Andy Burnham wants a probe into whether the EPL has met its grassroots funding commitment.GETTY IMAGES
Former U.K. Culture, Education & Health Secretary Andy Burnham warned English football that "deep spending restrictions in local government will result in a period of bleak decay" if it does not "urgently address" funding of the grassroots game, according to Jeremy Wilson of the London TELEGRAPH. Burnham, who is now the mayor of Greater Manchester and was the administrator of the old Football Task Force, "also wants independent adjudication into whether the Premier League has met what he regards as a firm commitment" to provide 5% of its funding for grassroots. The Premier League currently allocates around 3.6% of the £8.3B ($10.9B) broadcast deal to "projects beneath the professional game." It follows a "groundswell of support from across the political spectrum" for the "Save Our Game" six-point campaign to "address a crisis" in grassroots that led to 150,000 games being canceled last season because of poor pitch quality, as well as "drastically falling numbers" of 11-a-side teams and a shortage of referees. Burnham: "If you look at the financial position of football compared to the financial position of local government -- the two ends of that pyramid -- there has to be change. The grassroots are looking at a pretty bleak decade given where local government finance is" (TELEGRAPH, 10/20).
