The CCPR, an umbrella organisation whose 300 members represent 150,000 clubs across the UK and it is estimated 13 million regular participants, passed a special resolution at its annual meeting in London to approve the change.

The decision follows months of preparatory work and consultation with members, staff and other stakeholders, overseen by brandRapport, the London-based brand strategy specialists.

Officials are now working on a fresh identity, including a logo and brand, for the new body.

"Our aim, as with name-change itself, will be to bring our work and that of sport and recreation to the attention of ever more people and to help further the aims of our members," said Tim Lamb, the CCPR's chief executive.

"We hope to unveil this visual identity in the autumn.

"Until then, we will continue to operate under our current name."

Lamb claimed that the name change was needed so that more people understood what they did.

"When it comes to campaigning, for example, our name is preventing some people from understanding who we are and where we are coming from," he said.

"When it comes to promoting the services we offer to sport and recreation, people don’t always understand where our interests lie or why we are providing those services.

"Negative feedback about our name has come from lots of areas.

"Prominent Parliamentarians have asked us to make a change.

"We’ve heard from funders and commercial partners that the name doesn’t help our cause."

The current name was adopted in 1944 but Lamb (pictured) claimed that it had become unpopular even with its own members.

"One member was even moved to send in a picture of a cosmonaut with the old Soviet lettering of CCCP on his helmet to illustrate his argument that our current name is outdated," he said.

"There is a feeling amongst many of you, we know, that our name has served its time, and that just like the old Soviet Union, it is time to open a new chapter in our history.

"Sport and Recreation Alliance best and most accurately describes what we exist to do.

"It speaks of unity and of inclusivity.

"It describes the breadth of our membership in a way in which ‘CCPR’ could never do.

"It makes it immediately obvious what we are here to do and will stick in people’s minds in a way that the letters CCPR rarely did or that the words Central Council of Physical Recreation couldn’t.

"Most importantly of all, it tells you plainly what we do and who - and what - we do it for."

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