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was delivered as part of an ongoing partnership between BASIS and SAPCA.
Seymour said there’s a huge opportunity to improve environmentally sustainable practices within sport – and sport can act as a trusted ambassador for sustainability. He also delivered a warning. “Climate change is already here, affecting hundreds of millions of people,” Seymour said.
“And it’s impacting sports too – from damage to infrastructure through extreme weather, to disruption to events due to unbearable temperatures and deteriorating air quality, affecting players and fans.”
Football Foundation
Other high-profile speakers during the
day included Football Foundation CEO, Robert Sullivan, who expressed his desire
to work together with SAPCA members, describing the “important relationship” between the foundation and SAPCA as “fundamental” to the foundation’s operations.
He revealed the Football Foundation's plans to create more than 300 multi-use Playzones across the country over the next three years. “Playzones are a relatively new product for us and we’re partnering with community groups and local authorities
to get these off the ground,” he said.
“What we're talking about here is the next generation of MUGAs. So these are multi-use, multi-purpose facilities with different types of surfaces – depending on the communities which they serve."
Sullivan also revealed that the foundation has some ambitious targets, which will
be “good news” for SAPCA members.
Football Foundation CEO, Robert Sullivan (above), spoke of the close relationship the organisation has with SAPCA
“In the next two years, we will be a £100m+ foundation per year for the first time,” he revealed. “We have £325m of partner investment available. When we
add the 30-40% of local match funding
to that, it's clear there's a very big growth opportunity for us – and all of you in the room. Three quarters of that investment will go in pitches, including 250 synthetic pitches and hub sites. It is a big shift in scale for us."
Interestingly for SAPCA members,
Sullivan also revealed that future projects (including the Playzones) could be delivered in a different way to traditional Football Foundation-funded facilities – in other words, outside the foundation's current framework, which has been in place for around 10 years.
“A key message is that the framework might not be the way we judge all our projects and programmes," Sullivan told delegates. “The Playzones for example, may not be delivered through that framework. So it’s not a “closed shop” and the only way of doing things.”
Sullivan also said there would be a
closer working relationship with SAPCA
in future. “We are flexible to innovation
and to different ways of working,” he said. "We'll work with SAPCA members to utilise
The sessions included a talk on the opportunities provided by women’s sport
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