BRITISH judo got a strings-attached lift in South Kensington this week - but it needs thousands of workers at a security firm to make it work.
The venture by company G4S was launched at the Budokwai Club in Gilston Road - still considered to be the mecca for a sport that suffered mightily at the Olympics.
All seven British players didn't get so much as a sniff of a medal in Beijing. But if there are enough G4S employees taking up judo over the next four years, the sport will not only get a welcome cash injection - but maybe a few more champions in the distant future.
The money comes with conditions, however.
For every one of G4S's 15,500 workers or their offspring that join a club, take lessons, get registered as a bonafide player or shell out in any official way to play judo, the company will refund the equivalent to the British Judo Association (BJA).
Spokesperson for the BJA, Emma Griffin, reckoned any minors headed for the mat will spend up to £75 before they could compete.
"Once the licence fee for insurance purposes, membership and teaching fees are paid it can be more," she said.
It's still going to take all but a handful of G4S workers looking to gain a wazaari or two before he BJA says thanks a million, but Griffin is confident the scheme has merit.
She said: "This is the base of a pyramid that makes it easier for more people to play judo.
"Eventually, the money should filter back into the sport and allow even more Olympians to use the Budokwai to hone their skills, and hopefully win some medals."
