Sport flourishes despite government

A waste of money, some critics say.

Ineffective and simply not required, others argue.

Why keep C and L when the Guernsey Sports Commission is so effective, is another seemingly popular train of thought.

Well, I can't vouch for the effectiveness of the arty people but it's time somebody stood up for government's 'games and hobbies department' (isn't that how its perceived?) and today Inside Track intends doing just that, even if the body can hardly be said to be a tour de force.

To argue C & L should go because sport has the Sports Commission would simply be a cop-out.

The Sports Commission may be a beacon of administration excellence and a vital securer of funding, but it has only developed through absolute necessity and the ineptitude of government in fighting sport's corner, both financially and culturally.

The money afforded locally by government to sport is pathetic.

An embarrassment. Paltry. Instead, it continually relies hugely on the drive and initiative of one man to give island sport the funding and leadership it needs.

But, and this is the danger, Stuart Falla MBE, will not be around forever to steer the Commission and it is for that reason sport needs to have a governmental department in its own right.

This is not to say I am overly impressed by C & L, aside from some top-class civil servants historically fighting their corner, i.e. Dave Chilton and Graham Chester.

Interestingly and of no great surprise to myself, Nick Mann, this paper's news editor, cannot recall a deputy speaking up for sport in the House at any time in the last decade he has been reporting their meetings.

Late last year when, encouraged by Guernsey cricket's chief executive Mark Latter to do so, I challenged all the sports-loving deputies to stand up for recreation in the argument for greater grass-roots funding, in a bid to make the island's young fitter, healthier and focused people, less likely to die early from obesity, diabetes or heart problems.

Just two deputies bothered to seek more information.

Was I surprised? Not at all and that is a large part of the problem.

C & L does not have any political heavyweights prepared to push sport and recreation further into the public domain. No, they leave that to the Commission and the man who, had he remained a deputy, would have been just the person to give C & L the clout.

Critics of C & L should remember why the Commission was set up in the first place, fundamentally as an effective voice for sport at a time when the slashing of States committees instilled a fear that sport would be lost in a non-descript, uncaring department.

And, despite the successes of the Commission, I fear that is just what will happen if Culture and Leisure gets the chop.

Thankfully, people like Stuart Falla care, and 10 years of the Sports Commission has put sport and recreation in a good place and sailing in a safe direction.

But, as they say, nothing lasts forever, and who will fight sport's case in terms of funding and provide the guidance, when the likes of Falla and sport's most influential and knowledgeable civil servant, Graham Chester, both head into well-deserved retirement?

Culture and Leisure needs to stay and unearth its own sporting political powerhouses to build on what we have got, regardless as to who is running the Commission.

C & L needs the best deputies on its board and knowledgeable civil servants to keep them best informed as to what is actually happening on the island sports fields – behind the headlines. Too many deputies for too long only come out of the woodwork to wallow in reflected glory of our international champions. They don't support sport as sport/recreation deserves and needs to be backed in a modern world.

It's time we see sport mentioned in election manifestos and it's time the elected woke up to the link between sport and health, not simply climb on its back for a free ride.

WITH every passing week Nick Leigh-Morgan and Craig Culkin see their dream of summer football becoming a reality.

As things stand, 33 games are pencilled in for the month of May, the last of which being the Guernsey FA Cup Final on the 24th.

The season is not short of being a write-off and it will be intriguing to learn how many teams scratch before this campaign is out.

I think it may be more than just a few, given that such a small number of footballers are going to be asked to play a ridiculous number of matches in a short time.

I wonder, for instance, how North are going to survive when their under-18s still have possibly as many as 14 games to cram in, their Jackson side still have nine league matches and the first team 10.

All this against a background of North supposedly requiring seven first-team players to fulfil a Jackson game in Alderney last weekend. With so many footballers taking the social league route, are their enough to sustain the existing GFA/LMC calendar?

I think I know the answer.

In the meantime, it is imperative for the good of island football that the GFA and LMC oversee vital changes for next season,

While the Leigh-Morgans of this world are misguided in calling for football March to October, there is sense in not only starting the league season earlier but also top-loading the schedule to guard against problems caused by the now seemingly annual monsoon periods.

If we are not to fully make use of 3G then at least make more sensible fixture arrangements.