A Sporting Chance: Why Sydney Needs a Rethink on Grassroots Sport

Article contributed by Matt Levinson, Committee for Sydney

This new report from urban policy think tank Committee for Sydney examines issues facing grassroots sport and active recreation across Greater Sydney.

Large-scale changes to population, culture, climate, built form and sport itself are disrupting a system that touches virtually every Sydneysider — an enormous network of players, fans, volunteers, administrators, organisations and infrastructure that is under growing pressure.

• Greater Sydney's population is projected to reach 5.7 million by 2031 and 6.3 million by 2041, putting even greater pressure on sport facilities that are already stretched.

• Sydney's housing growth is necessary and welcome, but every rezoning intensifies competition for land, and sport rarely wins that competition unless it has been planned in from the start.

• Community sport is already losing ground to extreme weather, with more washed-out fields and dangerously hot days eroding the time and places available to play.

• The nature of participation itself is shifting, as people move away from traditional club structures toward more flexible, informal activities.

• Physical activity levels are falling among young people, particularly girls, with consequences rippling across physical and mental health, educational attainment, community cohesion and productivity.

• Declining participation is also concentrated in groups the system has consistently failed to serve well — older, LGBTIQ+, disabled, culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

• The instinctive response, to simply invest more in sports facilities and programs, runs into public budgets that are more constrained than ever.

The new report, 'A Sporting Chance: Why Sydney Needs a Rethink on Sport,' delivered with Campbelltown City Council, Cox Architecture and News Corp Australia, considers the long-term challenges Sydney faces in grassroots sport and active recreation, and kicks off a new program of policy research and advocacy to help turn things around.

Read the report here.