Sport in a Sporting Town

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Richmond Informer on Mon 13th Oct 2003

As an MP for a sporting constituency I am assumed to have views on Topical sporting issues and spent most of a Radio 5 interview last week fielding questions on Rio Ferdinand, soccer violence and the rugby world cup.

Amid the daily diet of scandal, simple truths are easily forgotten. There was no past golden age of sport. I was brought up on soccer and northern rugby league. Punch-ups, on and off the field, were commonplace. The grounds were unsafe and dangerously overcrowded (leading in due course to Ibrox, Bradford and Hillsborough). Few women wanted, or dared, to go. Sanitation was primitive. Our heroes were often brutal 'hard men' who drank heavily. The stars ended their days owning a pub if they were lucky; more commonly, selling newspapers. Later, in the 1970's and 1980's, London soccer grounds were beset by crowd violence and virulent racism. Much has improved since.

Soccer, like rugby (and, less successfully, cricket) has benefited from the involvement of business capital and from professionalism. After visiting Stamford Bridge for the first time for years to see Chelsea (lose) I was staggered by the standard of facilities and players brought to west London by Messrs Bates and Abramovich. More modestly, the transformation of the Stoop, and the Harlequins, is an admirable local success story. Of course there are real tensions between local residents and stadiums and these should be better managed.

As for the players I don't begrudge David Beckham or Rio Ferdinand their pay - or the more modest but reasonable pay of the England rugby players. They give more pleasure and generally handle themselves better than the young millionaires on city trading floors. And they have done well for the country.