Issue 85
November/December 2005
Contents
news
Archaeologists find trowel - and other stories
Bid to list first commercial nuclear power station
Model views - arial photography on the cheap
Cave archaeologists find human remains
features
From Ashes to Dust: who cares about sports heritage?
Jason Wood thinks the historic environment is losing out to sport in
government spending - and this will worsen as the London Olympics approach.
He has a solution
Coast Survey special
Archaeology on the shores of Norfolk and the Isle of Wight
White Badges
Mike Pitts visits poignant wartime field art asking 'Will we remember them?'
Roads to the past: Ireland's archaeological revolution
It's a long road: Dàire O'Rourke reveals extraordinary Irish archaeology in danger from the expanding road network.
on the web
letters
CBA news
Headlines from the CBA office.
ISSN 1357-4442
Editor Mike Pitts
features
Team Effort
Jason Wood thinks the historic environment is losing out to sport in government spending - and this will worsen as the London Olympics approach. He has a solution
"The Games of the 30th Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the City of... London." International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge's declaration on July 6 triggered jubilant scenes and general euphoria across the capital and the UK. What a marvellous result - and there was I, along with most, thinking Paris had it in the bag.
In those delirious minutes after the announcement, Tessa Jowell, culture secretary and Olympics minister, set out her uncompromising vision. "Sport will be completely central to government policy", we were told. The bid was "sold on youth, passion and diversity, especially sports' effects on the lives of young people". Through regeneration, the Olympic legacy "will transform communities of east London and lives of countless people across the country".
Tessa Jowell, of course, is also our cabinet voice for the historic environment. That voice is bound to become weaker as her Olympic responsibilities increase. In the current Department for Culture Media and Sport's five-year plan the budget for heritage is comparatively poor. Sport commands the highest priority, and an even higher proportion of exchequer funding will be focused on sport now that London has secured the games. The Heritage Lottery Fund will also feel the squeeze as DCMS has acknowledged that the Olympic Lottery Game will lead to a diversion of lottery funds across the board.
All this should come as no surprise. For months the media have been highlighting concerns about these spending plans, especially from arts and museums professionals worried that sport, and the Olympics in particular, might cannibalise all the money that culture requires between now and 2012.
Meanwhile, the heritage sector has been relatively quiet and disengaged from the debate. Why? Do we simply accept our place at the back of the queue for funding, bracing ourselves for leaner times? Or should we be doing something about it? Sport is the winner: but while heritage cannot hope to win, this is a race we should join.
Sport is integral to British culture and important to modern life - and so is heritage. Sport is a widely enjoyed recreational resource that presses all the right New Labour buttons, tackling social exclusion, stimulating economic investment, giving young people the best possible start in life, and promoting community-based regeneration and well-being for all. Most of these are themes where heritage also has a strong interest.
How powerful that partnership would be if sport and heritage could be tackled together. And what an opportunity for some real joined-up government.
First we need to raise sport's profile within the historic environment and realise its full cultural value. Only then can we begin to do the same within the sports sector and work together to meet government objectives for regeneration, education and healthy living.
Unfortunately we do not have an impressive record of looking after our sporting and Olympic heritage. The White City Stadium, venue for the 1908 games and the modern world's first purpose-built Olympic arena, was demolished 20 years ago. More recently Wembley Stadium, used for the 1948 games, suffered the same fate.
Seeing the demolition of Wembley, and the growing threats to other historic sports grounds and buildings, English Heritage commissioned a pilot study in Manchester in advance of the Commonwealth Games in 2002. This sought to understand the significance of the city's surviving sports heritage and, just as importantly, what these survivals meant to people.
At the time this certainly helped legitimise sports heritage within the historic environment sector, and was beginning to impress the sports sector. But unfortunately the momentum was lost. The work spawned a valuable book series, Played in Britain, to which eh lends its name, but opportunities for joint initiatives with Sport England and other recommendations have not been taken up.
So where do we go from here? How should we capitalise on the growing interest in sports heritage?
Museum curators, academics and others are establishing a Sports Heritage Network, to inspire public involvement in sport and its history. The network believes that there is tremendous and underused power and resource within sports heritage. Apart from raising the subject profile and promoting contacts at the highest levels in sport and government, key aims are to identify government priorities and wider objectives within society, such as health and education, and explore ways in which network members can assist in achieving these.
While the DCMS five-year plan does not favour heritage, sport is promoted within a cultural context. The recently chosen Cultural Pathfinder areas are intended to show how culture and sport can deliver priorities across public life. One such initiative, Bringing Communities Together through Sport and Culture, was inspired by a seminar held in Oldham to discuss ways in which sport and culture can create a sense of local pride and belonging.
The HLF held "citizens' juries" to see how people value heritage. Unsurprisingly, sport featured strongly, though the fund has been slow to recognise and act on this potential. It has however claimed, in publicity backing London's Olympic bid, that many of its projects "thrive on the link between heritage and sport".
Sport can doubtless create new interest in heritage. The trick will be to identify imaginative projects where sport and heritage can work together to enhance the meaning and value of places and improve quality of life for communities and society.
Interestingly, the National Trust has recently begun promoting itself as a "Natural Health Service". But there is so much more that could be done. For example, bodies like the nt and English Heritage are well placed to raise awareness and enjoyment of sports heritage through their properties and collections. Sport offers wonderful scope for bringing properties to life and enhancing the visitor experience through live interpretation and participation in historic sports, themed displays and travelling exhibitions.
Of perhaps greater significance is the opportunity to work with Sport England and the national governing bodies for sport in finding ways to mark and celebrate the tradition of historic sports clubs and places with their communities.
Funding may be forthcoming through DCMS, especially if a project was linked with one of the Cultural Pathfinder areas. The Big Lottery Fund could also be a source for grant aid, perhaps through joint programmes with Sport England or the HLF.
With the games coming to London, there is an even better vehicle for delivering such projects, the Cultural Olympiad - "a lasting cultural and educational legacy to match the sporting legacy". We do not have to wait until 2012, as the Cultural Olympiad will be holding events to build community support over the preceding four years.
The heritage sector can and should play its part in the Cultural Olympiad. The major heritage organisations will be encouraged to be involved, so let us be prepared with some projects and initiatives of our own.
The starting gun for sports heritage has been fired. The time is now right to strengthen the case for the sport and heritage sectors to join forces. Let us not waste this opportunity.
Jason Wood is a founder member of the Sports Heritage Network
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