Post Christmas workout
December 23, 2011 by Grace Franklin · Leave a Comment
Glasgow Athletics Association “Christmas Gathering” for junior endurance runners aged 13 -18. will take place on Friday 30 December 2011 at 9am meeting in Scotstoun Stadium. The distance to run will be between 5 and 8 miles. This is a great chance to meet up with other junior endurance athletes for a pack run (groups based on ability) along the Forth and Clyde Canal paths, followed by two athlete education sessions back at Scotstoun Stadium. Shower facilities available. Athletes interested should email: gordon.phillips@glasgowlife.org.uk to check what spaces are available.
Haggis Rules OK!
February 11, 2011 by localnews · Leave a Comment
The mighty Glasgow Sharks Australian Rules Football Club.
Glasgow will host this year’s Haggis Cup at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday 9 April.
The Australian Rules Football tournament will be a one day ‘express’ event.
Said spokesman Darren Chadwick of the Glasgow Sharks Club: ‘This will be the biggest tournament we will have held to date. We have eight teams confirmed with a possible three others interested. Teams will be coming from Ireland, England, Sweden and Italy to take part.’
The website for the tournament is http://www.sarfl.org.uk/sarfl2010/haggiscup so keep an eye on it all Australian Rules Footie fans.
Added Darren: ‘We want to expand the game in Glasgow and Scotland as a whole. Our season starts on the Saturday 26 March away to Aberdeen. We are also travelling to Hartlepool on the Saturday 12 March to play a friendly against a mixed North East England League team.’ From Melbourne, Darren says there is a pool of 29 players for the Glasgow Sharks. ‘There are Scots, Australians and even a Frenchman,’ he said.
The Scotland national team which played in the European Cup in Italy last year and was placed 9th out of 16, came mostly from the Glasgow Sharks.
The Club’s website is http://www.glasgowsharks.co.uk and they meet up at the Walkabout pub.
Student Rugby League 4 Nations Return to Glasgow
November 3, 2010 by localnews · Leave a Comment
Paddy Coupar in mid tackle
The Student Rugby League has announced that the 2011 Student 4 Nations between Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales will be held at the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow from 18th – 22nd April 2011.
The Student 4 Nations returns to Scotland after a 9 year absence due to European Cups and Student World Cups abroad, that have led to the delay in the competition returning back to Scotland. The last Student Championships to be held there was in 2002 at the Old Scotstoun Stadium. The stadium has been rebuilt to international standards with stands that can accommodate up to 4800 people.
Scotland Students finished 3rd in the 2010 student 4 nations after an impressive 42 – 8 opening day win over Ireland but fell short of glory in Limerick after losses to Wales and England. The 2011 tournament could prove crucial for the Scottish Students with domestic quota spaces for the Rugby League World Cup 2013 up for grabs.
With a revamped residents programme for the Scottish Students, based north of the border, coaches Paddy Coupar and Giles Lomax, have both come through the students’ ranks to the full professional squad and are looking forward to a successful year.
“It’s great to be involved in the coaching of the Scotland student residents. Giles and I both came through the Students pathway up to the Scotland ‘A’ set up and finally through to the professional squad and it’s great to be able to give something back.”
“We have a pretty full programme for the residents this year with the trials coming up on the 14th November followed by a number of training sessions to get ready for the Student Rugby League Regional Championships in Nottingham before playing the exiles in a selection match for the Scotland Students Squad.”
Scotland Residents OPEN Trials take place on Sunday 14th November 2010 at Scotstoun Stadium, 72 Danes Road, Glasgow with registration at 1:00pm.
If you would like more information on the Scotland Students please email srl.development@rfl.uk.com or visit www.scotlandrl.com
Smithycroft Sign Up for Saltire Cup
September 20, 2010 by localnews · Leave a Comment
Former Smithycroft pupil and Scotland A International player, Chad McGlame, presents Gilette kit bag to Head Teacher David Cummings along with pupils Kyle Ross (left) and Kevin Scott.
Glasgow’s Smithycroft Secondary School has become the first school in Scotland to sign up for the inaugural Rugby League Saltire Schools Cup competition sponsored by Gillette.
Smithycroft is Scotland’s most successful Rugby League playing school and it was the first Scottish school to reach the quarter-finals of the UK Champion Schools competition.
Five Smithycroft pupils represented Scotland in the 2005 World Youth Cup in Moscow and six were selected in 2008 for a Scotland under 18s tour of Serbia, Czech Republic and Malta.
Scottish Rugby League West Regional Development Officer, Susan Senter, commented: ‘Smithycroft has set the bar as far as schools’ Rugby League is concerned in Scotland and we’re delighted that it will be taking part in this inaugural Saltire Schools Cup.
‘The Cup tournament is a production line for Rugby League talent. One former player is currently undertaking trials with Super League side, Hull.
‘We anticipate around 30 schools, all linked to clubs within the Scottish Rugby League, entering the tournament with local rounds taking place between October and December. Regional play-offs, quarter-finals and semi-finals take place from January,’ added Susan.
Entries are still being being sought for the Saltire Schools Cup which is open to secondary schools across Scotland. The competition is aimed at two age ranges with S2 /S3 and S4/S5 combined.
Supported by Gillette and Sport Scotland, the Saltire Schools Cup is being organised by the Scottish Rugby League and follows the successful UK-wide Carnegie Schools tournament which featured a number of Scottish schools
The finals will take place on Friday 29 April 2011 in the impressive surroundings of the refurbished Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow.
For more details email the SRL Regional Development Officers, Michael Wallace (East – 07540 636503 / Michael.Wallace@rfl.uk.com) or Susan Senter (West – 07540 636504 / Susan.Senter@rfl.uk.com)
For further information please visit www.scotlandrl.com.
Scotstoun gets off its mark
July 9, 2010 by localnews · Leave a Comment
Sprinters from eight cities as seen from Scotstoun's new stadium.
photograph by Stuart Maxwell
Glasgow’s £18m re-vamped sports stadium at Scotstoun got off to a flying start on Wednesday 7 July with the Super8 athletics meeting. And while the eight cities competing were welcomed by Councillor Archie Graham inside the stadium, Glasgow city workers were on picket duty outside.
Councillor Graham informed the sparse crowd in the 5000 capacity stadium, that Glasgow has invested more than £100 m in the city in the past decade. Scotstoun stadium was part of its plan to become the Scottish Capital of Sports and would be a venue during the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
A fun relay race launched the evening with Glasgow Warriors rugby Club, Scottish Rocks basketball club, Wildcats netball Club and the city’s own Athletics Club competing and the athletes winning the trophy.
But there will be no trophies – and no bonuses or overtime pay – for the Culture and Sport Glasgow workers who stood in solidarity at the gates. Four unions – Unison, Unite, GMB and BECTU – are taking strike action in a dispute over a wage cut of up to 10% for more than 150 of their members, a pay freeze for other colleagues and cuts in public holidays and overtime rates for all. Said spokesman Sam Macartney: ‘We are here to let the public be aware of the dispute. Some staff have lost between £1000 and £2000 a year. Glasgowlife, as Culture and Sport is now called, is prepared to spend thousands of pounds bringing in a security company for this athletics meeting, but it is not prepared to spend a few pounds to resolve this dispute.’
A spokesman for Glasgowlife said: ‘This dispute is not about job losses. We have promised to protect jobs and services at a time when many other staff in public and private sectors are facing redundancy. But Glasgowlife must make savings of £3.4 million in the current financial year. As a seven-day-a-week service, enhanced overtime payments – such as effectively triple time on a bank holiday – have been replaced with plain-time overtime payments.’
Gold medal Olympian Hemery wants coaches to listen to youngsters
April 15, 2010 by localnews · Leave a Comment
Jump to it: David Hemery coaches hurdler David Martin at Scotstoun Picture: Stuart Maxwell
Gold medal-winning Olympian David Hemery visited Glasgow recently to give a masterclass to some of Glasgow’s aspiring sprinters, 400 metre hurdlers and coaches at Scotstoun Stadium.
David, 64, is one of Great Britain’s greatest hurdlers and a vocal supporter of athletics. Aged 24, he won a gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles event at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, shattering a world record.
He also holds gold medals from the 1966 and 1970 Commonwealth Games and enjoyed bronze and silver successes in the Munich Olympics of 1972.
David’s visit followed a seminar at Pitreavie Athletics Centre in Fife last year, when Glasgow athletes heard him speak on ‘how you recommend coaches work now and how you engage the enhanced self-awareness and self responsibility of the athletes’.
David said: ‘You’ll get far more from athletes when they learn from their own experience as well as from the coach. It’s a partnership.
‘It’s important they’re not utterly coach dependent because when they get into the heat of competition they have to be independent. So, if you can help them generate that level of self-awareness you’re helping to grow them and they engage their minds and focus and grow as people.’
David has a warning for parents, teacher and young people after years of observing athletics.
‘Sport is sliding off young people’s agenda,’ he said. ‘That, I think, is a great shame. Now I hear that physical education is sliding off the primary school agenda. I think there needs to be a balance, especially with young people.
‘Athletics is a basic run-jump-throw environment and I’d like to see that, and perhaps the ability to swim, in every school so the youngster can choose different activities.
‘It doesn’t have to be traditional sport, it can be mountain biking, dance, it doesn’t matter what it is but as long as it’s something they have a passion for and can work on to achieve their fitness level.
‘The cost to the country is going to be huge if children never get fit.’
He has a simple philosophy in spotting hurdling talent. ‘Some people enjoy jumping over things. It’s more fun than running in a straight line- but again, it’s important people try things.’
David added: ‘I was lucky that I had two coaches who really cared about me. If we could encourage coaches in this era to be on the children’s agenda as much as they are on their own agenda, that is something I would love to see.
‘We have to ask children what they enjoy doing more of and give them a spectrum of things to try.’
Historical value proves key to the future of Scotstoun
January 14, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
A sense of history prevailed as Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal officially opened the newly refurbished Scotstoun Stadium today.
It was a fitting endorsement for the old venue – known to most Glaswegians as Scotstoun Showgrounds – following an £18 million redevelopment in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
As snowflakes fluttered onto the track and field outside, The Princess Royal praised Glasgow’s century long commitment to Scotstoun, and joked: ‘Perhaps what is particularly worth celebrating is that this space has been here for over 100 years and nobody has built on it yet!
She added: ‘Glasgow has wisely kept Scotstoun, which is now used even more than it ever was before. But possibly you may need to bring a couple of Clydesdale horses just to clear the snow!’
The new facilitates at Scotstoun include an outdoor 400m track, an events arena, javelin throwing area, shot put circles and a jumping section.
However, the conditions outside meant that the local young athletes were testing the indoor 123m running track and hurdle facility.
Claire McAuley, a sixth year pupil at The School of Sport at Bellahouston Academy, is a long distance runner who seemed very impressed with the new surroundings.
Claire, 17, already has five Highers under her belt from her time at Boclair Academy. Now in sixth year, she dedicates most of her time to sport.
She said: ‘The Royal visit shows how important the track is.
‘We’ll be here training four or five days a week. I’m working towards getting a scholarship and going to America next year.
‘I might stay in the USA for Uni but then hopefully come back here after that.
‘This new track will help keep young athletes here, and actually inspire athletes to come to Glasgow from elsewhere to train.’
Steven Purcell, Leader of Glasgow City Council, was in a reflective mood as he lapped up the occasion.
He set out his own vision of what the legacy of the Commonwealth Games might be and said: ”When I went to school in Glasgow, we were told to be proud that our city fathers in times gone by, ensured that there was a public park within walking distance of every home.
‘Now I am determined that by 2014 we will have sporting facilities that can be accessed by sports clubs and the general public within walking distance of every home.’
