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How Sport Can Help a Country's Economy

It is known that sport has a great positive effect in society and it promotes a healthy lifestyle, but is sport even important for the government in terms of profit?

By Danny MardlinPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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What is sport? Is it just a bunch of games you play with your friends in the park, your weekend football or basketball match or is it the easiest solution for the economy? With the UK having 24% of men and 26% of women considered obese, it seems logical that the government has accepted sport funding with open arms.

Sport is everything that implies any form of physical activity, that is carried out in an organised (that is following a social or competitive manner) or casual way. Your daily jog in the morning and the Super Bowl is considered equal in the definition of sport. Following a simple schedule and keeping active at least twice a week, can save the government money in a way nobody probably imagined before. And let's not forget who gives the government the money firstly: tax.

2012 Average Data (Lovell Johns Ltd.)

Please consider the population of each country.

The global map presented above represents an average of the adult population classified as obese. Surprisingly for some, the USA and the UK are not in the mighty glowing red colour. If we look back in time, it would have been much different. The difference? The sports schemes carried on in schools since grass roots levels.

Teaching the youngest population how to play different types of sport and making sure they are aware of how important it is for them will hook them to have an active lifestyle. These schemes have been funded by our governments in order to promote a healthy lifestyle and improve the society we live in.

The improvements to society are enormous. It has been proven by community football clubs play a huge role when giving young people an education with sport. The fact of being part of an active team, with the obligation of having the right mindset in order to succeed and have a future in their hobby, helps the individual to realise what is the best for them. Let's use an example: Raheem Sterling, current football player for Manchester City and England's National Team, has agreed that if he was not playing football now, knowing his past, he would be in prison.

Sport is able to stop crimes. If you think about it, after going to class at 8 AM, go to training for two hours and have a gym session for an hour, all you want to do is get home and rest. Also, in some cases, being part of a team and meeting more people is an antidote for some people. It helps them in a "therapeutical" way. If sport is able to reduce crime in a country, it not only saves stores the disappointment of going to work in the morning and finding out that their front door is smashed, but it also saves money to the local authorities and law enforcement: police. Obviously this is a small difference, but the effect of sport on individuals has been growing more and more each year.

Health & Sport

A healthy lifestyle includes exercise and nutrition.

How can two words be able to save the government about £500m. per annum? First of all, let's add some facts into this equation (UK based data): 130k. people die because of health issues every day, 187m. working days have been lost throughout the year due to sickness and health issues and £11b. is spent per annum because of inactivity (related to health issues that can be avoided through sport). Crazy, right? How much money is spent in one year because of health issues in a country? It now may explain why sport is so promoted by the government recently.

After doing some maths, we got to the conclusion that a 10% increase in sports activity in a country can save that £500m. per annum. That is half a billion pounds, wasted basically. And let's not talk about stress: it costs the country £10b. to cover the costs of people who need therapy or to cover their shifts due to stress. 14 million working days lost per annum, making it an average of a month worth of working days per employee; all due to stress.

Sport can help the country to save all that money and to promote a better lifestyle. How many times have we heard that, "I am playing sport to disconnect from the rest?" It can be very therapeutical and it helps the country and the individual.

Sports Jobs

Every sport needs employees, promoting economical success.

Every single club, team, organization, charity, etc. related to sports needs employees and people to run it smoothly and in a responsible way. Recent research done by SportEngland shows that the profit generated by sport in England was of £20.3b. — 1.9% of the country's total. This places sport in England in the top 15 industries, in front of legal services and sale and repair of motor vehicles. Also, all this profit is estimated to support at least 400k full-time jobs in England, being that 2.3% of its total.

The numbers and facts just talk by themselves. A sector that costs so little to run and gives in exchange so much profit and well-being to the country is enough reason to protect and promote it. Just think about all the employees and money employed because of sport: from the clubs and its facilities, to the broadcasting company, to the gambling platforms and to the merchandising and retail stores. All this has been possible thanks to the movement that sport has in society.

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About the Creator

Danny Mardlin

Passionate about sport.

USW student: Community Football Coaching and Sports Development.

UK based. Born in Spain.

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