Time to focus.....

It’s going to be a long day and I have to admit to a degree of nervous tension. So it is at times like this that a 0630hrs walk with Wini, our Welsh Sheepdog, is more effective than a prescribed beta blocker.

The air was crisp and clear as the thin early morning sun removed the lingering and gently frozen sign of winter from the fields high above our house.

In the distance the north Devon coast, an image just waiting to be hung in Tate Britain. And beyond Exeter. Perhaps a bit of work this morning and then…….

The people of Tibet are oppressed and the Chinese Government seem to struggle with the concept of human rights.

And?

Well, I suppose with it nearly being time for another ‘carnival’ dressed up as the Summer Olympic Games, it is hardly surprising that athletes from across the world have come forward to take part in the ancient sport of ‘torch stealing‘.

Despite Pierre de Coubertin founding the International Olympic Committee in 1894, which led to the first Summer Olympics in 1896, it was not until the Amsterdam Games in 1928, that the commemoration of the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus was reintroduced.

The modern convention of moving the Olympic Flame via a relay from Olympia to the Olympic venue began with the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

And Leni Riefenstahl’s film Olympia released in 1938 was not only the first documentary film on the Olympic Games, but without doubt the finest.

So as Adolf Hitler prepared to lay his beach towels down over most of Europe the idea to add myth and mystique to the modern German Reich became an opportunity just too good to miss.

‘The sportive, knightly battle awakens the best human characteristics. It doesn’t separate, but unites the combatants in understanding and respect. It also helps to connect the countries in the spirit of peace. That’s why the Olympic Flame should never die.’ - Adolf Hitler 1936.

Now those are the emotions we would all subscribe to…..but given the horrors soon to engulf Europe and the Far East, perhaps Berlin was truly the end of the Olympic dream.

So the recent attempts to extinguish the Flame as it travels an incredible 137,000km to Beijing only adds a footnote to the history of the ‘Political Olympics’. A history that spans the Soviet Union’s cold shoulder of the Games until 1952, the tragic deaths of 9 Israeli athletes at Munich in 1972, the boycott by 65 nations of the Games in Moscow in 1980 because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan….now where have I heard that name before?

Perhaps it is time to return the Games to Olympia. An opportune moment to call time on this archaic sporting event. Time to question the relevance of the Olympics in a media driven ‘consumer world’.

And just how much is a gold medal in a rowing event really worth?

Well on ‘Redgrave day’ most of the nation sat expectantly on the edge of their seats. And with another gold medal performance didn’t we all sing and dance. A nation all waving the flag in a manner reminiscent of the outpouring of joy that surrounded the marriage of Charles and Di.

Well perhaps the flag-waving was not so obvious in Kirkcaldy, and the emotion was a I’m sure somewhat muted west of the Second Severn Crossing.

But I have no doubt, the 5800 spectators who crammed into the Recreation Ground, Aldershot, on Saturday are only concerned about the fitness of John Grant and our chances of securing the point needed to ‘go up as Champions’, at Exeter this evening. The prospects of the Quadruple Four can wait for another day.

Time, I think, to replace the vanity of government with a genuine value for money review of the benefits of the Olympics.

Jacques Rogge made the dramatic announcement at 1249BST on July 6th 2005, that London would host the 2012 Games. (Prime Minister) Tony Blair called the win ‘a momentous day’ for Britain.

Well for once he got it right!

It was time to join in with the flag-waving supporters who had gathered in Trafalgar Square to hear the news. And a hand of sympathy should have been extended by us all to our ‘friends’ across the Channel, who simultaneously received the result underneath a dismal blanket of cloud……then raindrops began falling on the disappointed crowd of Parisians outside the Hotel de Ville.

But hang on a minute Tony. Who was it that gave you the £2.4bn estimate of costs? Now at the time I was somewhat surprised, as the cost of the 2004 Athens Games was declared, in November 2004, to be no less than £6bn (not including the cost of transport projects)

In fact the Athens Games were five times over budget.

Not to worry though, because as Spyros Capralos, Technical Director of the Athens Olympic Organising Committee, admitted, ‘when it’s the Olympics, you worry about paying for it later’.

Well that time is approaching very fast. And is Tony still around to defend the commitment? Of course not, he is long gone and poor Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Games, reassures that the cost will be no more than £9.325bn. Most observers report that the budget is already £12bn and a figure of £20bn is more likely. That is unless Robert Mugabe is asked to prepare the final account.

In 1948 the Summer Olympics were held in London. After a break of 12 years caused by World War Two these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Berlin Games.

The 1940 Games had been scheduled for Tokyo and the 1944 Games provisionally planned for London.

The ‘austerity Games’ cost only £600,000 to stage and remarkably made a £10,000 profit.

The equestrian events were held at Tweseldown Racecourse and at the Military Stadium, Aldershot…….


And after a nervous 90 minutes, last Saturday, Aldershot Town overcame a Burton Albion side devoid of anyone with the ability to put the ball beyond Nikki Bull in the Shots goal.

With most of the 5800 crowd hoping for a Stevenage victory over Torquay, the tension could be felt all around the ground, and by the end we were all relieved to record…..

90 minutes….3 points….one less game to play.

If only we could ignore the rest.


Exeter City will have to block out the fear of failure tonight. Another season of getting so close but falling at the last. Perhaps a season that will see the immediate return to the Football League of their south coast rivals, Torquay.

Yes, if we play with the confidence, pace and power that has been the hallmark of this season the one point needed for our own return to the League will be secured.