Stratford can be a stage for schools, not football's moneyed fools

Here's the guts of the matter. Should more than half a billion pounds of public money be written off in order to make life financially sweeter for one or other of two football clubs owned, respectively, by an offshore currency speculator and a couple of multimillionaire pornographers? Which is what it would amount to if, in two weeks' time, the 15 voting directors of the Olympic Park Legacy Company decided to invite either Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham United to take over the new stadium in Stratford after the 2012 Games. Desperation has led the legacy board to conclude that donating the stadium to a big football club is the only way out of their dilemma, even though such a decision risks betraying the promises made to the International Olympic Committee six years ago, when London's bid won the day on the basis of a solemn vow to regenerate one of London's more neglected boroughs for the specific benefit of future generations of its young people. That pledge included a very precise scheme for downsizing the main Olympic venue to a 25,000-seater suitable primarily but not exclusively for track and field events, thus making a lasting commitment to the disciplines that are, in most people's minds, at the heart of the Games. A host of Britain's Olympians were paraded to endorse a self-evidently appropriate plan. Intrinsically, neither offer from the world of football is worth serious consideration. Spurs, requiring a stadium that holds more than their present capacity of 36,000 if they are to consolidate their new place among the elite, have spent the past few years in complicated discussions with Haringey council over a proposed redevelopment of White Hart Lane. Adjacent land has been bought, planning approval was granted in September, and the scheme awaited only the government's blessing. A few weeks ago, however, the club saw a chance to save some money. Rather a lot of money, actually. The White Hart Lane scheme would cost £450m, around twice the outlay required to knock down the Olympic Stadium and build a 60,000-seat football arena, tearing up the club's own roots in the process. To soften the impact, Spurs tacked on a spin doctor's half-baked notion of redeveloping the Crystal Palace track. There is some merit to West Ham's claim that at least relocation would be taking place within their home borough. Many of their hardcore fans, however, are not taking kindly to the idea of being evicted from Upton Park, which would be sold for redevelopment for around £40m. Why should they? The 35,000 capacity of their present ground – with agreement for an expansion to 40,000 – seems entirely congruent with the club's standing and prospects. If either club had joined in when the 2012 stadium was being planned, its design could have incorporated the sort of retractable seating used at the Stade de France. They did not. Instead they now claim the right to barge in at the last minute in the guise of saviours, bending everybody else's plans to fit their own desires. No one can seriously pretend that a football pitch with a running track around it is a good idea. The most unatmospheric match I ever attended, many years ago, was a Dutch first division fixture between DWS Amsterdam and MVV Maastricht in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. Football is not played there any more, but its architectural merit saved it from demolition. Today it is used as an athletics venue and contains a sports museum. There is no longer the remotest chance that the 2012 stadium will be the focal point, as originally envisaged, of an institute for sport incorporating a boarding school for young elite athletes. But why not use some imagination and create a year-round programme of athletics events for young people of all abilities? Perhaps it could even become the venue for Michael Gove's projected Schools Olympics. Now there's a way of calling the education secretary's bluff: to keep the place going as a downsized athletics stadium, it is said, would cost about £5m a year, or half the annual budget proposed for Gove's Games. In the universe of which we are talking, these are not large sums. And they are worth spending, surely, to keep a promise made to the world. Hanie was ice cool but the Freezer froze him out American football coaches are diligent in their research work on opponents, but the Green Bay Packers' defensive co-ordinator confessed that he hadn't a clue what to expect when Caleb Hanie, the Chicago Bears' third-string quarterback, came on towards the end of the third quarter in the NFC Championship game on Sunday night. With a Super Bowl place at stake, the Bears were 14-0 down and going nowhere in front of 61,000 of their own fans when Hanie replaced Todd Collins, who had earlier replaced Jay Cutler. At the start of the final quarter the new arrival mounted a stirring drive that led to a touchdown, bringing the score to 14-7 and giving Chicago precious momentum. With five minutes left, he threw a 35-yard pass for his side's second touchdown. In between, unfortunately, he had thrown a short pass straight to an opponent. B J Raji, Green Bay's nose tackle, needed only to trundle 18 yards to make the score that put the game beyond the Bears' reach. Raji weighs 337lb, which is 24st however you weigh it and had never made an interception before, still less a touchdown. Before the game he had referred to William "The Refrigerator" Perry, a gargantuan star of Chicago's Super Bowl winners in 1986. "Chicago had the Fridge," he said. "I'm the Freezer." And the dreams of poor Hanie, who had glimpsed unexpected immortality on a sub-zero night in the Windy City, were suddenly on ice. Wonder woman Thank goodness Sian Massey got it right when she kept her flag down in the 36th minute of Saturday's match at Molineux, enabling Fernando Torres to give Liverpool the lead against Wolves and exposing the antediluvian prejudices of Richard Keys and Andy Gray. This was perhaps the most effective contribution to feminism in a sporting arena since Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the hooves of Anmer, King George V's horse, during the 1913 Derby. And Massey didn't have to kill herself to make her point. Just do her job well. Swift quick to impress With a second stage win in the Tour Down Under on Sunday, Ben Swift made a big statement. These are early days, but The 23-year-old Yorkshireman could provide a challenge to Mark Cavendish's dominance in this summer's big bunch sprints. The much‑decorated Manxman will looking to his laurels.