A vote for sport
Posted on 29/04/2010With politicians frantically campaigning for your vote, The Telegraph's Brian Moore takes a look at how much emphasis the three major parties have placed on sport.
Sport occupies an enormous slice of media attention compared to its direct contribution to the UK economy, but it also provides huge benefits to the country – and considerably more than its siblings of culture and media.At its best, sport also effectively backs up many government departments in their initiatives on key issues such as childhood obesity, anti-social behaviour and the decline of respect in society.
As sport is also the only activity where partaking and succeeding does not depend on your wealth, connections or race, you would think it would have a high priority with all parties.
Add to this the position sport plays in the voters’ psyche and the vicarious popularity a sporting success brings a government and you would expect politicians to recognise the unique position of sport; but no, it remains lumped with the others in Whitehall, fighting for every inch of territory.
A look at the party election manifestos shows how much regard the politicians really have for sport.
The Labour manifesto is 78 pages long and out of 30,755 words there were 550 dealing with sport; 1.8 per cent. The Conservative Party equivalent is 131 pages in total, containing 28,850 words of which are 123 words on sport; 0.43 per cent. The Liberal Democrats manifesto has 21,600 words, with 96 words on sport; 0.44 per cent.
The Labour document, at Chapter Seven, focuses heavily on the 2012 Olympic Games in London, pledging that: “We will ensure that the Olympics are delivered on time and on budget, to the highest standards. Britain will be the first Olympic hosts to create a world-class sports system, from elite level to the grass-roots.”
Labour also promises to bring “mutualism to the heart of football” and promises that: “Sports governing bodies will be empowered to scrutinise takeovers of clubs, ensuring they are in the long-term interests of the club and the sport. We will develop proposals to enable registered Supporters Trusts to buy stakes in their club.” This falls short of a leaked earlier claim that Labour would legislate to allow fans to buy 25 per cent of clubs.
In the Tory manifesto, the Conservatives promise “to reform the governance arrangements in football to enable co-operative ownership models to be established by supporters”.
The Labour statement about creating the first world-class sports system is nonsense. The Australians produced world-class Games in 2000 and their national Institute of Sport was delivering world-class athletes and coaches 20 years ago and continues to do so.
The Tory “sport coverage” takes up a little more than a quarter of a page but has the pledge: “We will deliver a successful Olympics that brings lasting benefits for the country as a whole.” Well, as all the planning has already been done so quite what they could claim credit for is a mystery.
The Liberal Democrat “sport coverage” says they are proud that Britain is hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012; they support bids for other high-profile events such as the 2018 World Cup “but we believe that grass-roots sport is just as important. We will give people from all backgrounds and generations the opportunity to participate in sports”. This is simply insulting – why bother at all?
However, they do have two policies on sport: “Use cash in dormant betting accounts to set up a capital fund for improving local sports facilities and supporting sports clubs” and they also intend to “close loopholes that allow playing fields to be sold or built upon without going through the normal planning procedures”.
Both of these are good ideas, but we have been down this route so many times before with both Tory (who started it) and Labour (who continued it) governments failing to protect sports fields.
The sophistry used to justify the removal of a playing field and its replacement with a sports centre shows that it is seeking cash, not sport, where the real priority lies.
The state of the country’s finances means that largesse is not a realistic hope from the next government, but restructuring would save money and improve sport.
It deserves a Cabinet seat and a department that incorporated and housed UK Sport and Sport England in the same place would improve the often dysfunctional relationship between the Department for Culture Media and Sport and other regulatory and funding bodies; why do we need more than one funding body?
Any party that prioritised sport and promised to and did remove the swathes of unnecessary administration like the above and shredded large amounts of the red-tape surrounding sport might get my vote; but there isn’t one.
The 39th step
Meanwhile, in The Sun, Sam Allardyce has reignited the debate on the 39th game, writes Neil Custis.
Sam Allardyce wants the 39th game put back on the table so the Premier League remains the envy of the world.The Blackburn boss has always been one of football's forward thinkers and believes it is vital that plans first mooted two years ago for clubs to play an extra fixture abroad become a reality.
For the first time in seven years there was no representative from England in the last four of the Champions League this season and there are fears the Premier League's star could be on the wane.
Allardyce feels it is time everyone woke up and realised the benefits of exporting our football overseas.
He said: "The 39th game is an absolute must. We have to make it work, get over the bureaucracy and look after our product.
"Every top country in Europe wants what we've got. Italy, Spain and Germany are jealous of us and the UEFA president Michel Platini cannot hide his jealousy.
"It's so important we stay ahead of everyone else and the 39th game will keep us there. Let's get it back on the agenda."