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Interesting. The problem is what the powers that be interpret as sport. Generally, unless it involves a ball or working up a sweat then it's not a sport. Much of this has to do with the media who are completely football mad and have decided this is the only thing they want to write about or put on TV. Yet, we were competing at Knockhill over the weekend. The grid sizes broke all records, the weather was great, the place was mobbed and the racing was first class. But some morons still believe this isn't sport... Do elite athletes include people like David Coulthard or Alan McNish... ? Not in the eyes of the sport Scotland types......

[quote]However, despite [bold]£558m[/bold] of public money being invested in sport annually[/quote] hmmmm, scotsland only [bold]8% of the UK[/bold] gets £558 million of public money to spend on sports, under a reverse barnett formula England is due £5.58 billion.

Booze ridden fat obese well to do Scots can hardly be expected to get out of their cars and walk. Never mind sport![bold]bold[/bold]

What is a sport? Is stravaiging a sport? Hillwalking? Skiing? Cycling? Climbing? Canoeing? Fishing? Golf? A lot of people get out and about - I've loved seeing us climb the football world rankings but, in a country like this, link lack of kicking a ba' with obesity at your peril.

I dont remember ever woring up a sweat swimming (olympic sport) but mountaineering there isnt a mountain is scotland that I have climbed to the summit of that I haven't been **** sweat out a million pores. As for the idea that football is the problem I dont remember a commonwealth football tourney it would make the comming games almost watchable.

This article is a disgrace; the abuse of the Audit Scotland’s report is unbelievable; Participation in sport is the requirement; standing on a terracing is not participation. The simple fact is that the facilities for participation in sport in Scotland are a farce; Question how many swimming pools are there in Scotland that are of 50 meters in length? How many diving pool faculties are there in Scotland? With such poor facilities within Scotland where did the swimmers do their training prior to going to Melbourne? The simple facts are those the £558 million spent on sport annually how much is spent on sporting facilities in Scotland, how much of that money was spent at grass root level. A decent journalist should be asking those questions, we in sport have been asking those questions for years and are still waiting for the answers. I have many questions on sport participation for the good Professor Black but I shall simply put one how many sports facilities in Scotland are fit for purpose?

Why can't I comment on the Land Sales story?

[quote][bold]Scamp[/bold] wrote: Interesting. The problem is what the powers that be interpret as sport. Generally, unless it involves a ball or working up a sweat then it's not a sport. Much of this has to do with the media who are completely football mad and have decided this is the only thing they want to write about or put on TV. Yet, we were competing at Knockhill over the weekend. The grid sizes broke all records, the weather was great, the place was mobbed and the racing was first class. But some morons still believe this isn't sport... Do elite athletes include people like David Coulthard or Alan McNish... ? Not in the eyes of the sport Scotland types...... [/quote] Scamp, i think your missing the point here, for "sport" try "exercise". standing watching cars driving round and round does not qualify, neither does actually driving said cars. If we try to include every activty in the term sport then we get to the point of including the sort of pub games that scotland produces world champions in ie snooker and darts. Did that then make Jocky Wilson an elite athlete as he was an elite darts player i dont think so. I now live on Adelaide, having moved from Glasgow 2 years ago. Its the exact opposite here. try finding kids that dont partake in some form of physical activty. If you want kids to participate, then you need the support of the parents also.

Johnny & Craig have a good point; go on any hill within a 2 hour drive of the Central Belt, or Aberdeen, and you will see a lot of people walking, climbing or cycling. It might be an idea to put on more 1-day adventure races though. However the story looks at 'ball sports' or 'athletic sports' and the facilities offered by local authorities are shocking, but in the private sector they are not too bad. I do not see the boys or youth football that used to go on years ago, or the amount of mini-rugby that used to go on either and quite a fw of the schools I used to play rugby agains in the 1970's in the East End of Glasgow no longer play the sport.

[quote]Posted by: Macuistean, Isle of Tiree on 4:54am today Why can't I comment on the Land Sales story? Why can't I comment on the Land Sales story?[/quote] ]Because it is Labour policy and would be unsporting to the developers' chums in the Old Firm hospitality suites.

RE ... ...I do not see the boys or youth football that used to go on years ago, or the amount of mini-rugby that used to go on either and quite a fw of the schools I used to play rugby agains in the 1970's in the East End of Glasgow no longer play the sport..... and ... ....Why can't I comment on the Land Sales story? ..... Strangely enough, think if we looked hard enough we will find these two comments are intrinsically linked !!! ,,, The kids nowadays cannot find many spaces to play upon unless they walk great distances or cross roaring roadways to get to them ...and when they do find somewhere ..they are then told to move on as it is private property or designated for building projects. Take a look at this current Socialist government's record for the abuse of sales in private land and selling off School/Recreation green belt areas ? ...it is nothing short of criminal...much like every other thing they seem to do these days ... Thats why I can say I am now proud to be an Ex-Labour supporter ...to disengage from what this proud party once stood for ...the people of the working class.

Sorry mistake I just noticed ... I meant to say " ...sales of public to private land" ...apologies

Fat wasters need to stop making excuses, get off their backsides and do something with themselves - join a club, go out on their own with the headphones on, whatever.There are a million types of activity. Excercise is also good for depression. Perhaps that's why many Scots are not just fat, but also miserable looking.

All under 18s - and all on benefit - as a minimum - should be entitled to FREE use of all sporting facilities that receive any public subsidy of any kind. Many are prohibited from use even by so-called "modest " charges. Slainte Mhor

I hate sport - all of it - always have done. And I particularly loathe the people who run it with their silly blazers and lots of badges stuck on everywhere. So leave those of us who don't like it alone and stop interfering in our lives!

Wonder if they need more resources, maybe an initiative, probably a QUANGO and more consultants and most certainly a Tsar (or even a Csar ). £558m would not even buy you a tram set. Why not include cycle and foot paths as sports facilities and build them alongside Scotland's narrow and dangerous roads or along abandoned rail lines. But who is going to get profit and/or glory from anything so simple.

[quote][bold]food lover[/bold] wrote: I hate sport - all of it - always have done. And I particularly loathe the people who run it with their silly blazers and lots of badges stuck on everywhere. So leave those of us who don't like it alone and stop interfering in our lives![/quote] Fine - but it is us the taxpayer who picks up the bill when you wind up transferred by crane from your house to be slumped in a reinforced steel bed in casualty needing triple heart bypass surgery.

Craig2008 [quote]Fine - but it is us the taxpayer who picks up the bill when you wind up transferred by crane from your house to be slumped in a reinforced steel bed in casualty needing triple heart bypass surgery.[/quote] There are many examples of people who are sporty who clog up casualty after being injured playing games. And I am sure that food lover is also a tax payer. Perhaps we should save tax money by taking away the free travel entitlement card to encourage older peopel to walk more.

Combination of poor/vandalised/not maintained facilities, lack of parental effort/playstations/ dvd/in rooms, fewer adults willing to give up time, less men especially due to stigma. Read any football (for example, as I like footy) biography and you find men giving up time to run clubs, and encourage kids.

Dear All As someone involved in the teaching of Fitness for many years, it is not surprising that numbers of those taking part is falling. The real reason for the decline is that bodies that are supposed to be helping people are effectively operating a sink or swim policy in their facilities. “Targets for youngsters' participation are not likely to be met and the provision of sporting facilities is "fragmented". This is caused by the fact that people get jobs that they are not able to do and can’t design facilities and staff it properly. “The most positive finding is that Scottish athletes' performance in international events has exceeded targets, according to Audit Scotland, which said that the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow provides an opportunity to further promote sporting activity”. It would appear that Audit Scotland hasn’t a clue what is it talking about, if it isn’t happening now why should it improve by three weeks or so of games? “However, despite £558m of public money being invested in sport annually, the public spending watchdog said that many facilities are still not up to acceptable standards and there is no national strategy for the £110m needed each year to upgrade existing facilities”. The reasons for this is because halfwits employed in Councils seem to think that “new” means good and that they are therefore doing their job properly. It appears these people think arse covering is a sport in its own right. "More needs to be done to link the national strategy for sport to sports investment across Scotland," said Robert Black, Auditor General for Scotland. Many sports facilities still need improvement to ensure they are attractive." Black demonstrates a startling level of ignorance, it is not how attractive a place is, it is the quality of the teaching provided and on going support. Without that you only have a white elephant sitting idle. On top of that you also see the staff degenerate into a bunch of unhappy malcontents with no purpose accept as glorified cleaners. “The report, A Performance Overview of Sport in Scotland, said that the two priorities for national funding have been increasing participation in sport and developing Scotland's elite athletes”. Would that be among an elite core who would have trained anyway? “Progress on the latter has been made, with some 283 Scots winning medals in international competitions by 2007, exceeding the target of 250”. Isn’t the population about 5 Million? So what is there to carp about? “However, at a time when obesity rates have risen, participation in sport is falling among adults and children, particularly in the west of Scotland. Fewer than half (49%) of adults in Scotland participated in sport at least once a week in 2001, but by 2006 the proportion had dropped to 42%, far lower than the target of 60% by 2020. In 2005, only 69% of 13 to 17-year-olds participated in sport more than once a week outside the school curriculum, a drop from 77% in 2001 and well below the target of 85% by 2007”. As I previously said most facilities operate a sink or swim policy, if you are lucky then you can get taught which the keys to success. After all what is a school without teachers? Councils still haven’t worked out how to install a teaching culture in their facilities, free at the point of use. “The report also broke down participation by council area, based on figures from 2004. Glasgow was at the bottom of the table, with only 34% of people participating in sport at least once a week”. Glasgow is a classic case of how to run a Sport and Culture Department badly. The Head of department is Bridget McConnell, wife of the former Labour leader. Let us take a snap shot of one part of her organisation, The Kelvinhall in Partick. The Kelvinhall is supposed to be an international arena therefore you might think that the facilities are the best. If you take the time to look at their free weight training facility is a pit. A squalid little room which looks like it could be a storage area for junk waiting for uplifting by the cleansing department. “Audit Scotland said that the availability of good sports facilities had an "important influence" on encouraging people to take part in sport”. Is this not a statement of the obvious but clearly people don’t know what good sports facilities are in the first place. People think that because something looks nice it must be good. “Although councils had invested "significant resources" to upgrade facilities and provide new swimming pools, sports halls and outdoor pitches, it said that many existing facilities still need "substantial upgrading". Could someone tell Audit Scotland that mouthing the word “significant” has been done to death as has “fit for purpose”. “A spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said participation was a "top priority" and claimed there were "high numbers of people who participate in active leisure that would not be picked up in Audit Scotland's findings". Talks about talking up failure, the numbers are falling but we are expected to believe that there is a vast army training in secret? “He added: "Local authorities are more concerned with and fully committed to promoting healthy lifestyles rather than narrow definitions of sport which do not pick up activities such as those outwith facilities or organised events." In other words, having presentations and doing nothing. “Sport Minister Stewart Maxwell said: "It is incumbent upon us all, national and local government, to offer more choices and more chances for people to take part in sport across Scotland, underpinned by facilities that are fit for purpose”. Dear Mr. Maxwell you started off well but fluffed it by “fit for purpose”, jargon doesn’t get it done. "We have a clearly defined national strategy for sport, Reaching Higher, and the historic concordat with Cosla provides an unparalleled opportunity for local authorities to embed sport development within their wider statutory responsibilities." I think that Mr. Maxwell has abandoned any ideas of improvement for lip service and rhetoric. The expansion of a teaching culture in sport is the key to turning round the nation’s health and wellbeing problems in the short and long term. Everything else is window dressing and secondary. The article highlights the high level of ignorance of people running sport in Scotland and one wonders how they got their jobs in the first place. Finally someone should stick a rocket up Maxwell, what is he waiting for? The good weather to come in before he addresses the problem? Yours sincerely George Laird The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

There are around 200,000 people in Scotland who practice yoga, - the majority of them are women-doesn't cost anyone a penny. A mat on a floor is al lthe infrastucture that is required. Improves your health and reduces the burden on the health service, and is suitable for all ages. No wonder it doesn't receive government funding.