Uncovering the Social Value of Sport

In February 2016 the Sport and Recreation Alliance ran a social value of sport themed month, as part of its Fit for the Future work.

The social value of sport can be any way that sport and recreation can be used in order to help an individual improve their physical or mental health, their individual development - whether at school or as a vehicle for young people to develop skills to help them get a job. Or as a way of helping people from disadvantaged communities steer clear from crime and as a way of fostering social cohesion and community development.

The Government’s recent sports strategy announced a “new focus on social outcomes” and that in future funding decisions will now be based on how well each sport delivers social good work. So now is the perfect time to explore in detail what the sport and recreation sector is doing in this area, to share best practice for others to replicate or build on and explore what more needs to be done.

Read our report Uncovering the Social Value of Sport to find out more.

There are already great examples of how our sector is running projects that fulfil these social needs. From the likes of School of Hard Knocks using rugby and Street Games through Doorstop Sport helping disadvantaged youngsters develop key skills, to Goalball helping visually impaired people increase their prospects for full-time education and employment.

Here is some of the activity so far:

Blog by Robert Gill, Policy Support Officer on the social value of sport

An interview with Ansell Chezan, Director and an examiner at UKA Dance, who talks about the social value of dance

A guest blog from Nick Roberts, Public Affairs Executive The Football League, about some of the work clubs in the football league do around social good

A blog on some of work done abroad around sport for social good and what organisations in the UK could learn from them