FIRST NIGHT: Sport's paymaster general

Former Shelter campaigner appears an innovative choice as Lottery distributor. By Alan Hubbard

ENGLAND HAS a new man at the crease. Des Wilson, novelist, journalist, champion of the underclass, friend of the earth and all-round reformer, came into bat last week as a significant player in the game of making the nation a power again in world sport. We do not know yet whether he has the muscle; but we do know he has the money.

He is now about to start wafting his wand in his role as sport's Fairy Godfather-figure, the newly installed senior vice-chairman of Sport England (stage name of the old English Sports Council) and chairman of its Lottery distribution panel. The man from down under - way back that is - arrives complete with a pounds 2 billion swagbag into which he can dip over the next decade to ensure that, in his words, no aspiring Darren Gough, Denise Lewis or Michael Owen need go short of a bob or two to help their dreams come true.

As the director of Shelter in the Sixties and one of the country's arch- campaigners on social issues from lead-free air to freedom of information, Wilson seems an innovative choice as the distributor of largesse to sport's poor and needy. The appointment comes at a convenient moment for him and sport. Wilson, born 58 years ago in New Zealand, is two years short of retirement from his present post as director of corporate and public affairs for the British Airports Authority. He is now, in effect, sport's paymaster general, a position of real power in an age when hands are forever reaching out from the changing room to the cash dispenser.

Up to now, the distribution of Lottery funds seems to have been something of a muddle and the govern- ment has decided that it needed someone to sort it. But why Wilson? He has no great track record in sport - which is precisely why he reckons he's been given the job. "I've had no experience in sports administration it's true, but clearly I am experienced in the whole voluntary political and communications scene.

"I suspect the reason Chris Smith asked me was because I come with no hidden agenda. I am not affiliated to any sports body and I'm not known in the sports world. I come without any baggage but what I do bring is independence. My job is to make things happen without fear or favour. I may come from outside sport, but I've always been a sports lover."

Before he became embroiled in the wider arena as a Liberal candidate, director of their election campaigns and party president, Wilson did have something of a sporting background. He began his journalistic career as a junior sports reporter, was a rugby player and distance runner in New Zealand and now plays golf, left-handed, off an 18 handicap. As a club cricketer he opened the batting. "Not a big scorer, but difficult to dislodge."

Actually, his chief claim to sporting fame as such is that he possesses what is thought to be the only privately owned bowling machine in the country. "It is the one luxury I have acquired in life. I saw Alec Stewart using one on TV so I rang Lord's who put me in touch with the man in Bristol who invented it. As it happened, he had a second-hand one available, so I bought it."

Wilson enjoys practising with the machine in his garden. It dispatches 15 balls in succession, although they are all pitched at the same pace, length and direction. He knows he is likely to face cuter, sharper and fiercer deliveries when the requests for Lottery loot come flooding in. "Look, I know what I'm taking on and it is important we get it right," he said. "The recent changes to the National Lottery Act now mean we can be pro-active, with the power to seek out deserving cases rather than just responding to applications. Our aim will be to give every youngster the opportunity to fulfil his or her ambition and potential, no matter what race, background or income group they come from."

Sport England's strategy will be to put two thirds of all available Lottery money into community projects, earmarked as priority zones, with the residue going to elite performers. Much of the money will be lobbed in the direction of what the Sport England chairman, Trevor Brooking, describes as "the socially excluded" - ethnic minorities, the disabled and women.

All of which, of course, appeals to Wilson's traditional liberalist leanings. Additionally, he and fellow vice-chair elect Tessa Sanderson plan to persuade sports stars to get involved again at grass-roots level in return for their governing bodies sharing the bounty. "I would also like to see every local sports club twinning with schools and offering the kids the use of their facilities."

Knowing some of the snobbery and stand-offishness that exists in this particular area it seems wishful thinking, but Wilson always was an idealist. However, he is realistic enough to recognise that money can't buy everything in sport. Attitudes must change too. "People often wonder how a tiny country like New Zealand does so well in sport. When I was raised there we had a population of around two million yet produced some great champions, like Halberg and Snell. I came from a pretty poor family but no matter what your income or where you came from it never crossed your mind that you couldn't play any sport you liked. If you had any talent at all you could reach the top. Within a short bike ride of my home there were four public parks where you could play cricket and gates were always left open. So were the play-grounds in the holidays and teachers took it for granted they would stay behind for coaching sessions."

Alas, that is no longer the case here, with a dearth of both playing fields and willing teachers. But, out of that pounds 2bn, Sport England promise to allocate pounds 30m for employing 600 after-school sports co-ordinators and are asking another Lottery distributor, the New Opportunities Fund, to match it. "The real tragedy is that while interest in sport here has escalated, school sport has declined," he says. "We are turning out a nation of spectators, and that is no accident. There is a lack of encouragement and a lack of inspiration.

"In many other countries it is easy to participate and there is the desire to do so. When I was a kid I was a pain in the neck to the local cricket club, always hanging around and pestering them. At the end of the day they always gave me a knock and let me field in the nets. There was an acceptance by everyone in sport that you had responsibility to the kids coming on."

Sport England firmly reject recent accusations that pounds 197m of the pounds 1bn granted to sport since the Lottery launched four years ago has been left in the Treasury gathering dust - and interest. They say it is actually committed and that the real picture has not been properly communicated - and, of course, Wilson is an expert in the communications field.

"The problem here has always been with grass-roots nurturing. Now we have huge resources and I make no apology for focusing on the disadvantaged," says Wilson. "In fact, I see myself having turned full circle. When I was involved with Shelter it was about opportunities, giving homeless and destitute people a chance. Now we are targeting sport's underprivileged.

"Sport in England is more easily accessed by the better off, but its possible benefits are more desperately needed by the worse off. The breakthrough may not happen in just a couple of years but you can't help thinking that over a period of time it will make a helluva difference. We can look forward with confidence to a golden Millennium for our sport."

Wilson has always talked a good fight and he is now in the happy position of putting our money where his mouth is. Inevitably, the New Age dream- maker will be tagged Mr Moneybags, the Two Billion Pound Man. It is a label he rejects. "I'm no Mr Big. I have no ambition to be a major name in sport, I'm very happy to be positioned alongside Trevor and Tessa. They are the ones with the big profiles. I simply see myself as a bit of a trouble-shooter and I'm determined to see that we get it right and that no one can point the finger at us and say we've wasted this money."

We await Des Wilson's innings with interest. The one certainty is that he will keep a straight bat and he promises he won't duck the bouncers.