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HOW MUCH WILL WE GET? What will sports boost mean? By Adam Burns
adam.b@theguardian.co.nz
Time will tell as to how much of the multi-million dollar sporting pie will surface in Mid Canterbury. Financial reprieve began flowing last week for local organisations before the Government announced a further recovery package for sport, one of many sectors significantly thwarted by Covid-19. Sport and Recreation Minister
Grant Robertson announced a $265 million cash injection into sport and recreation over the next four years as part of the Covid-19 response funded by last week’s Budget. The announcement at the weekend follows the $25 million community relief fund set up by Sport New Zealand earlier this month for under-siege community sport clubs and associations. Robertson said the sport and recreation sector contributed
about $5 billion a year to New Zealand’s GDP and employs more than 53,000 people. “Sport plays a significant role in bringing our communities together. Our success on the world stage also brings inspiration and pride to our country,” he said. “Covid-19 has seen much of the sector’s funding dry up and put sports, particularly at a community level, under immense strain. We are providing the support needed to sports at all levels to
remain viable, get stronger and adapt.” Sport Canterbury chief executive Julyan Falloon told the Guardian that more than $400,000 of an available $1.7 million had already been paid to organisations in Canterbury and the West Coast regions. “A number of organisations in Mid Canterbury have been applying for that,” he said. However he said it was too early to establish how much of the lat-
est fiscal boost will be allocated to Mid Canterbury or the greater region. “Other than what we’re doing around the community resilience fund and what it’s done for Mid Canterbury, I can’t tell you how that will be distributed or what the impact will be in the community setting,” he said.
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