SPORTS
DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGY
2004-2009
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF POLICE SPORT UK
1. To encourage and support all forms of participative and competitive
sport throughout the police forces of the United Kingdom.
2. To select and manage teams to represent Police Sport UK in European
police sport competition.
3. To support individuals and teams wishing to participate in World
police sport competition.
4. To encourage and support opportunities for police officers and
staff across the United Kingdom to pursue non-competitive health
and fitness activities.
5. To ensure all activities under the Police Sport UK umbrella and
supported by Police Sport UK take place subject to the rules and
regulations of the relevant National Governing Body.
6. To support and encourage for the benefit of the membership ancillary
commercial enterprises which directly support the activities of
Police Sport UK.
7. To actively seek partnerships, both commercial and non-commercial,
which benefit the membership and activities of Police Sport UK.
8. To seek to actively fulfil a positive public relations role for
the police service in general and sport, health and fitness within
the police in particular.
9. To exert significant influence with regard work related health
and fitness matters and the impact on the police service with any
and all policy making bodies.
INTRODUCTION TO THE POLICE SPORT UK DEVEOPMENT STRATEGY
The Police
Athletic Association (PAA) has a 75 year history of providing and
supporting sport within the police service, a history of great successes
and traditions.
The nature of sport within the UK and the police service has changed
greatly during that time and during 2003 the PAA decided to undergo
a process of modernisation.
The first outwardly obvious sign of this was the re-branding of
the organisation as Police Sport UK.
It was apparent that sport in the police now takes place in a very
different environment to that of 75, or even 25, years ago. In order
to remain in a position to service its membership properly and effectively,
the re-branded organisation accepted the need for more professional
forward planning and strategic thinking.
To this end, in October 2003, I was appointed Police Sport UK’s
first ever full time Sports Development Officer.
Between then and now, I have looked at our organisation’s
strengths and weaknesses. I have examined the opportunities and
reviewed potential threats. I have met many of our members and discussed
the direction(s) they feel we should be taking in the future.
The result of this activity is our first Sports Development Strategy
in 75 years of existence. An acceptance of the need for professional
planning, to strengthen the organisation and to bring it into the
21st Century.
The strategy is phased over five years, a medium term vision which
will lay a strong foundation on which to further develop police
sport long after 2009.
The following pages recognise the successes and traditions of the
past while laying a path to a strong, bright, healthy future.
Jim Cowan.
May 2004.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF POLICE SPORT UK
Although it is generally accepted that Police Sport UK began life
in 1928 as the Police Athletic Association, it was in June 1927
that the organisation was born with an agreed title and rules.
Before that,
the idea of establishing a ‘National Police Athletic Association’
can be traced to Mr Joseph Farndale, Chief Constable of Bradford,
who first approached the Home Office with the idea in January 1925.
The acceptance
of 1928 as the foundation date seems to stem from the first National
Police Athletic Championships held in Liverpool in August of that
year although a representative Rugby Union fixture against the Army
also took place that January.
By 1930
the fledgling organisation already had royal patronage in the shape
of HRH the Prince of Wales. With the Secretaries of State for the
Home Department and for Scotland accepting joint Presidency, the
PAA was already an accepted part of both police life and British
sport.
In 1930
Golf was admitted to the Association and at the 1931 AGM the rules
were amended to allow the inclusion of other sports and games thus
laying the foundations for today’s diversity.
Rifle shooting
commenced in 1932 and, despite activities being curtailed by the
Second World War, an Indoor Games Section started in 1943. In 1945
Bowls competition was started and the Association continued to grow.
A significant
event in the funding and growth of police sport happened in 1947
when the Government published a Select Committee Report on Police
Conditions of Service which was to be known as ‘the Oaksey
Report’. The report touched on the subject of police sport,
recommending the setting up of an annual grant to forces to cover
the general costs of sport of 10 Shillings. The ‘Oaksey Grant’
has become a significant contributor to the funding of police sport
having twice been increased to the current £1 per capita,
although there has been no raise since 1978.
The PAA
continued to accept new sports and now has 30 sections covering
over 40 sports catering to the requirements of the vast majority
of police officers and staff.
In 1950
the PAA was an inaugural member of the Union Sportive des Police
d’Europe (USPE) or European Police Sports Union. As early
as the football championships of 1952 the PAA played host to a USPE
Championship event. The PAA has now hosted nine USPE Championship
events not to mention numerous preliminary rounds.
In 2003
the PAA was renamed Police Sport UK better reflecting its multi
sport make up and national remit. From Joseph Farndale’s idea
back in 1925, through formation in 1928 and the surviving of a World
War, Police Sport UK has not only continued but grown and flourished
in an ever changing world.
(Historical
information from ‘The Police Athletic Association; From Simple
Beginnings’ by Brian Rollings)
CURRENT POSITION
Where are
we now?
Participation
Most sports offer the opportunity to participate at Regional level
as a minimum. Unfortunately, many officers and staff are unaware
of the opportunities or see them as inaccessible, elitist, cliquey,
or ‘not for them’. For many women, opportunities to
participate do not equal opportunities open to male colleagues.
Performance
All sports offer national championships, though not all to both
male and female members. Some sports operate qualifying standards,
some do not. Some have qualifying rounds, some do not. Some are
by invitation, some are not. No consideration has been given to
the improving of performance levels and the provision of specialist
coaching.
International
While some sports organise individual tours, the main outlets for
‘official’ international competition are USPE Championships
and World Police and Fire Games. Representative teams are selected
for USPE, although some members are uncertain about selection criteria.
World Police and Fire Games entry is currently with the individual
and is not supported by Police Sport UK.
Non-sporting
and social
As a sports association, Police Sport UK has had little or no involvement
in ‘non-sporting’ activities. Any social activity has
been around competitions.
Work
related
Although there is a growing feeling that Police Sport UK should
be a significant player in the work related health and fitness debate
and in the selling of the benefits of sporting activity in the workforce,
there is no official policy or involvement.
Little interaction takes place with PTI’s, training centres
or Occupational Health. Little discussion has taken place with the
Home Office, Police Authorities or ACPO.
Fitness testing, whether officially sanctioned or not, is rapidly
becoming a thing of the past with only specialist sections with
the police service continuing the practice.
Funding,
sponsorship and marketing
Funding continues to be drawn through traditional sources. Little
appears to have done to examine others potential sources of funding
for either existing or future activities or initiatives.
There is no policy or strategy on sponsorship. In the main, sponsorship
has been arranged on an ad hoc basis event by event or sport by
sport. No consideration has been given to the commercial value or
packaging of Police Sport UK and subsidiary parts.
The Police Sport UK web site shows forward thinking and enormous
potential.
Internal marketing is poor with many officers and staff not only
unaware of opportunities but ignorant that Police Sport UK exists
at all.
External marketing is poor and is reflected in the extremely low
level of commercial interest in Police Sport UK.
Advisory
Little consideration has been given to the amount and diversity
of specialist knowledge within Police Sport UK. No consideration
has been given to how much of this knowledge might be used in an
advisory capacity to the police service, to sports and social clubs
or externally.
Public
Relations
There appears to have been little consideration given to excellent
potential for Police Sport UK to play a PR role for the wider police
service. As a result any good PR has occurred by coincidence not
by design.
Organisational
On the surface, internal communication structures appear to be strong.
However the fact that the majority of serving officers are unaware
of Police Sport UK’s existence suggests this is not the case.
External communication likewise needs close examination.
The management structure closely resembles that of other UK sporting
bodies.
Equity
There is no Equity Policy in place and equal opportunity appears
to happen by chance rather than design. No collation of participation
by minority or under-represented groups takes place. Police Sport
UK is unaware whether such participation is representative of the
membership. Some barriers to participation still exist, especially
for women and for recruits.
Partnerships
Little consideration has been given to the forming of mutually beneficial
partnerships.
Positively,
Police Sport UK has an effective management structure encompassing
national and regional representation. There are a large number of
skilled, enthusiastic volunteers whose contributions are significant
and should not be undervalued.
The amount of sporting activity taking place every 12 months is
enormous and the fact it could be increased is a massive plus.
Police Sport UK benefits from strong management with a real sense
of direction.
The organisation is adequately funded for current activities.
A worrying
trend is the dropping of sport from training centres and the discouraging
of sport during the probationary period. This is potentially the
biggest threat to the future of Police Sport UK.
All of the
above should not be taken with pessimism. It should be viewed realistically.
Police Sport UK has great strengths which can be made stronger and
which can help strengthen the overall organisation. Many of the
threats to Police Sport UK can be viewed from a different perspective
as opportunities. For example, the lack of general recognition of
Police Sport UK among officers and staff presents enormous opportunity
to raise awareness, increase active membership and to see participation
grow.
THE
VISION
Where
are we aiming to be in 5 years time?
PARTICIPATION
The principal aim of increasing participation in Police Sport
UK activities needs breaking down. In the previous section it
was shown that among active sports people in the police service,
only 30 % participate in Police Sport UK activities. In five years
time we should expect a similar survey to show that figure has
passed 50%.
This means:
· Developing existing opportunities to create more competition
at a more local level.
· Creating ‘added value’ to active participation
in Police Sport UK activities.
· Establishing new initiatives to attract the health and
fitness market into the Police Sport UK family.
· Improving our communication and marketing both internally
and externally.
· Attracting new revenue to fund new initiatives.
· Creating a more local presence for all police officers
and staff.
PERFORMANCE
For our purposes, ‘Performance’ is all competition
at Regional level and above. In other words, ‘Performance
Sport’ within the context of Police Sport UK is our shop
window. While creating extra opportunities at the Participation
level is essential to our future well being, so too is a well
presented shop window.
This means:
· Developing existing opportunities to create more competition
at regional level and above.
· Create more and better opportunities for representative
competition at regional level and above.
· Improving our communication and marketing both internally
and externally.
· Attracting new revenue to fund new initiatives.
· Establishing a database of suitably qualified coaches,
both sport specific and performance fitness, who are willing to
assist police officers and staff who wish to improve their performance.
· Establishing partnerships with like minded organisations
to create representative competitive opportunities.
INTERNATIONAL
Members of Police Sport UK can benefit from international competition
in several ways. Individual sports sections may choose to undertake
tours and this is more ‘performance sport’ by definition.
The main two international competitions are USPE and World Police
and Fire Games.
The former is based on teams selected according to performance.
The latter can be entered by individuals and teams regardless
of performance. In order to fully develop member opportunities
in these two competitions we will need to:
· Fully develop opportunities to participate at USPE Championships.
· Seek ways to improve performance at USPE Championships.
· Seek to develop ways in which to support any and all
individuals and teams wishing to take part in the World Police
and Fire Games.
· Examine the viability of further supporting representation
at the World Police and Fire Games by those achieving certain
qualifying criteria.
NON-SPORTING & SOCIAL
Sport has always been essentially a social experience. As a multisport
organisation we need to develop ways of reflecting this.
Heath related fitness has been a booming ‘business’
since the mid-80’s and many individuals who in days gone
by may have looked to sport for personal fitness, now look to
the local health club. Police Sport UK must look to involve more
individuals from this area in our activities.
In order to do this it is proposed we launch a new national competition
based on the BBC Superstars model. This will open the door to
individuals who have previously stuck to the gym. In addition
it will allow individuals from different sports to compete against
each other and increase social interaction.
The competition must start with heats at a local level before
progressing through regional contests to a national final if it
is to be successful and be as inclusive as possible.
WORK RELATED
This is a challenging area, until now largely ignored by Police
Sport UK. In order to consolidate our current position and to
exert major influence in police sport and more general areas this
must become an area of major focus over the next five years.
To do this we will:
· Formulate a dedicated strategy to tackle this important
area.
· Compile a document highlighting the proven links between
health & fitness (including participation in sport) and work
issues such as performance, attendance and public image.
· Introduce a policy of and strategy for influencing key
decision making bodies ranging from the Home Office, ACPO, Police
Authorities, etc.
· Establish a small team of high ranking officers to execute
both policy and strategy.
· Introduce regular fitness testing on a voluntary basis
linked to incentives.
· Campaign for the reintroduction of regular fitness testing
for all officers.
· Campaign for the reintroduction of sport into training
centres.
· Seek to form strong partnerships with PTI’s and
Occupational Health with regard successfully implanting our policy/strategy.
FUNDING, SPONSORSHIP & MARKETING
Police Sport UK is an organisation about to launch new initiatives,
about to improve communications, about to market itself better.
This is all going to require new sources of funding to support
the more traditional sources currently in use.
There are numerous sources of funding that need to be looked into.
However to apply for these will require initiating far better
record keeping, not least participation figures and the breakdown
of those figures (see below under ‘Equity’).
Sponsorship will be sought on a larger scale than before. Such
a large organisation should be eminently sponsorable. That it
is not currently reflects the need for a review of both internal
and external marketing.
This will be done by:
· Writing a Police Sport UK marketing strategy to include
improving the marketing of the organisation to members, to forces,
to key players and externally.
· Establishing a professional sponsorship opportunities
document and proposals to match.
· Identifying potential sponsors and selling ourselves
to them.
· Identifying sources of non-commercial funding and grant
aid and having structures and systems in place to secure our share.
· Launching a quarterly newsletter.
· Continuing the growth of the Police Sport UK web site.
· Nurturing contacts with the police media.
· Identifying an individual (or team) to act as press liaison
and publicity.
ADVISORY
There is undoubtedly a role to be filled by Police Sport UK as
an advisor to the police service in general and to Sports and
Social Clubs in particular. However, given the work needed to
develop other areas, this should be put to one side for now and
viewed as an item for the Development Strategy which follows this
one in 2009.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
There is a valuable role for Police Sport UK to fill as a Public
Relations partner for the police service as a whole. However,
as with the advisory role(s) this should be viewed as a further
development of much within this strategy and not as a central
theme before 2009.
ORGANISATIONAL
The internal communication structures of Police Sport UK appear
to be strong, yet many members are unaware the organisation even
exists. This contradiction can be explained by examining the way
we communicate with those members who are active as oppose those
who are not.
External communication will need attention and should be addressed
as part of the Police Sport UK marketing strategy (see above).
Indeed, many of our organisational weaknesses will be addressed
by formulating a properly constructed marketing strategy.
Elements for inclusion are:
· Ensuring the benefits of membership of Police Sport UK
are accessible to and identifiable by all.
· Establishing a network of Police Sport UK reps as a first,
local point of call for all. These same reps will ensure notice
board representation at the most local level.
· Efficient and effective dissemination of information.
Principally by further developing the website but also through
a new quarterly newsletter and by regular updates in the police
media.
· Establishing a coach database accessible to all members
(see under ‘Performance’).
· Ensuring that our organisational structure continues
to reflect those of other major UK sporting bodies.
EQUITY
Police Sport UK must not just be an equitable organisation; we
must be seen to be an equitable organisation. This doesn’t
mean simply claiming we are open to all, it means actively removing
barriers to participation and recording participation at all levels.
It should be remembered that our equity targets should be based
on reflection of police service and staff not on the general UK
population as we are a ‘closed’ organisation.
In order to fulfil this we must:
· Remove all barriers to participation whether gender,
age, ethnicity, disability, religion or any other.
· Monitor and record participation by all groups at every
level.
· Target active membership figures to reflect percentages
in Police Service in general.
· Audit current levels of participation.
PARTNERSHIPS
Establishing relevant workable partnerships is a long term aim
which extends beyond the life of this strategy. However in the
shorter term some partnerships should be specifically targeted:
· Local Authorities. The vast majority of sporting facilities
in the UK are local authority owned.
· Education. After local authorities the majority are owned
by schools and universities. In addition these establishments
are major targets for police service recruitment.
· Local Authorities and Educational establishments will
be targeted as partners in the BBC Superstars style competition
(see ‘non Sporting & Social’ above).
· Other bodies to be considered longer term will include
(but not exhaustively) Civic Renewal, Home Office, UK Sport and
home country councils, National Governing Bodies, Civil Service,
Fire Service, Armed Forces, etc.
