Funding axe leaves question marks over future of sports councils
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The future of the surviving sports councils in the Highlands is uncertain after the axing of their core funding stream.
The cut was part of a cost-cutting package Highland Council imposed on the voluntary sector to help the local authority balance its books.
According to Scottish ClubSport, the national parent body of sports councils, just five are currently active in the Highlands – Badenoch and Strathspey, Caithness, Sutherland, Lochaber and Ross and Cromarty.
The local voluntary bodies disburse funding to help member clubs with travelling, coaching and development expenses and act as a voice for sport in their respective areas.
Highland Council had been reducing the level of its financial commitment in recent years, from £57,000 in 2017/18 to £33,000 the following year and £23,000 in 2019/20.
The lockdown on most sports during the pandemic dramatically reduced the spend and just £10,000 of last year's £32,000 budget was taken up.
Over the past couple of years, both Inverness and Nairn have disbanded.
The council's decision to withdraw funding leaves the remaining sports councils with a financial headache and question marks over their future.
Jim Hyslop, treasurer of Ross and Cromarty Sports Council, said that while it was largely dependent on the local authority for its recurrent funding, reserves in a separate trust fund should allow it to keep going.
"We've probably got sufficient in that to continue for another three or four more years, though we may have to look at reducing the support we can offer clubs," he said
Mr Hyslop pointed out that private companies tend to prefer directly supporting clubs through sponsoring strips or competitions rather than contributing towards a sports council.
He said the sports council's focus just now is clearing a backlog of grants which have built up and getting its committee fully up and running again after the dislocation of Covid.
Caithness Sports Council is having to face up to a similar dilemma.
It too has a reserve fund of more than £25,000, which, at its established payout of grants, would last between three and four years.
It had seen support from the local authority reduce from £7000 in 2017/18 to £4000 in 2022/23.
Sports councils started up in the Highlands in the 1980s on the back of support from the then district councils and the Scottish Sports Council (now SportScotland).
