Meeting of the Parliament 04 October 2018
Mr Whittle is correct. That is an example of some of the attitudes that we have to deal with. We have to ensure that everyone can have access to sport.
The St Mirren women’s football team is not the only thing that is happening with the women’s game. There has been an increase in teams from what were traditionally called our boys clubs but which are now called youth football clubs. Gleniffer Thistle FC, which brought us players such as St Mirren legend and now sports pundit Stephen Thompson, has a girls section and a women’s team. St Mirren youth football club, which is not connected with the professional club, has a girls section, as does St Peter’s FC. To move away from the centre of the known universe to faraway Linwood, we can see that Linwood Rangers—which is former Scotland captain Paul Lambert’s first team—has a girls section, too.
You might have noticed, Presiding Officer, that not only have all the famous former professional players I have mentioned played for St Mirren, all are male. We must ensure that young women and girls have their own sporting heroes to look up to and aspire to be like. There needs to be some form of parity between the women’s game and the men’s game. That will not be easy. It will require funding and a change of attitude to our national sport on the part of the Scottish Football Association, the Scottish Premier Football League and the clubs and, as Mr Whittle explained, at other levels within the game.
Supporters also need to look at women’s football more positively. That might be the biggest issue for us all. Scotland’s women’s team qualified for the world cup finals. As Jenny Gilruth said, their male counterparts have not been there since 1998—ironically, again in France. We have to ensure that these sportswomen who are heroes to young women today continue with their success. That is why I welcome the fact that Scotland’s national team squad will be able to train full time from January 2019 for the FIFA 2019 world cup, with additional funding from the Scottish Government. That will strengthen the women’s and girls’ game in Scotland.
St Mirren chairman and majority shareholder Gordon Scott has already announced that the club is going to go beyond just having its own women’s football team. He wants to create St Mirren women and girls football academy. Our club in Paisley already knows the success that having an academy has brought to our men’s team and sees the opportunity that it has to develop that further. The St Mirren academy has produced Scotland internationals such as John McGinn, Kenny McLean and Lewis Morgan, and the supporters see the value of the academy in financial terms and on the field.
Gordon Scott’s plan is to have the women and girls academy in Ferguslie Park in Paisley and to take it forward using St Mirren community trust, with Gayle Brannigan leading the way. Gayle Brannigan is well known in Renfrewshire for running sports trusts and sporting community programmes. We have an opportunity to use this project as a pilot scheme. We can say to young women in places such as Ferguslie Park that it does not matter where they live or where they are from—they can be part of our national sport and play for the famous Paisley St Mirren.
There will be challenges associated with the project, involving funding and so on. I ask the sports minister to come to St Mirren Park and discuss the project with Gordon Scott and Gayle Brannigan.
St Mirren uses the tag line “Our Town, Our Team”. Now, we are looking to take that further and ensure that St Mirren is Paisley’s team for our whole community. I look forward to the day when I sit with my granddaughter, my daughter and my wife and I see St Mirren lift the Scottish women’s cup. Only then, when that date goes down in history alongside those other famous dates from St Mirren’s past, will I say that we definitely have equality in Paisley.