The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Jim Spence: “The decision to keep football in lockdown while rugby opens its doors is a declaration of class war”
Football is the national sport but has been treated disgracefully by the Scottish Government.
Their decision to allow a small crowd to attend rugby at Murrayfield on Friday night but not Celtic’s Sunday clash with Motherwell feels like a declaration of class war by highly paid folk who play the working class card when it suits them but in truth appear to have a deep disdain for football.
Between a sports minister – in Joe Fitzpatrick – with little interest in sport and a government imbued with a worrying sense of arrogance, the game is lacking friends in high places.
I’d like to think that a score wasn’t being settled for the rules broken recently by Aberdeen players and Boli Bolingoli at Celtic, but it’s hard to see any reason other than payback and a desire by the Scottish Government to flex their muscles.
Unless rugby fans have developed immunity to – and a unique ability not to spread – the Covid 19 virus, this biased decision strays beyond logic into the territory of incoherence.
Youth system needs investment
The problem with running a youth set-up, as Dundee FC are finding out, is that it’s very expensive and requires a full-on commitment.
While I dislike the idea of coaches working for nothing as a result of the club’s redundancy announcement, I admire their loyalty to the boys in their charge.
As a father whose oldest son spent six years in the Dens youth system I’m glad to see it survive, but to get the best out of it requires serious investment.
It’s a classic speculate to accumulate situation.
Clubs can spend a fortune without any guarantee that there will be an end product to either make the first team or sell on at a decent profit.
Given the paltry money that most part-time youth coaches will be working for anyhow, they can hardly be accused of being in it for the cash, but at least it was a token sign that they were valued.
Asking them to give up their nights and weekends for free, travelling all over Scotland may soon see them tire of their commendable largesse.
Athletes join sporting elite
Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie are living proof that Scots sports stars can be among the very best in the world.
Muir – a Dundee Hawkhill Harriers member – and Reekie blew away a field of top European runners in their respective 1,500 and 800 metre races.
An appetite for the brutally hard graft which is a necessary accompaniment to top level sport and a fierce intelligence and willingness to listen to their coaches are prerequisites for success at this rarefied level.
Both women have enormous natural ability and talent, but without the huge dedication and resolve required they wouldn’t be where they are, on the cusp of track greatness.
It’s the case for all of our sports people that there’s nothing in our gene pool or water supply stopping us from producing world class athletes, including footballers.
Andy Robertson at Liverpool is a prime example of the dedication and intelligence required to reach the very zenith of football.
Muir, Reekie, and Robertson, have joined the elite.
Membership of the club is open to all those who work hard enough.
“This biased decision strays beyond logic into the territory of incoherence