Agenda item

            (Mr. G. Copeland, Events Manager, attended in connection with this item.)

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0       Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       This is an update paper for Members and is a follow-on from a report to Committee on the 21 August re plans for Belfast’s hosting of the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, which will take place at the Odyssey Arena on Sunday 20 December 2015.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       Members are asked to note the report.

3.0       Main report

3.1       Key Issues

            It is estimated that the BBC Sports Personality of the Year will attract an audience of around 7,000 people, with the public coming from both in-state and out-of-state.  Tickets will be sold by the BBC and details of these arrangements are still to be announced.  As a public partner, Belfast City Council will be allocated tickets for the event.  This iconic awards ceremony will be broadcast to an audience of over ten million viewers via BBC’s various broadcasting channels, including BBC 1, BBC Digital and BBC Radio 5 Live. 

3.2       It is envisaged that the project will make a major contribution to the local economy through accommodation requirements in the hotels in the city and beyond, and through the purchasing of local services and products to support the production of the event. The event also gives the city the opportunity to present itself in a positive manner.

3.3       The Council’s City Events and Sports Development Units have met with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year team to develop a series of ‘lead in’ events built around sports development. These will be delivered with the BBC’s ‘Get Inspired Active Academy’ brand.  Under this banner a programme of sports outreach initiatives will operate from the end of September to the end of December that will engage with schools, community groups and clubs across the city.   

3.4       Four try it days will take place in North, South, East & West of the city over the months Oct, Nov & early Dec.  The aim of these events is to provide taster sessions to teenagers across the city in activities/sports that are not usually available in school/ non mainstream sports such as table tennis, dodgeball, cricket, GAA, rugby, boxing, cycling amongst others.  In regard to cycling it would be the plan to promote the Council’s Belfast Bike scheme as part of this sports development opportunity.  In addition these events will help establish pathways to local clubs by using local coaches that can inform students on training days/times. 

3.5       Promotional material detailing club contacts are to be circulated around participants. Each session will target between 60-120 teenagers.

3.6       The month of October will include a Sporting Halloween programme.  Ten Clubmark (a recognition of quality) clubs from across the city will organise outreach coaching for young people in schools/community/youth centre settings during the first three weeks. The young people involved will then be offered free coaching camps during the Halloween week in the clubs’ premises with a view to encouraging them to join the club and continue their participation on a long-term basis. 

3.7       The Council’s Sports Development Officer (Boxing) and two boxing coaches will work with the BBC and the city’s local boxing clubs to create ‘club open’ events and these will be complemented by a series of  schools’ boxing ‘come try-it’ initiatives.  This will entail boxing coaches going to around thirty schools across Belfast over a six week period.  Both of these programmes will underpin the Council’s significant work in regard to its ‘Amateur Boxing Strategy 2012 – 2022’. 

            The above elements will also be supported with the activity planned through our Active Communities Coaching programme, which is delivered by our partners Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), Disability Sport NI (DSNI) and the Belfast Community Sports Development Network (BCSDN).

3.9       A further strand will be a series of specialist coaching sessions for high performance athletes through the ‘Belfast Talent Squads’ which will be delivered by 10 sports governing bodies.  It would be anticipated that some 6,000 participants will take part in the planned programme which will culminate with two significant initiatives the week before the BBC Sports Personality Awards event.  The first would be the staging of the Council’s Sports Conference at the Clayton Hotel (formerly the Holiday Inn on Ormeau Ave), on the 14th December 2015.  The conference will focus on the coaching and volunteering aspect of being involved in sport addressing issues such as mental health, nutrition for sport, funding, club development plans, support for new clubs and it is hoped that the BBC would assist in securing some influential key note speakers for the event who will also take part in workshops and Q&A sessions. The conference aims to attract 150 plus delegates, from 100 plus sports clubs across the city. Finally, a ‘Get Inspired Active Academy’ event will take place on the 17 and 18 December and it is anticipated that this element of the outreach programme will attract around one thousand participants.  The current choice of venues are:

-     Ozone Indoor Tennis Arena. This would be subject to permissions to play sports other than tennis due its new flooring system

-     Andersonstown and Shankill Leisure Centres

-     T13 Urban Sports at Titanic Quarter

3.10     The short-listing of these venues is based on capacity and due to unavailability of the new Girdwood 4G pitches and budgetary constraints in regard to using the Mary Peter’s Track.

            Financial & Resource Implications

            Council has agreed to commit £140,000 towards the Sports Personality of the Year production at the Odyssey Arena. 

            Equality & Good Relations Implications

            Belfast City Council Officers will work with the BBC to ensure that all sections of society in Belfast are involved with the associated outreach programmes.”

            The Committee noted the contents of the update report which provided details on the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards and associated events.