Sports Council 'a child of its time'

IN FIVE days' time Francis Quin oversees the disbanding of the Guernsey Sports Council. There is no going back for the organisation that pushed for and built the best leisure centre in the Channel Islands and led the initiative for many other sporting projects in its three decades.

'It was a child of its time, but it has been overtaken by the new sports commission,' said Quin, who next Monday chairs an EGM and final annual meeting of the GSC at La Villette Hotel

He has few worries for the future of island sport and the advent of the sports commission, headed by Stuart Falla, can do no harm said Quin.

'If it doesn't work the worst that can happen is that we are back to square one. We can't lose on this.'

Quin has long recognised that the GSC had lost its teeth and the time is ripe to go.

'Sport has become so much more professional and Guernsey has to take that approach to its sport.

'This is a really exciting time for our sport.'

One small concern, though, is how the commission will deal with the less-celebrated sports.

'The big headline sports will be looked after, but will the smaller ones be left behind?' he asked.

A long-time trumpeter of sports tourism, Quin is pleased to see Mike O'Hara's new committee take off and its budget increased.

But, like O'Hara, he believes the sums to promote Guernsey as a sporting destination are still far too low.

O'Hara wants half-a-million; Quin does not put a figure on it but said: 'We need sums far in excess of the past if they are serious about it.'

The St Martin's deputy says every pound on sport is well spent if it helps keep social order and youngsters out of trouble.

'If it keeps two or three kids out of prison, great. It is is money well spent.'

He won't have a bad word said about Beau Sejour either and those who predicted it would be a white elephant are wide of the mark.

'It's not a sports centre it is a social commitment.

'I have always seen it as a civic amenity. It is taxpayers' money well spent.

'We could not have done without it. How many million go through there every year?

'Without it, where would they go?'