Gary Lineker: Private schools are 'entirely selfish' if they don't open fields to state-educated children

The House of Lords is to vote on an amendment to the Charities Bill that would require all independent schools to open up their facilities or be stripped of their charitable status

Jane Merrick
Sunday 19 July 2015 10:51 BST
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Gary Lineker believes state pupils should have access to schools such as Cheltenham College
Gary Lineker believes state pupils should have access to schools such as Cheltenham College

Private schools would be being “entirely selfish” if they didn’t make their playing fields and sporting facilities available to state-educated children and to grassroots organisations, Gary Lineker said, before a crucial vote in Parliament on the issue.

The House of Lords is to vote on an amendment to the Charities Bill that would require all independent schools to open up their facilities or be stripped of their charitable status. Lord Moynihan, the former sports minister and ex-chairman of the British Olympic Association, is in talks with ministers, the Charity Commission and the Independent Schools Council in a bid to reach a consensus on the long-fought-over issue.

Peers and campaigners warn that while some private schools are making big efforts to throw open their gates, many are qualifying for charitable status through providing scholarships or bursaries only, while their playing fields and music facilities are out of bounds.

The BBC presenter and former footballer said it should be an automatic right for any child to use top-class sports facilities (Getty)

The amendment, tabled by Labour and the Lib Dems, states: “Independent schools which are charities must engage actively with local communities and state schools with a view to sharing resources and facilities.”

The BBC presenter and former footballer Lineker said it was time for real pressure to be applied to private schools, adding that it should be an automatic right for any child to use top-class sports facilities, which in turn would save the NHS money by tackling obesity.

Lineker told The Independent on Sunday: “Given the fact that the Government has got rid of so many school sports fields over such a long period of time, anything that can be done to scramble that back to a degree would be welcomed by me and most people in sport.

“A lot of these [private] schools have huge grounds. I cannot see why it would be a major issue – and they should want to do this anyway. Having decent sporting facilities should be a given in this country. It would save the NHS billions if you could get our children fitter and healthier ... We are getting fatter because it is very easy for kids to sit on their backsides, whether they’re using smartphones or PlayStations. The more we can do to get kids to play sport, the less money we spend on tackling obesity on the NHS.

“There are so many different pluses and it is hard to see any minuses other than the fact that some schools may not want people other than their own schoolchildren on their grounds, which would be entirely selfish. If you haven’t got the facilities at your school, then a lot of kids are going to miss out, and we in turn will miss out on finding stars of the future.”

It is understood that the amendment has cross-party support. If passed in the Lords, it would have to be approved by the Commons before becoming law.

Lord Moynihan said: “In practice, many independent schools do [open up their grounds], but I want to see more progress made ... There are cases of good practice, but we need to move to far greater involvement of schools with excellent sports facilities with the local community and local state schools. We need to make significant changes.”

In a separate development, one of Britain’s most successful Paralympians has revealed how she was given short shrift by one of the world’s biggest football clubs after she tried to get Premier League clubs to improve access to disabled fans.

Tanni Grey-Thompson, who has won 11 gold medals at the Paralympics, told the Lords on Friday how Manchester United accused her of being “uninformed” about disability access to sports grounds.

Campaigners say that at some of the top private schools’ playing fields lie idle during holidays when they could be used by the local community

Baroness Grey-Thompson was speaking in a debate on a Private Members’ Bill by Lord Faulkner calling for Premier League grounds to meet minimum standards on access to disabled fans. Only three Premiership clubs meet what campaigners say are minimum standards.

Lady Grey-Thompson told the Lords: “I do wonder what message these stadia are sending out to supporters. Is it that wheelchair users are welcome to attend as long as there are not too many of them? Is it that they are not good enough to be part of the fan experience?

The peer then quoted an email from Manchester United, which has asked her to visit: “Your exchange on Twitter, as attached, could be seen by some as indulging in matters [of] which you remain uninformed, and accepting our invitation could be the beginning of an understanding which brings to the fore the many operational features [of] a match day in a stadium capable of holding upwards of 75,000 people.”

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