Sport England paying dearly for new image

This is nail-biting time at Sport England. Staff cut-backs are said to be imminent with the troubled Government quango now under new management and awaiting the verdict on its future from the Blair-inspired and Orwellian-sounding Performance and Innovation Unit. But this has not deterred them from seeking a deputy for new Australian chief executive David Moffett, advertised as "no ordinary post and no ordinary person". No ordinary salary, either, at £90,000. They should not be short of quality applicants, as eyebrows have been raised and pens unscrewed by the chief executives of comparable sporting bodies, who get nothing like that, even less the £140,000 that Moffett himself is reputed to be paid. With the recent recruitment of a new spin doctor from ITN, who didn't come cheap, it seems Sport England are determined to spare no expense in giving themselves a fresh image, especially after the savaging from Gerald Kaufman's parliamentary watchdogs over their role in the Wembley fiasco. Morever the strong-minded Moffett must consider he's been earning his corn after being caught in the middle of the flak that has been flying recently between the sports minister, Richard Caborn, and his departmental boss, Tessa Jowell, over plans for the regionalisation of sports administration, which will deeply affect Sport England. Caborn and his best pal John Prescott are far more gung-ho about this than Jowell and her buddy the PM. Still, with three new high-powered, well-paid management jobs also being advertised by UK Sport, it's good to know there's a bit of public money left in the pot for sport's bureaucrats after the BBC's World Cup exes have been paid.

Funny game, football, they say, but it's nowhere near as perverse as boxing, where they belt lumps off each other and then embrace and wipe away each other's blood at the end, á la Tyson. Michael Watson knows more than most about the brutality of a sport which has left him semi-paralysed after his encounter with Chris Eubank 11 years and 29 operations ago. His subsequent action against the British Boxing Board of Control forced the organisation to sell their London headquarters and move to peppercorn-rent premises in Cardiff. Yet when it was announced that a gala benefit night is to be held for Watson at London's Grosvenor House on 8 July the Board, now in administration, were among the first to cough up £1,000 plus VAT for a table. Such noble spirit has been endorsed by a host of others, from Frank Bruno to Nigel Benn. Muhammad Ali, who visited Watson in hospital, has indicated he wants to attend but responses are still awaited from Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed, though presumably not because neither does boxing business with the organisers, Frank Warren's Sports Network.

Call 01992 505550 for tickets

Blatter keeps his eye on British women thanking you

The dark hints emanating from sources close to Sepp Blatter that he will find a way to pay back the Football Association for opposing his re-election as Fifa president seem certain to quash any plans to field a united Great Britain XI in future Olympic Games. This could be bad news for fast-rising women's football, which had hoped to pioneer a such a breakthough for the 2008 Games in Beijing. Simon Clegg, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, still plans to raise the subject with opposite number Adam Crozier, but the FA will not want to risk giving Blatter the opportunity for revenge. Slippery Sepp would seize any chance to concertina the four UK home countries into one for World Cup purposes, and a GB women's Olympic XI could light his fuse.

Only in America, you might say. But how long will it be before it happens here? As from next April details of any injuries to US sport stars cannot be made public without their consent. A new federal law, prompted by medical insurance companies, will prohibit coaches and team officials from disclosing the medical condition of their players to the media or the public.

Lawyers from the major sports leagues embracing football, baseball and ice hockey are now sifting through what could be a very troublesome issue as an embargo on this information could affect betting or transfer deals. Rob Manfred, who acts for major league baseball, said: "It doesn't make sense that New York Yankees can't tell their fans about the condition of their star pitcher." Knowing the penchant for privacy which pervades British sport you can be certain Premiership football clubs will be among the first to subscribe eagerly to such a move here. One day soon we might have to guess whether Becks has broken his foot or just stubbed his toe.

Buried at the bottom of the recent Honours List, just as his achievements have been, was an OBE for the 40-year-old water skier Andy Mapple, winner of more world championships than any other living British sports personality.

We like to think it was pressure from this column which nudged the Whitehall gongsters into action, as in the case of the boxer Terry Spinks, made an MBE 46 years after his Olympic gold medal. Next up Judy Grinham, still un-honoured despite her Olympic swimming gold won at the same time as Spinks in 1956. And how about a knighthood for Ian Botham. If Mick Jagger can get one, why not Beefy, who has done more than his bit for sport and charity?

insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

The biggest problem will be getting him into a tracksuit. ITV pundit Andy Townsend on the offer by Diego Maradona to coach Argentina for free... Schoolkids as young as five or six come up to me and say, "Mummy says how's your lunchbox?" I've never liked that. It's awful, it's rude. Linford Christie who, despite hating those below-the-belt jibes, is promoting a brand of men's underpants...We committed so many errors we deserved to be shot in the chest. Instead, we were shot in the back. Italian newspaper Correre dello Sport.