SPORTS clubs around the Island have been told today that there could be no government funding left next year.

It means that grass-roots sports across the board, from croquet to cricket, could be unable to get any financial help to develop new facilities from 2005.And sports centres are now almost certain to be closed on bank holidays to save paying staff double time, with the result that such popular centres as Les Quennevais and Springfield will have to lock their doors to the public.Education, Sport and Culture have been forced to come up with a package of measures to cut their spending after pressure was put on every States committee to do the same.

Yesterday a meeting of committee presidents was held to determine exactly how the cuts were going to be made.Speaking about the end of pound-for-pound grants on the sporting scene, Sport president Senator Mike Vibert said: ‘We are keen to get the sports to find the funding for themselves.

If they can find that money within their sports, it frees up money for other sports’ development officers.

But we will continue to look sympathetically at every application.’Although in the past we have paid pound for pound to help to create new club premises – for example, the table tennis centre – that fund will not be topped up next year.

I know that at the moment these are just proposals, but if we have to save money, where else do we cut funds from?’Commenting on the closure of sports centres, the Senator said: ‘We might have to close part if not all of a sports facility on Boxing Day or a bank holiday.’However, he added that fellow committee presidents had been sympathetic to Education, Sport and Culture and that travel grants – designated money for the Island’s sportsmen and women – and the funding for sports development officers had been protected.He added that he would support the proposal that the Island should join the National Lottery to enable the authorities to obtain further funding through Lottery grants, but he acknowledged that the decision was not his to make.