Shadow sports minister slams grass-roots funding
• Conservatives encourage Premier League clubs to cut prices
• Premier League ticket prices to top agenda amid TV rights bonanza
Amateur footballers on Hackney Marshes prepare for kick-off. Labour's Clive Efford has bemoaned the fact that England 'still lags so far behind other footballing nations in terms of facilities and the numbers of qualified coaches'. Photograph: Alamy
Labour has condemned as a disgrace the fact that England “lags so far behind other footballing nations in terms of facilities and numbers of coaches” given the “huge sums” that have flowed into the Premier League, while the Conservatives have called for cuts in ticket prices.
As part of a response from four major political parties to 10 questions submitted by the Football Supporters’ Federation and Supporters Direct before the election, the Conservative sports minister, Helen Grant, said she had spoken to the Premier League about introducing price cuts following the announcement of its £5.3bn domestic TV deal.
Labour promised in their manifesto to ensure at least 5% of the Premier League’s total broadcasting income would be reinvested in the grassroots. The Premier League argues an earlier agreement to reinvest 5% refers only to its domestic broadcasting income and points to a promise to redistribute at least £1bn of its next TV deal, likely to top £8bn in total.
In his answers to the supporters’ bodies the shadow sports minister, Clive Efford, said: “It is a disgrace that despite the huge sums for TV rights we have seen flowing into the Premier League we still lag so far behind other footballing nations in terms of facilities and the numbers of qualified coaches.”
Expanding on his argument, Efford said a deal struck with the European Commission over the way the Premier League sells its TV rights was done on the basis that it would benefit “other interested parties, in particular fans”.
“I do not believe that fans that attend matches have benefited,” he said. “Premier League clubs have moved rapidly under this current TV deal from being financial basket cases to making significant profits. There is no reason why the loyal regular fans should not share in this.”
The Guardian revealed this week that Premier League clubs made a collective profit of £198m in 2013-14.
Labour has also promised to legislate in the first 100 days of a Labour government to introduce two supporter representatives on to each board and give fans the opportunity to buy a minority stake when a club changes hands. In his answers, Efford also promises to introduce a “sport betting levy”.
Modelled on the horse racing levy, he said it would provide extra investment in facilities and coaching. “Betting companies make huge profits from sport and we believe that they should put something back to help develop the next generation of sportspeople,” he said.
Grant said that government’s role should be to “stand up for fans wherever possible”. “I have already made my feelings known to the Premier League – given the recent broadcasting deal, I would like to see a reduction in ticket prices. Encouragement of this sort is the best approach I think.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats were the only party to back the introduction of safe standing and also to say they would legislate to ensure football governance reform. The Scottish National Party agreed that supporters were too often “marginalised and excluded” and argued that Scottish football was being “badly shortchanged by the BBC”. It said it had written to the BBC director general Lord Hall over the fact that it paid more than £200m over three seasons for Match of the Day while only investing £1m a year in Scottish football.
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