Sir, - It is, is it not, a shameful indictment of this country when our young athletes are unable to attend the Youth Olympics in Russia because of the lack of funding. It is even worse to see our senior Olympic hopefuls in the same boat.
When we see the shamefully obvious political act of awarding £20 million to the already overflowing coffers of the GAA (bolstered by embarrassingly engineered draws and subsequent fruitful replays), we have to ask ourselves: is this all we can expect? Is this all we can attain? Is watching these undisciplined players, whose skill seems to be secondary only to unrestrained violence on the pitch, and with all its attendant influences on our young people, the height of our sports culture?
Our Olympic athletes train to the point of intense pain and exhaustion. They train up to five hours a day to attain perfection, as well as holding down, as a necessity, a job.
It must be soul destroying to feel deserted by one's country, especially in favour of insular amateurism and inter-county tribalism.
Surely it shouldn't take the Tour de France to watch bicycle racing, Hickstead to watch eventing or the Oxbridge boat race to watch rowing. We have it all here, and better, every day, in our roads, fields and lakes.
Our athletes need more support from the Government and relevant sports bodies and councils; from funding agencies like the licensed Lotto. They need more TV coverage for what are, in the main, enthralling and entertaining sports, and most of all we need to send more athletes and fewer officials to events abroad. Let us not leave our athletes to beg, borrow or steal. Sydney is just around the corner. For the sake of our national pride and for the will to win, support them now! - Yours, etc., David J. Lawrenson,
Sur Le Pont, Johnstownbridge, Co Kildare.