Education secretary Michael Gove has approved the sale since the Coalition came to power – which has outraged some commentators as Team GB’s multiple medal winning successes take place at London 2012.

Many of the school fields were sold off to housing developers or sold when schools closed down.

Gove was also responsible for axing School Sports Partnerships to save £163 million a year in 2010. He justified the move at the time by sayin “I want competitive sport to be at the centre of a truly rounded education that all schools offer. But this must be led by schools and parents, not by top-down policies from Whitehall.”

Even Prince Harry has added his opinion to the argument, possibly taking cue from his dad’s passion for architecture and town planning, speaking about “what is left” of sports fields now “everyone wants to build everywhere nowadays.”

Speaking to The Guardian, Tory Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said this week “I think at the moment school sport provision is patchy in some places, and we need to do what we can to make sure that the very best examples are spread throughout the whole country, and this is absolutely going to be a focus over the next few months and one of the things that we really want to take away from these Games.”

Main image: Michael Gove (Getty images)