Sport England "awarded a further" £101M ($126M) of "National Lottery and government funding to the governing bodies of 25 sports, including netball," according to the BBC. The latest investment follows the £88M ($109.8M) announced in December for 26 sports to "deliver grassroots schemes." Netball will receive £16.9M ($21.1M), "while rugby union, table tennis, tennis and athletics are also beneficiaries." But the FA "must wait to find out how much funding it will get over the next four years." The FA has been allocated £5.6M ($7M) for its disability and women's development programs, but "a decision on the full award was left pending." Football's governing body received £30M ($37.4M) from Sport England between '13 and '17. Great Britain Basketball, which had its UK Sport funding withdrawn, received £1M ($1.25M) for the national team, with a further £4.7M ($5.9M) "going to basketball development in England." At first glance, the £189M ($235.8M) awarded in "two separate waves" for the '17-21 cycle looks "significantly down" on the £493M ($615M) given out for the period covering '13-17 -- a reduction of 61.7% on the previous cycle, in fact. However, as with December's funding awards, "the decision reflects the new Sport England strategy published in May last year: less focus on the 'sporty' people and more money and resources on tackling the inactive demographic" (BBC, 2/6). The short-term future of Great Britain's programs at senior and youth level is secure after British Basketball received £1M in funding. It is a timely boost ahead of a year when both the men and women's U16 and U18 youth teams will compete as Great Britain for the first time -- joining the already established U20 teams. Great Britain's senior men are also competing at FIBA EuroBasket 2017 and should be able to access the preparation needed to make an impact on their return to the final round after missing out in '15 (FIBA). The PA reported netball was given the "biggest award" on Monday. Meanwhile, the Rugby Football Union has been given £12.6M ($15.7M), Table Tennis England £8.3M ($10.4M), the Lawn Tennis Association £8.2M ($10.2M) and British Athletics £7.3M ($9.1M). These decisions "appear to signal the new strategy Sport England has been asked to follow." This means "sport's traditional governing bodies are facing average cuts of a third in their Sport England grants from four years, with the bigger, richer sports typically losing even more public subsidy." The FA -- along with archery, boxing, sailing, volleyball and wheelchair basketball -- is "still working on its wider pitch for Sport England support and it knows any funding it wins will be subject to football meeting" U.K. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch's "new code for improved governance." Sport England Dir Phil Smith said, "Every single pound leaving this building depends on the sports meeting the code" (PA, 2/6).
BADMINTON SETBACK: In London, Ben Bloom reported badminton execs will attempt to convince UK Sport to overturn "catastrophic" funding cuts with a warning that its "Olympic heroes" will be forced to take part in a "hobby sport" if the decision to "axe its entire pot" is not reversed. Badminton was one of five sports -- alongside archery, fencing, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby -- whose futures were placed in "severe jeopardy" when their funding was "controversially removed in the wake of Rio 2016." Coming in the "immediate aftermath" of Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis' men's doubles Bronze, badminton now stands to be "the first sport to lose its money despite reaching the previous Olympic podium since centralised funding began" in '97. The professional status of hundreds of Britain's "leading sportsmen and women" will be determined over the course of the next two days, "with seven governing bodies due to make formal representations to UK Sport over their funding cuts" (TELEGRAPH, 2/5).
