UkActive claimed that 'Sport is dead' and that using the word Sport was counterproductive at its conference last week to launch another report "A Blueprint for an Active Britain"

Andy Reed from the Sports Think Tank reacted by suggesting the comments were "unhelpful in creating a unifed voice for sport, recreation and activity. We need greater collaboration and partnership, and the drive to exclude sport form the vocabulary is really damaging"

He continued "There is a context in which the word sport cam be limiting or a block with some groups - just as exercise or physical activity is for others. However, to claim that sport is dead - even if qualified by saying in its current form - and that using the word sport was counterproductive at the launch of another useful report was a distraction. It may have grabbed some headlines - but the wrong ones. It was ironic of course as the Summit was held at The Emirates Football stadium - where sport looked far from dead!

"The battle that we should all be unified around is inactivity and cuts to funding for programmes to keep our nation active and in the 150,000 sports clubs. The world around us is changing fast and all parts of the sports, recreation and Physical activity landscape need to adapt and change. This should be a battle against the external environment not about positioning various parts of the same solution.

"At the Think Tank we are the first to look for new solutions and policies to reflect this new world whether it is in technology or governance, but we promote all forms of delivery. The report was wrong to suggest that NGB funding was the main expenditure from Sport England - it accounts for less than 38% and is falling already.

"There are millions of people who play sport every week. We feel they make a massive contribution to the physical activity landscape. At the Think Tank we remain agnostic on terminology preferring it to be evidence led and what is appropriate. We are also delivery neutral - supporting the evidence about who is best to deliver programmes and strategies. This will mean Local Government, NGBs, Charities Trusts, Foundations and the private sector. We support them all in the right context. We hope this was an attempt to create a headline, but we have seen consistent pushing from UKActive to marginalise 'sport'."