How 30 years of funding sports facilities helped build a healthier UK

How do you become an Olympic athlete? Or good at any sport? Or even just access sports? Higher levels of sport take more talent, time, tenacity, but all levels from beginner to pro, casual to full-time, typically need sporting facilities.

Over £2Billion of National Lottery money has gone to sport and leisure facilities. Buildings, big and small, from stadia to local clubhouses, 3G pitches to natural playing fields, aquatics centres to local swimming pools, and much more.

The impacts on places and spaces – and of course on people – are vast. More than £2.3B has funded all manner of sporting facilities and equipment from national stadia like Wembley (£120M) down to shuttlecocks (about £5). From all-weather pitches to wheelchair access and much more, National Lottery funding has helped make sports accessible, while building a healthier, more inclusive UK.

Immediate impacts, lasting legacies

“The cardiovascular room was extended,” says Sean Murphy who heads up the Finchley club. “The weights, exercise bikes.”

All used by AJ? “Definitely. It made a difference.” But Murphy is quick to point out that the club has always catered for all comers. Hundreds of boxers, fitness fanatics and staffers have used Finchley ABC’s facilities. Indeed, the original reason for Finchley ABC to apply for funds from the National Lottery speaks volumes.

“We needed facilities for females,” says Murphy. “The grant was mainly to get a changing room for females because we had nowhere for the females to change.”

Like so many local sports clubs around the UK, Finchley ABC’s facilities have made a difference to the present day.

“At the minute we've got an African champion,” says Sean. “She boxes for Nigeria. So that might not have been possible if we hadn't had those facilities.”

The long reach of National Lottery funding

In September 2024 Daniel Dubois won a heavyweight title from AJ at Wembley. That famous stadium is part of this story too. It received a National Lottery boost of £120M for its refurb in the noughties. During that same decade, DuBois’ club Peacock Gymnasium, Canning Town won four small-scale National Lottery grants (totalling £35k) between 2002 and 2013, to deliver projects and pay for sports facilities.

The lottery links reach Daniel’s boxing sister Caroline DuBois. She trained at Repton Boxing Club where, in 2014, the club applied for National Lottery funding to improve its facilities and got awarded £50,000. In the subsequent years, Caroline’s training at Repton led her all the way to represent Team GB at Tokyo 2020 Olympics reaching the Quarter-Finals.

Caroline’s success provides a final link. Like AJ at London 2012, Caroline became a member of Team GB meant elite level funding through the 'world class performance program' funded by National Lottery, administered by the national sporting body (and NL family member) UK Sport. Like Caroline, Daniel DuBois made Team GB for Tokyo yet opted to turn professional before those Games. Team GB’s share for Boxing at Tokyo 2020 was £11.5M.

Big picture, the running total for all sports since the elite programme began in 1997 passed the £1Bn funding mark ahead of Paris 2024.

Wants versus Needs

Across all of Sport, medals, titles, cups and championships are among the wants. But for any sport, like any walk of life, it’s first and foremost about needs.

Over recent decades, obesity and mental health crises have risen. Current analysis from the UK Government (ONS 2024) finds that where there are more sports facilities per 10,000 people, a greater proportion of adults are active for over two and a half hours per week. National Lottery funding of sports facilities has made a huge difference. It helps ensure Sport is accessible and inclusive. And it gives people, all over the UK, better and fairer chances to feel happier and be healthier.