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Inside Lines: So crime doesn't play? It does behind bars

Alan Hubbard
Sunday 23 February 2003 01:00 GMT
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Some months back, a leaked Government Strategy Unit report suggested that sport only served to breed fitter criminals. It was hastily re-drafted. Perhaps the author, who subsequently resigned, should have taken a peek inside some of the nation's prisons or young offenders' institutions where he might have seen how sport is actually making criminals fitter to resume life on the outside, and not come back. Such a place is Thorn Cross, which boasts better sports facilities inside than many inner-city sports clubs , especially down the road in Manchester's Moss Side, where most of the teenage inmates were apprehended. There, thanks to a concentrated sports programme, re-conviction rates have been significantly reduced, as is the case in other jails where organised sport is high on the rehabilitation agenda. Geoff Thompson, who orchestrates a number of these programmes through the Youth Charter for Sport, also believes there is much talent currently "banged up" which could be used in a creative way by sports organisations. Thorn Cross provided 20 young offenders who helped out during the Commonwealth Games as part of their licence before they were released. "Those young men all turned up and their behaviour was exemplary," says Thompson. "Some of them looked after youngsters from a special-needs school and afterwards all of them wrote thank you letters, saying their lives had been changed by the experience. But one tabloid newspaper ran the headline 'Thugs visit the Games'. It was then I realised that some people just don't want to know. The mentality is to lock them up and throw away the key, but sport itself can be the key."

Green sees red and drives Motty potty

Fergie v Becks may have topped the bill at Old Trafford last weekend but there was an equally tasty supporting spat beforehand which some might have mistaken for an episode of the BBC's own Celebrity Boxing. It featured those heavyweights of the commentary box, John Motson and Alan Green, and began when TV's Motty offered his Radio Five Live colleague the team changes to be told angrily and precisely where to put them. Green, whose tetchiness and opinion of his own ability is in the Ferguson league, apparently was miffed by a football magazine interview in which Motty was asked about rumours that Green had resented his presence on Five Live when Match of the Day ended. "There's no reason for anyone in Radio Five to be jealous unless they are totally paranoid," was Motty's measured response. We hear their ensuing verbal punch-up left Motty sufficiently shaken to report the matter to a higher authority at the Beeb. Five Live newcomer Jonathan Pearce is another commentator with whom the prickly Green is not exactly in harmony, which should make their pairing for the Ajax-Arsenal return leg onWednesday worth a listen.

Weight and see time for ambitious Jones

Never mind that mis-mash in Memphis, if it's a real fight you're after then Las Vegas is the place to be next Saturday night when the remarkable Roy Jones jnr moves up three weight divisions to challenge for that portion of the world heavyweight championship (WBA) held by the polished Puerto Rican John Ruiz. Jones, a former middleweight champion who is currently the undisputed light-heavyweight champion, hopes to disprove the old adage that a good little'un never beats a good big'un. It is a genuinely fascinating contest which may well see Jones beome the first ex-middleweight to win a heavyweight crown in 100 years.

Since he took over as the chairman of Sport England a few months back, the Government-friendly Patrick Carter has barely put his head above the parapet as he has been too busy playing the crunching numbers game.

Even though his "stocktaking" exercise at the already emasculated quango has yet to be completed, it seems he is already turning his attention to its auxillary body, the recently-established English Institute for Sport. While staff numbers at Sport England have been savagely cut back, the EIS, already employing around 140, is still recruiting. Cold fish Carter, something of a sporting sceptic, apparently wants to know exactly what the EIS is delivering. "Don't we all," murmured a senior sports figure last week. The £130 million Institute is struggling to meet revenue targets and is likely to be seeking further subsidies, which is likely to bring Carter on a collision course with its chairman, the former Olympic athlete Steve Cram.

After less than two weeks in the job Philip French, hired as special adviser on sport to the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, has quit and returned to his erstwhile role as chief spokesman for the Premier League, citing "personal reasons".

Was there early conflict with another sporting spin doctor already in situ at her department, Alec McGiven? Apparently the six-figure post is being re-advertised though the duties entailed are obscure. Why does Jowell need another expensive spinner, anyway? The DCMS media set-up is regarded as among the most capable in the business. But if Jowell is so out of her depth she still insists on employing a personal sports "trainer", it might help if she looked beyond football for once.

insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

Victoria was ready to get her coat on and go round to give Alex a good talking-to. A source "close to the Beckhams" suggests Posh was prevented by her husband from turning her own hair-dryer on Fergie... I don't want to be institutionalised in a hotel, singing stupid songs and showing my arse to all and sundry. Welsh rugby international player Scott Gibbs on why he gave up touring... The reason for the perceived dithering between the 9th and 11th of Zimbabwe... sorry, I mean February. ECB chief Tim Lamb admits he has "bloody Zimbabwe" on the brain.

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