Is sport falling at the class hurdle?
I confess that I’ve never had much interest in sport – either playing it or watching it. But I am fascinated by class and how it determines so unfairly so many life chances. So I took notice of the establishment of StreetGames which is a new national charity set up to bring sport to the doorstep of young people who are currently outside sport but nonetheless keen to play, and to make sure the most disadvantaged young people in the country share in the 2012 Olympic Legacy.
StreetGames is also committed to making British sport better. It highlights that participation rates in sport are profoundly skewed by social class. Roughly, the top 20% of the population are twice as likely to participate in sport as the bottom 20%. In a basket of sports (excluding football and boxing) the top 20% of the population are four times as likely to make it to elite level as the bottom 20%.
This theme has been picked up today by Nick Cohen in his “Observer column.