The Scottish Sports Alliance today launched “A Manifesto for Scottish Sport”, raising their members’ future priorities and ambitions for Scottish sport ahead of the 2016 Scottish elections.
Record-breaking cyclist and adventurer Mark Beaumont, who hosted the launch, said “Scotland is a nation that loves sport. Almost one-fifth of the Scottish population is a member of a sports club in Scotland. Following the huge success of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – hailed as the “best Games ever” - we need to ensure that politicians from across all parties in Scotland recognise the contribution that sport makes to Scotland and to prioritise sport within their forthcoming manifestos.”
Commonwealth Games Judo gold medallist Sarah Adlington presented a copy of the manifesto to representatives from the political parties in Scotland. The manifesto highlights the five areas where political support for Scottish sport can, in the view of the Alliance’s members, make the biggest difference to sport in Scotland:
- Partnerships: an entitlement for everyone to realise the benefits of sport/being active
- P.E. and School Sport: an entitlement for every child to be equipped with the skills to be active for life
- Places: an entitlement to easily access local, inclusive and quality sporting places
- People: an entitlement for everyone to be supported as a volunteer
- Performance: an entitlement for all talented individuals to achieve their potential through the sporting system.
At the heart of the manifesto is the intrinsic value of sport – fun and enjoyment. The manifesto also outlines the benefits that participating in sport/being active can bring to individuals, including: improved physical and mental health, enhanced learning and employability. Taking part in sport/being active has been described as the ‘best buy in public health’, hence the manifesto also indicates the benefits for Scotland if the population was more active, including enhanced economic productivity, crime prevention and enhanced learning. Mark called for Scotland’s politicians to endorse and prioritise the contribution of sport to Scotland and to take forward the asks within the manifesto towards a world class sporting system for Scotland.
The Scottish Sports Alliance has collaborated to produce this manifesto that will inform and guide the development of Scottish party manifestos for 2016.
Scottish Conservative MSP, Liz Smith, commented:
“Nobody can deny that sport is important and that it empowers people. It’s our challenge [as Scotland’s political parties] to ensure with our manifestos that we make people feel more comfortable [in sporting environments] and that sport is accessible and affordable.”
Copies of ‘A Manifesto for Scottish Sport’ are available from the Scottish Sports Association website.
The Scottish Sports Alliance is the collective voice of the Scottish Sports Association (SSA), Scottish Student Sport (SSS) and the Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils (SALSC). Together these organisations represent a combined constituency of:
- 52 Scottish governing bodies of sport (SSA)
- 30+ Scottish universities and colleges (SSS)
- 40 local sports councils (SALSC).
Their combined membership represents:
- 13,000 sports clubs
- 195,000 volunteers
- 90,000 coaches
- 900,000 sports club members in Scotland.
The spokespeople who attended from each of the main political parties in Scotland were: Liz Smith MSP (Scottish Conservatives), Alison Johnstone MSP (Scottish Green Party), Mark Griffin MSP (Scottish Labour) and Bob Doris MSP (Scottish National Party). The event was hosted by Mark Beaumont with presentations by Sarah Adlington. They were accompanied by Kim Atkinson (Scottish Sports Association), Stew Fowlie (Scottish Student Sport) and Gail Prince (Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils).