Seb: Let’s use break to change our sport
SEB COE insists athletics must use the shutdown to take stock and come back stronger – as Scots chiefs fear some clubs could collapse altogether if it lasts through the summer.
Lord Coe has demanded track and field use the time freed up by the Olympics and much of the Diamond League being postponed.
Athletics’ popularity has nosedived since Usain Bolt bowed out in 2017.
And World Athletics president Coe said: “This is an opportunity to not just tweak at the edges but to really make some changes.
“To figure out all the things we can do different.
“To make sure we do everything to come out of this stronger than we went in and to ensure the sport becomes more emotionally connected and engages more fans.”
Scottish Athletics have moved to furlough staff amid the double whammy of losing race licence income and their annual grant from UK Athletics.
Chair of the governing body, Ian Beattie, said: “You’ve our top athletes unable to train or compete as normal. Clubs shutting down. You have the financial issues all of sport faces.
“There are all the things we want to achieve except we can’t do any of it. And you don’t know how long that will be the case for.
“Fortunately we don’t have the same employee base as football or rugby and their professional clubs so it’s not as bad.
“But you have our road running clubs who no longer have races so they won’t be able to generate income. As a governing body, only around half of our funding comes from sportscotland. The rest has to be generated.”