As one or two of you might have noticed I’ve been a bit sniffy in the past over “Legacy” – both the term itself and the concept – because for me sport is its own justification and doesn’t need to pander to others.
You run and jump because you enjoy it and it inspires you and others and you stage the Olympics for basically the same reasons.
But my view changed radically watching the carnage on our streets yesterday, in a good way I might add.
Looking around the debris of our great cities with marauding youths prowling like feral rats it came home with a crashing impact of exactly how far Britain has sunk as a society and how sport – played properly and with its stars embracing the responsibility of role models – is probably the best way out of this hell hole.
MPs expenses, phone hacking and the economic crash have all contributed to demoralising this country. The list goes on.
Sport is the way out, not just a distraction but the way out.
Many commentators pointed out that we are spending over £9billion on the Olympics at a time of economic crisis and I have sometimes struggled with that concept myself but not anymore. Not after yesterday.
Rarely in our recent history has this country needed to identify and promote aspirational young sportsmen and the Olympics is the perfect vehicle.
The exact definition of legacy doesn’t concern me and politicians should stop debating it as if it were some philosophical concept – what I want to see next summer is young British competitors of all shapes and sizes, colours and creeds setting an example in performance and attitude in everything they do that their so-called elders and betters have lamentably failed to to.
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