City of Manchester Wrestling Mats funded by the club. Image taken by Zach Dawson
The City of Manchester Wrestling Club is currently facing challenges, including rising costs and limited funding.
The club is based in Salford, providing Olympic-style freestyle wrestling for all ages and skill levels, operating as a community interest company that benefits the local community.
As a sport, UK grassroots wrestling struggles for visibility and funding compared to mainstream sports like football and rugby.
According to the British Wrestling Annual Report between 2024 and 2025, the total income from sports councils decreased. The income generated is dependent on the Sport England Small Grants Programme, which provides funding that ranges from £300 to £10,000. These grants fluctuate yearly, making them unreliable in maintaining wrestling clubs financially across the UK.
Olga McGlinchey, GB Female Wrestling Coach and Olympic Bronze Medallist, stated: “I do believe if we have better funding, we can have a good team for the next Olympic Games.”
This statement is in relation to the 2012 Olympics, which involved UK Sport cutting all elite funding for wrestling. The decision was made mainly due to the sports’ failure to obtain a promised £100 million in private funding.
One Sky Sports article wrote that “several sports (including wrestling) are paying the price for failure at the London 2012 with severe cuts to their income.”
This was part of a broader strategy to focus on sports that could potentially win medals.
The Guardian also wrote that the British wrestling performance director recalls Olga being “absolutely devastated (with her performance at the Olympics).”
“She made a slight tactical error in the last five seconds, and that was the difference between winning and losing. Tactically and technically, she was the better athlete.”
At the time, wrestling received £1.4m in funding over the past four years compared with £7m for Judo. However, there is still little sign of a return on that investment.
The Club relies on memberships as its main source of income, allowing it to invest in different facilities.
For example, facilities like a strength and conditioning area can help bring in more funding and attract more athletes to join.
Darren Calls, a volunteer for the club, says that his daughter is a wrestler for Team GB, and she gets put forward for funding by Sports Aid. He stated that sometimes you can qualify for funding, but then other times you cant.
Funding for amateur wrestling comes from various sources such as government grants and National Governing Bodies.
However, these sources often have different funding priorities, leading to changes in available grants.
Each grant has specific needs and goals, which often change over time. For example, Governing Bodies will look at a club like the City of Manchester Wrestling and determine that the club is financially stable compared to other wrestling clubs in Salford or the Greater Manchester area.
Overall, without increased support, clubs like City of Manchester Wrestling will struggle to survive.