Sport report calls for North funding

"IT is probably legitimate for Northerners to claim that the North is the spiritual home of British sport," says the foreword of a new report launched in Parliament this week.

- ROB PARSONS

"From its proud and pioneering sports heritage the beginnings of the football league in Manchester; to the home of rugby league in Huddersfield; the county cricket clash of the centuries at Old Trafford and Headingley; and the Great North run in Tyneside - sport is a central part of our lives and often the beating heart in our communities." In its 'Question of Sport' report, the Northern Culture All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) says the region's sporting and cultural leaders are shouting out for "rocket booster" investment in the North's rich talent pipeline.

Written with the help of the University of Sheffield, it calls on policy-makers to capitalise on the strength of sporting identity in the North to create a "Northern Sporting Powerhouse".