CHRIS HOY'S emotional plea for the retention of the velodrome at Meadowbank where he started out on the long road to Olympic success has reignited the debate over the need for improved sports facilities not only in Edinburgh but throughout the country.
But the real question is not whether there is a need for greater investment at all levels, but who will pay for it.
Sadly in Edinburgh's case recent history is littered with false dawns and broken promises. Four years ago the previous Labour admin
istration published a £100 million blueprint for the provision of new and upgraded facilities. But it hinged largely upon a quick decision over the closure and sale of Meadowbank site and after three years of dithering the opportunity was lost, probably for all time.
But despite the council's lack of decisiveness there has to be some sympathy over the predicament in which it found itself in the build up to a bid for the Commonwealth Games. As far as major expense is concerned, councils typically ignore sport until an opportunity to stage a major event presents itself. Then, like children reaching for their racquets during Wimbledon, they take an interest until they lose out.
And who can blame them? While they have a duty to provide facilities at grassroots level like basic sports centres and playing fields it is schools, social services and housing which pre-occupy them. They are seldom required to display the vision for long-term benefits compared to the need to address short-term problems.
It is only when they are put under pressure or face a deadline, as does Glasgow after winning the 2014 Commonwealth Games, that things actually have to happen. As if to prove the point, Edinburgh's pledge to upgrade the Commonwealth Pool to stage the diving events for the games in six years' time is the only thing likely to emerge from the Meadowbank debacle.
If calls like those made by Chris Hoy are to be answered, the baton will have to be passed on to a national level to find the funding. But with billions already committed to the Glasgow Games and the London Olympics in four years' time, cash will be in short supply. The £675m that is to be sucked out of the National Lottery pot to help finance the London Games poses a direct threat to the funding of grassroots sport throughout the country for years to come.
But if Scotland's ambition is to achieve regular sporting success at the highest level then Chris Hoy is right. Without the facilities to train or heroes to emulate fewer children will participate and fewer still will excel.
The full article contains 451 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
