I've just been watching Question Time and was surprised by an answer given by the above athlete.

I've always had the greatest respect for her, winning all those medals and being such a great ambassador for sport etc.

But the question was about funding the 2012 London Games, and somebody mentioned as an aside, the World Student Games in Sheffield. (They called it the world youth games, by the way).

I'm paraphrasing her, but she said something along the lines of: 'Just ask the athletes who competed in Sheffield, they enjoyed themselves.'

I'm sure she's right. I should imagine they thoroughly enjoyed themsleves.

But the question was about funding, and who pays for it, not about whether those who took part enjoyed themselves.

I would think she'd look at things a little differently is she was a Sheffield council tax payer, saddled with all those World Student Games debts for goodness knows how long!

As an aside, it is true or is it not that when Sheffield bidded for the World Student Games, the council spent an absolute fortune on persuading the organisers that Sheffield was the ideal city to host the event?

And that it turned out in the end that Sheffield was the only city in the world actually bidding for it?

I wish somebody from Clive Betts office could come on here and enlighten us all about this.

I'm not holding my breath though!

Tani Grey-Thompson is a great ambassador for sport. As a very committed athlete she probably has quite a biased view on the provision of funding!

As for the World Student Games, I was working, but not living in Sheffield at the time. Perhaps if you were to write or e-mail Clive Betts office requesting information they'd get back to you?

What does cost matter? What does value-for-money matter, What does incurring city-wide debt matter?

It's Sport that's concerned here, it's an honour for the City of Sheffield to host sport of any type, that's all that matters, to the cretins in charge of organising it!

Have you ever seen a concert at the Arena ?
Have you ever seen any event at Don Valley ?
Have you or your kids used Ponds Forge ?


All were paid for by the student games.

Originally posted by morkmindy
Have you ever seen a concert at the Arena ?

Yes, but i paid full price.

Originally posted by morkmindy
Have you ever seen any event at Don Valley ?

Same as the above.

Originally posted by morkmindy
Have you or your kids used Ponds Forge ?

No, but if i had kids i would go along and still have to pay.

Originally posted by morkmindy
All were paid for by the student games.

All of the above is being paid for by the Council tax payer of Sheffield, around £25m a year. This works out at about £100 per household.

Your argument is completley false, Manchesters commonwealth games facilities don't cost their taxpayers an arm and a leg. It is down to the Labour Council at the time who got things completley wrong! Next time you complain about potholes, litter etc just remember how much investment the debt is robbing Sheffield every year.:rant:

and then sold off into private ownership....but the council tax burden remains...

I was in Sheffield at the time of the World Student Games, i was working the track as a volunteer at Don Valley Stadium. Lots of people benefitted. Why do you think so many sports events locate themselves in the city?? For Sheffielders at the time, the city was known for the amount of jobless steelworkers there were. I dont regard the games as a big debt per se because the Conservative govt didnt bother funding the Games. I mean what Sheffield did in 1991 is what Seb Coe is doing for London in 2012 which is leaving them with a bill. If you look at the amount of money spent on Asylum Seekers, Students, and Private business you will find that money could have paid the games debt 30 times over. Sheffield has had enough income over the years, it is the way it is unfairly distributed which means the debt doesnt get paid off. As for Tanya Grey Thompson, she would say such things as sportsmen and women need publicly funded events and stadia to make their own millions.

In reply to the comment goose has left

- the manchester games were a forecasted £120 million loss, they were saved by a £104 million grant by the Lottery fund which did not exsist in 1991. Manchester City then bought City of Mancs Stadium for £55 million, which makes it look like a profitable games, but you need to look at the facts!!! What Sheffield didnt not have was taxpayers/lottery money from those living outside the city boundaries.

i was VERY against the world stupid games when it happened.


didnt they do up some flats then tore em down again afterwards? if i remember rightly

In reply to Goose :

Would the arena have been built without the student games - no

Would don valley have been built without the student games - no

Would ponds forge have been built without the games - no

Would the national institute for sport be here without the student games - no

Would the national ice arena have moved here without the other facilities being in place - no

put bluntly these facilities wouldnt have been built without the games. I agree that we are all saddled with the debt but the real finger of blame should be pointed at ITV who pulled a coverage deal (and cash)!!!) at the 11th hour and the government who refused to honour pledges to make up the cash shortfalls.

Would our roads be in such a poor state? - no
Would the income have been diverted from repairing council houses? - no
Would we still be paying for it? - no


The facilities would not have been built, granted, but has their legacy been worth the investment?

The arena would probably be being built with grant aid - every other city has one, and not even Sheffield could have stuck its head in the sand about this.

Would we want a "Don Valley" equivalent today? Probably not, it is not flexible enough for the variety of events that are held.

etc etc ad infinitum

Originally posted by kal77uk
In reply to the comment goose has left

- the manchester games were a forecasted £120 million loss, they were saved by a £104 million grant by the Lottery fund which did not exsist in 1991. Manchester City then bought City of Mancs Stadium for £55 million, which makes it look like a profitable games, but you need to look at the facts!!! What Sheffield didnt not have was taxpayers/lottery money from those living outside the city boundaries.

I look at the 'facts' everytime i look at my Council tax bill. You note that Sheffield didnt have taxpayers/lottery money from those outside the City boundary, well thats exactley the reason why it shouldnt have gone ahead.

Bad planning by the Council, and now we are all paying for it.

Originally posted by morkmindy
I agree that we are all saddled with the debt but the real finger of blame should be pointed at ITV who pulled a coverage deal (and cash)!!!) at the 11th hour and the government who refused to honour pledges to make up the cash shortfalls.

The finger of blame lies squarely with local Labour politicians. If the financial stability which funded the games was based on hoping ITV and a Tory Government would honour their promises i can see why things went wrong!:help:

Originally posted by kal77uk
In reply to the comment goose has left

- the manchester games were a forecasted £120 million loss, they were saved by a £104 million grant by the Lottery fund which did not exsist in 1991. Manchester City then bought City of Mancs Stadium for £55 million, which makes it look like a profitable games, but you need to look at the facts!!! What Sheffield didnt not have was taxpayers/lottery money from those living outside the city boundaries.

Manchester City did not purchase the "City of Manchester" stadium for £55million,it is owned by Manchester City Council and leased to Manchester City FC,they only have to pay a "tax" when they get a gate over 34'000,with this they gave there Maine Rd ground to the city council for nothing,so it was a good deal all round

But it is why the Man Utd fans call it "The Council House"

So the world student games have left such a great legacy in Sheffield and helped to regenarate the city.


Dream on dream on

The WSG have left us with many things £25m of debt to be repaid by out taxes every year for the next 20 years

Large pot holes and the title of "pothole city" because we have to send the money on the WSG debt rather our roads


A city that looks dirty, because again like above guess where some of the money to clean the city goes... yes thats right the WSG debt

Streetlighting snap.....graffitti removal snap......



The list is endless


Oh and whta have the WSG brought us


1 week on channel 4 every year at the games


once every 2 to 3 years a major sports event


Faclilities that we have to pay for out of out council tax to repay the debt... then the double whammy of having to pay full price when you want to use the bloody things.


The WSG have not regenerated Sheffield as Clive Betts and the rest of the Labour muppets told us... if it has then how come we are seen as one of the poorest regions in Europe and have to get Objective 1.



The WSG have been a financial disater for this city and left us with facilities we have to pay for, then pay full price to use, higher council taxes, less money to spend on council services an what for so we can have a week of glory on Channel 4 once a year. Some price tag and regneration that.God help us if Labour come up with a scheme that will transform the City!

wasn't the total reported deficit £65mil in 1991 so where has the £20Mil each year for 20 years come from.
:confused:

The deficit was on the running costs the ie what it cost just to stage them. The £25m is the amount of debt left on the buliding of the facilities a bit like the mortgage payments.

Goose seems to blame Labour councillors all the time for some reason... actually most of Sheffield's current debts accrued during 1998-2000 when the Lib Dems were in charge. Sheffield had an intake of roughly 30,000 Asylum Seekers, which the people of Sheffield did not ask for, yet Sheffielders are footing the bill after the Home Office funding has expired. Being an ex- employee of the HO i cant be far off the mark. The bill for the intake of 30,000 was £39million which is actually £14 million approx more than the games debt!. There were not 30,000 Asylum Seekers in 1991. The World Student Games bid was made as part of the Sheffield Development Corporation (SDC) a brain child of the Thatcher govt to get Local Goverments to act like businesses and make profits (only most made losses). So what Sheffield was doing in pre-1991 was what other councils were doing which was looking for ways to regenerate cities without central funding.

Before you think i am moaning about Asylum Seekers, i am asian and yes i did get a council house in Darnall simply by saying to the Lib Dem council in 1999 that i came to England in the back of a lorry, even though my birth certificate says born Northern General Hospital - Sheffield!!!!! That is how lax the Lib Dems were with "your" money. So before you keep having a go at Labour Councillors look at others you might find them as bad.

for the benefit of Goose, the Lib Dem council only took the house back when they were approached by a newspaper to explain their eagerness to waste taxpayers cash. So yes Labour councillors are wasteful, but so are others.

Kal77

What are you on?? Love to know how you work out your costs of A Seekers? How much have you factored in for the ones who work and contribute to the economy.

Show us your workings out. Oh and by the way if you are true its the Labour Govt money thats run out and also you said you worked for the HO, there fore you will recall the govt TOLD councils where A Seekers would be placed. So maybe even if your working are correct to try and blame goose and the Lib Dems is way off the mark. But I have to say I don't think A Seekers "cost" sheffield tax payers anywhere near as much a s the £25m per year that Labours white elephant did, the WSG. After all that what this post is about the WSG

Although Labour in Sheffield would argue that the World Student Games brought us good facilities, i think even they would admit that the event was an unmitigated financial disaster.

As for your rant on asylum seekers, to be honest i think your talking rubbish, sorry! :sad:

And didnt they destroy facilities such as Sheaf valley baths ?