This morning Lorraine and I took a call from Liz Nicholl the Chief Executive of UK Sport who informed us that we had been unsuccessful in our bid for further World Class Performance funding. Liz explained that UK Sport acknowledges the future potential of our squad and the progress we have made, but she explained there is just not enough money to fund all sports who have submitted investment proposals and that regrettably we fall outside the criteria of those who have been successful in securing Tokyo funding.
I am sure you will be as stunned as Lorraine and I are about this news. It clearly has a huge impact on the future of our national team and it will also impact on the wider NGB. There is an appeals process and I will be looking at this very closely and discussing with the Board of Trustees whether we feel that we have any grounds for appeal. We continue to be funded until the end of March 2017 and UK Sport is also committed to providing support for staff and athletes as we exit the programme.
I know that athletes, staff and supporters will be wondering what this all means for the GB team and our future in international competition. Clearly we need some time to work all of this through but we must be prepared to do things very differently unless we are able to find new sources of investment in our sport. I am as committed as ever to ensuring we continue to provide opportunities for individuals to represent their country at wheelchair rugby and I know that this commitment is shared by the Board. Over the coming weeks we will be looking at how we can get ourselves into a position where we can continue to compete internationally.
Finally, I want to thank all of the athletes and all of the staff, especially our Head Coach Paul Shaw and our Performance Director Lorraine Brown for the huge progress that has been made since 2012. We have come such a long way and are so very close which makes this all the more saddening.
David Pond
Chief Executive
