8. Debate on the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee Report: The impact of COVID-19 on Sport

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:07 pm on 8 July 2020.

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Photo of John Griffiths John Griffiths Labour 5:07, 8 July 2020

I think the strong themes in the report that have been echoed in the Chamber today are very important and very timely, and very useful at the current time, and I very much hope that we see speedy action on the points and recommendations.

In my own experience, Dirprwy Lywydd, in Newport we have Newport Live, which is an arm's-length trust set up by the local authority. As we heard earlier, there are, of course, different models—some in the private sector, some local authority retained and others at arm's length—but all of them are doing a really important job in delivering the leisure opportunities that mean so much to people, and linking very much with health and tackling deprivation. Newport Live, for example, has some really good facilities, such as the Geraint Thomas velodrome, the 25m swimming pool, Newport Centre, which is a leisure centre, but also for entertainment as well as having a gym and a family swimming pool, and there are other facilities such as the tennis centre. So, all of those are really, really important to people keeping active and healthy and having those sporting opportunities, and it's elite level, but very much grass-roots as well. In fact, the Geraint Thomas velodrome at the moment is being used for COVID-19 rehabilitation, which I think is really impressive to see—the organisation reaching out and working with the health centre in that way at a time of crisis such as the one we currently face. They do an awful lot in terms of alternative curriculum education, dealing with deprivation factors by taking sport and activity out to the most deprived communities. All of that work, I think, that breadth and depth of work, Dirprwy Lywydd, really does reinforce the opportunity to build new partnerships between the leisure, sport, physical activity and health sectors. I'm glad that's highlighted in the report and it's good to hear other Members reinforcing that as well. That's well overdue and really should be a strong part not just of the longer term, but what we do short term as well.

Newport County, of course—I congratulate Jack on the success of the Connah's Quay Nomads—but Newport County, I know, is also dear to Jack's heart, and one of the reasons for that is the very good work that the club has done on mental health issues, and Jack has been involved and Jayne Bryant's been involved. We've all been supporting that. It's an example, again, of the football club understanding its importance to Newport in terms of people's sense of identity and belonging, and the wider work that they can do using the power, the status and the role that they have. It has been really powerful in terms of their mental health campaign, and it has reached many people and it's something they wish to strengthen and develop further.

It is true to say, Dirprwy Lywydd, that clubs like Newport County are very much dependent on the gate money that comes through when they have their home games, and they're not in the privileged position of some other clubs higher up the football pyramid, where there's an awful lot of money washing around and a lot of wealth concentrated amongst the ownership. We really do need, I think, a rethink towards a much more sustainable model of football that's much more about the grass roots and clubs at the lower levels of the football pyramid, and all of that money in the premiership needs to filter down to much greater effect than is currently the case. This is now an opportunity—the issues around COVID-19 and the football world—to look at all of that and get to a much more sustainable model, and one that would have much greater public support. I'm sure all of us are very familiar with people taking a very cynical and, I would say, realistic view of football at the top level and the amount of money around and the way that that money is used and how it could be much better used for the grass roots and clubs lower down the pyramid. Again, I hope that's something that comes out of this current crisis and is strengthened by the work of our committee and the report.

Just one final matter, Dirprwy Lywydd, and that's around activities. We think very much of schools at the moment, in terms of returning to as much normality as possible, and that's really, really important. Another aspect of that are all of the activities that children do, the classes they go to, the coaching that they have, whether it's cricket, football, tennis, athletics, dance, gymnastics. That's a really, really important part of children's development and enjoyment of life. It's something they did enjoy, it's something they miss, and it's something they and their families want to get back to as quickly as possible.