Professional Sport

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 10:09 am on 15 July 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 10:09, 15 July 2020

Well, Llywydd, as I said, we have already provided significant financial support to a number of professional sports organisations in Wales—over £0.75 million in total. I'm pleased to say that some of those beneficiaries are directly in the Member's own area. And we have announced an £8.5 million sports resilience fund, and £4.5 million of that is for national governing bodies, and that will be of assistance to the sector as well.

But I want to agree with what Mike Hedges said about the importance of professional sport, both as significant employers in parts of Wales, but also the part that watching and enjoying professional sport plays in the lives of so many of our fellow citizens. When we will be in a position to return to spectators in large numbers at those events, I think it's too early, I'm afraid, to be able to say that.

In the meantime, while professional sport played behind closed doors clearly doesn't have the atmosphere and the attraction that it would otherwise, it can, however, be done successfully. As someone who spent most of the weekend listening to the test match, it was as gripping as a spectator remotely as it would have been had the ground been full.