Alan HubbardSajid Javid is not a name which springs readily to the mind of Britain's sporting cognoscenti. But is it one with which they must now familiarise themselves in the year-long run-up to the next general election.

We have yet to discover if the new supremo at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has any great sporting passions - apart from claiming to be a Manchester United fan.

It must be hoped that the first male Muslim Cabinet Minister, the self-made multi-millionaire son of a Pakistan-born bus driver, has more than a passing interest in sport than his unlamented predecessor, Maria Miller - even if she did manage the occasional spot of sailing between filling in her expenses claims.

Apparently Javid has had a stellar career in banking, which at least should enable him to have some comprehension of football's crazy finances.

However, eyebrows have already been raised by reminders that when he once spoke in a Commons debate of his support for the "secondary market", he suggested that ticket touts "act like classic entrepreneurs because they fill a gap in the market", and that there should be no Government restrictions on re-sales.

Something that will have Twickers in a twist-not to mention the Football Association.

Sajid Javid has raised eyebrows by suggesting ticket touts act like "classic entrepreneurs because they fill a gap in the market" ©Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSajid Javid has raised eyebrows by suggesting ticket touts act like "classic entrepreneurs because they fill a gap in the market" ©Bloomberg via Getty Images



So will he prove quite the ticket for sport's representations in the Cabinet?

Once again this Government, like all the others, continue to miss a trick by blithely lumping sport with culture and media under one unwieldy umbrella.

The sports Minister Helen Grant again must report to a boss who knows precious little about the games people play, and those who play them.

Even if Labour win the next election it will be no better. Their current spokesman, Clive Efford, seems a decent and capable bloke, but he is in the ominous shadow of Harriet Harman, the opposition's fire-breathing DCMS overlady.

Would you want Ms "Hardperson" as your games mistress supervising the playground?.

Friends of Javid say his knowledge of sport is "scant", and that neither is he a culture vulture, making it a rather curious appointment.

But it is one sport must live with and hope that unlike Miller at least he will make it his business to get to know some of its more influential figures.

Maria Miller, who resigned after being embroiled in an expenses scandal, did little to really get to know some of the influential figures in sport ©Getty ImagesMaria Miller, who resigned after being embroiled in an expenses scandal, did little to really get to know some of the influential figures in sport ©Getty Images



Grant says her door is "always open". So should his be. And I suggest that among the first to be invited to walk through it is a man who has been knocking on such doors for years to little avail.

I have written here before about Geoff Thompson, the one-time king of karate who runs the Manchester-based Youth Charter, a non-Government funded body which does admirable work in taking sport into communities which are often the exclusive domain of the underprivileged and unruly.

Those credentials are worth repeating because he has just come up with a report, which, in my view, could go some distance towards picking up the legacy baton where London seems to have left off.

Copies of the impressive tome are on their way to both Ministers, and once digested, a chat over a cup of tea might prove worthwhile, notably on the subject of Olympic legacy.

They would find him engaging and informative company – if they can get a word in edgeways. For Big Geoff is not only visible, he can be quite voluble when he talks a good fight.

For years he has been on the back benches of sports administration despite ticking all the boxes. He's black, comes from a minority sport (five times world karate champion), works in the community and is an ardent advocate for youth sport.

Geoff Thompson is an advocate for youth sport and someone who should be listened to ©Twitter/@YouthcharterGeoff Thompson is an advocate for youth sport and someone who should be listened to ©Twitter/@Youthcharter


In London, the opening of the magnificent Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to the public has been joyously celebrated. Yet other ideas for tangible post-Games legacy seem in short supply.

But there are some objective proposals coming in via Manchester in the Youth Charter's Legacy Report to which some 500 agencies have contributed.

The report is designed to reflect the Youth Charter's 21 years of work in social grass root development, performance and excellence of young people and communities.

For two decades now, Thompson has done more than anyone in Britain to make sport an antidote to the culture of guns and gangs in troubled areas such as Moss Side and Liverpool's Toxteth, and to rekindle the lost sporting interest of disaffected youth.

He describes the report as "a culmination of an incredible 21-year journey of social, cultural and economic challenges".

He adds: "In moving forward I would like to see a genuine collaboration of the existing legacy efforts into a more cohesive and coordinated approach that will provide a legacy opportunity for all locally, nationally and internationally.

"Our aim will be to engage 10,000 schools, 10 communities, train 10,000 social coaches and develop 10 social centres of excellence. Our Legacy Bond will provide a social, cultural and economic framework and a win-win situation for young people, communities and society as a whole."

The most compelling proposal is providing free access to sports and leisure facilities for the under 18s, all of whom would be registered and regularly monitored. "The real legacy of 2012 should be to install Olympic and Paralympic values in the classroom and playground," argues Thompson.

The Youth Charter also proposes legacy apprenticeships to teach youngsters coaching skills.

Troubled areas such as Moss Side are where Geoff Thompson's work has had a real impact ©Getty ImagesTroubled areas such as Moss Side are where Geoff Thompson's work has had a real impact ©Getty Images



Thompson says he is talking to funding institutions, City financiers and sponsors here and overseas about investing in Legacy Bonds to help underwrite these aspects of the project. But Government backing is essential.

It may be just a pipe dream, but surely worth an hour of Ministerial time.

Thompson's Moss Side story began in 1993 when he started the Youth Charter following the gunning down in Manchester of a 14-year-old Afro-Caribbean child. "I can accept losing medals but I cannot accept losing lives," he says. He has always believed sport is an intrinsic part of the rehabilitation process, helping to set up sports programmes in a dozen prisons and young offenders' institutions.

The Youth Charter, whose signatories include such luminaries as Sir Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, Lennox Lewis and Sir Steve Redgrave, has been largely unheralded but its contribution to keeping kids off the street through sport has been immense.

Thompson, its founder and executive chairman, has seen what can be achieved in deprived areas in the north of England and believes it can - and should - be extended to the rest of the country.

Grant would be the eighth sports Minister he has encountered in the Youth Charter's 21-year existence. He hopes she and her boss will lend a more sympathetic ear than some of the others.

For as he says: "Anti-social behaviour, gang related activity, radicalised youth – all are problems being experienced in areas across the country impacting our social and economic well being nationally. With the present economic climate and huge rise in student fees one of our recommendations suggests that these facilities should be freely available to all young people. The Government currently has a policy of free access to museums, but not sports, recreation and leisure facilities.

"On the legacy front I believe there is post-Games exhaustion. Some of the effort put into the organisation of the Games should have been extended to their legacy. Instead, it seems we have simply run out of ideas."

Like Thompson, both Grant and the new Culture Secretary come from ethnic backgrounds which represent British sport's growing diversity.

They also underscore the opportunity to show that sport has not been relegated by the Government now that the 2012 bandwagon has stopped rolling.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.