2024 Welsh Sport Wrapped

16/12/2024

If it’s good enough for Spotify, it’s good enough for us.

2024 was the year in which more records were broken, more children discovered the love of sport, and more communities came together through sports clubs and projects.

From helping sport become more environmentally friendly to awarding our 30,000th National Lottery award, here are some of our best bits.

Supporting Sustainability

2024 was a year in which the Welsh sports sector zeroed in on sustainability….

Reducing carbon emissions

This year, Sport Wales invested £3.5 million of Capital Funding from Welsh Government to widen access to sports and physical activity among communities, with many of the projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions. It will see sports facilities across Wales:

flipping the switch to LED lighting
installing solar panels
and introducing eco-friendly systems

Queensway Stadium in Wrexham and leisure centres in Powys and Blaenau Gwent are all among the projects which have been given the green light.

Energy Saving Grant

97 projects across Wales shared more than £1.7 million in Energy Saving Grants.

Our clubs are becoming:

better insulated
solar powered
fitted with motion sensors and LED lighting
and more…

We’re helping to build a sustainable future for sport in Wales – the grants will help clubs save money on energy bills, so they can keep doing a brilliant job of running affordable community sport.

Reusing and recycling old kit

In 2024, the sports sector has also been doing its bit to tackle waste.

Community kit rooms and boot swaps are being set up all over Wales, encouraging us to reuse, rather than send to landfill.

This circular approach is lessening our impact on the planet and it’s helping sport become more affordable for our communities. It’s a win win!

Find out more about some of our favourite recycling projects.

Guiding the sector to a more sustainable future

In 2024, Sport Wales has also been part of the Sport Environment and Climate Coalition (SECC), which has delivered an online resource hub.

It’s been designed to help sports clubs and organisations make helpful steps towards a greener future.

The Community Kit Room

Supporting clubs and organisations in Wales

Funding

In 2024, Sport Wales:

distributed £3.1m in National Lottery funding to 491 clubs
awarded over £1.77m in Energy Saving Grants to 97 projects
pledged more than £33,000 to Crowdfunder campaigns
AND another £1.8m has been invested to improve courts and pitches up and down the country…

Making it easier for people to be active – and for a lifetime.

Protecting children

We also trained and developed the sector in safeguarding by:

Offering six free online and face-to-face Safeguarding and Protecting Children workshops for clubs, governing bodies and others.
Ensuring that our workforce is trained to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns

Missed out? Don’t worry, we’re running our next session in February 2025. Book today.

Disability Sport Wales developing an inclusive sector

Disability Sport Wales also ran four different courses helping the sector develop skills in sign language and inclusive marketing and introducing clubs and organisations to inSport.

Look out for more courses in 2025.

Other highlights of 2024

Sport’s social impact

This year, we shone a light on the social impact of sport in Wales.

The latest Social Return on Investment Study of Sport in Wales found that for every £1 invested in sport, there is a £4.44 return. That’s an incredible £5.89bn in social value to Wales impacting on health, subjective wellbeing, social capital and volunteering.

Celebrating 30 years of The National Lottery

We had streamers and cake at the ready in November to celebrate the National Lottery’s 30th birthday.

Since 1994, lottery players have raised a whopping £356m for Welsh sport which has:

powered community clubs, offering us all spaces to be active and improve our wellbeing – like Coity Chiefs Girls FC in Bridgend.
built our iconic sports venues like the Millennium Stadium and the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome
enabled the work of Sport Wales and its partners
been there side by side with our elite sportspeople as their biggest supporter

Adding to the celebrations last month, we also awarded our 30,000th lottery funding project.

Take a closer look at how The National Lottery has been a gamechanger for Welsh sport over the last 30 years.

A poem unveiled as part of The National Lottery's 30th birthday celebrations

Paris 2024: Wales at the Games

They say there’s never a dull moment in Paris. And that was certainly true this summer when Wales’ athletes graced the stage at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

56 athletes hopped on the Eurostar to compete in Paris
27 of them were women
Welsh athletes secured 29 medals
Records were broken
A new generation of heroes born

While we can’t take you back to Paris (sadly!), you can relive those special few weeks of Wales at the Games.

Emma Finucane at Paris 2024. Image: Getty / Jared C. Tilton

2024 Wrapped

2024 wrapped? Well, we’ve tried but we couldn’t possibly begin to cover the wide-ranging impact of Welsh sport in 2024.

To every volunteer or coach who is nurturing a love of sport in a pocket of Wales, we thank you.

To each and every club or organisation across Wales, you’ve made an impact this year:

Bringing communities together
Improving health and wellbeing
Increasing confidence
Reducing social isolation

Here’s to 2025 and more extraordinary moments.

For more information about Sport Wales’ activity during 23/24, check out our Annual Report.