- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
After the relative paucity of medals at London 2012, there was an expectation that things would improve in Rio. Now that it appears they haven’t improved substantially, calls for reviews and inquiries into what went wrong have started – as have demands to reduce funding for sport.
But reducing funding for senior levels of sport would have negative impacts on all the other levels and make poor economic sense.
Over the last four years, the Commonwealth invested $336 million in high-performance sport. As a proportion of the overall government budget, what we spend on sport is small and brings returns that easily outweigh the investment.
Studies in the UK have shown that investment of £1 on sport returned a benefit to society worth £1.91.
Sport in Australia has generally not had to seriously demonstrate through research its value to the community, but the evidence is available, and in times where money is tight, it is necessary to make the case more forcefully.
There are the general reasons that are often given for why sport is worth funding, these include that it builds character, team skills, a sense of fair play, and a fitter population.
These are nice things to promote, but there is little evidence that they do.
What sport has actually been shown to do is create pride, happiness, aspiration, opportunities for young Australians from all socio-economic backgrounds, improved academic attainment, protection of the environment, reduction in crime, and economic benefit.
Investment in sport can also be seen as part of nation-building. As a nation of immigrants, sport has been critical in integrating new migrants and refugees. It is also used to promote a range of social goals, including inclusion for people with disabilities, and to combat social ills such homophobia, transphobia and domestic violence.
Sport is also how we like to project ourselves to the outside world. Britain’s national identity is projected through history and language, in the US it is Hollywood and freedom, in Italy it is food and fashion, and Australia has beaches and sport – which are both pretty good things to be known for, and in which to invest.
The Olympics is only the tip of the Australian sport iceberg. Underneath are huge numbers of Australians enjoying and benefitting from sport, and in turn benefitting society.
Yes, it would be fantastic to get more gold medals for our taxes, but let’s not get hung up on that. We may not have all the medals, but we have succeeded already by having a big team at the Olympics (many of whom we knew would probably not medal). By doing this, we give as many Australians as possible the opportunity to call themselves Olympians. And that is what it is all about – seeking to include as many Australians as possible in the joy of sport.