The journey from the mean streets of Manchester to the hallowed halls of Westminster may have taken 20 years, but for big Geoff Thompson it was the culmination of a dream.

When he stood on the dias in the Speaker's State Rooms at the House of Commons last week to deliver the Youth Charter for Sport's 2012 Legacy Report before a large assembly of the great and the good (and maybe some not quite so good) in both sport and politics there was the sort of acclaim that had so often escaped his efforts in the past two decades. It was long overdue.

What Thompson has religiously been attempting to achieve in the battle against bigotry and in the field of social inclusion and community participation by young people by using sport as a vehicle has frequently gone unnoticed and occasionally blatantly ignored.

But here was undisputed recognition by an audience of peers, parliamentarians, ports administrators and youth and community organisations that what he has say is worth listening to.

The host, the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow MP, certainly seemed to think so, declaring: "The recommendations of this report reflect the Olympic and Paralympic values and I firmly believe they should be taken as seriously as the young people and communities that have been consulted. The recommendations are bold, commonsense and real."

Among these - and there are 45 in all - is a plea for mandatory access to five hours of physical activity every week in schools as part of a cross curriculum learning of numeracy, literacy, citizenship and humanities; similarly a five-hour provision of community sport per week for children and young people; and that the International Olympic Truce Foundation and then IOC Olympic Truce Centre should be used as part of a truce and peace campaign in areas where gang-related activity, postcode barriers and the radicalisation of young people, leads to community and social tensions.

Five-time world karate champion Geoff Thompson has long campaigned for politicians to use sport as a power for change

He describes the Youth Charter's 2012 Games Legacy Report as "a culmination of an incredible 20 year journey of social, cultural and economic challenges".

He adds: "In moving forward I would like to see a genuine collaboration of the existing legacy efforts into a more cohesive and coordinated approach that will provide a legacy opportunity for all locally, nationally and internationally.

"Our aim will be to engage 10,000 schools, 10 communities, train 10,000 social coaches and develop 10 social centres of excellence. Our Legacy Bond will provide a social, cultural and economic framework and a win win win for young people, communities and society as a whole."

Heady, idealistic stuff, though some cynics might dismiss it as unrealistic and highfalutin.

But if anyone is capable of driving home these principles, as well as fighting bullets and knives with football and tennis rackets, it is Thompson, who welcomed the new Sports Minister Helen Grant, one of the eight he has encountered in the Youth Charter's existence - saying: "Like myself she comes from a situation where she had to use sport to defend herself against some rather misguided energy.

The Youth Charter for Sport has been advocating using sport to help social inclusion for 20 years now

At 6ft 6in, the five-time world karate champion has never needed to stand up to be counted. He has always been visible and voluble, the latter perhaps being one reason why the blazers have fought shy of embracing him.

Candid opinions are not the most favoured of attributes when being grilled for top jobs in British sports administration.

But one thing's for sure. There's no one you'd feel safer with walking though Manchester's Moss Side.

Thompson has done more than anyone in Britain to make sport an antidote to the culture of guns and gangs in troubled areas such as Moss Side and Liverpool's Toxteth, where they labelled him "Mr Heineken" because he gets to the parts others cannot reach.

I have written here before about the one-time king of karate who does such admirable work in taking sport into communities that are often the exclusive domain of the underprivileged and unruly.

Thompson's Moss Side story began in 1993 when he started the Youth Charter following the gunning down in Manchester of a 14-year-old Afro-Caribbean kid. "I can accept losing medals but I cannot accept losing lives," he says. He has always believed sport is an intrinsic part of the rehabilitation process, helping to set up sports programmes in a dozen prisons and young offenders' institutions.