David Barrett MA, FRGS

About

I have worked at SIRC for over 16 years, providing data analysis and insight for a wide range of organisations in the sport and physical activity sector. Most notably, I have worked for national governing bodies of sport, including England Athletics, BADMINTON England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). I have undertaken audits of volunteering, coaching, participation and competitive pathways, combining secondary data sources with online surveying and qualitative interviews of stakeholders and participants.

I am skilled in the creation, management and interpretation of large-scale and spatial databases, working with clients to design appropriate research tools to take advantage of new technologies. I specialise in helping organisations to understand the long-term importance of the data they collect to manage their day-to-day affairs, turning 'business as usual' into strategic plans for Ulster Hockey, the Northern Ireland Sports Forum and Antrim GAA.

I have led studies into the talent pathway of funded sports in the UK, building a database of athletes and coaches, and reporting findings to Sport England and UK Sport. I also led teams delivering two audits of pitch facilities for the governing bodies of football in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. In the last year I have completed research into the impact of increases in the cost of living on the sport sector for Sport England.

I have a long record of working with local authorities, having worked in local government for over 7 years before joining SIRC, and for a range of local authority clients since 2008. I have built up a sound working knowledge of Sport England's Active Lives and Active Places datasets, and regularly use these to develop clients' understanding of their position in the marketplace. I have also worked with clients in professional sport, including Harlequins FC and Celtic FC.

My research interests focus on the relationship between the volunteering workforce and participation, and in particular, the capacity of voluntary sports clubs to deliver participation opportunities. I am an active volunteer in club and county hockey, and regularly contribute to The Hockey Paper on the direction of the sport.

Participation, Benchmarking, Elite Sport, Spatial Analysis, Volunteering

Teaching

School of Sport and Physical Activity

College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences

Research

• Health Research Institute

The Economic and Social Value of Gaelic Games on the Island of Ireland.

This report provides an overview of a programme of work commissioned by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to examine the economic and social value of Gaelic Games. The research has three components: a Satellite Account for Gaelic Games; a Social Value and Social Return on Investment analysis of Gaelic Games; and the economic impact of two major Gaelic Games events.

https://www.gaa.ie/article/social-value-of-gaelic-games-worth-2-87-billion-to-irish-society

The Rising Cost of Living and its Impact on Sport and Physical Activity.

Commissioned by Sport England and System Partners (including London Sport, Sported, The Sport and Recreation Alliance, EMD UK, and Sporting Equals), this report shows that participation rates in physical activity have remained stable compared to pre-Covid levels, but that the increased cost of living has led to changes in sport and activity behaviour, which are unlikely to be reversed until household finances improve.

https://sportengland-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2024-01/Cost%20of%20living%20impact%20report%20-%20full%20report%20%28January%202024%29..pdf?VersionId=IQuDAqP3GeKUCyPw_7c45zMs5xbJaBJA

Returning to Action: Evaluating Organisational Preparedness in the Wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Grassroots physical activity providers have shown ‘resilience, determination and passion’ during the Covid-19 pandemic but require support to recover to pre-pandemic levels, according to a study of over 1,400 community sport providers involved in the delivery of more than 75 sports. The findings demonstrate an incredible resilience in the sector, with volunteers continuing to support their clubs across the lockdown period. However, a lack of income during this time has placed additional pressure on the financial reserves of our community organisations and the results show that grassroots clubs with greater ethnic diversity face the biggest challenges.

https://sramedia.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/e4a34300-b372-44dd-81d9-d7fbc1c29e2d.pdf

Evaluating the impact of Boxing Clubs on Their Host Communities.

The popular perception of boxing clubs is that they are an asset to the community because they provide a participation opportunity which “keeps kids off the streets”. As a sport, boxing is generally regarded as being more successful than others in terms of engaging with participants from minority groups, suffering from multiple deprivation, in what are often challenging locations. The focus of this research is on clubs whose main purpose is to use the sport of boxing to engage with people within the community that suffer from some sort of social exclusion, to understand more clearly why their behaviours, knowledge and expertise are so successful in engaging with participants from deprived areas and under-represented socio-economic and ethnic groups.

https://www.englandboxing.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Final-pdf-workforce-research.pdf

Sport Club Volunteers, 2018.

This report gives information on the state of the sports club volunteering workforce in 2018. 425 clubs took part in the survey and around 50 of these participated in a series of focus groups and telephone interviews. These findings outline a generally healthy outlook for voluntary sports clubs in England, with a reasonably stable workforce. A clear, positive relationship exists between participant growth and volunteer recruitment. Clubs are keen to develop new volunteers, but require the support of NGBs and other agencies to identify and remove the barriers which currently prevent people from under-represented groups from putting themselves forward.

https://sportengland-production-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/sirc-se-sports-club-volunteers-report.pdf?VersionId=JlTZP10e0j_9kzTQYOF3InPLGuAvMEVn

National Governing Body CEO Forum (2015), The State of Play
England Athletics (2011), Bridging the Gap: Research to provide insight into the development and retention of young athletes
Sport and Recreation Alliance (2009) Sports Club Survey

Publications