The first dedicated sports university for Scotland is being planned under radical proposals to revolutionise the way future stars are nurtured. The centre would allow a new generation of athletes and coaches to study at a government-backed sports university in Scotland for the first time, rather than taking scholarships abroad or training at centres in England.
The proposal for a Scottish University of Sport was developed in the wake of the country's recent success at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where the Scottish team, several of whom had trained at Loughborough University, and elsewhere in England (perish the thought), achieved its best ever medal haul for games outside Britain. Many other Scottish elite sportsmen and women have been forced to go south to find appropriate facilities (poor babies).
Professor Christine Hallett, principal and vice-chancellor of Stirling University, welcomed the decision. She said: "A specialist university for sport would be tremendous news for Scotland and the UK, and Stirling University would be the natural choice. Stirling is already referred to as Scotland's Loughborough.
Our campus has some of the finest sports facilities on a single site in the country."
First Minister Jack McConnell (and University of Stirling Graduate) championed the proposal at Labour's recent policy reform meeting, where it won unanimous support. I suppose Jack will need a job when he leaves office. He was a cynical political hack when he was President of the Students Association when I was there.
I can't help but admire Dr Ian Thomson, who was head of the Sports Department when I was President of the Sports Union in the early 1980s. This was his vision and it was poo pooed at the time, but he is coming out smelling like roses now.
Good for the University of Stirling, scene of many fun times during my time there and who were kind enough to give me my somewhat worthless degree in Sociology. The rest as they say is history.
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