Inside Lines: Much ado as Brown twists Olympic tale

The Australians, who staged the last Olympic Games, say, "Go For It". So do the Greeks, who will host the next staging in 2004, as does the International Olympic Committee president, Jacques Rogge, who wants to see London's cap in the five Olympic rings for 2012. But will Britain's Government Go for It? "It is not a matter of saying you can't afford to bid – you can't afford not to," was the unequivocal message from Rod McGeoch, the man who orchestrated Sydney's successful campaign, when he spoke last week. Whether or not it will be heeded in Whitehall remains a matter of deep concern. Stories circulating yesterday suggested that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has already made up his mind that the Treasury cannot cough up the odd couple of billion or more that will be required and will knock the whole idea on the head. But that idea is played down by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, who maintain that the decision is still "a very open one". Yet if London does not bid it will clearly demonstrate that the capital city can never be part of international sport's big league. The British Olympic Association, who are proposing a bid which would be based around regeneration plans for the Stratford area of east London, remain optimistic despite the Brown talk, although there is some concern that by the time the matter is resolved in January, Britain could be involved in a Gulf War, which would be a convenient excuse for a Government cop-out. But there is a lighter side to the issue. A Russian journalist rang the BOA last week asking if it was true that they planned to stage the Games in Shakespeare's Stratford-on-Avon. To bid or not to bid? That really is the question.

Harrison hints at a US career move

Are the BBC preparing themselves for life after Audley Harrison? Prompted by their fight-fan boss, the director-general Greg Dyke, they are busily assembling a new boxing portfolio which they hope will include the professional debut of the former star amateur heavyweight David Haye next month. It cannot be a coincidence that Harrison's £1 million 10- fight deal with the Beeb has just three more bouts to run, one of them being his first-ever undercard engagement in Atlantic City next Saturday. Harrison meets Shawn Robinson, a journeyman whose travels have taken a decidedly downwards aspect recently, losing his last three on the trot, including a two-rounds defeat by the British champion Danny Williams and latterly by a Swedish novice. Harrison anticipates that whatever the outcome next weekend he is on a hiding to nothing from the critics and has hinted that when his BBC deal ends he may elect to pursue the rest of his career in America. "I am not going to commit myself to any deal that allows me to stay in Britain just to get slaughtered," he says.

Star wars threat to Downing Street

Blair beware. Sport power is on the march. At a fund-raising function in London last week a civil servant apparently sat fuming while rower James Cracknell and former England rugby captain Phil de Glanville told the Government they had to take sport more seriously and that cuts and schools policies were causing disquiet. "They musn't say things like that," our man from the ministry is said to have protested. "The Government will simply stop putting money into sport." Oh dear. Is that a threat? If so it is unlikely to deter the growing rebellion from within sport which could result in a stormy deputation to Downing Street involving some star names.

In a year when just about every football book you pick up is filled with sneering condemnation of the game or those in it, scandalous revelations and coarse language, how refreshing it is to find one that contains none of these things yet is a remarkably good read.

It is the story of the late Billy Wright, the former England captain who won 105 caps, was never even rebuked by a ref and was faintly amused to be labelled "The Boy Scout of British Football". He was the sort of personality who could seduce you into believing that what he represented really was a beautiful game. We live and learn. Wright, and his wife Joy, of the Beverley Sisters, were the Posh and Becks of their day, without the hype or the hangers-on. Billy Wright: A Hero for All Seasons (Robson Books, £16.95) is a tale deftly re-assembled by his friend Norman Giller. It won't attract tabloid serialisation but neither will you need to read between the asterisks. Boy Scout? No, just a good scout.

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, is not believed to be a paid-up member of the Sporting Tendency (hence his supposed antipathy towards an Olympic bid). But it was not ever thus.

Tucked away down the list of 126 community amateur sports clubs who have so far registered as charities for tax exemptions under new Treasury regulations we find, between Dulwich Runners AC and the Durham Amateur Rowing Club, the Dunfermline Tennis and Bridge Club Ltd. A look at the honours board in the clubhouse will reveal the name of G Brown as the club's one-time Under-16 tennis champion. Apparently wee Gordon was a dab hand at serve and volley before discovering there were other strings to his racket.

Insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

When I finish running I'm going to be a dangerous woman. Cathy Freeman says she is considering a career in politics after retirement... I can give you a test tube of sperm as a gift. Offer, according to Karren Brady, made by Mohamed Al Fayed to Paul Peschisolido when joking that a groin injury might prevent her footballer-husband having more children... Go home English bastard. Banner greeting Ossie Ardiles when he returned to coach in Argentina... I want a rematch. Don King on losing a court battle with Bob Arum.