The continued progress of the Olympic torch through town and city brings the nation closer to the start of the games and the global spectacle that will take place in London this summer. The games themselves have the potential to promote unity, inspire, excite and improve the economy..... well, in London at least.
It’s
true that there are a small handful of other locations elsewhere in the country
that will be used for various gaming events and these locations will no doubt
benefit both economically and educationally. However, there are’nt many of
these extra sites, the majority of events will take place in and around London
and the South East. It’s not that I object to any towns or cities benefiting,
but what I do have concerns about is the fact that we, the tax payer, were told
that the entire nation would benefit economically, educationally and
culturally. Given the billions of pounds that the event is costing us, at a
time of so called austerity, it is well worth us asking how exactly the rest of
the nation is going to benefit from
such heavy investment.
It
was this question that I pondered recently while attending a meeting with the
head teacher of a school where I sit on the board of governors. During the
meeting I asked the Head what directive had been given by the government to
schools for promoting the Games and using them as an education tool to benefit
the pupils. His response was “None”! This
rather shocked and disappointed me especially as the Olympic Games in one’s own
nation is a once in a lifetime kind of event and the idea of hosting the Games
had been sold to the country as an amazing opportunity to inspire and promote
sporting culture among our young people. In fact to quote Seb Coe, Chair of the
Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games:
“London’s vision is to reach
young people all around the world, to connect them with the inspirational power
of the Games, so that they are inspired to choose sport”.
Clearly
this “vision” is either not shared by
government, or Seb Coe’s statement is a tokenistic sound bite used to aid those
with other agendas. In my view schools
are the obvious choice as a vehicle for promoting and encouraging sporting
culture among young people and yet the fact that such an obvious opportunity
for inspiring our young people to choose sport has been overlooked or ignored,
demonstrates that the true purpose of the games is not the promotion of sport
but rather the opportunity for a small handful of individuals to make money. Despite
this, my sentiment is that the nation as a whole gets a sporting chance to
benefit from the Games if not economically, at least from the entertainment and
excitement of watching our athletes perform to their full potential.
Just
one more thing..........There has been a lot of talk this past week about news
papers, government, double standards and corruption with not only the
continuation of the Leveson enquiry, but also the government stance on the
BSkyB deal currently under scrutiny in the House of Commons. One may think that
not only has the weather barometer been pointing towards rain, but also the
moral barometer too. Maybe some things do come in pairs!