World Cup is a chance to promote sport as force for good

MANY years ago now, David Taylor, then the Scottish Football Association chief executive, persuasively explained to me the power of sport and football in particular, connecting with people in myriad ways and providing a collective feelgood factor, as Scotland experienced last week.

It also reaches other groups in our communities, providing an opportunity to teach, help or encourage which just isn’t possible through other mediums.

The Scotland team’s heroics last week saw even those who aren’t football fans revelling in the country’s joy. They will maintain that interest and the excitement as the draw and then the competition near will be palpable.

The team will once again travel more in hope than expectation, but who cares, we’ll enjoy it anyway.

As the Tartan Army sing: “No Scotland, No Party.”

But it also goes far deeper and wider than that. I’ve visited classes held at football clubs for challenged and challenging youngsters. They’ve been excluded from or opted out of mainstream education, but football draws them in.

They listen and work in a setting where they’re living their dream, accepting the discipline that goes with the attendance, soaking in the setting. Making them proud and giving them a purpose in life – things they’ve often been lacking – it can prove transformatory for them.

Similarly, there are groups I’ve visited for dementia sufferers or those with learning difficulties. Again, interest and attendance is sparked by listening, talking or writing about football, maybe meeting a current or former player, and even visiting a stadium along the way.

All this serves a great purpose, and what these groups deliver in care, support or education couldn’t be replicated elsewhere.

Football may be the country’s most popular sport and has the professional and amateur resources to best deliver, but it’s far from alone in the good it does. That’s why, when I was justice secretary, I was delighted to kick off the CashBack for Communities scheme, which saw money recovered from the profits of serious and organised crime poured into sport and other outlets for young people.

It seemed too good an opportunity to miss: taking from those who had been harming our communities to provide for those who had been suffering or should have been benefitting.

Previously, as is still the case south of the Border, all monies recovered stayed with law enforcement. I was happy to ensure some of the funds recovered went to help communities and particularly youngsters.

And they did, as working with sporting associations saw benefits across the country. Facilities were provided to ensure football and rugby could be played in most weathers. The Scottish Rugby Union and SFA had both lamented the lack of pitches, and funds were provided on the basis that they were often multi-sport and used not just by an adult professional or amateur team, but also by youth teams both male and female.

The final point caused angst among some of the “blazerati” who were running teams but it was made clear it was non-negotiable, and women’s and girls’ football has grown exponentially ever since.

The associations responded positively, adding incalculable value to the sums provided.

I recall on a cold winter’s night being at pitches in a peripheral housing scheme near Edinburgh. The place was bursting with activity as the then Scotland stand-off Dan Parks was coaching and interacting. It was a joy to watch and I’m sure of benefit to rugby as well as a moment to savour for youngsters whose lives were often challenging and deprived.

It wasn’t just the big two of football and rugby, either, many minority sports rose to the occasion. Basketball often appealed to youngsters from minority communities, as boxing often did in very deprived areas. I’m not a fan of pugilism and have huge concerns about the professional sport but I was deeply impressed by the work of the amateur clubs.

Boxing coaches would tell me they never turned anyone away because of lack of fitness or ability, something invariably required in other team sports. Most youngsters who went simply did so to get fit, at the same time gaining a sense of pride and getting a dose of self-discipline.

I also can think of several youngsters who made it big, along with many others who simply stayed on the straight and narrow. All of them, the police told me, had been at minimum a handful, if not on a path to a career in crime.

It’s why sport matters and needs to be supported. Funds are short but cuts in community facilities and increasing costs are counter-productive. Youth alienation and even disorder increase, the help and support for those with mental health or other issues contracts massively, and as consequence budgets, whether justice or health, are simply further pressured.

The World Cup should be used as an opportunity to invest as much as we can and to ensure support and participation at all not just elite levels. Our society will benefit and you never know – as it says in a long-past World Cup campaign song: “We have a dream.”

[This article was first published in The National on Mon 24 November 2025]