THE HERALD REPORTS


Delivering a legacy is the real challenge for the 2014 Games

DOUG GILLON, Athletics Correspondent April 30 2008
I recall the circus leaving Edinburgh when I was a kid.

A vast bare patch marked where the big top had been.

I stood in the middle and fantasised. I was the liveried, top-hatted ringmaster, cracking a make-believe whip. The jangling music still echoed in my head. Small rectangles of dead grass marked the animals' territory, where their cages had stood, and where carnival folk had parked their trucks and stalls.



In the silence beside Murrayfield Ice Rink I recalled the razzmatazz and spectacular acts. I was perhaps five or six. I'd never heard the word "legacy" far less knew what it meant, but I was amazed that this was all there was left of the circus.

"Legacy" must be much more substantial after the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony.

Staging the event itself is the easy part. Delivering a legacy is the real challenge, and success will be a first. Edinburgh has had two goes at it and failed. Though the 1970 edition created the image of the "Friendly Games", the capital has struggled to retain major facilities. Stewardship has been poor, and a unique opportunity to enthuse the population about the benefits of sport and exercise has been squandered. There was no concerted national plan in the aftermath.

However, this problem is not local but global. Sydney 2000 set a benchmark for future Olympics, it's been claimed. In execution, perhaps, but not in legacy development. Australian sports were not equipped to deal with the enthusiastic influx of youngsters post-2000, and apart from the odd rugby match, Stadium Australia has rarely been at capacity since. Some facilities built for Athens 2004, on the foundation of thousands of years of sporting myth and legend, are already decaying and under-used.

Margaret Thatcher was deaf to Edinburgh's cries for help in 1986, but megalomaniac Robert Maxwell swooped on the crippled event like a vulture. Every Scottish political party is behind the 2014 Games. With more than a third of the population signed up in support, we appear much better prepared this time. Surely we will not have to resort to bloated, crooked opportunists?

Juxtaposition of the 2012 Olympics and 2014 in Glasgow will never be surpassed as a vehicle for delivering a raft of related agendas in Scotland. Health, education, obesity, drugs, vandalism, and social inclusion are only some issues upon which 2014 can impact. It would be naive to assume the Games are a panacea for all ills, but goals must be identified and prioritised or nothing will be achieved.

There is a current Scottish Government consultation paper - Glasgow 2014 - Delivering a lasting legacy for Scotland* - in circulation. It invites the views of everyone in the country as to what legacy goals should be, and how they might be achieved.

You have until a week on Friday.

Much of present delivery of aspiration is via the Active Schools Programme. It's mainly funded by local authorities - consequently non-core funding and, therefore, vulnerable. This suggests it's insufficiently high priority. Current skirmishing between Cosla and the government over this year's demonstrably unattainable goal of two hours' physical education per week is discouraging. Particularly given a physical activity target of an hour a day for 80% of pupils by 2022.

The government has an immense task. We sought a comment from one of those appointed to a senior post in delivery of the legacy. He had been instructed by the government not to comment. Apparently, they would do so. We're still waiting. We hope they get off their mark more sharply over legacy delivery. All we are trying to do is promote the consultation process.

Though it's six years to the Games, time is running out, and the largest group required to deliver a legacy is already voicing concern. SkillsActive, the council for active leisure and learning, covers 52,800 employees in 3150 Scottish workplaces. That figure will increase to 63,000 by 2014. It leads the skills and productivity drive in sport and recreation, health and fitness, outdoor, playwork, and caravan industries. In some areas staff turn-over is 84%. Employers say they must spend heavily to train supposedly already qualified graduates.

SkillsActive are responding to the legacy questionaire, but believe the current infrastructure is incapable of coping with a rise in participation because of insufficient trained staff. "Our research has shown sport and fitness employers reporting skills gaps and shortages," said a spokes-person. "This is ironic when there are nearly 40 FE and HE Institutions in Scotland offering sports-related qualifications. For a successful legacy, employers need individuals with skills, and experience of the industry committed to the sector and motivated to encourage others to participate in sport and physical activity.

"SkillsActive is pleased the Scottish Government is trying to shift post-school education to a more demand-led system, so that students are employable at the end of courses. Colleges and universities can sometimes glamourise working in sport, but the reality is that you are working when the customers are playing."

Then there are Scotland's 150,000 volunteers. Without support for help with intrusive checks, qualification validation, and insurance issues, large numbers threaten to disappear. Sport will implode. Legacy squandered.

Glasgow 2014 must ignite the dreams of all of Scotland's small boys and girls, and their parents. There is much more at stake than a few Commonwealth Games medals in 2014.

This article was posted on 30-Apr-2008, 07:50 by Hugh Barrow.