Time to reclaim the lost ground

It would be fanciful in the extreme to imagine that Messrs Ahern, Blair, Adams and Trimble have given a single second's thought to the sporting or cultural implications of the deal they have been painstakingly trying to piece together here over the past fortnight. We can safely assume that when they came up with the catchy title, The Way Forward they were thinking more about their policy document for the setting up of an Executive than about a strategy for achieving a brand of free-flowing, attacking gaelic football as we enter the new millennium.

There were, and still are, much bigger fish to fry but in an idle moment or two over the next few days some or all of their attentions might turn to the sporting and cultural benefits which a stable(ish) new form of government might bring. For the first time in over a generation there would be an administration which could exert a shaping influence over decisions that have up until now been the preserve of central, London-based government. Alongside this new found freedom there would presumably be a meaningful budget.

The potential benefits are not to be sniffed at. Just now any money that is available is provided for mainly from National Lottery grants which again are fundamentally under centralised control. This has created a "begging bowl" culture where the birth and gestation of even the simplest idea are umbilically connected to the availability of lottery funding. Elsewhere, the ongoing security situation had led to a set of circumstances where government investment in sporting infrastructure or the pursuit of sporting excellence was little more than a barely imagined luxury. There were clearly other priorities.

One of the most obvious casualties has been Irish League football. The clubs and the administrators have been left to paddle their own canoe for most of the past 30 years and the end result has not been pretty. Bereft of government funding or support they have had to muddle on as best they could. With many of them reduced to the sporadic kindness of benefactors just to remain in business, spending money on dragging their grounds kicking and screaming into the late 20th century was pretty far down their list of priorities.

With the exception of Linfield's Windsor Park - which has benefited from the investment which has accompanied its status as Northern Ireland's home international venue, - the rest of the football grounds here are crumbling embarrassments. Those who complain about the all-seating requirements at Lansdowne Road or Croke Park and muse wistfully about a return to the good old days of standing on the terraces in the elements should make an eye-opening trek some day to the Oval, Solitude, Seaview or any one of the decrepit grounds dotted in and around the Belfast area.

It hardly takes the greatest genius in the world to figure out that in a situation where the decaying grounds were better suited to pitched battles between rival supporters than to the spending of quality, Saturday afternoon leisure time, crowds have been reduced to a trickle. Some of the more far-sighted local administrators, like Jimmy Boyce of the IFA, have come to a realisation that some sort of change has to come but without serious financial muscle his grand plans for reform and those of many others are reduced to just so many well-intentioned words.

And it could all be so different. If a fully functioning Assembly and a pro-active Executive were up and running this is precisely the sort of area towards which it could direct its attentions.

Of course, the rising tide would lift more than one boat. The GAA must be watching current developments with more than a degree of interest because if the new political structures come into fruition, it would offer the association its first opportunity to tip-toe into the mainstream. With a centralised, all-inclusive system of government here the opportunity for the implementation of decisions like that by the Unionist-controlled borough council which denied the local club planning permission for a GAA ground in Lurgan some years ago would be banished forever.

In recent years the GAA here has proved itself more than adept at working the system and getting its hands on whatever lottery grants or funding that were going. The most recent pertinent example was the significant amount of government funding that was procured for the redevelopment of Belfast's Casement Park. In the bright new future it may find that it does not have to work just as hard to get its hands on that same money.

BUT the GAA will also be more than aware of the potential banana skins that may be strewn in its path over the next few months. With some as yet undefined manner of reform on the way for the RUC, the association could be forced into a position where it may have to re-open the debate on Rule 21.

The commitment that the rule should be removed at some point in the future remains GAA policy but if that removal is tied to something like a grants or funding package from the new assembly the pace of change could then be dictated by forces outside the association's control. Interesting times.

The GAA's little local difficulties aside, for the first time in a generation there is a real opportunity to forge a coherent strategy for the development of sport here. This could span the most basic of improvements of facilities at a local level to the setting of realistic goals in terms of attracting international competitions and events to Belfast and beyond.

The Milk Cup youth soccer tournament, which will be held in the north-west later this month, attracts teams from all over the world and is a brilliant example of what can be done with a little thought and foresight. The competition has genuine international credibility and its hyper-efficient running is a triumph of the organisational skills of those involved.

The Milk Cup shines out like a beacon because it stands almost alone in the sporting landscape here. Elsewhere, the concentration has been on bringing high-profile, one-off events here which arrive in an whirlwind of two or three days publicity and are never seen or heard of again.

The World Cross-Country Championships, held in Belfast earlier this year, offered a tantalising glimpse of how things could be. Only the most naive would imagine whatever political change that does transpire will magically transform Belfast into an Olympic city within 10 years. Growth of any kind has been so stunted here over the past 30 years that it will probably take a generation to reclaim all the ground that has been lost. But a start has to be made somewhere.