivering projects I am confident it will be a huge success.”
Youth Sport Trust Chair Sue Campbell said:
“We are delighted to be involved with the Premier League 4 Sport project. It provides a wonderful opportunity for us to work with different key partners to ensure local access to community sports clubs for more young people through a sustainable initiative. Working alongside national governing bodies of sport and the Premier League will bring real added value and appeal to the satellite clubs on school sites which will be developed as part of Premier League 4 Sport.”
Sport England Chief Executive Jennie Price said:
"When young people leave school, they often leave sport too, and reversing this trend is one of Sport England’s most important jobs. We believe that linking the chance for them to try new sports with some of the best football clubs in the world will really capture their imagination, and will help to boost participation in some of our key Olympic sports."
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Daniel Levy, Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club said:
“We are extremely proud of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and the work they do in our community. The Foundation often leads on creating innovative projects that provide life changing opportunities for individuals, which is evident with its involvement in the development of the Premier League 4 Sport initiative.”
Badminton England Chief Executive Adrian Christy said:
"Badminton is proud to be one of the most popular and fastest emerging sports in England and we are delighted to enter into this partnership with one of the biggest and best league competitions in the world. We are excited at the opportunity of taking our sport from strength to strength at a local level through the vehicle and profile the Premier League brings and this project will assist badminton in its ambition to introduce and retain more young people in our sport and further enhance our club structure whilst giving them a quality experience that hopefully develops into lifelong participation."
British Judo Association Chief Executive Scott McCarthy said:
“British Judo is delighted to be involved in this programme. The Premier League is a fantastic brand to be associated with, and this partnership will assist us in attracting and delivering judo to many more young people across the country.
“The children participating in this programme will gain a wide range of skills from judo as well as improve their fitness, confidence, self esteem and respect for others. They will also develop invaluable cross sport skills such as balance and how to fall safely. British Judo is extremely excited by this opportunity and look forward to seeing it develop over the next three years.”
English Table Tennis Association Chief Executive Richard Yule said:
“The launch of the Premier League 4 Sport initiative is a fantastic opportunity for table tennis. This partnership with one of the world’s most prominent sports brands - the Premier League - will help strengthen our clubs and inspire an even greater number of young people to engage with our sport.”
Volleyball England Chief Executive Officer Lisa Wainwright said:
“Volleyball England is excited about the new opportunity this partnership with the Premier League provides us as an Olympic and Paralympic sport we see this project helping to recruit and support young players at a local level to come into volleyball. Twinned with our Lets Play Volleyball junior development programme and the Volley 123 club accreditation scheme this is another great intervention to help us achieve our aim of getting more young people to enjoy volleyball. Having successfully achieved our targets around club development over the last four years this project will be among the first to help us to deliver our new strategic aim and direction for clubs moving towards 2012 and beyond.”
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Notes to Editors
- For further information call the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Press Office on 020 7211 6971
- For information on how the scheme will be implemented please call the Premier League on 020 7864 9179
- The £3.835 million for Premier League 4 Sport is being invested through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from the Premier League’s Good Causes fund.
- Premier League 4 Sport will start from April this year and run until 2011.
- The Premier League is involved in a wide range of community activities, investing over £120 million a season down through the game. For more on the 'Creating Chances' programme, or to read about some of the projects that the clubs deliver, visit: www.premierleague.com/creatingchances
Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200
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