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26 In the period 2009/2013, Sport England proved
the sum of £756K to the BDA who in turn have
spent the money on staff costs and overheads with
only a relatively small amount actually reaching the
grass-roots of the sport. The BDA have not made com-
plete information available that would provide for an
accurate means of knowing where the £756K will have
gone (Current financial year ends 31/03/2013).
However by sort of working with a number of Intervention Areas, the BDA have been able to
put in a bid for further funding for 2013/2017. At this time the details of the bid are not available
but a request for the information has been made in accordance with the Freedom of Informa-
tion legislation. Sport England have acknowledged this request and indicated that they will
respond by mid-February. What information will be forthcoming is at this time unknown.
On Friday 25th January 2013, the BDA announced that they would be launching their
“Growing the Sport of Bowls” programme on 13th February when details of their “products”
would be made known together with a range of other information concerning their activities.
“BCNN” has views on what the core aims of the BDA programme are likely to include
and these will now be commented upon.
1. The BDA Coaching System which was launched in early October 2011 has not
been of any significant value to the Coaching of the sport. The number of Coaches who have
registered with the BDA is thought to be very much lower that the EBCS has attracted. The
details of the BDA Level 2 “qualification” are “sketchy” to say the least in spite of months of
“flag waving”. What is known is that the course fee will be £150 and that some 108 direct
learning hours will be the order of the commitment expected from those who opt for training.
This simply is unlikely to be taken up in significant numbers for at least a considerable
time and the reason is simple – what is being offered is just not relevant to the needs of the
sport as Coaching stands in its current form. To “save face” the BDA are likely to want to push
the registrations to their coaching system by IMPOSING that BDA Registered Coaches must
be involved with any of the packages that are taken up by any club. This will promote further
division within the Coaching resources for Bowls and will be a deliberate action to entangle
the clubs in the mess that the BDA has created for Coaching.
It is unthinkable that Sport England would condone this sort of action if it was to be in-
troduced. Sport England’s desire is to help Bowls to develop. There is no question about that
but they are also extremely supportive of the input that VOLUNTEERS make to sport. The
acknowledgement afforded to VOLUNTEERS who came forward to support the Olympic and
Paralympic Games of 2012 has been nationally responding.
2. With no surprise the BDA is already advertising their desire to increase staff> It is
highly likely that of the £2M over the four years, something like £1M will be “consumed” in
staff and administration costs. This will leave probably something less that £250K to come
down to the grass-roots of the sport each year. Some of this money will be consumed in “na-
tional” promotions and events so it does not call for much imagination to realise that the grants
to clubs will be small. Furthermore, as Sport England will be exercising strict criteria to ensure
that all public funds are applied in a manner that yields value to the public for the application
of funds, clubs will be called upon the “jump through hoops” to provide what is referred to as
KPI information.
Do VOLUNTEERS need this aggravation? Sport England are also very supportive and
value highly the work of VOLUNTEERS who run our clubs – surely Sport England will not be
looking to VOLUNTEERS being burdened in this way. VOLUNTEERS are hard to get at the
best of times so added burdens will not help.
3. In recent years a very small number of clubs have successfully gained Sport Eng-
land Clubmark accreditation. Clubmark is an excellent scheme for those clubs who wish to
operate at a very high quality standard and be a safe environment for young people.