Over £1.3m of social value generated by Game On for coalfield communities in 2019/2020

Game On, our dedicated sport for change programme that aims to inspire young people from deprived former mining areas through football in England and Wales, has made great strides over the past year in making a difference to the lives of coalfield communities.

A total of 1702 people participated in Game On’s 569 weekly sport and fitness sessions in 2019/2020,  held across 31 different sites, which lead to almost 10,000 session visits.  Compared to the previous year, Game On’s activities have more than doubled; with 187 more sessions, 4665 more visits and seven additional one off events and tournaments.

Ninety percent of these participants were aged between 5 to 18 years old, and in particular there was a huge increase of 48% in the number of girls who actively take part.

The programme is about more than just playing football; thorough Game On Skills we helped 74 participants gain new talents by learning how to become Sport Leaders, and even helped one unemployed into work by offering her a position as a part-time assistant coach.

Through Value Insight, a tool which allows you to measure the success of a social intervention by how much it increases people’s wellbeing, we calculated a return of £1,357,647 of people’s wellbeing. That means that for every £1 invested by the ourselves into the Game On programme, we now generate £8.60 in social value.

Much of this success can be linked to Game On expanding in many different ways; from launching sessions in the East Midlands for the first time, starting Game On Active fitness sessions in Maltby, and growing the team through the addition of Development Officer Alex Hobson.   

It was also a special year for the programme as players from our sessions who qualified to represent their country in our annual Home Internationals Tournament got the chance to experience playing in the inspirational Man City Academy, as well as getting a behind the scenes tour of the Etihad Stadium. 

Take a look at our new impact report below to fully appreciate the difference our weekly football sessions have made to the lives of hundreds of young people. There is also a separate report available for England here.

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