MP calls for a red card to red tape on sports clubs
David Ward MP has thrown his weight behind the Red Card to Red Tape campaign, which aims to reduce the burden of regulations on small sports clubs. 
David joined commentator and former England rugby union international, Brian Moore, at the campaign's launch event this week.
The campaign, initiated by the Sport and Recreation Alliance, is calling on the Government to reduce the burden or regulations designed to regulate profit-making businesses, but which hamper small voluntary clubs. These include:
- Even the smallest clubs having to register as a "data controller" under the Date Protection Act.
- Being charged for a music licence for putting a radio in the changing room.
- Clubs adhering to the Health and Safety Act even when not required to do so for fear of being sued.
Commenting, David Ward said:
"Sports clubs form a vital part of the social fabric here in Bradford. They can do a fantastic job of bringing communities together and help keep people fit and healthy at the same time. Most of them are run by volunteers who put in a lot of time and effort to give their members the chance to take part in sport.
"They deserve more support, and cutting all the uneccesary bureaucracy that small clubs face would be an excellent start. We need to free up the restrictions on grass roots sport if we are to boost sports participation in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games."
Brigid Simmonds OBE, Chair of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, said:
"Quite simply, sports clubs are choked by red tape. Many of it may be well-meaning but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is making life so hard for clubs that it is putting volunteers off, wasting their valuable time and actually preventing them from growing.
"Sports clubs are unique bodies - the vast majority are run by volunteers on behalf of the communities in which they live. They aren't businesses and there's not a competitor waiting to step in if a club folds or a volunteer resigns. Our clubs provide a service to their communities which is irreplaceable and that needs to be recognised in the way rules and regulations are applied to them. Sometimes that will mean making exceptions to the rules so that our clubs can thrive.
"The Review is wide-ranging but we are optimistic that many of the issues we raise can be solved by working together on the spirit in which the report was commissioned."