5. 5. Statement: The Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games Homecoming 2016

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:26 pm on 27 September 2016.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Gareth Bennett Gareth Bennett UKIP 4:26, 27 September 2016

I’m sure we all applaud the efforts of the Welsh athletes who competed in Rio, in both the Olympics and the Paralympics, whether they won medals or not, and I’m sure that the homecoming will be a great occasion.

The Minister refers, in his final paragraph, to the fact that sporting excellence begins with participation at grass-roots level, which other Members have alluded to earlier today in this debate. With that in mind, I would just ask the Government to remain mindful of the need to keep sporting avenues open to all. I have previously mentioned the problem of the shocking increases in the bowls club fees, both in Cardiff and elsewhere in Wales. Neil McEvoy has raised the issue of the cost of youngsters using 3G football pitches, which he’s mentioned again today. I’ve also highlighted the need to keep leisure centre fees down, now that many councils are outsourcing leisure centre operations to private companies. I know that the Welsh Government does connect sport with general health, and I know that you do have a strategy for increasing sporting activities among the wider population, but we need to tackle these kinds of basic problems if that strategy is to be effective, and if we are to ultimately have a healthy population here in Wales. So, I wonder what, specifically, can be done on these issues.

The other things that have been mentioned—the Commonwealth Games bid. I was, personally, quite circumspect about the decision not to proceed with that because I would rather see money invested in grass-roots sport rather than elite events. However, although I know you acknowledged that at the time, I did ask a question of you, Minister, which was: would any of the money saved from not proceeding with that bid actually be invested in grass-roots sport? So, I would raise that question again.

Finally—slightly on a tangent—Neil mentioned Paolo Radmilovic, the first Welsh Olympic gold medal winner. I think some of his medals were in water polo. It’s a sport that has always baffled me. I still don’t know how they get the horses into the water—perhaps you could enlighten me. Thank you.