Sturgeon has some cheek to be firing off tweets about sport
As patron of the Scotland women’s team, Nicola Sturgeon could not have been more patronising.
Barely had the blast of the final whistle sounded in Albania and the First Minster’s tweet of congratulations to Shelley Kerr’s side for reaching next year’s World Cup in France was fired off.
Who can blame her for jumping on that particular bandwagon?
There should be plaudits and backslapping for the achievement – not for Nicola though.
The Scottish Government can take zero credit for any sporting success – the truth is that glory is achieved in spite of them. Despite the appeals from MailSport, including our sensible Project Braveheart, the locks remain on access to school pitches and recreation areas when it’s fridge doors and cookie jars which should be getting padlocked.
Not only are they not listening, they’ve sanctioned local councils to hike up the price for pitch hire. That sport is unaffordable for some these days is a scandal.
This is a government which has failed to tackle an obesity crisis which has given us the highest proportion of overweight children in the EU – another bargain bucket of shame for Sturgeon.
Politicising the progress of women’s football in this country is a dangerous game and she should be called out.
In a moment of brassneckery, Sturgeon said: “I’m pleased to see that the powers that be at the SFA believe that reaching the finals can help generate more resources for the women’s game.”
To cut a long story short, sportscotland is the government’s agency when it comes funding sport and it gives the SFA roughly £1.2million, which comes with conditions concerning which areas the cash will cover.
Sturgeon and the new Minister for Public Health and Sport, Joe FitzPatrick, won’t admit it but sportscotland cut the funding last year.
Only after an internal outcry did the government cough up to cover the shortfall.
Even the Scottish Sports Association bel ieves that the Scottish Government is discriminating against sport by cutting their funding.
That is simply mindboggling – we’ve got a government which is effectively being accused of harming efforts to attract youngsters into sport.
For what it ’ s worth, here’s a bit of advice for Sturgeon and Co...
Take UEFA’s lead, they are currently conduct ing a social return and investment study in Scot land af ter successfully doing the same thing in Sweden and also Romania. It’s about looking at how investment in sport can impact the health of a nation, both physically and mentally.
If diabetes, obesity and a load of other ailments can be reduced through sport, what would the saving be? That’s the basic idea. Those savings would take the strain off the NHS for example.
Think about that, First Minister. But stop hitching your wagon to women’s football. Most of the team don’t even play in this country which gives an insight into both the structure in place and the facilities.
It’s St Jude that Scottish sport should be turning to, a patron who knows a thing or two about lost causes.