HOW easily we forget.

All of us . . . and, in particular, our politicians who seemingly suffer from memory loss more than others.

Wasn't it just last year that Government cut off funding for the National Sailing Programme (NSP) which included the White's Island junior school, leaving organisers to go cap in hand to the private sector to continue what had proved to be one the most successful sporting programmes in Bermuda?

Yet in the House of Assembly this week, Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney had the temerity to congratulate the young sailors who, in a regatta in Cayman Islands last week, qualified for the Youth Olympic Games – the same sailors who learned the basics of the sport off White's Island in a vibrant programme which his Ministry refuses to support.

The decision to slash the NSP grant by $50,000 last year practically sunk the programme.

Congratulating the youngsters who performed so well in the Caymans, he even he had the gall to read out their names and their respective places, information he could only have gleaned by reading this newspaper, the same newspaper which he and his colleagues continually deride.

It's highly unlikely that his own radio station would have bothered to follow the sailors' progress.

And it's even more unlikely that the honourable Minister – a term used liberally in the House but rarely anywhere else – even knew that the regatta was taking place until he read it on these pages.

Indeed, it often seems he knows very little about the activities which one would think were continually monitored by his Ministry.

In his same meaningless rhetoric, he congratulated our Under-17 hockey players competing in the Pan-Am tournament in Uruguay.

Again, there was no 'Good Luck' message sent to these young athletes before they embarked on their trips overseas – probably because he had no idea the competition was taking place.

Minister Blakeney concluded his spiel with the following: "We wanted to highlight the accomplishments of our young athletes to show the country that many of our young people are engaged in positive programmes that are not acknowledged and often go unnoticed."

Really!

They get acknowledged by the media but frequently go unnoticed by the Ministry which Blakeney controls.

And if he wants anyone to believe that he really cares about our young sportsmen, he could have demonstrated his support for one of our most successful athletes in the last month – 19-year-old boxer Nikki Bascome who returned from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic in Columbia, Ohio with the gold medal.

As far as we know, publicly he made no comment.

Twenty, even 30 years ago, boxing was one of the most successful sports in Bermuda.

Clarence Hill remains the Island's only Olympic medal winner, picking up a bronze at the 1976 Montreal Games; pound for pound Troy Darrell might have been the best fighter ever to have left these shores, coming agonisingly close to winning the USA middleweight title in a fight televised around the world.

With an impressive record of 25 wins and just three losses, he pummelled defending champion Michael Olajide only to explicably lose on points. The Gazette's headline the next day was 'We wuz robbed!'

But he wasn't the only Bermudian who impressed overseas. Quinn Paynter made his way into an Olympic ring.

Yet when the Pembroke Youth Centre (PYC), home of all of the Island's top boxers closed down for lack of funds, the sport dropped into continual decline.

Throughout that downward spiral, veteran trainer 'Forty' Rego continued to try to encourage youngsters to take up the sport. He can now take some of the credit for Nicki Bascome's triumph.

But he'll be the first to complain he's had very little support from Government, either in terms of funding or encouragement.

Dilapidated Admiralty House was once touted as an ideal venue to revive the sport but nothing came of that proposition.

That forced Forty to set up a training gym in his own garage.

In other countries boxing has been recognised as a controlled sport in which youngsters can exercise their aggression in a positive manner.

Given the aggression seen on Bermuda's streets these days, wouldn't it be a roaring success here if funding were put in place to set up a programme?

If Government ever thought about selling their fleet of fancy cars, there'd be more than enough to launch something as meaningful.

Instead we'll continue to hear the meaningless platitudes and promises from those who would have us believe they really do care.

– ADRIAN ROBSON