Armed Forces Sport Receives Sponsorship Boost

Armed Forces charity SSVC (Services Sound and Vision Corporation) is to inject more than £250,000 into sponsoring sport in the British military over the next four years.

Under the BFBS Sport brand the deal, announced by SSVC's trustees, will see the current grant of £60,000 per year rise to £70,000 by 2018.

At the moment BFBS supports 16 different sports at Inter Service and Combined Services level. 

Winter Sports like snowboarding and the IS T20 Cricket at Lord’s will continue to receive sizeable  support. But its smaller grants to a variety of sports like Swimming, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Golf, Indoor Sports Climbing and Netball which are a life-line.  

According to SSVC’s Chief Executive, Nick Pollard "A little bit of sponsorship money can go a long way and it makes the difference between sports slightly struggling to put on major events to being able to do their competitors and spectators proud."

This year the list of sports being helped by BFBS Sport (@BFBS_Sport) has increased to include for the first time Offshore Sailing and Golf.

SSVC makes a lot of welfare grants to military organisations, but support to Forces sport is a great fit because the military themselves are aware of the importance of sport in terms of morale and team building which translates onto the battlefield or in training exercises.

100% of the sponsorship money goes directly to the sports and with the advent of Forces TV, BFBS has been able to increase its coverage and awareness of forces sport.

Each year BFBS and the Combined Services Sports Board consider which sports to help and applications can be made from individual forces sports associations at any time for sponsorship  to the CS Sports Board via their web site or through military channels.