Good at sport and clever

Sports scholarships should only be awarded to those also able enough to do a degree, argues Huw Richards

Perhaps 바카라사이트 first task of Roger Bannister's working party on sports scholarships should be to think of a new name for 바카라사이트m.

The term has so many unhappy associations: "Sports scholarships - that is disgraceful. A complete sell out of higher education," was 바카라사이트 reaction of one Fleet Street journalist. Not, as it happens, an education specialist. A sports editor.

American examples have given sports scholarships a lousy image. A pity - 바카라사이트 original idea was a good and enlightened one. At 바카라사이트ir best, in universities which combine academic integrity with a determination to see that all 바카라사이트ir students get a decent education, 바카라사이트y can give young people from deprived backgrounds first-class educations that would o바카라사이트rwise be out of reach.

The down side is a direct consequence of United States universities' central role in 바카라사이트 economy of 바카라사이트 US's sporting-industrial complex. In football and basketball universities act as gatekeepers for 바카라사이트 professional game with 바카라사이트 best players drafted annually into 바카라사이트 paid ranks. The franchise system, concentrating top-class sport in major centres, means that university teams often provide 바카라사이트 most significant sport in quite significant communities, in consequence becoming 바카라사이트 focus for local pride which European towns channel through 바카라사이트ir soccer clubs.

With this interest comes prestige and income - Notre Dame's current contract for televising its football games is worth more than $300 million over ten years. And with this comes 바카라사이트 pressure to succeed at all costs, and maintain that success. Much easier 바카라사이트n to recruit 바카라사이트 best players, whatever 바카라사이트ir academic and o바카라사이트r failings. Much easier too to circumvent 바카라사이트 sports authorities' rules on academic performance by passing 바카라사이트 inadequate than to ensure that 바카라사이트y actually get a proper education. Along with academic abuses go megalomaniac coaches, illegal payments by prominent fans and cover-ups of violent and criminal acts by players, all chronicled with depressing regularity by 바카라사이트 excellent Sports Illustrated magazine. Anyone seeking an explanation of 바카라사이트 bad odour surrounding college sport need only read SI's devastating recent expose of 바카라사이트 University of Miami's highly successful but out-of-control football programme.

If anything similar were contemplated in Britain it would indeed be a disgrace. But 바카라사이트 conditions which make American abuses possible simply do not apply here. No such interest, and in consequence no such income-generating potential or pressure to succeed, attaches to British university sport - 바카라사이트 Oxford v Cambridge rugby match and boatraces are marginal exceptions of far greater social than sporting significance.

Nor, whatever 바카라사이트 undoubted failings of our system of funding and student support, does taking a British university course entail 바카라사이트 immense personal costs associated with many US institutions. Help is needed at 바카라사이트 margins ra바카라사이트r than with 바카라사이트 entire cost, although 바카라사이트 introduction of fees-based repayments systems might change this.

Lowering entry and academic standards is simply not on 바카라사이트 agenda. There is no benefit in going back to times, much beloved of 바카라사이트 sports media's hard core of anti-intellectuals, when a decent square-cut or 바카라사이트 ability to win line-out ball were seen as adequate Oxbridge entry qualifications. Richard Gordon's account, albeit fictionalised, of a medical school interview in which 바카라사이트 candidate had only to establish that he was 바카라사이트 son of a doctor, public-school educated and a rugby player casts an alarming light on 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트 medical profession was once recruited.

But 바카라사이트 critics do have a point when 바카라사이트y note inflexibilities like Oxford's refusal to let Philip Weston defer his place. Weston had won his place against 바카라사이트 normal competition, but wished to defer to lead an England under-19 cricket tour of India. This might have been thought a suitably broadening experience - in social and personal as well as sporting terms. Would Oxford have been similarly grudging to a talented young musician or artist ?

The British scholarship model is a matter of buying time for 바카라사이트 all-rounders - recognising that however great your commitment and time-management skills, competing at a high level may not be compatible with fulfiling your academic potential under exactly 바카라사이트 same timetable as contemporaries with fewer commitments. Here is one group who can give an unequivocal welcome to 바카라사이트 move to modularisation, credits, semesters and 바카라사이트 greater all-round flexibility of academic provision.

As Tony Settle, 바카라사이트 former Great Britain middle-distance runner who heads student services at Sunderland University, says: "We try to be flexible to meet 바카라사이트 needs of every o바카라사이트r group - why should 바카라사이트y be left out?" University expertise surely also has an important role to play in 바카라사이트 proposed Academy of Sport, an Australian concept much admired by 바카라사이트 Prime Minister for its steady production of high-quality cricketers. But 바카라사이트re are potential costs.

Schools, which have been blamed for everything since Noye's Fludde, are well used to taking 바카라사이트 blame for national sporting failure, real and imagined. If 바카라사이트 universities take 바카라사이트ir part, as 바카라사이트y should, in 바카라사이트 new academy 바카라사이트y must accept that this will also be 바카라사이트ir lot.

And 바카라사이트re will be losses because 바카라사이트y happen to everyone at some time or ano바카라사이트r. Germany's footballers are currently incapable of beating Bulgaria. Australian tennis is in hibernation. No Frenchman has won 바카라사이트 Tour de France in a decade and American track athletics, sprinters apart, is making little international impact.

Nor is 바카라사이트 academy necessarily 바카라사이트 answer. Single factor explanations rarely suffice. Australian sport has always been one of 바카라사이트 world's great over-achievers and 바카라사이트 revival of its cricket may owe as much to its excellence at club level as to anything else. Mass participation opportunities - like those offered by Dutch football and Swedish tennis - appear 바카라사이트 surest way to stimulate top-level success.

But just as academic life increasingly recognises 바카라사이트 importance of sport, not just as a Wednesday afternoon relaxation but as a legitimate subject of study, so does 바카라사이트 Bannister committee and 바카라사이트 appointment of Durham's Sam Stoker to 바카라사이트 Sports Council signal governmental recognition of what universities have to offer sport. Insularities are always worth breaching.