At the Scottish Labour Party Conference I joined fellow Labour MSPs in signing up to the the Scottish Sport’s Alliance’s VoteforSport Pledge.
The campaign was launched on September 21. The VoteforSport campaign is designed to raise the profile of sport throughout the Scottish Parliamentary Elections in 2011. The campaign will encourage MSPs and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) to pledge to the following statement;
“I pledge to recognise the unique role, value and potential of sport in Scottish society and upon my election to the Scottish Parliament I will act as a Scottish Sporting Champion throughout my term in Parliament.”
Scottish Sports Association Board Member & former Scotland Rugby International Scott Hastings commented that “if this campaign is to succeed we need to encourage sport in all areas of society and recognise the huge impact that sport has on our nation. There are many things that need to be done but having sport on the political agenda could significantly benefit the health of our country whilst promoting Scotland’s sporting profile.
2011 is a huge opportunity for all those involved in sport, from the local community clubs up to the highest stage to promote sport as a campaign issue. I urge everyone who plays, spectates or just loves sport to log on to www.VoteforSport.com and pledge their support to show Scotland truly cares about sport.
My vision is to see every school child playing sport in Scotland on a regular basis every week and that sport is accepted as part of Scotland’s future well being.”
Brian McKelvie, Chair of the Scottish Sports Association, stated, “the campaign has been received very positively and it’s great to see such a demonstration of support for sport here at the Scottish Labour Conference”.
The campaign will not only encourage MSPs and PPCs to sign the Pledge but will also utilise the power of the some 900,000 men and women who take part in sport through the 12,000 sports clubs in Scotland. Policy Director of the Scottish Sports Association, Kim Atkinson highlighted that “sport is undoubtedly Scotland’s greatest social movement; with 1 in 5 people in Scotland a member of one of our 12,000 sports clubs. VoteforSport will give this constituency a voice for the first time in Scottish elections.”
