HOWEVER you cast your vote yesterday, you will not have been influenced by any of the parties' promises with regard to sport. As far as our misguided and blinkered politicians are concerned, sport is an irrelevance.

Its benefits to health have been shown to be mental as well as physical, and if it encourages youngsters to realise there is more to life than sitting in front of screens or causing mischief on our streets out of sheer boredom then it should be near the top of any manifesto.

The mean streets of Croxteth, which spawned Wayne Rooney, would be a classic reminder of this, as would parts of Teesside. Yet the English Schools Football Association abandoned plans to send Rooney to the Under 13s National Cup in Middlesbrough, deeming him to be an unsuitable role model.

This can be seen as a political decision, and whenever politicians meddle in sport they mess it up because they have no feel for it.

Of course Rooney is an unsuitable role model, but so are 90 per cent of professional footballers, and Rooney's brilliance would at least inspire under 13s to believe they could emulate him if they work hard on their skills.

Giving Rooney some minor ambassadorial duties might also encourage him to see himself in a more positive light instead of reinforcing his belief that he's a thick slob from Croxteth who can do as he likes because being the best footballer in the land gives him iconic status.

The problems in our inner cities go much deeper than the example set by footballers. But the obsession with football can be seen as part of the wider cultural malaise, which politicians think they can solve by providing skateboarding parks rather than swimming pools.

They claim to have stopped selling off school playing fields, but whatever their policies are with regard to sport you would have struggled to find out from any election manifesto.

IF I launch a Pro-Sport party before the next election it might also have a heavy anti-London bias. So I've shed no tears this week over Chelsea's exit from the Champions League or the relegation of Harlequins from the Zurich Premiershp.

Chelsea have, however, had a fantastic season, giving their all in every match as they pursued silverware on four fronts. The same clearly cannot be said of Liverpool. The fact that they have reached the European final while lying fifth in the Premiership raises questions about the appetite of some players for the bread and butter.

It wouldn't have happened in Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley's time, but now that they have nine foreigners in the team the old standards no longer apply. The fans will always sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" but now that they have another taste of glory they must be praying harder than ever that Steven Gerrard doesn't defect to Chelsea.

As for the Quins, they have obviously relied too heavily on the tradition which has always seen them attract top players, even Yorkshiremen like Peter Winterbottom and Brian Moore. They now have to visit places like Doncaster, Otley, and Birmingham/Solihull, where visitors are apparently advised to bring their own toilet paper. It will take more than tradition to revive Harlequins.

HERE'S one of those questions you never thought you'd have to ask: what is the plural of Charl? I don't recall anyone of that name previously playing county cricket, but suddenly two of them have burst on to the scene in the C & G Trophy.

Both are left-arm seamers from South Africa. Charl Pietersen took seven for 10 on his debut for Northamptonshire as Denmark were routed for 56, then Charl Willougby took six for 16 on his Leicestershire home debut as Somerset subsided for 94. Willoughby's new-ball partner, ironically, was Charles Dagnall.

Perhaps South Africa could have done with one of the Charls as they conceded 747 in the third Test in Antigua. The St John's pitch must have been a far cry from the one at Brondby, where Denmark were skittled, as it yielded a Test record of eight centuries in the match. It is also the ground where Brian Lara has twice broken the individual Test record, but he was obviously bored by events in this match as he got out for four.

TWO young men providing evidence that there is more to life than football this week were snooker's Shaun Murphy and basketball's Andrew Sullivan. Snooker may not be the healthiest of sports, and its TV audience is an ageing one, but both spike-haired world finalists were in their 20s and have shown bored teenagers that playing snooker need not be a misspent youth. Champion Murphy pocketed £250,000.

Sullivan scored 27 points for Newcastle Eagles as they won the British Basketball League Championship final against table-toppers Chester Jets to add to the BBL Trophy. That makes the soaraway Eagles rather more successful than the misfiring Magpies.