We have joined forces with the Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA) and the Sports Industry Research Centre (SIRC) at Sheffield Hallam University to deliver a piece of research into the challenges faced by grassroots sport

The findings of the survey will reveal insight into the challenges faced by grassroots sport, and influence policy to help keep the nation active.

The project is a follow-on from a study conducted by the SRA last year which had a significant impact within the sport and recreation sector as it battled with the pandemic. The findings from the research informed the SRA’s policy which helped ensure financial support was widely available and enabled sport to be one of the first sectors to reopen.

The survey that forms the basis of this latest research project will follow a similar path, as it aims to understand how sports clubs and groups are recovering from the pandemic. Importantly, it will also seek insight into how grassroots sport has been impacted by the cost of living crisis.

We have worked closely with the SRA and SIRC to shape one of the six themes of the survey which focuses on technology. The questions have been designed to understand how technology is being utilised at grassroots level and whether it has helped clubs and groups to adapt to new challenges. Our hope is that the responses will also reveal ways technology providers like ourselves can deliver more effective and accessible solutions to help grassroots sport thrive.

The survey can be accessed here. It will be open until 22nd August and will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The survey is designed to be completed by someone with a working knowledge of day-to-day operations of their grassroots organisation.

This project was made possible by the Sheffield Innovation Programme (SIP), a regional initiative which aims to support SMEs by providing access to academic expertise. This is the second research project delivered with SIP support, the first being a study into the financial and operational impacts experienced by National Governing Bodies of Sport when delivering membership offerings.

For more information about this project or any of our work, please get in touch.