Meeting of the Parliament 12 February 2026 [Draft]
I thank Daniel Johnson for securing this debate and for giving me the opportunity to speak. I did not have anything written down. I wondered where I would go with this—would I go in a different direction from the one I usually go in? No—I am going to go down exactly the same route.
When Daniel Johnson was talking about the impact that football, or any kind of sport, has on people at a young age, it struck me that it is about lifelong learning. My concern has always been for how the youth of today can have the same ability to participate that we had.
I recognise that I go back a wee bit further than a lot of people in the chamber, but I played football at school: in primary school, we played inter-school football tournaments, and my speed about the park ensured that I was the goalkeeper—talk me through that one. We had the opportunity to get on the bus on a Thursday afternoon and go to play. I was at Troon primary school; we played Symington and Dundonald and all the different primary schools. We had that opportunity to play.
In secondary school, I played rugby. My concern lies in the reduced ability or opportunities for our children to participate in sport these days, which I often talk about. I have used this example before, but when I was at Marr college, there was—