Meeting of the Parliament 15 January 2026
I am grateful for that intervention. My colleague Brian Whittle said a particularly loud “Hear, hear” to the comment about coaches. This particular football season, in our most senior level of the game, has highlighted the importance of coaching and leadership like no other.
Let me conclude my reminiscence about Jim Baxter on that fateful day for the English at Wembley when we dethroned the world champions. It may just have been in our imaginations that we did that when we won that game, but it meant a great deal to Scots, including my father, who needed very little prompting or excuse to discuss it. That is what football means. Its importance is not confined to the past—it continues to do real good, as was highlighted last night. It encourages physical activity at a time when inactivity is a growing concern, and it brings people together across age, background and community. It now does so in so many forms. We heard from the minister last night about walking football. There is veterans football, women’s football, which is a fantastic success, and grass-roots football in all its diversity.
Euro 2028 is an incredible opportunity for us to build on the legacy of the past and create a new legacy around this tournament. It will not be in terms of infrastructure or international profile alone; it will engage more of our people to play, be active and run about a bit. I am sure that Brian Whittle will talk a lot about that in his speech. However, I am under no illusion about the nature of UEFA as an organisation, and I think that I have made that clear in the debate.
Just a few weeks ago, at Hampden, we saw how 90 minutes of football can become something far more than a football match. It can be a series of moments that people will talk about for decades. My hope is that Euro 2028 creates many more such moments for our country, for our communities and for the rising generation of Scottish footballers yet to come.
16:13