Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:40 pm on 13 September 2016.
I’d like to thank Julie Morgan for her questions, and, with regard to women’s sport, actually it’s a fact that with regard to women’s football there are more than two under-18 women football players registered with the Welsh Football Trust than adult women players. With regard to men, it’s one to one. There are actually more girls playing football—double the number of girls playing football—than women. There’s about the same number of boys as men. So, actually, in terms of the growth in football, it is going to be driven by the women’s game. It’s something that Sport Wales and the national governing body has also recognised. There is a need to ensure that funding is made available equally for men’s sports as well as women’s sports, but also made available through Disability Sport Wales for people of limited mobility.
In terms of the £1 million that we spend each year through the Welsh Football Trust, they offer 4,000 training opportunities every single year, and this is incredibly valuable for those people who wish to acquire the employability skills and social skills required in adult life.
I think, in terms of the Commonwealth Games, I’ve pretty much given all answers as far as the current bid is concerned and any future bid, but what I would reiterate is that in the future I think it would be very helpful—and I think it would be very beneficial to the Commonwealth Games Federation—if national bids could be considered and potentially dual or multi-centre bids.