Mac's Poll - Let's Vote

Curious to know what the general opinion is? Cast your vote and let's see!!

POLL : Is the UK's sport funding strategy a good one?
Thursday, August 25, 2016 @ 11:42 AM

Team GB’s efforts at Rio 2016 have been a roaring success, with Britain beating the Chinese for second place in the overall tables. A big part of this success has been put down to the actions of UK Sport, the government body which allocates sport investment. Their strategy has been to ruthlessly target funding at those sports which the UK stands the best chance of winning medals in.

Whilst this has resulted in significant improvements in Britain’s position in the Olympic league tables, it has come at the expense of other sports which have withered on the vine as their funding is cut right back.

Asked whether we should spend more on sports that we have a higher chance of winning medals in, just 18% of people said that we should. More than twice as many people (40%) explicitly said that we should not spend more on sports just because we have a higher chance of winning medals – a further 25% of people said that neither of these options reflected their view.

The British public do seem to be clear on the benefits of a higher medal tally though. Over half of people (55%) said that they thought winning lots of medals at the Olympics improves the perception of the UK in the eyes of foreigners, more than twice as many as the 23% who don’t think it improves perceptions of us.

(source YouGov)

What do you think?

0 Like

Permalink

Spam post or Abuse? Please let us know

4 Comments

mestala said:
Saturday, August 27, 2016 @ 6:51 AM

Gone are the days for amateurs in athletics.Whilst I love to see our athletes winning medals,all we are doing by funding them so much is giving them a license to print their own money if they do well.
In effect we are helping them land endorsements where in some cases add up to millions and set them up for life.
The athletes themselves will not say thankyou for making them a millionaire,but only say thanks for helping them win gold.
The way funding is given to sports where there is only a better chance of gaining those medals is no different I suppose,to getting rid of that part of a business that's not going to make money.
After all,SPORT,is a business now.....

cuius said:
Saturday, August 27, 2016 @ 7:51 AM

Back to the days of the old Soviets, when sports were subsidised to take people's minds off more pressing problems

Anne McGowan said:
Saturday, August 27, 2016 @ 9:45 AM

After success in sports more children, young adults try new sports. It has gone crazy in UK. Huge mega interest in gymnastics, hockey, cycling etc. ITV tv Channel closing down this morning for a few hours with a message on the screen to the effect of.....why aren't you out there doing something?

Mark said:
Saturday, August 27, 2016 @ 10:14 AM

This guy says it better than I could....

bit.ly/2bHnQQf

..... but in short:

It's supposed to be about individual achievement - not a State sponsored distraction and a money grab for a few of the politicians' mates. It isn't an accident that all recent Olympics have cost more than they claim will be gained for the country.

And then we start moaning about the state of (NHS, Schools, Roads, Emergency Services etc. etc.) ??

I don't understand how anyone can moan about all those things when they prefer to have the county's funds used to enable someone else 'win' a few gold medals instead?

I have always loved all sports but there are far better places for that money to be spent.