£200m INDUSTRY TREATED AS A MERE INCONVENIENCE
EVERYBODY else got a mention. But sport was barely an afterthought. Kind words of empathy and pledges of support were offered to various pillars of Scotland’s economy, culture and society.
Yet an industry worth over a quarter of a billion — that’s BILLION — pounds to the Scottish economy is covered in a single technical aside.
Sometimes, you learn more from what the politicians don’t say. That’s why Scotland’s football and rugby authorities, in particular, will be so worried by what they didn’t hear from Nicola Sturgeon yesterday.
Reading the runes cast by the First Minister, the people who run our country’s most popular sports believe they’re unlikely to see serious numbers of paying customers inside a stadium before next spring.
Worse, they fear being left, isolated and alone to weather this bitter winter of frozen revenue streams and dwindling reserves.
Cast adrift by a Scottish Government who view sport as a barely necessary inconvenience.
Ignored by its UK equivalent. Whatever your politics, this should worry all of us. Because, without support from both Holyrood and Westminster, every association, league and club in the land will incur serious damage over the coming months.
Will they all survive another extended spell without match-day income? The fact that we’re even asking that question again says it all. Because, sure, we’ve all enjoyed day-dreaming about returning to games for a proper match-day experience.
Supporters have shown themselves willing to endure almost anything — limited crowds, no singing, face masks et al — just to be back at their favourite ground, grumbling about a godawful nil-nil draw.
But we cannot take for granted the notion that there will be even bad games to watch when all of this is over*. *Note — it may never be over. And so, alongside whatever financial packages may be on offer for the hospitality, retail and other sectors, sport cannot be ignored.
For reasons that don’t show up in GDP analysis, our leaders are surely duty-bound to tide over the most desperate and deserving in an industry that means so much to so many. And, if you want to reduce this argument to a simple numbers game, how about these for figures?
The latest available studies show that Scottish football generates around £200million a year for the country’s economy.
And, in a normal rugby season, the Six Nations alone — before we even factor in autumn tests and club games — raises a surplus of £50m for the nation. Anyone with a working knowledge of maths must conclude that, even excluding ancillary benefits to physical and mental health, elite sport is A Good Thing.
Yet Sturgeon doesn’t merely have a blind spot when it comes to this once-booming business.
Like one of those unbearable ‘I never watch TV, actually’ bores who delight in making you feel small for accidentally catching the last five minutes of Hollyoaks, the FM appears to wear her weary disinterest in games as a badge of honour.
Which brings us to yesterday’s statement to the Scottish Parliament, ending with this: ‘Finally, it is also important that I indicate today, in light of the current situation, that the route map changes with an indicative date of 5 October are unlikely to go ahead on that timescale’.
Catch that, did you? Buried within those ‘route map changes’ were plans to relax rules on socially distanced fans attending outdoor sports events.
Those test fixtures and pilot matches, all that fanciful talk of punters at the Old Firm game or a crowd at Scotland’s most important international qualifier for a long time… all dismissed with the efficiency of a technocrat doing some distasteful duty.
At least Boris Johnson had the good grace to tell Parliament that he felt bad about putting the boot into the games department.
‘I recognise the implications for our sports clubs, which are the life and soul of our communities,’ said the Prime Minister. ‘And my Right Honourable Friends the Chancellor and Culture Secretary are working urgently on what we can do now to support them.’
Now, that half-promise of future quickly proved to be about as durable as the average politician’s soundbite. Within hours, the Premier League were described as being ‘at war’ with the government over the lack of bail-out funds on offer to English football.
But at least, amid all the bluster, the PM paid lip service to the idea that sport is important to the nation. Now, many probably suspected that Johnson’s promise of fans back in stadia by October 1 was something of a long shot.
A moon shot, even. The same went for even the Scottish Government’s less bold suggestions about what ‘might’ be allowed to happen next.
Even if people inside the game, wary of further alienating season ticket holders now facing the prospect of not seeing a single game live and in person, played along with the fantasy.
That has to stop. We can’t keep living on three-week packets of hope, waiting to see if the next official review date brings deliverance.
Let’s put it in simple terms. If you’re not allowed to visit your gran, you won’t be traipsing through the turnstiles.
Which means that clubs and associations will suffer. If we cannot support them in the traditional manner, it’s incumbent on our leaders to protect these cherished industries.
Worth mentioning, you might think.
Football and rugby will be worried by what Sturgeon didn’t say The FM seems to wear her disinterest as a badge of honour