Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and SportLucy Frazer, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport, discusses the power of UK sport, with particular emphasis on the rise of women’s involvement.
The Lionesses winning a European Championships in 2022 and making it to a World Cup final last year. Athletes like Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Josh Kerr, and swimmers like Adam Peaty, dominating their disciplines and reaping the rewards with gold medals on the world stage. England cricketers redefining the English game of test cricket with a new, swashbuckling style. Sport is part of our national DNA and now, arguably more than ever before, the UK is producing exceptional sporting talent and excellence.
Fortunately for us, the only thing that comes close to matching the calibre of our athletes is our reputation for hosting outstanding sporting events. From the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 to the Rugby League World Cup 2021, the Women’s UEFA European Championships 2022, and countless Champions League Finals (next year to be hosted at Wembley!), we have established ourselves as one of the global go-to destinations for hosting top-level sporting events. And all these events come on top of our staple of annual sporting treasures like Wimbledon, Silverstone, and the Grand National.
In October, the UK and Ireland won the right to host the Men’s UEFA European Championships in 2028, building on our strong track record for hosting spectacular sporting moments. This unique event will see communities across our country welcome thousands of visitors to their pubs, cafes, hotels, and restaurants and, most importantly of all, it will be a tournament for the fans. But before we even reach those Championships, we will have hosted more amazing events: the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, the European Athletics Championships 2026, and the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, on top of the SportAccord, the world’s most exclusive sport summit in 2024.
Uniting and Inspiring the Nation
Few things in life capture the attention of a whole country like these major sports events, particularly when our teams are thriving. They give us moments that unite communities behind a common cause, they bring friends and family together to share the anticipation and excitement of an event, and they encourage young people to recreate moments of magic at their local park or on the school playground.
That is what excites me most about our current crop of sporting talent, and the sporting spectacles we are hosting on home soil and that we are continuing to bid for – how they will inspire the next generation.
Every sports star discovered their innate ability by giving sports a try. Mary Earps found her knack for goalkeeping at West Bridgford Colts in Nottingham, aged 11. Mo Farah was inspired to try running by his PE teacher Mr Watkinson at Feltham Community College when he was 14. Hannah Cockroft took up seated discus and wheelchair basketball at her secondary school, before going on to become one of the most accomplished Paralympic athletes of all time. I want every young person to have those kinds of opportunities to find and maximise their sporting potential to become the next Earps, the next Farah, or the next Farrell.
So, my priority, and our priority as a government, has been getting more young people involved and giving them chances to channel their love for a team or a sporting idol into taking part. And we have backed our words with deeds, with almost £400 million being invested in thousands of new and improved football and multi-sport facilities, tennis courts, and swimming pools across the UK by 2025.
The Rise of Women’s Sport
At the same time, we have laid the foundation for the future of women’s football, backing the Lionesses’ campaign with a commitment to equal access to all PE and sports for girls in schools. But that is just the beginning. At the Women’s World Cup Final in Australia, I saw first-hand the huge wave of optimism that exists around women’s football and, following Karen Carney’s landmark review of the women’s game commissioned by the Government, our ambition is to take all of this momentum and unlock the sport’s future growth in the UK.
On top of upgrades to our sporting infrastructure and our support for women’s football, we have drawn all these threads together in a bold, clear-eyed Sport Strategy, designed to get millions more of us active. This blueprint sets out how sport can improve our national health: reducing antisocial behaviour by giving young people something to focus on; reducing the burden of obesity on the NHS with an ambition to get 3.5 million more people active by 2030; and reducing social isolation by bringing communities together on pitches, courts, and tracks.
The Future of UK Sport
We are a nation of sport lovers. And now, with first-class facilities, major tournaments on the horizon, and an ambitious strategy to boost our national health, we have all the ingredients in place to extend our current golden age of UK sport long into the future. It’s an opportunity that’s too good to miss.