House of Commons Hansard Debates for 7 Jun 1996 (pt 17)

Mr. Tony Banks: There is another exception to add to my hon. Friend's excellent and thoughtful speech. That is, of course, Ruud Gullit, who has just been appointed manager and coach of Chelsea. But he is Dutch.

Ms Abbott rose--

Mr. Ashton: May I also point out to my hon. Friend the fact that Brendon Batson is the deputy at the Professional Footballers Association?

Ms Abbott: I am grateful to my hon. Friends, whose knowledge of football far exceeds mine, but I hope that they will accept that the general point stands: we have many black footballers on the field, but they are not coming through into management.

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I also want to say a word on behalf of Britain's Asian communities. There are at least 1.8 million Asians in this country, 60 per cent. of Bengalis play soccer, compared with 47 per cent. of whites, and there are 300 Asian teams in Britain, with a nationwide network of Asian leagues. Yet to the best of my knowledge there is not one Asian professional footballer.

I know from my own constituency, where the North London Muslim Association has a very successful soccer team, how enthusiastic young Asians are about soccer,so I hope that it will not be too long before we start seeing Asian footballers taking their place on the pitch with those of other races and colours.

If we are talking about sport for all, and the importance of excelling, that can be genuine only if we pick our sportsmen from society as a whole, and if no group in society is excluded, for reasons beyond its control, from being able to show what it can do in representing its town and its country on the sports field.

Before I leave soccer I shall remark on a matter that has already been raised--the loophole in the Football (Offences) Act 1991, whereby if a whole group of people chant racist abuse, they can be prosecuted, but if a single person is calling out racist abuse, that person cannot be prosecuted. I hope that it will not be too long before the Act is tightened.

I do not know how black professional footballers tolerate week in and week out the hideous abuse, the bananas and the catcalls that many have to face when they go on to the pitch. I believe that there is less of that now than there was years ago, because there are so many more black professionals playing for different clubs. But it is still a sad thing, especially in a sport where so many young people go as spectators. It cannot be the right example for young children to go to football matches and hear their elders and "betters" chanting abuse at black footballers. I hope that the 1991 Act will be tightened to prevent that.

This is not an issue for Britain alone. Hon. Members will have read about the experiences of Paul Ince in Italy, playing for Milan, and the vicious and fascist abuse, banners and catcalls. It is one thing to make heroes of individual black sportsmen, but if we take their achievements seriously, those of us who are interested in sport, and those of us who serve in a voluntary or political capacity, must ensure that sport is a safe and constructive environment for people at every level, whether they are sportsmen or spectators, both in this country and internationally.

When people talk about black sportsmen, whether they are footballers or athletes, there is sometimes a temptation to say, or even to hint, "Well, of course, they are good because there is some innate physiological difference."

Sir Roger Bannister was quoted recently on the subject of black athletes. He said:

"It is obvious that there must be something special about their anatomy or physiology which produces these outstanding successes".

I am sure that Sir Roger Bannister did not mean any harm by that, but black sportsmen resent the notion that there is some anatomical difference. At the turn of the century, many of the top boxers in this country were of Jewish origin, and we had a world champion in Kid Berg. There was no physiological reason why young Jews in between the wars excelled in boxing--it was because they wanted

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to succeed and because they worked hard to be better. Black sportsmen want some respect for their capacity to work and to achieve success, and they do not want their achievements written off as some kind of physiological or anatomical quirk.

We have read in the newspapers recently about the dispute between Devon Malcolm and Ray Illingworth. That clearly is a clash of personalities and, as a member of the parliamentary Labour party, I know what it is to be on the rough end of the tongue of a blunt-speaking northerner. None the less, it is a shame that a cricketer as dignified, modest and hard-working as Devon Malcolm should feel for a minute that he is being picked out for abuse and treated in a derogatory way because of his ethnic origin. I hope that that matter will be cleared up.

It is an honour to play for England--whether at cricket, football or any other sport--and people take it seriously, whatever their colour. The idea that anyone should be treated in a certain way because of their ethnic origin is very sad. I hope that the dispute between Devon Malcolm and Ray Illingworth does not continue, and that any black man playing cricket for England will feel that he is being treated in exactly the same way--for good or ill--as his white colleagues.

My final point falls outside the remit of the Minister--sports broadcasting. It is all very well to talk about the money that is going into sport from this deal and that deal, but it would be a great shame if the young working-class boys and girls about whom I talked were denied the widest possible access to sport because of short-term profits made through deals with satellite or other broadcasters. In the end, sport is not the property of the premier league or of the management of satellite broadcasters--it is the property of the people. This House should stand up for a broadcasting regulatory regime that ensures that as many people as possible have access to our great national sports.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to speak in the debate, and I hope that I have brought a different perspective to it. It is important to mark the achievements of our black sportsmen, who sometimes feel that they do not receive the credit they should. As a Member of Parliament, I can raise issues that individual black sportsmen and women cannot raise, but I can assure the House that these issues are deeply felt. I hope that in forming sports policy, the House will bear them in mind.

1.22 pm

Mr. John Whittingdale (Colchester, South and Maldon): I am faintly astonished to find myself participating in a debate on sport. I do not claim to be an avid follower although, like many of my constituents, I had a brief frisson of excitement when Colchester United made it to the play-offs for promotion to the second division. Sadly, its hopes were dashed by Plymouth.

I am an even less enthusiastic participant in sport. I am sorry that my hon. Friend the Minister is temporarily absent, as he is one of the few in the House who will understand when I say that, at school, I was forced to play a weekly game of fives, as well as a peculiarly brutal game known as Winchester college football, which normally resulted in substantial injuries to the participants. I was also required to fill in a daily record

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of the amount of exercise that I had taken. A consequence was that I became an expert in forgery and other means of avoiding recording physical effort. But I accept, in retrospect, that it was a sensible way of trying to ensure that pupils undertake daily sport. I am sure that it was as a result of my hon. Friend's similar experience of that regime that he has now attached such importance to trying to get pupils to participate in sport. That is something which I strongly support.

One of the biggest changes that we have seen in sport in the past few years is the amount of money available to it. Almost every sport would be able to make the case as to why it should receive more money, but we should recognise that the funding of sport has been transformed for two principal reasons. The first is the advent of the national lottery. Almost everyone now accepts that the lottery has been a great success--£1.7 billion has been raised for good causes, £200 million of which has gone into sport. It is particularly welcome that the majority of that money has gone into small local sporting bodies, and allowed them to undertake projects which, often, they would otherwise have found to be impossible. In the past few weeks, I have had an excellent example of that in my constituency with the grant of almost £16,000 to Great Totham cricket club. That will allow it to build a new pavilion, which will be ready at the start of next season. That is extremely good news and exactly the type of project that the lottery should be used to finance.

The other principal cause of the extra money going into sport is, as the hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) said, the sale of rights for the broadcasting of sporting events on television. That is an issue which, even now, we are debating in Committee on the Broadcasting Bill. It is important that we place on record in today's debate the benefits that sporting bodies have enjoyed as a result of the money they have received from the sale of transmission rights. That has largely happened as a result of the advent of subscription sports channels, and in particular BSkyB.

A recent letter to The Times was signed by the chief executive of the Rugby Football League, the secretary of the Royal and Ancient golf club, the secretary of the Rugby Football Union, the chief executive of the Football Association, the executive director of the Lawn Tennis Association and the chief executive of the Test and County Cricket Board. They represent almost all the major sporting bodies and they wrote:

"In the past five years the cosy terrestrial duopoly has been broken and a true market established for sporting rights. The financial benefits flowing from this have enabled us to provide better stadia and better training facilities, more help for the stars of tomorrow and, crucially, a better prospect of higher standards of achievement on the field."

I understand the concern of those who believe that the major sporting events should continue to be available free to air on the terrestrial channels. The right way to address that issue is by seeking a voluntary agreement and a code of conduct. I welcome the efforts that have already been made to achieve that. The Government have decided to go further and to reinforce the code through the existing list of national events that cannot be shown exclusively live on subscription channels. I have to say that I feel somewhat uncomfortable at any statutory measure, first on a matter of principle, because I believe that sporting bodies should be free to sell their rights when and how they wish. I also feel some misgivings on the matter of

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practice, because the existence of such restrictions is bound to diminish the amount of money that will be available to sport as a result of those sales. I am glad therefore that the Government have decided to resist those who have called for the list to be extended and kept it to the small number of events that were originally drawn up following the passage of the Broadcasting Act 1990.

Even that decision carries with it some dangers, because although in most cases the events on the list are specific, single sporting events, the inclusion of all cricket matches involving England will obviously have a significant impact on the amount of money available to cricket. I know that that is of some concern to the Test and County Cricket Board. It is noticeable, for instance, that the same does not apply in football, where the only category involving football matches played by England on that list of major sporting events is the World cup finals. It may be rather optimistic to assume that that will involve England, but one lives in hope.

Several hon. Members have already mentioned the deal between BSkyB and the premier league which was announced last night. That offers a further demonstration of the benefits that football, and obviously the premier league, will enjoy as a result of the sale of broadcast rights.