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The Olympic Legacy - Fewer People Playing Sport


Frank Hovis

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HOLA441

The Legacy of London 2012

8,700

fewer people play sport or exercise once a week in 2016 compared to 2012

£8.77bn

The cost of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Well I think we could have told them that.

Now if there had been a commitment to pay 20% of the Olympic cost to renovate council sports centres, buy playing fields for schools, and fund the first ten years of commumity fitness trainers there would have been a massive effect.

Instead there will have been some committee having lunches and writing exhortative press release such as "Get Active!".

I'll say one thing for the corrupt mess that was Sepp Blatter's FIFA: they could run a massively profitable international tournament.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36540017

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HOLA442

Sport spend.

Either spend ££££millions so few, steroid/drugged up people can do the Olympics

Or spend £££millions on grass roots so a kid can swim the odd hour in the pool, or run around on a field.

Elite sports takesaway from grass roots.

Professional athletics, as we are finding out, is more bent than a Gay pride march.

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HOLA443

The Legacy of London 2012

8,700

fewer people play sport or exercise once a week in 2016 compared to 2012

£8.77bn

The cost of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Well I think we could have told them that.

Now if there had been a commitment to pay 20% of the Olympic cost to renovate council sports centres, buy playing fields for schools, and fund the first ten years of commumity fitness trainers there would have been a massive effect.

Instead there will have been some committee having lunches and writing exhortative press release such as "Get Active!".

In contrast, the charitable initiative "Parkrun" has been exploding in popularity over that period, but Sport England weren't interested in helping them out at all (although this year they have put some money in, but only to finance access for blind people). I suppose it's difficult to see how to personally suck money/advantage out of allocating public funds there.

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HOLA444
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HOLA445

The whole Olympic 'legacy' thing was a farce.

The idea that a bunch of millionaire sportsmen flying into London for a few days, then leaving would result in the general public lugging their paunches to their nearest gym in the hope of becoming Usain Bolt or Jessica Ennis was ridiculous.

Why the nation didn't greet this farrago of bull**** with the derisive laughter it deserved beggars belief.

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HOLA446

In contrast, the charitable initiative "Parkrun" has been exploding in popularity over that period, but Sport England weren't interested in helping them out at all (although this year they have put some money in, but only to finance access for blind people). I suppose it's difficult to see how to personally suck money/advantage out of allocating public funds there.

Totally. I think Parkrun is one of the best things to happen in this country in the last decade*. The entire principle and results coming from it are ******ing tremendous.

* To be fair there isn't much competition !!

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HOLA447

Why the nation didn't greet this farrago of bull**** with the derisive laughter it deserved beggars belief.

Intellectually speaking, we have the measure of these events. Like our local co-op's World Cup special: buy a six-pack of lager and get a free pizza thrown in. Or like H-L's recent clickbait article on stocks likely to profit from this summer's events.

But the sheeple still play along. Dissent is hard when dissidents are ostracised as killjoys.

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HOLA448

Sport needs to move into the 21st century and get automated. Take football for example, two lots of eleven people, that's very inefficient. Surely you could build a machine to replace most of them. And look at the thread about driverless cars. It's really time that Formula 1 embraced that.

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HOLA449

Two points:

1. That number is probably well within statistical error limits.

2. In that time the overall age of the population has probably got older as the population as a whole ages, with a bulge towards the "stop sport" end.

So old people shouldn't be encouraged to be active.

Bowling green numbers anyone?

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HOLA4410

Sport needs to move into the 21st century and get automated. Take football for example, two lots of eleven people, that's very inefficient. Surely you could build a machine to replace most of them. And look at the thread about driverless cars. It's really time that Formula 1 embraced that.

Ridiculous suggestion. It'll never happen.

You'll be suggesting they should use 'robot' jockeys in camel racing next.

6164213.jpg?size=640x420

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HOLA4411

The Olympics is about observation, not participation. The Olympic legacy is more people enjoying/understanding watching sport (particularly non-ballgames) on TV and maybe at stadia.

To think that watching elites perform at sports encourages participation is facile.

[We are now a voyeuristic society, eg, nobody bakes, just watch others baking and dream of our own performance]

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HOLA4412

The Olympics is about observation, not participation. The Olympic legacy is more people enjoying/understanding watching sport (particularly non-ballgames) on TV and maybe at stadia.

To think that watching elites perform at sports encourages participation is facile.

[We are now a voyeuristic society, eg, nobody bakes, just watch others baking and dream of our own performance]

I would say it definitely encourages some people - especially youngsters to take up certain sports. Clearly doesn't make a huge impact though.

I think living in a country where it has become acceptable to be fat and where people get abused for 'body shaming' is far more of a problem.

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HOLA4413

I would say it definitely encourages some people - especially youngsters to take up certain sports. Clearly doesn't make a huge impact though.

And probably short-term for the most part (there will always be a few who carry on though, and good for them). Where I used to live for a week or two after Wimbledon the girls opposite used to knock tennis balls back and forth in the street, then presumably got bored with it because that was it until next year. Probably a fairly typical response to a big sports event when people respond at all.

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HOLA4414

Unless you happen to have...say tennis courts and training facilities just around the corner and that 2 weeks sticks amd turns in to a regular hobby.

You could blame lack of provision, but Woking has a population of 92,000, and there are only 7 public tennis courts (plus a few private clubs). Not only have I never not been able to play, I have always been the only one playing, even on sunny weekends.

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HOLA4415
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HOLA4416

Well if walk football is anything to go back, I'm not bloody surprised. I'm 52 and if i were given a chance that would be a full size pitch with a few sliding tackles and diving headers. Talk about catering for geriatrics only.

a lot of us run marathons, scyth down undergrowth, pick up nettles with our bare hands, saw down trees and the c%%ts offer walk football.

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HOLA4417

Sport needs to move into the 21st century and get automated. Take football for example, two lots of eleven people, that's very inefficient. Surely you could build a machine to replace most of them. And look at the thread about driverless cars. It's really time that Formula 1 embraced that.

I think:

http://fiaformulae.com/

already has some racing with electric driverless cars. Ah... here you go:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roborace

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HOLA4418
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HOLA4419
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HOLA4420

You could blame lack of provision, but Woking has a population of 92,000, and there are only 7 public tennis courts (plus a few private clubs). Not only have I never not been able to play, I have always been the only one playing, even on sunny weekends.

How much do they cost?

I used to play loads of tennis in edinburgh when you could get away without paying if there was no staff about. The holes in the fence and the unlocked gate made this easy.

Then they refurbished the place, no more holes in the fence and properly locked we stopped going as we found no longer afford it (and these were just council courts)

Our facilities for sport are invariably crap and/or expensive in the uk, too much emphasis on expensive vanity projects by councils rather then investing at the bottom and improving things for all. (Yes edinburgh council, I am looking at you)

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HOLA4421

The Legacy of London 2012

8,700

fewer people play sport or exercise once a week in 2016 compared to 2012

£8.77bn

The cost of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Well I think we could have told them that.

Now if there had been a commitment to pay 20% of the Olympic cost to renovate council sports centres, buy playing fields for schools, and fund the first ten years of commumity fitness trainers there would have been a massive effect.

Instead there will have been some committee having lunches and writing exhortative press release such as "Get Active!".

I'll say one thing for the corrupt mess that was Sepp Blatter's FIFA: they could run a massively profitable international tournament.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36540017

+1

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HOLA4422

How much do they cost?

I used to play loads of tennis in edinburgh when you could get away without paying if there was no staff about. The holes in the fence and the unlocked gate made this easy.

Then they refurbished the place, no more holes in the fence and properly locked we stopped going as we found no longer afford it (and these were just council courts)

Our facilities for sport are invariably crap and/or expensive in the uk, too much emphasis on expensive vanity projects by councils rather then investing at the bottom and improving things for all. (Yes edinburgh council, I am looking at you)

I am not a fan of Edinburgh council in the slightest. However Edinburgh Leisure do a really good job of the swimming pools here. I imagine they are probably branched off and left to their own devices for this to happen though !

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HOLA4424

I pay £31.50 a month for swim membership. I can swim anytime [Apart from when they are shut for lessons/clubs etc.. of course] at any one of ten different pools. I also get included in this price - a selection of masters training session where a coach beasts you with a proper training schedule for an hour. I do this 3 times a week. I think its great value. Long as you use it enough. Added to the time I swim by myself - It costs me roughly £1.90 for a full hour of swim coaching. That's pretty decent.

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HOLA4425

There must be precipitous declines in activity levels among some social classes and demographics given the fact that parkrun has grown hugely since the Olympics and other sports like triathlon have experienced similar huge gains (I imagine most triathlon participants are also parkrunners though). The financial barriers to triathlon are considerable.

Would be interested see what has happened to activity levels in the most deprived areas.

It is great to have more coverage of more sports on the telly, but I don't think it really is a given that people will start participating simply due to that. Local facilities/resources which are inexpensive and available at sensible times are crucial.

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