By tomorrow morning, Scotland could wake up having voted for independence from the rest of Britain. There are many aspects of uncertainty as to what happens next, such as currency and European Union membership, and of course, uncertainty in the sporting sector.
First Minister Alex Salmond has set the ambitious target of March 24, 2016, for the country to officially become independent from Britain. Coming less than five months before the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, there could be anxiety for Scottish athletes.
In the 2012 London Olympics, Scots made up 10 per cent of the British team which shattered several long-standing records and won 13 medals of the 65 earned in total. That included seven Scottish golds, putting a hypothetical ‘Team Scotland’ 12th in the medal table.
International Olympic Committee vice-president Craig Reedie, himself a Scot, said it would be “very, very difficult” to form a new national Olympic committee which would be recognised in time for Rio. But IOC president Thomas Bach has eased fears, saying Macedonian athletes competed at Barcelona in 1992 under the Olympic flag following independence from Yugoslavia.
While the participation of Scotland’s athletes in the Games is unlikely to be blocked, the question of maintaining competitiveness remains. At the Atlanta Olympics of 1996, Britain claimed just one gold en route to their worst medal haul (15) since 1952. Finishing a historically low 36th in the medal table, it was clear something had to be done about British sport.
The answer was investing money made from the National Lottery, formed two years earlier in 1994, in elite sport. Controversial decisions, often made on the narrowest margins of success and failure, channeled money to those most likely to win medals.
That ignored some mass participation sports but the result of resources invested well was undeniable: Britain produced more and more medals, culminating in the 65 of 2012. The infrastructure behind British cycling, for example, is unmatched.
Andy Murray, Scotland’s global star tennis player and the first British men’s singles winner at Wimbledon in nearly 80 years, has said he would play for Scotland, not the remainder of the United Kingdom, in the event of independence.
Being elevated to a level above the fray possibly aided former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in stating his view, though it is hard to imagine him being intimidated from voicing any opinion, on anything, he believes should be heard.
“Eight-hundred-thousand Scots, like me, live and work in other parts of the United Kingdom,” Ferguson said just after referendum details were announced. “We don’t live in a foreign country; we are just in another part of the family of the UK.”
But regardless of Ferguson’s wishes, from tomorrow that family may soon find itself living in foreign countries - in the field of sport, as much as everything else.
