A Government MP yesterday denied allegations that sport funding was racially biased.

At a PLP press conference this week Opposition MP Nelson Bascome reportedly accused Government of creating "several disparities'' when financing different sports.

"We don't want exclusivity -- one sport getting more than other sports,'' Mr.

Bascome said.

But John Barritt, Minister of Youth, Sport, Parks and Recreation yesterday lashed out against Mr. Bascome's comments. "Grants to sports and sporting bodies in Bermuda are not and never have been racially motivated. Any such suggestions simply do not reflect the facts,'' he said.

"I can only say that there are differences and will always be differences in amounts of grants depending on at least two critical factors -- numbers of participants and costs of equipment,'' he explained.

"It may be that the Opposition wishes to treat all sports equally regardless, in which case, one of two things must happen.

"First, you take the sum allocated for sports this year and divide it by the number of bodies seeking funding -- which means a body like the BFA, for example, will have their funding significantly reduced.

"In the second place, you could increase the funding for sports so that all bodies receive the $150,000 the BFA currently receives.

"To that I say, show me the money. Where is the money going to come from? Education? Housing? Police? Or new taxes? "Without explanation it is empty political rhetoric that sounds good, looks good, even tastes good, but is less filling. And it is less filling because there is no substance to show us how it will work.'' Yesterday Mr. Barritt also released the results of a Government sports survey showing a profile of local sport.

Twenty-five of the 35 sporting bodies approached provided information about the sex, nationality and race of their participants.

According to the results, some 14,406 residents take part in organised sporting activities with 31 per cent of this total being women.

And the five most popular sports in Bermuda were found to be football, golf, sailing, tennis, and softball.

"The Ministry has compared the grant allocations to sport bodies against the results of the survey and it is significant to note that the grant profile follows very closely to the sports identified to have the largest numbers of participants, that is, football, sailing etc.,'' said Mr. Barritt.

"However, some sports such as cricket, which requires multiple coaches and whose equipment costs are high, receive greater funding than others,'' he continued.

"...It would appear that the most popular sports among black residents are football, tennis, cricket, netball and basketball, while whites prefer tennis, football, squash and racquet sports, volleyball and cricket.''