Best news for Grassroot sports [Labour's proposed Betting Levy]

[Arthurgray50@blu]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/201...harriet-harman

This is the best news yet for all sports. What the levy will do is to pump back money in the grassroot levels of sports.

I used to be a qualified referee, and some of the grounds that l have played on, the facilities were a disgrace.

Warren Farm sports centre, go so run down.now showers, no proper changing rooms - a disgrace, this ground was sold to QPR for its new training Centre.

Gunnerbury Park, there were 36 pithces on this park, and you could not book anyone of them years ago.

I played there several times. It becasme poor, a disgrace. And now no one playes there.

Feltham arena, no one ever played there as it was run down.

This is where the levy should be poured into. Remember Rooney, Lineker had to learn there trade someowhere.

Now, we have football clubs paying millions for players, can you imagine what a million quid could do to your local sports facility, instead of going into someones pocket.

A brilliant idea.

[alferret]

It'll never happen, labour will use the money elsewhere, also you increase the tax the bookie has to pay, the odds well lessen and because of that less people will bet because the returns will be less.

[rhyds]

Top Flight Football as a sport is not short of cash, why doesn't it spend its own money on its grass roots development rather than have the government stick its great big oar in?

[tweetiepooh]

Mind you returning the tax on betting I think would be a good thing. It's an unnecessary thing so should get VAT'd. Even if fewer people made bets the tax would still be enormous.

[Doug P]

Clobber the usual suspects...

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by rhyds

Top Flight Football as a sport is not short of cash, why doesn't it spend its own money on its grass roots development rather than have the government stick its great big oar in?

It may not be quite as flush with cash as you'd think.. http://www.theguardian.com/news/data...nts-debt-wages

Of course, those debt figures could be based on the Starbucks/Amazon method of accountancy which requires that you pay huge licence fees to another part of your corporation that just happens to be based in a tax haven so those divisions in high tax countries can declare a loss on billions of sales, but still..

On the other hand, Football is flush with money, but it has one major source of income. TV. Specifically (in this country at least), Sky. The second Sky lose interest in football (and it will happen if they lose subscribers), the premiere league is pretty much finished.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

A major problem for grassroot sports is one thing - if a company comes in, how much profit can they make first.

All parks, which have been used for sports are now run by companies, as the council's have sold them off.

Gunnersbury Park, as said in the original comment, was fanstatic place to play football etc. It was sold off to a company, and it was totally appaling. It was left in ruin, no showers and even the loo's were poor. Why becuase it would cost the companies money - its all about profits before sports.

[Ignitionnet]

Amazing to see Labour forming such a game-changing set of policies.

I still have no idea what they plan to do with the economy, the railways, immigration and our relationship with the EU, housing beyond an inadequate target, welfare, health care, etc but at least they plan a levy on betting shops.

******** sound bites and policies written more like tweets than a serious attempt at governance. Until they bin the out of depth, incompetent, moronic weirdo in charge and get back to something like the real world with real policies that will make a genuine difference they can still go rotate. The general election is less than a year away and they still appear to be no closer to having a clue what they want to offer. Telling us what they think we want to hear, tiptoeing around the major issue breaks no ice with me.

Worst opposition in my living memory. I am old enough to remember Kinnock.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Amazing to see Labour forming such a game-changing set of policies.

I still have no idea what they plan to do with the economy, the railways, immigration and our relationship with the EU, housing beyond an inadequate target, welfare, health care, etc but at least they plan a levy on betting shops.

******** sound bites and policies written more like tweets than a serious attempt at governance. Until they bin the out of depth, incompetent, moronic weirdo in charge and get back to something like the real world with real policies that will make a genuine difference they can still go rotate. The general election is less than a year away and they still appear to be no closer to having a clue what they want to offer. Telling us what they think we want to hear, tiptoeing around the major issue breaks no ice with me.

Worst opposition in my living memory. I am old enough to remember Kinnock.

You could call it the Bliar Legacy...

I detested Kinnock (still do) but never felt that he engaged in the sort of blatant lies and spin which Labour under Bliar specialised in. They'll just keep repeating ad nauseam their latest sound-bite drivel in an effort to take the spotlight off their lack of credible policies. I heard Balls doing exactly that during a radio interview yesterday. These people will stoop to virtually any depths to perpetuate their own existence and the more people who buy into their nonsense the more they'll do it.

Whilst I certainly don't rank the coalition alongside Labour in the depths of hypocrisy, ineptitude etc. they've sunk to, I don't think I have ever felt more strongly that the choice in the next election is down to the least worst option and frankly I don't see how we're ever going to get a govt. which is truly worthy of the name.

As for this 'policy' I dare say it'll go the same way as those super-casinos.