School sports funding cuts will destroy 2012 legacy, says Olympic hero

Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell today claimed that government plans to axe £162m in ringfenced funding for school sport would destroy the legacy of the 2012 Games and damage future medal hopes. The coalition plan, as outlined in the comprehensive spending review, to stop funding a national network of 450 school sport partnerships, delivered through a body called the Youth Sport Trust, has provoked a backlash from opposition MPs and sports figures. They claim that withdrawing the ringfenced funding will effectively destroy large parts of the network, and leave the co-ordinators who administer it out of a job, because it is unlikely that enough schools will continue to contribute to keep it going. "We talk about the London 2012 legacy, but if you have not got the infrastructure, there will not be a legacy. To rip the whole thing apart, I just don't get it," said Campbell, the former sprinter who acts as an ambassador for the Youth Sport Trust. With the International Olympic Committee arriving in London yesterday for a three-day inspection visit of preparations for the 2012 Games, the issue of its legacy will be particularly sensitive. "Five years ago, when London won the bid for the Olympics, we made a promise to the international community and the people of this country – to transform a generation of young people through sport," said shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell, who still sits on the 2012 board and has riled government counterparts by speaking out on the issue. "With the eyes of the international community on London, the coalition government is placing this legacy in danger, in clear contradiction to everything that the Olympics should mean for our country." At a select committee-style hearing at which around a dozen Labour MPs quizzed Campbell, school sport co-ordinators and headteachers about the changes, it was claimed that primary schools in particular would be adversely affected. "In 1997, Labour inherited a school sports system in the doldrums. We changed all that to ensure that every child had the opportunity to take part in high-quality sport, including competitive sport. All this is now under threat," said shadow education secretary Andy Burnham. "Just when we are working to inspire young people across the globe through our international Olympic and Paralympic legacy, our own children are being let down. It's good that David Cameron is supporting our World Cup bid in Zurich, but he needs to pay more attention to the damage his government is doing to the grassroots of sport here in the UK." The row has led to a war of words over Labour's record. It points to an increase in the number of pupils able to take part in two hours or more of school sport a week – from 25% to more than 95% – while the coalition claims that the money invested through the Youth Sport Trust was not spent efficiently and there was not enough focus on inter-school competition. "Labour's approach on school sport failed," said a government source. "Despite billions of spending last year, the proportion of 11- to 15-year-olds who played sport each week actually fell and one in five children still do not play competitive sport against other schools. "We will provide support for a competitive school sport revolution by giving thousands of young people the chance to take part in competitions within and between schools, with the best competing at Olympic and Paralympic-style school sport competitions in 2012. If the Labour party believes continuing their failed approach is the answer, then they need to explain which other areas of public expenditure should be cut to fund it."