Olympic and Paralympic legacy survey

There has been no Olympic and Paralympic Games to date that has successfully produced a sporting legacy.

Olympic Survey ()

Prior to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games the Government stated that they represented, ‘a chance to bring together a unique combination of government resources and commitment from the sporting community and participants to create a truly world-class sporting nation’ (DCMS, 2010).

So following a tremendous summer of sport and one of Team GB’s most successful Games, the Sport and Recreation Alliance wanted to know whether the UK is on its way to becoming a world-class sporting nation.

In October 2012 the Alliance carried out a survey of volunteers and employees of sports clubs right across the country. A total of 475 responses across more than 37 sports were received and then weighted to be representative of the 150,000 sports clubs in the UK.

The findings make for fascinating reading and key headlines include:

  • Lack of funding for sports clubs is preventing 3 in 5 clubs (59%) from growing their membership whilst increased running costs are holding back the growth of almost the same amount again (54%). Similarly, half (51%) can’t grow their membership because of a lack of affordable venues/facilities.
  • 2 in 5 clubs (42%) have seen an increase in the number of people joining their club since the Games this year but a quarter (26%) of these clubs are struggling to meet this demand.
  • 9 in 10 (89%) clubs have reported no change in the number of disabled people joining their club.
  • Three quarters of clubs (78%) have noticed no change in the number of people volunteering following the Games

Download the Olympic and Paralympic Survey