Sport in the United Kingdom sports combined have less than one-third the participation of football. Additionally, a British sport journalist pointed out that football academies are "really bad at letting players out of the system who aren't going to make it", frequently keeping players until age 17 or 18, beyond an age at which they can reasonably be developed for top-level basketball. Another issue is politically related. Basketball is not played in the elite fee-paying secondary schools that produce a disproportionate share of the UK's political leaders. Also, several British basketball insiders have cited problems with the sport's governance within the UK, with Kevin Routledge,
Minister for Sport and Civil Society Minister for Sport and Civil Society The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport and Civil Society is a junior minister in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for sport and Civil Society in England. The current postholder is Mims Davies. The post is currently at Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State level covering sport, Tourism and Heritage. The position of Minister for Sport was previously at the more senior Minister of State level in the previous government. The sports minister has at various times previously reported to the Department of National Heritage, the