And the current Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey president wants any new body established to revaluate the way public funds are distributed to local sports clubs and associations.
Last month, UK-based consultants Knight Kavanagh and Page revealed suggestions for an organisation to bring about better ‘cohesion’ for those in charge of improving the physical standards of Islanders.
Currently, a large proportion of funds allocated to sport is spent on travel but du Feu has questioned whether that investment may be better utilised elsewhere.
He argues that, at present, clubs and associations are not held accountable for the money they have spent; a process he wants to see changed.
‘At the moment, most of our grants seem to go into travel and it is very quickly watered down at any old level really,’ he said.
‘I’m not a great fan of that – I don’t necessarily think that being a travel agent is the best way of spending our money. You don’t know how hard those athletes have worked, how fit they are, how much they care or what it means to them.
‘Each sport is different, of course, and the moment you have those conversations, people see you as being hyper-critical.’
He added: ‘If you are going to review it all, go into each association, ask what they are doing, what their programme is, what their costs are and start to really grasp nettles, then you may come up with a better way of spending the money.
‘There may be a better way but it’s pretty random at the moment. Nobody knows who is getting on those planes, if they’ve done any work or not or done anything well – they get the money and it’s end of story. To me, it’s totally unaccountable.’
Du Feu would rather grants are spent on development of sport, and ensuring sport is accessible to all regardless of their income.
‘You’ve got a pot of money, what’s the best way of doing it? I just think the best way is to support … you want participation, you want young people to be involved and I believe that’s how you help.
‘How you help your top performers and at what point you help them, I think is a messy discussion … and I don’t know how you compare sports.
‘But I think a good CEO with a good board could ask some really tough questions of some of the sports and help them improve.’
On the proposals released by KKP, du Feu continued: ‘It seems like there is an opportunity. Whether it’s just another cost-cutting exercise in disguise, you never know but if you’re not cynical, and you imagine bringing everything together, I think it does work.
‘In the old days, when I was working at Fort Regent, we had a chief executive officer who was very much a sports chief.
‘If we are going back to the idea of having a sports chief, then I think for sports people, it’s a much clearer route; they know exactly who they are talking to, they know exactly who that person is and it makes life a little bit easier, which is an idea I like.
‘I’ve read some people’s fears but at the end of the day, nothing dramatic is going to happen. If it clarifies, simplifies and cuts down some of the red tape then happy days.’
