THERE used to be a saying: Cricket, lovely cricket. But with the demise of England in the current World Cup, it is difficult to talk about the game with such enthusiasm. And as a football nation we are still not sure whether we will be playing in Euro 200

THERE used to be a saying: Cricket, lovely cricket.

But with the demise of England in the current World Cup, it is difficult to talk about the game with such enthusiasm.

And as a football nation we are still not sure whether we will be playing in Euro 2008.

Our national Rugby Union side does not seem to be equipped to retain the Rugby World Cup later this year.

It is a bleak picture.

But it need not be. And there are people who are determined to see that we develop again as a sporting nation.

In one way or other, that seriousness towards developing our sportspeople of the future was seen on Sunday, when the Royston & District Sports Council ran a Sports Fayre at the Royston Leisure Centre.

We may not yet be in a position of creating world champions, but at least those involved in a certain sport are willing to hand down their experience.

And that is how it should be.

Some years ago we went through a ridiculous period when competitive sport virtually came to an end in our schools because of political correctness.

It was a stupid decision, and one that the powers-that-be must now realise was, to say the least, foolhardy.

Sport is there to compete. It is the essence of giving any sporting activity its excitement.

And were we not to compete, then the millions of pounds from sponsorship and other sources would not be available.

To return to the events on Sunday.

It is obvious that there are a lot of people dedicated to the particular sport in which they are involved.

But more importantly, they are willing to demonstrate, and teach and encourage others to become involved.

We now have, too, the North East Herts School Sport Partnership, which is doing its utmost to encourage and lend a hand to sport education in our schools.

It has an important role to play and deserves support.

Any champion has to begin somewhere - and it is from the grassroots that those future champions will emerge.

At a national level we may have some difficult months ahead, but, as in all sporting activities, we've been here before.

There are a lot of people dedicated to sport and willing to give support. We need to encourage them and recognise the potential of our champions of the future.

It's not all gloom. After all, we do have Lewis Hamilton ensuing that national pride remains alive.