Beeb finding its place in a new world

While the BBC's Director General, John Birt, was at Buckingham Palace last week to receive his knighthood for services to Sky Sports, members of his staff were busily trying to repair the damage which has been done to the Beeb's sporting credibility over recent years by announcing the recapture of British athletics for a sum of pounds 15m over the next five years.

It was a welcome reversal of roles for BBC Sport and the opportunity to crow over an acquisition after spending so long bleating over losses was duly seized upon by their director of television, Alan Yentob. The cost of the retaliation was small compared to the pounds 103m package paid by Channel 4 and BSkyB to snatch the rights to Test cricket from them two weeks previously, but that mattered less than the need for BBC sport to be seen to be doing something other than meekly getting mugged by every rival in sight.

As if the loss of the cricket wasn't enough of a blow, the subsequent appearance of Birt and his chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, before the Commons Select Committee offered even less comfort for sports fans. Neither appeared even slightly suicidal at the decline of the world's finest sports television coverage. Bland even made a clumsy attempt to justify their negative attitude by saying something to the effect that for every sports lover there was a sports hater; his wife being one of them.

No offence to Lady Bland is intended, but listening to the missus does not provide a promising basis for an evening's viewing let alone the nation's programming for the year. Admittedly, that is an outrageously male view of matters and, of course, there must be balance in all media output, but the value and popularity of sports coverage has increased immeasurably over the past few years and the BBC have steadfastly neglected to recognise it.

This is particularly ironic because it is the BBC who have provided most of the examples of sport's ability to cross the gap that divides the passionate fan from the disinterested onlooker.

Wimbledon, championship snooker and athletics have each proved to have appeal that can ensnare anyone. The World Cup in France in the summer produced an unprecedented amount of attention from those who would have previously classed themselves as non- believers.

And, to the continuing embarrassment of the BBC, the coverage of grand prix motor racing, Murray Walker et al, by ITV has brought converts by the thousand especially in the young lady area. There are several of my acquaintance who now organise grand prix parties. As a matter of fact I was invited to join a grand prix finale "do" at lunchtime today. I had to point out that I don't normally eat lunch at four o'clock in the morning which is when the Japanese Grand Prix was held. These new fans have yet to grasp the vagaries of world-wide sports coverage. They are going ahead in the hope that they can watch the replay without knowing the result. Fat chance.

So much has been lost that a deal like that struck with athletics was vital; a clear sign that, at last, the Corporation have stopped retreating and are turning to make a fight of it. The fact that they took it from Channel 4 would not have made the acquisition any less sweet. Within the BBC, Yentob's presence alone was an indication of revitalised interest but greater significance was in the speed with which the deal was put together.

It helped that their new controller of television sport, Mike Miller, was formerly with Channel 4 and was therefore closely atuned to the promising situation in athletics; a sport emerging from a deep crisis and badly in need of the boost that regular exposure on BBC will bring.

Miller's arrival follows that of Bob Shennan as head of sport and they have the wider broadcasting experience to form the hard-nosed partnership necessary to apply a keener editorial edge to the coverage that will compensate for the BBC's lack of front-line deals with the major sports. They need to be quickly successful in sharpening up the Corporation's appeal to sport and its followers.

David Moorcroft, the chief executive of UK Athletics '98 - the interim body which is running the sport - reckons that the combination of the fee and the fact that they will be getting three times as much exposure will put the sport back on its feet. That is how it should work and, no doubt, that is how they felt in 1953 when the BBC first bought themselves into athletics coverage.

Then, and for decades later, the Beeb were virtually the only game in town and got their sport on the cheap. Now, at last, the penny has dropped and the Beeb are stumping up the market price.

But there will be more to the televised sport of the future than the ability to write large cheques and show pretty pictures. The governing bodies are anxious not just to display their games on TV but to use the medium to develop their appeal.

At least, that ought to be their aim. The Rugby Football Union has achieved exactly the opposite. English rugby has in effect been removed from terrestrial view and all discussion about the game has been blanked out through their failure to agree on a format for the Channel 5 magazine programme which was due to start this month.

Not that the BBC ever performed well in this direction - memories of the plaintive Rugby Special testify to that - but communication is the union's responsibility and it is disgraceful that so few of the many controversies that have dogged rugby have not been debated in front of the nation. Add to that the fact that the RFU have lost pounds 10m in just over two years and you have a masterpiece of poor administration.

Football's Premiership have made far more money out of satellite television than rugby but the BBC keep them plugged into the mains of the national interest through Match of the Day, which is better than it ever was. The fact that it is shown late on Saturday night doesn't detract from the excellent service it does both for the game and its supporters.

Ultimately, it's not what you show but the way that you show it that will win the battles as the arrival of digital television takes inter-channel rivalry to heights not yet imagined. The days of trying to protect the BBC with listed sports are over. Sports deserve their just rewards and the viewers demand a decent service. The BBC have an important part to play and we've had to wait a long time before they realised that this was an obligation, not an entitlement.

With one bound our hero was free... Paul Gascoigne's reappearance in public last week after only 16 days in a rehab clinic propelled him back into the headlines much sooner than anyone could have expected of a player who had reached such a low ebb. Now he is settling down to a regime that includes training and playing for Middlesbrough while popping back to the clinic twice a week.

While we watch with interest the continuation of a career that could use a higher football content, it was fascinating to note at his press conference on Monday how much dismay was expressed at his refusal to admit to being an alcoholic.

Perhaps he is a member of that band of sportsmen who won't admit to being an alcoholic but will own up to being a drunk. The difference, apparently, is that if you are just a drunk you don't have to go to all those meetings.