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news
British Cycling Go-Ride at 2013 Tour of Britain (picture copyright Britishcycling.org_.uk).jpgSport England delays decision on releasing £17m grassroots funding to British Cycling
Sport England has told British Cycling that it will not receive £17.3 million allocated for grassroots funding over the next four years until the organisation can demonstrate it is able to "meet the highest standards of governance."
The money is conditional on British Cycling complying with a Code for Sports Governance that all governing bodies receiving Sport England funding now have to adhere to.
But with the report of the independent review into British Cycling following allegations of bullying and sexism last year still to be officially published, there is added uncertainty over whether it will meet the criteria.
Sport England chair Nick Bitel said the government agency had “concerns” about the way British Cycling is run as a result of findings from the report that were leaked earlier this month, reports BBC Sport.
"The current draft report raises concerns about decision-making within that governing body," he said following a Sport England board meeting today.
British Cycling earlier this month released details of a 34-point action plan agreed with UK Sport to address the issues raised by the independent review.
> British Cycling responds to independent review (out next month) with apology and action plan
However, Bitel said: "We decided that more work on their action plan was required."
"We need to ensure that all sports organisations that receive public funding meet the highest standards of governance.
He continued: "We will need to consider the final report of the Cycling Independent Review, and a more developed version of British Cycling's action plan on governance, before our board makes a decision about any additional requirements we might put in place."
The independent review’s final report was originally due to be published last autumn but is now scheduled to be made public next month, having been delayed in part by the sheer amount of evidence gathered, as well as the need to redact sections of the text.
Referring to the grassroots funding, Bitel added: "We anticipate this position being reached within the next month."
The cash was awarded late last year to British Cycling, the biggest beneficiary in Sport England’s latest funding round to various governing bodies as it aims to get more people active.
> Sport England to invest £17.3m in grassroots cycling
Coming from the National Lottery and public money, it is separate to the elite funding provided by UK Sport to develop athletes capable of challenging for medals at Olympic and Paralympic level.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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12 comments
@FatBoyW:
In my previous sporting lives I've had varying degrees of contact (and zero issues with):
- BARLA, ABA, ASA, AAA and the BTF. I didn't see forests in any of them - but that's my n=1; as irrelevant as yours.
I wasn't sure of your point about witch hunts - did you mean exacerbated not conflated?
But, there is no witch hunt. People really need to read up on the Salem Witch trials... This is how the media works, particularly when faced with bumbling liars. Like a dog with a bone, they are.
They're like this with other sports - cycling isn't getting any special treatment. The Lutalo Muhammad/Aaron Cook selection controversy got column inches - and that was taekwondo. The FA regularly takes a front page beating for myriad failings and indiscretions, as has the RFU and RFL. Do you think 'witch hunt' every time something worthy of news, or even mere tabloid speculation, is printed?
It's not unreasonable if you are handing over 17.3million pounds of public money to an organisation to expect them to be held to account for it,and the recent investigations and reports have highlighted fundamental flaws in a number of areas of BCs management oversight & governance to the point Ive no longer confidence BC could even account to the last penny what actual money gets spent on grass roots funding vs all the other stuff they get involved with or its meant to be recovered from pro teams borrowing supplies or even staff,have BC even committed to end the dual role conflict aspect ?
So whilst withholding ALL funding is a blunt tool, and it would be better to simply provide funding per financial quarter as that would demonstrate they understand the demand vs the costs & had governance in place to monitor it, it maybe the only tool Sport England has available.
Dave -
I couldn't disagree with you more. Having elite athletes complain about their non selection and the use of the correct legal processes to administer medication is conflated by witch hunts.
All of my contact with BC they seem to have good management and processes - much better than a lot of organisations I have worked in.
The punishment appears to be to prevent children and disabled cyclists from getting their funding to access the sport and will also have a detrimental effect on amatuer racing.
So shame on you Sport England and shame on everyone involved in this sorry tale from BC outward to the journalists for not getting this in perspective when we scnadals like the handling of Operation Puerto and the Russians.
Stop destroying the good things because of a speck in the eye - take the forest out of the others.
My final point - show me a better GB sports adminsitration! Sport England itself has had issues!!!
All of the issues with BC... brilliant, well done everyone who stoked those fires, congratulations to the lizard skinned solicitors and PR people they must be very happy about now, probably time for another press release from them..
Sport England will reduce the funding for grass roots, proably put it into funding 'inactivity within colleges' by buying wiff waff tables or trying to coax old people into activity by producing some leaflets featuring someone walking with a big smile on their faces in the sunshine.... Lottery funding will be next.... they have opera houses deperate for cash for don't'cha know.. far better to give it to those doing good work with less cash than those a bullying organisation like BC.
In other news/outcomes: JV can't get back in the British squad, sites favoritism even though she's not ridden a bike in a year / SS is still jobless, and probably stood on a corner somewhere shouting at sheilas to get their fat arses into gear / BC has hired a female 'suit' offa the football to tackle all the problems they have / every cyclist in the system will have a confidential route to complain laid out to them / BC releases a PR saying they've fixed most of the issues by adding a 'suggestions box' positioned it outside the HR office / due to the cutbacks in funding, BC will lay off half of their coaching staff, but keep all management (process is important you know) / At the 2024 games the only BC athlete who wins a medal is Elinor Barker who is getting additional coaching from Shane Sutton.
So you would rather people just shut up and covered up bad behaviour.
Sounds like the UCI approach to everyone's favourite Texan cheat.
And sounds immoral to me.
Not at all. I'd rather this whole affair was dealt with better, not the trial by public flogging that it has been.
Agree with PeteD. This has the smell of a typical British witch hunt to topple the pedastal. Not good at all for cycling from the grass roots all the way up to the elite team and this will they / won't they approach to funding is just, IMHO, bad management from UK Sport.
It's not a witch hunt: there are bad smells emanating from BC and Sky separately and both of them together. The likes of the Mail and BBC didn't put the pointy hat on some key figures' heads and shove brooms under their arses: they've done that to themselves.
Having got the scent of *something* there is plenty of speculation and shadenfreude, which just proves that cycling isn't immune from the usual media treatment. It isn't evidence of picking on Sky, BC, or cycling in general (though I'm sure Dacre and Roan haven't been lamenting that it's happening in a sport/activity that they might have an agenda with).
I can understand the pleas to not throw the baby out with the bathwater, to treat the problems in isolation and make sure they're fixed and move on without wrecking the medal factory. I'm not sure if that's possible. It looks like the water's so fucking muddy and festering that, well, we know there's a baby in there somewhere, but it all has to go. This is not the fault of the BBC or Mail - this is the fault of management who are still doing their best to make the water even fucking muddier.
It's historical failure on the part of management (one member of whom is now running the UCI) to actually set the management up correctly regarding the selection process, performance appraisal, appeal and escalation processes - general governance (BC) and medical records keeping (at best - Sky). It's current BC management covering up bits of an independent report that they saw and didn't like, and Sky management being extremely shifty in responses to straightforward questions. With BC in particular - how do you unpick and fix individual problems against a culture of such bullshit?
It is not a witch hunt. It's fucking awful management, a whole load of (attempted, at least) media manipulation, and probably a lot of lying thrown in too, on the part of BC and Sky.
I dont mind them not giving the funding to BC to develop grassroots cycling as long as it is still spent on other development and given to smaller initiatives, maybe some thinking outside the box is necessary here.
So there are problems with elite sport but they're talking about withholding the grassroots money but not the money for the elite programs. Almost like Sport England are interested in giving the appearance of doing something rather than actually punishing the wrongdoing.
Perhaps, or maybe there is systematic organisational failure all the way down. I hope the money gets spent at this level, I'm no longer confident the recent BC management are the best ones to administer that, given the way they tried to cover up the problems they had in the elite squad. What if they do that at a local level with kids/vulnerable adults. They clearly need a boot up the arse, maybe even 17 million to make the point clear
What a mess
As important that money is for developing grass roots cycling (my son was in the race pictured, and he still complains about those bikes), I can't help but think it's unreasonable to give it to the current administration until they can prove they're reputable. Every day that goes past, the more credible the story Nicole Cook tells about her experience with BC becomes
Our sport deserves better than this, and BC shouldn't have an open chequebook by right