Some interesting pointers from Doug Gillon

THE HERALD REPORTS

Should sport and recreation put its faith in charitable trusts?DOUG GILLON, Athletics Correspondent January 29 2007
IT'S the best of times and the worst of times in a tale of two sporting cities. Three years ago yesterday, this newspaper reported the forthcoming demise of Meadowbank. The jewel in Edinburgh's sporting crown was to be sold off to developers, to fund a new complex west of the city, at Sighthill.

The sale was said to be just one of many options, the implication being that it might not happen.

Well it has, or at least it will, subject to city fathers approving the sell-off this week. Given the proximity to Holyrood, developers can anticipate premium profits.

continued...
As we predicted then, this has provoked uproar, despite the pledge of a smaller residual sports facility at Meadowbank. But the track would go, and that field of dreams evokes powerful memories: Lachie Stewart's Commonwealth 10,000 metres victory over Ron Clarke in 1970, and Liz McColgan's at the same distance in 1986; Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty humbling Olympic champion Kip Keino over 5000m; Frank Clement's glorious front-run 1500m victory in the European Cup, Cram and McKean's epic 800m duel in the '86 Commonwealths, the 19.85 second 200m run on a foul night that passed for summer, and launched Michael Johnson's career. There were feats in a prolific range of sports including badminton, basketball, cycling, shooting and judo. This was Meadowbank Thistle's erstwhile home before the capital's notorious hospitality helped persuade the club to move to Livingston where they became a real football team. And it was Scotland's home for grand prix and international athletics until ill-advised political trumpeting drove it away.

For a city steeped in tradition and history, the capital sometimes has a cavalier attitude to its sporting heritage, an ambivalent one towards future potential, and penny-pinching policies when it comes to sustaining facilities.

It's suggested by the head of Edinburgh Leisure that centres built four decades ago are out of date, and that the city "deserves 21st century facilities". Germany revamped the 1936 Berlin Olympic stadium, keeping all its essential features for last year's World Cup. Stockholm, Los Angeles, and Helsinki are still operating with upgrades of stadia built for the 1912, 1932, and 1952 Olympics. None sold their heritage. Why must Edinburgh?

Powderhall was once the heart of Scottish amateur and professional athletics. The iconic Chariots of Fire hero and missionary, Eric Liddell, trained and raced there.

The council could have intervened, but it was sold to developers. So great is the reverence for what it stood for, that 50 years after its unbroken history there ended (now in its fifth subsequent home) the blue riband event with which it was synonymous is still known as "The Powderhall Sprint". Meggetland, a council sport facility, was also redeveloped for housing in the face of sporting opposition.

Further evidence of prevailing Edinburgh attitudes to heritage is that if Wallace Mercer had had his way, two of Scotland's oldest football clubs would have merged. Hibs would have disappeared and Easter Road would have been sold off. Now anxious fans on the other side of the city at Heart of Midlithuania fear for Tynecastle. Amid the capital's sports upheaval, ground-sharing will again surely rear its head.

When the 1970 Commonwealth Games facilities were proposed, Meadowbank and the Commonwealth pool were the subject of a campaign of vilification led by Councillor John Kidd whose vast girth was testament to the exercise philosophy he would choose to share with fellow citizens.

"White elephant" was his mantra as he attempted to block both. His reluctance to spend on sport has infected his successors.

Until now, but the capital would not now require to spend £86m on Sighthill if they had invested a fraction of that sum in refurbishing the city's two main facilities.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that Meadowbank has deliberately been run down to facilitate the proposed course of action. That's certainly the impression held by many who use the arena when it is not booked for antique fairs and similar health-promoting pursuits.

Subject to Historic Scotland approval, the Commonwealth Pool is schedued for a complete revamp (it is a listed building). As the Glasgow 2014 bid committee confirmed yesterday, since it will cost some £5m to add a diving facility to Tollcross, Edinburgh would be the diving venue in 2014 if their Games bid succeeds.

Edinburgh's sport facilities have been run for some 10 years by a charitable trust. Many would describe it as an unhappy experiment: that the council's community involvement in sport has disappeared, and that they are now simply an events department. They have failed to access all of the £17.5m offered in July 2004 by the Scottish Executive for recreation facilities.

So should there be concern that trust status is now being debated by Glasgow?

Benefits could run to tens of millions and all council assests would remain in their ownership, they say. But would be leased to the trust for 25 years. The council executive discuss it on Friday, but full council approval is needed.

Bridget McConnell, head of Glasgow's culture and leisure department, told The Herald: "This is an opportunity to access funding that would otherwise be denied us - 4000 companies approached Glasgow during the upgrading of Kelvingrove. That tells you the support we have. We could not access it as a council, but a trust could.

"The council would be leasing its faciltities for 25 years, mostly ones that have had huge invetsment and are not run down. If you don't invest in refurbishment, the costs later are so much higher. But these facilities will all remain in council ownership. Glasgow has to look at what other countries and cities are doing, major event centres such as Qatar and Dubai, and what they put into competing for international events."

Fair enough. That shows commendable vision and ambition, but Glasgow needs to learn the lessons of Edinburgh.

This article was posted on 29-Jan-2007, 08:42 by Hugh Barrow.