Hansard

On Tuesday 18 November, I arrived at Hampden park for the opening of the gates at 6.15. I walked in with a few other early birds and stood thinking what the stadium would be like at 9.45. Four minutes in, after the Scott McTominay wonder goal, the dream was on. Then, Denmark scores and the old fears return. Shankland scores again. Hopes rise. Denmark scores again. Six minutes of injury time goes up and even now I feel good about our chances. The ball falls to Kieran Tierney. What a strike, what a feeling! Eight minutes into six minutes of injury time, and the nerves are shot. Kenny McLean wins the ball and shoots. What an incredible feeling as the ball hits the back of the net—“Freed from Desire” blasts out and it sinks in: Scotland have qualified. The passion and love for football is unrivalled. The whole country goes crazy; scenes from pubs and homes are shown from all over Scotland. My flights and accommodation are booked. The ticket scramble now awaits.

What does qualifying for the world cup mean to football more generally in Scotland? It means a few things. It must leave a legacy for our youth game, with investment in the grass roots and, of course, the elite youth set-up—I say that as someone who had the pleasure to coach at that level with Hibernian for 11 years. I note that the Scottish Football Association recently announced that it will not continue its performance schools, which produced players such as Billy Gilmour. There is also talk of reducing support to Club Academy Scotland’s youth academies, which would be a retrograde step. We need further investment in those academies, so that players can play for our clubs at a younger age. We need further investment in the women’s and girls’ clubs and academies. The success of the investment in academies by the French Football Federation and the English Football Association demonstrates that. On the back of the financial benefits of the world cup, we need to invest in our youth game and our women’s game, and we will reap the benefits of doing so.

Many of us have campaigned for Scotland matches to be shown on terrestrial television. Thankfully, a deal was agreed before the Denmark game, which meant that those who were not fortunate enough to have tickets could enjoy—and endure—every minute of the qualifying campaign on BBC Scotland, and a generation of Scotland fans were able to witness something that they had never witnessed before in their lifetime. However, in the aftermath of that game, one thing that was overlooked was that the deal with the BBC to broadcast the qualifying matches ran only until the end of that campaign, and it is likely that future qualifying campaigns will again be available only on subscription services. I believe that the home nations’ international matches and women’s competitive matches should be available for all to watch and should be included in Ofcom’s list of category A sporting events, which must be shown on free-to-air television.

We all know that the members of our magnificent Scotland team are huge role models for our children and young people, and they will no doubt inspire our next generation of football players. Along with that, however, come responsibilities, one of which is the responsibility to stop exploiting children on behalf of the alcohol industry. Big alcohol brands, familiar and not so familiar, will be queuing at the door of Scotland’s football authorities to sponsor the team and to get their brands in front of the customers of today and tomorrow. That type of marketing is designed to boost sales by attracting new consumers and targeting heavy drinkers, but it also results in young people starting to consume alcohol at an earlier age and increases the chances of binge drinking. I expect and encourage the football authorities to take their responsibilities seriously and reject alcohol sponsorship in favour of industries that do less harm in our country.

I thank Keith Brown for lodging the motion. We all know the passion that football inspires, and, like Keith Brown, I am a long-suffering Hibs fan. Let us enjoy the build-up to the world cup. As they say: no Scotland, no party.