Red tape is “squeezing the life” out of Britain’s 150,000 amateur sports clubs
and threatening to undermine the Olympic legacy, ministers have been warned.

Volunteers running local clubs across the country face complex rules ranging from health and safety guidelines and criminal records checks to obtaining a music licence if a radio is played in the changing room.

Many potential volunteers are put off by concerns that they could be sued by no-win, no-fee lawyers if accidents occur, while councils are banning others from helping because they are not trained or insured, according to research.

Campaigners fear amateurs are struggling to keep their sports alive in the face of a mounting burden of official bureaucracy.

David Cameron has backed The Daily Telegraph’s Keep the Flame Alive campaign to boost volunteering in local sports clubs and return competitive sport to all schools.

However, a major review commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has identified 19 separate strands of red tape that were choking community sports clubs.

The research involved a survey of more than 1,400 local clubs and was conducted by the Sport and Recreation Alliance, the umbrella group for320 sports governing bodies, including the FA, the RFU, British Rowing and UK Athletics.

Andy Reed, Chair of the alliance, said: “Red tape is squeezing the life out of our volunteer-led community sports clubs and costing the sector a fortune.

“I think government forgets most of the income for small community clubs comes from its hard-pressed membership, who give up so much time and energy to support our community sport.”

The review found that community clubs had to contend with more than 30 different licenses that apply to community sport groups, and called for the system to be simplified.

Unlike charities, community and amateur sports clubs cannot claim “gift aid” on junior membership subscriptions, the Sport and Recreation Alliance found, and must also pay VAT on building new facilities.

Concerns have been raised that proposed reforms to health and safety rules to introduce new “self assessment” system for clubs will fail to reassure schools and councils that adventurous activities are safe.

The DCMS said work was under way to identify the priorities for cutting the bureaucracy that local sports clubs face.

A separate study yesterday from the Charities Aid Foundation warned that grassroots sports clubs are suffering a long-term fall in funding, despite efforts to secure an Olympic legacy.

Analysis disclosed that the income of local sports clubs and charities has fallen by 15% in real-terms since 2004, the year before the Games were awarded to London.

The Prime Minister said yesterday that the “spirit of volunteerism” shown by the army of helpers staffing the Olympic venues should be harnessed to secure a legacy for the Games.

“It is about much more than just the Olympics, it is about the rest of the country, bottling the volunteering spirit,” he said.

Mr Cameron praised his local village sports club in Oxfordshire, where he said his six-year-old son Elwen went for football training. “That is what we want for all our children,” he said.

The Coalition has scrapped Labour’s targets for all pupils to take part in at least two hours of school sport every week, which the Prime Minister said were counterproductive.

However, Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, said he wanted state schools to offer "compulsory two hours sport every day". Mr Johnson, who attended Eton, said he had enjoyed sport every afternoon at school and such a regime would be “wonderful” for children across the country.

The National Association of Head Teachers urged the government to promote a wide range of sports and enable time to be set aside in the curriculum for every child to find an activity they enjoy.