A Club Matters Update

Content provided by Sport England.

We know the outbreak of coronavirus is a significant challenge for sports clubs across the country, and this is only likely to accelerate in the coming weeks and months.

Club Matters is run by Sport England, and our two main priorities during this period are:

• Supporting the sector: Action to ensure it comes through this period in as strong a position as possible
• Keeping the nation moving: Doing everything we can to encourage people to stay active, wherever possible, which we think is now more important than ever.

Supporting you

There’s likely to be a financial impact for some clubs due to this pandemic, so we’re currently looking at all the options to support clubs.

We’re actively discussing this and working hard to understand the challenges that need to be addressed to help you, your members and your workforce to not only ride out the current uncertainty, but be in as strong a position as possible for the future.

Some of that will be so that we can work out how best we can help and get funding out as quickly as possible, some of it will be compiling a more broad-ranging request for central government help for the sector as a whole.

We’re working as hard as we can on this as we know how important it is. We hope to have more information about the financial support we’ll be able to offer over the coming week or so via an updated Club Matters newsletter and on our website.

We’re exploring a number of ideas as to what this might look like, for example opening up applications to our Small Grants scheme to those that have lost income – modelled on our successful Flood Relief Fund – and allowing extensions of existing grants for those already in receipt of funding who have a critical funding shortfall.

To help us understand the challenges you’re facing, both ongoing and in the future, we want to hear from you now and to take on board your ideas and concerns to feed into our plans.

Please contact us via coronavirus@sportengland.org and let us know:

• How coronavirus is impacting you or your organisation
• The type of help you think would be most beneficial.

Please keep in touch with us via the above email address as you or your organisation’s situation changes.

Over the coming weeks, this newsletter will also include resources to support you and your clubs during this time.

Staying active

We’ve also compiled some of the most useful tips on how people can get active outside, while following the latest advice on social distancing, as well as how people can get and stay active in and around their home.

Please do share these tips, and encourage people to use the hashtag #StayInWorkOut on social media to share their own ideas and tips during this time.