The current state of Scottish sport has been a hot topic in Mail Sport this week, with rugby, tennis and football all coming under the microscope.
The week began, of course, with the nation feeling rather glum in the wake of that Hampden humbling against Iceland, with the prospect of a meaningless — yet dangerous — friendly in Liechtenstein failing to get anyone excited.
Such was the sense of hopelessness that our very own Calum Crowe sounded the death knell for our hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup before a ball has even been kicked in our qualification campaign.
The subsequent 4-0 cruise in Vaduz at least managed to turn down the heat on manager Steve Clarke, with Che Adams’ hat-trick a welcome sight and hopefully a sign of better things to come.
The path to the Americas begins in September with daunting away trips to Denmark and Belarus — albeit the latter fixture will most likely take place in Hungary — and SFA supremo Ian Maxwell did confirm that it is unlikely in the extreme that anyone other than Clarke will be the man at the helm.
While football fills us with frustration, rugby is facing something more akin to rancour following Mail Sport’s exclusive this week about the devastating cuts Scottish Rugby are imposing on the developmental game.
Gregor Townsend and David Nucifora must navigate a difficult period for Scottish rugby
Judy Murray has continued to voice her frustration at Scotland’s great missed opportunity
Che Adams at least brightened the mood around Scotland’s football team with his hat-trick
Murrayfield chiefs have been accused of showing ‘disrespect’ and a ‘lack of care’ towards young players after announcing major changes to their academy system, with some age-grade teams having seen their number of official academy players cut in half.
All this comes at a time when SRU performance director David Nucifora is still based in Australia and only visits Scotland during certain periods of the year. While so many people are affected by the drastic upheaval, Nucifora is essentially, as Calum Crowe put it so well, phoning it in from Bondi Beach.
To compound a week of worry for the Scottish sporting landscape, Mail Sport’s exclusive with Judy Murray was particularly ominous.
On the back of the Scottish government’s failure to build on the legacy of her superstar sons, Andy and Jamie, Judy accused Holyrood of continuing to fail sport in this country and revealed her fears that it is becoming a two-tier system of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in schools.
Murray spent 11 years working on the failed Park of Keir project which she hoped would allow the nation to build on the Grand Slam and Olympic successes her sons achieved. Now she fears there will be no Scots in the Wimbledon juniors this year, a state of affairs she finds unacceptable.
Scottish numbers dwindled on the Lions tour, too, with Zander Fagerson’s withdrawal from the squad which will travel to Australia this summer officially confirmed. On the plus side, Scotland coach Gregor Townsend selected a strong squad for his side’s own tour Down Under and he fully expects that some of his men will be drafted in by Lions coach Andy Farrell as injuries start to bite.
Hampden plays host to a fascinating exhibition exploring the links between mining and football
On a more positive note, our intrepid groundhopper Hugh MacDonald entertained us in the absence of live football by taking us on a journey back to the times of the coal mines, exploring the inextricable links between the pit and the pitch.
The legendary managerial trio of Stein, Shankly and Busby all had mining links, but it was the stories of the less heralded names, the men who would emerge from the darkness to compete for their clubs — and sometimes at a high level — that stood out from our look-back to a time that must seem so alien to many among the younger generation.
Finally, if it’s a more irreverent offering that you are hankering for, John McGarry’s A-Z of the Scottish football season just gone is a must-read. As, of course, are our Rangers and Celtic Confidentials, available every week on Mail+.
