Chiles Webster Batson Commission on Sport and Low-Income Neighbourhoods

The Chiles Webster Batson Commission asked questions about the relationship between disadvantaged neighbourhoods and recreational, informal sport of the type that young people warm to because it is designed to be fun. It aimed to shine a light on the importance of such sport for many low-income young people and show the positive role that neighbourhood organisations play in supporting low income areas to become happier, better networked, enriched, more active places to live.

The Commission took as a starting point the interconnectivity between life in a low-income neighbourhood and low rates of participation in sport and physical activity. Limited access to sport and physical activity is a feature of growing up poor in 21st century Britain. 72% of the demographic cohort do not attain the CMO’s physical activity guidelines of one hour a day of enhanced physical activity. Only 16% are members of a sports club and just 14% visit leisure centres.

This under-representation of low-income young people in the sports system is not best explained by reference to personal choice. Rather, there is a structural inadequacy in our sports system which results in the exclusion of low-income young people. Traditional sports provision, like a tennis or rugby club, is less accessible to low income families than to more affluent families for reasons of geography, and the tendency of such clubs to market themselves to people in their own image. It is the same with gym membership where the cost is frequently prohibitive. The problem of under-representation is made more chronic by young people’s tendency to prefer sociable sports to the solo sports and activities, like jogging or walking. Such sociable activities tend to require an organiser and often require kit, indoor space or marked-up outdoor space. In other words, sociable sports need organisation and resources which the sports system does not supply.

The Commission recognised that missing out on an active lifestyle increases the deficits endured by children and young people living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. It is likely that in comparison to the lives of their more affluent peers, young people growing up in low income areas connect with fewer positive role models; enjoy fewer opportunities to take a leadership and organising role and have fewer opportunities to exercise and develop their problem-solving skills. Appropriately organised sport offers these opportunities in abundance.

Disadvantaged young people miss out on the positive properties of sport in the context of lives lived with higher rates of exposure to violence, poorer mental health, higher rates of food insecurity and a lack of safe spaces. It is ironic that those neighbourhoods most in need of the benefits of well organised sport, run by wise and relatable role-models, are those which struggle most to access it.

To respect the importance of the neighbourhood organisations which do provide opportunities to take part in fun-sport, and reap the associated benefits, the Commission adopted an approach which amplified their voices and combined that with hard academic evidence. Such twin-tracking allowed Commissioners to comprehensively assess the strengths, challenges and opportunities for this specialised, and generally under-appreciated, corner of the sporting landscape. This approach also embraced Asset Based Community Development theory which privileges strategies that make the target community the actor in driving change and not the recipient of external, top-down impositions – no matter how benign. To hear of the ‘lived experience’ of the neighbourhood organisations enriched the Commissions understanding of what works and why.

The Commission intended to visit about 10 neighbourhood organisations to see their work in-situ and talk with the leaders and the young participants. Covid restrictions all but prevented these visits. Zoom gatherings substituted for the planned programme in a ‘make-do’ spirit. Undoubtedly, this reduced the input of the organisations’ leaders and the young participants.

However, there were advantages in the Commission operating during the pandemic. It did highlight the importance of the neighbourhood organisations to their community. Driven by commitment to their patch (and operating with their lean structures and decision making powers close to the ground) these organisations rapidly became important to pandemic relief interventions. The Commission saw at first hand their flexibility and importance to neighbourhood life on a scale that reached far beyond sport.