Why Sport and Leisure Matter for Public Health

In this blog, RSPH Chief Executive William Roberts explains the importance of sport and leisure to keeping us healthy, how this ties into our wider work on healthy places, and our vision for change in these sectors.

In July 2026, during a period of unusually hot weather across much of the UK, the Chief Medical Officers (CMOS) published updated physical activity guidance, reinforcing a simple but important message: moving more is one of the most effective things we can do to improve our health and wellbeing.  

This refreshed guidance is relevant across all seasons. It highlights the benefits of regular activity throughout life, with a greater emphasis on strength and balance, sitting less, and doing aerobic exercise. It also flags the advantages of light-intensity movement, like walking to the shops, gardening, dancing, taking the stairs, or household chores which all contribute to better health. 

For the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), this guidance is incredibly welcome. However, it also raises a bigger question: how do we create the conditions that make it easier, safer and more routine for people to move in their everyday lives? 

The evidence has been clear for many years. Physical activity helps to prevent ill health, supports mental wellbeing, strengthens communities and improves quality of life. Yet many people still face barriers that make it difficult to achieve the recommended levels of activity. There are many reasons why – health inequalities, social, economic, financial, physical pain, and safety concerns. All this is precisely why as a society we need to look beyond physical activity as a health benefit – important as it is – and focus on the systems, organisations and places that help people move. 

Movement happens in many ways – walking, wheeling, cycling, active travel, play, recreation, exercise, sport, leisure and everyday activity. In public health terms, the question is not just how we persuade people to be more active. It is how we build the conditions that make movement feel possible, safe, welcoming and a natural part of daily life. 

Healthy places mean healthy communities

All this links directly to RSPH’s wider thinking on healthy places. Better health depends on the environments around us – the streets we use, the green spaces we can access, the community assets we trust, and the services and organisations that help us connect with others.  

Healthy places are not only about where people live, they are also about where people move, meet, play, recover, build confidence and belong. 

Right across the country, sports clubs, leisure centres, swimming pools, gyms, parks, community organisations and local partnerships are already doing remarkable work. Increasingly, these organisations are not simply places where people exercise – they are neighbourhood super-connectors. They are community assets that bring people together, support social connection, provide opportunities for prevention and help reach people who may not engage with traditional health services. 

The public health opportunities 

Movement, sport and leisure have significant public health potential.  

Sports clubs and community programmes often work through volunteers, participation, belonging and local identity. Leisure providers and facilities often work through settings, services, employers and a large public-facing workforce.  

For community sport, there is potential for organisations to become even stronger community assets - inclusive, welcoming and better connected to wider health and wellbeing priorities. For leisure, recognising that instructors, coaches, centre staff and fitness professionals already have regular contact with communities and can play a bigger role in prevention, signposting, confidence-building and behaviour change.  

We have seen this transformation first-hand through our work with partners across the movement, sport and leisure sector. From workforce development in leisure settings to partnerships with sports organisations and community programmes, there is growing recognition that these environments play a much bigger role in improving public health.   

Sport and leisure are closely connected, but they are not always the same. Sports clubs and community programmes often work through volunteers, participation, belonging and local identity. Leisure providers and facilities often work through settings, services, employers and a large public-facing workforce. Both matter, but RSPH’s role may look slightly different in each. 

For community sport, the opportunity is to support organisations to become even stronger community assets - inclusive, welcoming and better connected to wider health and wellbeing priorities. For leisure, the opportunity is also about workforce capability: recognising that instructors, coaches, centre staff and fitness professionals already have regular contact with communities and can play a bigger role in prevention, signposting, confidence-building and behaviour change. 

Aims and ambitions 

Our ambition is not simply to celebrate what is already happening, although there is much to celebrate. Our aim is to identify what is missing, highlight what works, generate useful evidence, and help create the conditions that make healthy choices easier for everyone.  

This builds on our previous work. In 2018 we published with ukactive a report called Going the Distance  which highlighted the important role the UK’s 57,000 exercise professionals play in improving public health. And our report Streets Ahead: Building health on the high street shared how sports centres and green spaces are places that serve communities and create a sense of social cohesion in addition to libraries, market halls, coffee shops, pubs, and restaurants.  

We have seen transformation first-hand through our co-operation with partners across the sector. From skills development in leisure settings to partnerships with sports organisations and community programmes, there is growing recognition that these environments play a much bigger role in improving public health.  

So, over the coming months and into 2027, we will collaborate with the sector to develop a clearer public health programme across movement, sport and leisure. That means amplifying messages and sharing further evidence for movement, sport and leisure as a public health asset, generating stronger evidence and insights, and strengthening sector capability and system connections. 

We aim to understand how we can: 

• help more people become active throughout their lives; 

• support sports clubs, leisure facilities and community settings to act as neighbourhood public health assets; 

• make better connections between movement, sport and leisure and our wider Healthy Places work; 

• better understand and support those working in sport and leisure to be community health champions; 

• strengthen the skills and confidence of the workforce to address wider public health challenges; 

• connect the movement, sport and leisure sector more effectively with health, local government, Active Partnerships and community partners. 

We are already talking to the wider public health workforce and the people who make changes happen, connecting further to keep this discussion going and to understand more how RSPH can best support the sector.  

Our role is not to own this agenda or deliver everything directly. It is to help connect it - bringing public health credibility, evidence, convening power, workforce development expertise, and practical partnerships to an area where many solutions already exist but are not always recognised, supported or connected at sufficient scale. 

Movement, sport and leisure should be recognised as essential parts of public health infrastructure. Together, they can help prevent ill health, reduce inequalities, strengthen communities and make healthier lives more attainable. 

We look forward to working with partners across movement, sport and leisure to help turn that ambition into reality.