YORK VISION
Tuesday March 17th, 2008
MINISTER OF STATE
FOR SPORT
GERRY SUTCLIFFE
Jim Norton discusses the renaissance of UK sport
and asks: can the University of York join in?
ENGLISH SPORT is currently
undergoing an unprecedented ren-
aissance. Boasting the best football
league in the world, an overwhelm-
ing and unexpected medal haul in
Beijing, and the prospect of the
London 2012 Olympics; sport seems
to be a positive contradiction to
the state of the economy. So who is
responsible for this rejuvenation?
Gerry Sutcliffe.
As the current Minister of State
for Sport, he has been at the forefront
of the campaign. The revival of sport
on a national level has instigated an
intense behind the scenes restruc-
turing at grass roots level. This has
involved making sport more accessible
and improving support for our elite
athletes, objectives that Sutcliffe thinks
are integral for improving sport, “the
sports infrastructure is now in place
and now is the opportunity for sports to
grow. We have established ourselves as
a leading sporting nation and I would
say there has never been a better time
to be involved in sport than now”
When travelling to meet a govern-
ment minister, I had expected to be
introduced to a man with a powerful
aura and an expensive office. Yet meet-
ing Gerry Sutcliffe in his constituency
of South Bradford couldn’t have been
further from my initial expectations.
Born in Salford, Sutcliffe left school
aged sixteen and has worked his way
Gerry Sutcliffe reading his favourite
student newspaper!
up from a printing company salesman
to an esteemed part of the Labour
government. Instead of relying on an
obnoxious arrogance found in many
ministers, Sutcliffe relies on a down to
earth attitude and an eagerness to chat;
“I make sure I meet as many constitu-
ents as possible, every week I go to a
supermarket in Bradford and answer
questions from my constituents.”
Gerry Sutcliffe’s office is a perfect
The minister for sport teaching school kids the value of education and sport
setting for his laid back and working
class background. Sparsely decorated,
it feels more like a teacher’s office than
the centre of sport for the UK. It begs
the question; has the government’s
sport budget been affected by the
credit crunch? Sutcliffe answers with a
resolute “no”. In fact, this could not be
further from the truth as £490 million
is currently being spent on improving
UK sport. Whilst other budgets are
being cut, sport seems to be leading the
way in reviving our economy. Sutcliffe
reveals “we decided we wanted to try
and host as many events as possible, for
example the 2012 Olympics, 2014 Com-
monwealth games, Cricket 2020 world
cup. Every year from now there will be
a major sporting event in the UK.” He
believes that, whilst the injection of
tourism could well boost the UK finan-
cially, the crucial factor of an increase
in jobs is hugely beneficial.
Despite declining financial sup-
port from the private sector, Sutcliffe
reveals the governments dedication to
improving sport “we were meant to get
more money from the private sector,
but we couldn’t achieve this. Instead we
were given an extra £50 million by the
government!” He believes that events
“will generate more jobs, in the Olym-
pics especially. The range of sports are
so wide now that we need more and
more coaches.” This innovative new
approach is not lost on Sutcliffe; “As a
country I don’t think we have ever used
sport in this way.”
Our conversation is soon diverted
onto the subject of university sport.
York sport is often neglected by both
the university and the government. It
is left to a hard-working individual in
the YUSU office to do the best they can
with next to no support. The recent
UGM motions and results demonstrat-
ed the support and need to rebuild York
sports infrastructure. Yet, often this
seems futile and Gerry Sutcliffe agrees
that “A lot of it is just down to whether
the vice-chancellor is into sport or not.”
A depressing revelation.
Sutcliffe is surprised at the lack of
facilities in York, “it’s the largest city
in North Yorkshire, it should at least
have a few decent swimming pools”. He
is adamant that this can change though
and is hopeful to “see a leading institu-
“Want to win
V
and want to
win well. Life's
a competition, you've
got to make sure your'e
the best you can be!”
V
tion in each region.” The reasons for
this seem to be that universities can
play a crucial part in UK sport develop-
ment “Sheffield, Loughborough, Leeds
met, Bath, all seem to be sports orien-
tated. And this encourages sport fur-
ther down, to schools. Universities are
they key as role models and for creating
competition in schools.”
Often during the conversation,
Sutcliffe uses the same examples for
university sport, constantly referring
to Loughborough, Leeds met, and Bath.
SPORT
23
All these universities have academic
sports departments, something our
current sports president has been
pushing for. The extra funding gained
from such a department would increase
the budget significantly. Unfortunately,
he admits that this is not feasible for
everyone; “not everyone could have it.
To have these centers of excellence,
you would be better off with fewer and
further spread out across the country.”
The government does, however,
offer funding for talented individu-
als. The Talented athlete scholarship
scheme (TASS) is available to any-
one with exceptional ability in their
sport. Unfortunately, York has proven
unlucky in this as well. Max Hardy,
a talented skier and future Olympic
hopeful, has had inadequate financial
support from the university and the
government. Sutcliffe admits that “If
they’re not an Olympic sport, it is far
more difficult.” Whereas Durham cur-
rently offers support in the region of
thousands to their elite athletes, York
offers £250. This is an issue that Sut-
cliffe seemed surprised to here “I don’t
why there is that sort of inconsist-
ency”, yet admitted again “It’s probably
just the individual universities attitude
to sport.”
The general impression is that uni-
versity sport is out of the government’s
remit, unless it is sport specialised.
Not the news those involved in York
Sport were hoping for. Yet there he does
believe there is an intrinsic link be-
tween university and sport, and reveals
his ambition to “get the ethos right
between education and sport.” Unfortu-
nately, the supreme sporting universi-
ties of Loughborough et al have hidden
the problem of university sport and the
lack of funding. Or maybe it’s just York
University and the unsporty vice-chan-
cellors.
Despite the vast difference in the
amount of responsibility, there are cer-
tain parallels between our York Sport
president and the Minister for sport.
While the budget may not compare, the
responsibilities are similar. So what
advice does Gerry have for Alex Lacy?
“Want to win and want to win well!
Life’s competitive, you’ve got to make
sure you are the best that you can be!”
Is this competitiveness the reason why
he enjoys working in sports so much?
As the interview draws to a close, Ger-
ry Sutcliffe reveals a hidden truth as to
the real reason why he loves his job “As
sports minister, you’re not blamed for
the banks collapsing, people generally
just see the good things. That makes it a
lot easier!”