Bristol becomes European City of Sport for 2017
Posted on: 27 Mar 2017The city assumed the title when the European City of Sport baton was passed to the Mayor and Lord Mayor at half time during the match between Bristol Rugby and Gloucester Rugby on Friday night.
As of Friday night, Bristol is now the European City of Sport for 2017. The title was conferred immediately following a ceremony which took place at half time of the local derby between Bristol Rugby and Gloucester Rugby at Ashton Gate, when Mayor Marvin Rees and Lord Mayor Jeff Lovell was handed the European City of Sport baton by their counterparts from Stoke-on-Trent, who had held it for 2016.
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “I would like to congratulate Stoke-on-Trent on their successful year as a European City of Sport. It’s been inspiring to watch their ceremonies and videos from their year. Here in Bristol we have a few things planned ourselves.
“We want to use our year as a European City of Sport to help promote our city as a place for international sport on a global level and to make more of the sporting achievements of our residents. Sport and regular exercise is a great way to improve our health and general wellbeing. By bringing more sport to the city and better promoting the work of our dedicated communities, I hope we will be able to inspire more people than ever before to take part in sport and that we might even see some of our younger generations of Bristolians competing at the highest level.
“We have already held two sport gatherings, with clubs and groups from around the city, to start a conversation about how we can make Bristol’s sporting profile the best it can be. By the end of this year I hope we will have reached people from all around the city and started the ball rolling to improve locals access and enthusiasm for sport.”
For more information about what we can expect from Bristol’s tenure as a European City of Sport, head over the council’s website.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
