Mcintyre appointed SFA head of women’s and girls’ football
The Scottish Football Association has appointed Scottish women's football chief executive officer Fiona Mcintyre as head of girls' and women's football.
Mcintyre's new role, starting on March 15, will see her leadonthedeliveryofthescottish FA'S girls' and women's strategy across a multitude of key areas, including national teams, elite competitions, clubs, grassroots and youth participation.
She will aim to build on the recent success the Scottish FA has had in growing the girls' and women's game, which has seen the number of registered grassroots football participants rise to more than 17,000 - an increase of 68 per cent since 2016.
Mcintyre said: "The growth of the girls' and women's game in Scotland in recent years has been a tremendous success story, so it is extremely exciting to be appointed head of girls' and women's football at the Scottish FA and be in a position to try and capitalise further on the increased interest.
"Most importantly, this is a terrific opportunity to build upon the fantastic work and foundations laid before me.
"It is certainly a challenging time for all levels of the game, which only adds to the fundamental responsibility to ensure progress can continue to be made, but it is a challenge for which I am prepared.
"Participation in the girls' and women's game has almost doubled in the last five years..
"The game is in a strong place, but crucially, it is about building on that to try and take it to the next level."
Hearts striker Armand Gnanduillet has urged other young footballers to speak out against racism, after opening up on abuse he suffered in his homeland.
The French-born forward joined up at Tynecastle last month and made an immediate impact – firing two goals on his debut as a substitute in Hearts’ 4-0 win over Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park.
The 6’4” striker, has told others inspired to follow in his footsteps not to be put off by abuse and to speak out, rather than lash out as he did in his formative football years.
The Ivory Coast youth international relived the abuse as a young player and said: “It's important to talk about this because it's something that shouldn't be allowed – it can break people. Unfortunately, I have been abused because of my skin colour. I was young at the time. I'm French and, in France, you've got a lot of people like that. When it happened, my first reaction was to fight because I wasn't happy.
"But then, when I grew up, I realised you can’t always have a fight with people like that because they are stupid – I was more sad for them than anything else.
"Of course, it hurt. I didn't really understand why they were doing it but, as I said, there are a lot of stupid human beings.”
Football authorities in England have written to social media companies over abuse being received by players and told Twitter and Facebook to do more to protect players from abuse – and the former Blackpool and Oxford United striker agreed more could be done. In an interview with anti-racism group Unify UK he said: “Clearly (football authorities) can do more. We always can do more by talking and educating from a young age. With social media, you can pass on some positive messages and in football too.”
Gnanduillet urged other players to open up as he had done – and not to give up on their football dream.
He added: "Enjoy football because the time goes quickly – they are not doing anything wrong by practising the sport they love. Always open your mouth if someone abuses you.
"Don’tbeafraidto –everyone is different but, by talking, you may give a little push for someone else to talk.”
Rangers have launched an internal probe amid allegations that players were cautioned by police for breaching national lockdown rules.
A short statement on the club’s Twitter account did not disclose the nature of the “alleged incident” – only that the Ibrox club are looking into the matter.
It is believed that the investigation relates to allegations that members of the squad attended a party in Glasgow that resulted in police issuing fixed penalty notices to 10 people.
Asked at the Scottish Government's daily briefing about the alleged incident, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "Sometimes I feel that it's taking me all my power not to stand here and use expletives whenever I get asked about football again.
"I know the club has said they are investigating. But let me be clear. Whenever football rears its head in this situation, I get emails from people suggesting that I'm somehow partial, in
favour of or against one team or the other. That's not true. I don't care what club it is that's breaching the rules - if you're breaching the rules, you're in the wrong, and it's really frustrating.”
The club statement read: “Rangers are aware of an alleged incident which is subject to an internal investigation. We will make no further comment.”
A police spokesman confirmed: "We received a report of a gathering at a property in Hayburn Lane, Glasgow, around 1.10am on Sunday. Officers attended and those in attendance left. Ten people were issued with fixed penalty notices for breaching coronavirus regulations."
It is not clear how many
Rangers players were at the party or whether any were among those issued with fines.
Scotland remains under strict lockdown restrictions to help curb the spread of Covid-19, with no indoor mixing of households allowed under normal circumstances.
The Rangers investigation comes two months after Jordan Jones and George Edmundson were handed two-week club suspensions for breaching Covid protocols by attending an illegal house party. They were subsequently handed seven-match bans by the SFA.