ALEX Salmond has strongly hinted that free tickets will be made available to schoolchildren at the Commonwealth Games.
Sports Minister Shona Robison has previously indicated there would be some form of scheme to help youngsters and disadvantaged groups attend events, and mention was made of this when Glasgow 2014 launched its ticketing arrangements earlier this year.
At First Minister's Questions Tory MSP Liz Smith asked whether the Games would run a scheme similar to the London Olympics - where 125,000 youngsters were admitted free to events.
Ms Smith, who has represented Scotland at cricket, spoke of the success of the scheme at the Olympics which gave so many youngsters free access to events and she praised the impact this had on the success of the London games.
Alex Salmond replied: "Measure to make sure that happens will be announced very shortly.
"This is being addressed by the Games organisers. Liz Smith will see some of her hopes are realised."
However, it appears the First Minister may have jumped the gun on this as it is understood that no announcement is expected until into the New Year, when there are plans for a broader announcement about making the Games - from July 23 to August 3 - as widely accessible as possible.
A Glasgow 2014 spokesperson said: "Glasgow 2014 is working with our Games Partners to develop a programme to ensure identified groups and communities have the opportunity to engage fully with the Games experience. Further details on this will be announced in due course."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article