Sport England spent £2.5m on its Active People survey canvassing the nation's sporting habits, which is cheap at twice the price. No, really.
According to figures released to parliament in October, the first of the three surveys cost the quango £5,538,145. And the latest, £2.5m questionnaire is also cheaper than the second. That came in at £3,152,272.
So Sport England has over the past three years laid out a princely £11.2m on what is without doubt thoroughly value-for-money research. But, for those of a curious disposition, Digger would like to provide a bit of context.
Even in Sport England's lottery-and-exchequer funded world, £11.2m is a lot of money. For instance £11.5m buys you the entire four-year budget for no fewer than 10 sports.
And not just any old sports, either. That £11.5m is the amount that will over the next four years be shared in the grassroots programmes of archery, boxing, fencing, handball, modern pentathlon, shooting, snowsport, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling. Which as even Sport England knows are Olympic sports.
But there was just one thing Sport England's excellent report omitted to draw attention to: the 23,200 overall drop since the 2007-8 survey in people participating in sport for 30 minutes at least once a week. Yet regrettably, we cannot even be entirely sure of that figure either.
Although the researchers are surely the best money can buy, in more than a third of the sports they discovered there was an "insufficient sample size" to be able to present any figures at all.
Watford poised to cash in
If Watford are forced to file for administration then the club's creditors can be sure of some money coming their way in January. Portsmouth are to make scheduled payments next month on the summer transfers from Vicarage Road of Tommy Smith and Mike Williamson. Pompey's cash-flow woes have not gone undocumented recently, and if they are unable to meet the instalments as they fall due, Watford will receive the money from the Premier League's coffers. What that means for Portsmouth will only be known when it happens.
Colchester make a point
Colchester United will make Football League history when they push for a points deduction against League One rivals Norwich City at a tribunal next month. The Essex club have received no compensation from Norwich over the appointment of Paul Lambert, hours after he resigned as Colchester's manager. The U's will argue they have been forced to exceed their budget in replacing Lambert-era players the new manager Aidy Boothroyd does not believe fit his tactical template. Lambert has lifted Norwich from a 7-1 opening day defeat – to his own Colchester team – into third place in League One, above Colchester in fourth. The U's will claim Norwich should be docked points as well as being forced to compensate them financially. A Norwich spokesman said: "It is in the hands of our lawyers."
No frills for Eriksson
Sven-Goran Eriksson has thrown himself into the search for funding at Notts County and has been jetting around in search of investors. Eriksson, left, flew to Marbella to meet a millionaire Swedish compatriot last weekend over a potential injection of funds. After missing his scheduled British Airways flight, Eriksson returned home on Monday in circumstances more suited to a common or garden League Two director of football than those that might befit a millionaire former England manager. The Swede had to make do with Easyjet.