Meeting of the Parliament 24 March 2026 [Draft]
I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a match official and officiate matches for the Scottish Football Association.
I, too, congratulate Brian Whittle on securing the debate and on his excellent opening speech. Brian and I entered Parliament together almost a decade ago, in 2016. We very quickly formed the Scottish Conservatives run club with our former colleague John Lamont. From Tuesday to Thursday, we would go out running around Edinburgh almost daily. If Tim Eagle thought that it was difficult to get away from Brian Whittle’s discussions about sport in the corridors or in his office, he should try to get away from an Olympic runner who also tried to get that message across as we pounded the streets around Edinburgh. That showed me at that point that Brian Whittle was passionate about sport, and he has continued to be passionate about it in everything that he has done in the chamber and in the committees that he has served on, bringing sport to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee and his other committee roles.
Presiding Officer, this is not my final speech in the chamber. Members will be able to either enjoy or endure that later, depending on their own particular circumstances. However, when I saw that we were to have a debate about sport, I wanted to take part in it, because sport has been a big part of my life. I literally follow sport from the sidelines in my role as a match official but, more than that, as a parent of two boys in Moray, I give credit to the sporting organisations in Moray and across the Highlands that provide so many opportunities for young people—boys and girls—throughout the country.
I particularly want to mention Moray rugby club and its rugby festival, which was held at the weekend. We had literally hundreds of boys and girls from primary 1—or a bit earlier; my youngest, James, is four and he is not yet in primary 1, but he takes part in the youngest group—right up to the seniors, from right across the north-east. Indeed, two boys came down from Caithness. They had been told that their team was unable to take everyone down so they were not going to be able to take part in the Moray rugby festival. However, they were so determined that they encouraged their parents to drive all the way down from Caithness to Elgin and all the way home again, because they are passionate about rugby and they wanted to be involved. Like all the hundreds of others who were at the festival on Sunday, they enjoyed it. They got their medals and they shook hands after the matches.
To me, that shows what sport can do at every level and at every age. It can encourage people to take part. That participation is so important and the rewards are so great. However, none of that would be possible without the coaches at Moray rugby club, who turn up every Sunday and coach the boys and girls in all the age groups with great success. They put themselves through protecting vulnerable groups courses and, when they could be having a weekend off or they have other duties, they turn up because they want to pass something on to young people.
I also see that in football when I am officiating. We go around clubs up and down the country and we see the youth organisations. Finlay Carson mentioned the opportunities with Queen of the South. At the Education, Children and Young People Committee last week, we heard Spartans Community Foundation and the Denis Law Legacy Trust speak about the work that they do, both here in the capital and up in the north-east, to help and enable young people through their love of sport.
In a year when we have the world cup coming up, with Scotland’s first participation in it since 1998, and the Commonwealth games, we have a great opportunity as a country and as a Parliament to get more people involved in sport, and that is what we should all seek to do.
An issue that has come up time and again in the debate is funding. That will always be an issue and there are not unlimited pots of money, but we can make it easier for clubs and organisations to access funding. Having to look for funding on an annual basis means that a lot of the time that coaches and others could be spending on improving the opportunities for young people is spent on filling out forms to try to secure or re-secure funding. If we can get multiyear funding for a number of the clubs and organisations, that will go a great way towards improving the opportunities.
I am delighted to speak in this debate and I whole-heartedly support everything in Brian Whittle’s motion.