Moria Gordon: 'Sport is considered a photo opportunity at best by most of our politicians'

The gripe from the "big three" before Thursday's televised debate was that there would only be time for a handful of questions. You have to wonder how many questions there would have to be before any of them got round to discussing sport.

There were opportunities, though. After all, they talked about anti-social behaviour and crime, they had a go at each other on health and they all feel they have the best interests of the nation at heart when it comes to education. Sport has an impact on all of those areas of everyday life, yet politicians keep missing the point. They don't seem to see the massive return they could get for their money were they to invest in community projects and local sporting initiatives. For every pound injected into those worthwhile and proactive ventures, they could have a return of up to 700% and in a time of economic difficulty that seems like a pretty sizeable pay-back. Yet still sport is considered a photo opportunity at best by most of the elected representatives at Westminster. After all, dotting scores of community projects around the country, in urban areas where crime, education and poor health are all key issues may be worthwhile, but it isn't as newsworthy as securing the Olympics for London or the Commonwealth Games for Glasgow.

According to analysis carried out by online site sportingintelligence.com, if it wasn't for the 2012 Olympics, sport would barely warrant a mention in any of the manifestos. Apparently the Labour document is 78 pages long, contains 30,755 words, including headlines and small print, and only 550 of those words deal with sport, or, to put it another way, 1.8 per cent of the content. The main promises centre on delivering the Olympics on time and on budget and ensuring they meet the highest standards. They also talk about the legacy of "a world-class sports system, from elite level to the grass roots".

Next up it's the Conservative Party and their 131 pages contain 28,850 words, of which 123 are dedicated to sport. Little more than a quarter of a page, a mighty 0.43 per cent of the content. But again there is a pledge to deliver a successful Olympics "that brings lasting benefits for the country as a whole".

The Liberal Democrats fare little better. They have mustered up just 96 words on sport. In a 112-page document, containing 21,600 words, that amounts to a meagre 0.44 per cent of the content.

As well as the apparently obligatory nod towards the Olympics, they say they are proud to support bids for high profile events such as the 2018 World Cup but they "believe that grassroots sport is just as important. We will give people from all backgrounds and generations the opportunity to participate in sports". Very few words from any of the main parties in Westminster and even less substance. Where is the detail? How do they propose to bolster the participation in sport at grassroots level, how will they ensure there are adequate facilities, properly trained coaches. Words are cheap. In sport more than anywhere, it's deeds that count.

And the Scottish National Party needn't think they are any more worthy of a smug pat on the back. They say sport is important, and at least they have acknowledged a link between that and other major issues. In the Scottish Parliament, they have combined the ministerial portfolios for public health and sport and they insist that they are also working closely with the education department to address the amount of physical education in schools. But something is going wrong somewhere when so many schools are still failing to accommodate even the basic one to two hours per week of physical education in their curriculum.

Studies prove that brains are more alert after physical exercise, bolstering the capacity for learning, while sport has long-since been recognised as a valuable learning tool and one which captures the imagination of youngsters in the way other classroom techniques cannot. It teaches discipline, instils a team and work ethic and offers a way to let off steam and establish a sense of self-worth.

Community projects are just as valuable. Police acknowledge the role football academies, sports centres and group initiatives play in reducing street crime. Not only do they keep youngsters off the street, the by-products are often an increased sense of community, pride in their area and feeling of belonging. Ignorance is eroded as people from different backgrounds or postcodes come together, unified by sport, and the desire to improve themselves.

At a time when immigration and integration is also a factor, sport is a great way of breaking down barriers and allowing us to become more inclusive. Whether it's supporting a team comprised of nationals from Scotland, England, America, Poland, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco or Algeria or playing for a local team alongside an asylum seeker from Somalia or a second generation Brit with Asian heritage.

That's the photo opportunity politicians who "met a black man in Nottingham", "a mum of three from Norwich" or "a bus driver from Nairn" like to make the most of. When the medals are being handed out in London, sure they will all be there, trying to claim their share of the publicity, surfing the wave of Olympic fervour and basking in the reflected glory of every success. But they will have a damned cheek. After all, most of the elite performers get to the top in spite of, not because of, government sports policies. While politicians besmirch their own integrity with dodgy expenses claims and goodness knows what else and as political point scoring and mudslinging threatens to reach such a level it may even be included in the Olympics roster and ear-marked as a discipline in which we could achieve gold, the athletes train in poor facilities, they rely heavily on parents, kind-hearted and dedicated coaches, and the generosity of sponsors. They work hard and skimp and scrape an existence to follow a dream and when they achieve that Olympics dream they are the role models for youngsters, not some politician in a suit.

That's why the politicians want to be photographed alongside them, that's why, instead of talking about sport when they discuss growing levels of obesity and heart disease and bemoan the strain placed on the health system, they prefer to focus on 2012's publicity-grabbing jamboree. It's also why athletes should refuse to pander to them and sport should stop offering them the oxygen of positive publicity.

This isn't Question Time, Gordon Brown told David Cameron at one stage on Thursday night, it's answer time. My question is when will politicians wise up to the benefits of investing in sport? The first party to come up with a serious and detailed response, may just get my vote on May 6. After all, education, health, and crime are all issues that matter.