The Blair sport project

As prime minister, Tony Blair knew how to use sport to political advantage. Now he wants to use it to change the world. The statesman and 'midfield generalissimo' introduces his new campaign, Beyond Sport
Tony Blair and Alex Ferguson
Tony Blair keeps goal with Alex Ferguson, 1996. Photograph: Steve Eason/Getty Images

Tony Blair was the sporty statesman long before Barack impressed us with his ball skills. As prime minister, he exchanged headers with Kevin Keegan and played tennis with Pat Cash; he also championed policies to raise the UK's sporting standards. Now, when he's not busy attempting to broker peace in the Middle East, he is promoting sport as a tool for social development and conflict resolution, both through his own sports foundation in the north east and, next month, with the global Beyond Sport Summit. In its inaugural awards, held in London, Beyond Sport will recognise sporting projects that improve the lives of communities - through health, social inclusion, children's rights, and peacemaking - and Blair, its chairman of ambassadors, will speak at the summit alongside Desmond Tutu.

OSM: You're currently engaged in the peace process in Gaza: how can sport help in conflict areas?

TB: The Middle East conflict is a good example, actually. There's a project that's twinning schools that play basketball across Israel and Palestine. They work with thousands of Israeli and Palestinian youngsters, bringing them together, letting them see each other and regard each other as human beings and not "the enemy". I've seen it work in other conflict zones, too, like Bosnia. Sport teaches people the value of working together. If you're playing sport against someone from a different culture, or you're playing in circumstances where there's been a conflict, it helps bring people together in a way that nothing else can. So the purpose of Beyond Sport is to recognise those people who are using sport to advance great social, economic or political ends.

You wrote recently: "Sport helps us learn how to win with humility and lose with grace." That doesn't sound like a lot of professional televised sport.

[laughs] Well, no. That's true it can be ... passions run high and people can get extremely excited. But the important thing is the game ends, and there is a winner and a loser but people do learn to live with it because they've got to.

And yet there's a lot of debate over whether sport and politics should be allowed to mix.

I think the link between sport and politics is not direct, in a sense. Sport is, for example, a good goal of public policy because it encourages greater fitness, it encourages greater participation in the local community, and in society.

You made a commitment to prevent playing fields being sold off under a Labour government but the practice continued. Were you disappointed?

There's a great misunderstanding about this. We actually did stop the selling off of playing fields except in circumstances where actually the field itself was no longer going to be suitable or being used for sport. The policy which used to sell off active playing fields that could have gone on being used as playing fields was stopped, and those playing fields that were sold off were sold off because they weren't going to be used for sport anyway.

There's a lot of money in global sport - does it frustrate you that so much goes into making players millionaires, rather than back into the community?

I'm less worried by what their lifestyle is than the commitment they're able to make to grassroots sport. It's not just about the money, it's about the time that people can give. And most of the leading sportsmen and women I know regard it as part of their obligation to put something back into the community, and to encourage grassroots sport, so I'm not really interested in attacking wages paid to people, I'm more interested in what we can actually do for communities.

Is there a danger that we are encouraging kids to believe that their best chance out of disadvantaged backgrounds is to become, say, a Premier League footballer?

The best way that sport works at a grassroots level is in supplementing the rest of the education system. So, I agree, it's really important that, in introducing youngsters to sport and getting them more involved, we don't say to them that's the only way you can escape from the position you're in. Actually, for the vast majority of them it'll be about what they learn during ordinary school hours. Sport should be a complement to education, not a substitute for it. It's important always for people to realise the number of youngsters that are going to end up playing football as well as Wayne Rooney is going to be very limited, so it's best to focus their sights on what they realistically can achieve. On the other hand, I do think that the more kids get involved in sport the healthier they are, the better citizens they are, the less crime there is, the better it is for the country.

Which sport were you best at, growing up?

Erm ... I was probably best at football, actually. But I used to play rugby too because I went to a rugby-playing school, and I played a lot of tennis in my later life, and I do a lot in the gym.

Do you still play anything now?

I play football when I can. But I find that I'm slightly slow now.

Which position do you play?

When I was younger I played up front but now I'm a strategic generalissimo in midfield. You can stay in the same place for more time!

You've met a lot of sportsmen in your time - did any strike you as particularly impressive?

I'll tell you an interesting thing that happened to me in the north east the other day. I met a guy from America called Fabulous Flournoy - his first name is unforgettable - he plays for the Newcastle basketball team and I met him at a primary school working with kids from pre-school up to 11. He was absolutely outstanding, putting something amazing back into the local community. He wouldn't be as famous as the David Beckhams of this world, but if I was going to pick out someone that I'd come across recently, I thought he was an inspiration, and it's great when you see people who've done well in sport and aren't arrogant about it, but are really quite humble about how lucky they've been to have that talent, and want to use it to the benefit of others.

I think with any great sportsman or woman, what you realise when you get to know them, and obviously I have got to know them over time, is that they tend to be people with some breadth as a human being as well as simply physical prowess, and I think that's ultimately what makes the difference. Take Steve Redgrave, for example; he has that extra dimension that's about character, that is the difference between being good and being great.

President Obama seems to have the sporty-leader image sewn up at the moment - could any other statesmen take him on?

It's basketball he does, isn't it? And he's pretty good at it. But actually, most leaders that I know nowadays do take their sport seriously because they regard physical fitness as a big part of doing the job properly. And certainly I put a lot of emphasis on sport personally when I was prime minister.

A healthy mind in a healthy body?

Well, if you've got a healthy body you've got more energy. Which you very much need.

Sporting chance: our pick of the 'beyond sport' nominees

Moving the goalposts, Kenya

In the eastern district of Kilifi, one of Kenya's poorest areas, girls are twice as vulnerable to HIV as boys. This scheme, nominated for the health award, organises football training and leagues for young women, and provides vital health education and counselling, both protecting and empowering an at-risk and traditionally marginalised group in Kenyan society.

Proyecto Alcatraz, Venezuela

Nominated for the social inclusion award, Alcatraz began in 2003 after a security guard was mugged by three gang members who stole his gun. Now the Venezuelan project recruits entire street gangs from the region of Revenga, in the north of the country, using rugby union to bring them alongside their former "enemies" and helping them give up violence as a way of life.

Twinned Peace Sports Schools, Israel-Palestine

There are 2,000 Palestinian and Israeli boys involved in this cross-border programme, on the Sport for Peace shortlist, which provides a chance for children from the different communities to play together and learn more about each other. Basketball and football are combined with education to promote understanding and peace-building.

Imparja Cup, Australia

In 1994, brothers Shane and Mervyn Franey inaugurated an annual cricket match for indigenous Australians; it has grown into a multi-divisional tournament, encouraging and celebrating the game within the indigenous community.

Beyond Sport's global partners are Virgin Atlantic and Barclays Spaces for Sports; for more details and the full shortlist visit

• The Beyond Sport Summit will run from 7-9 July

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