The power of sport isn’t just the strength of the shot or the force of the volley. It’s the power it possesses off the field to transform lives. It can create a collective feel-good factor that can transcend the entire country. That was shown last week with the heroic efforts of Andy and Jamie Murray and Gordon Craig. They had the country cheering them on but also feeling good about itself.

Failure can cast a cloud over the land. The National football team’s absence from the European Championships this summer will do so more effectively than the seasonal weather. Equally, sport has the power to be life changing for individuals in a myriad of ways. It can engage where other agencies can’t and motivate where other methods fail.

Getting behind the team or player is good for us all. Football may still dominate but other sports are growing. Coverage of sports that were previously ignored has come about with individual successes. There’s still a long way to go but barriers have fortunately been broken. Success brings publicity which in turn encourages participation.

Cycling, tennis and athletics have all benefitted from particular triumphs and been boosted as a result. That’s a good thing with the Scottish Football Association recognising that playing any sport enhances all sports. It’s not just fitness levels or hand-to-eye coordination but the ripple effect of ambition and self-belief that it can generate.

Moreover, simply because football is the biggest doesn’t mean it has to be the only sport to be played or watched; no more so than it’s only the elite or professional teams or contestants that can be supported. I am a self-confessed football fan who, when Hibernian are not at home, is likely to be found at Edinburgh City or Leith Athletic; the other local teams who play in lower leagues.

However, I have also been enjoying going to watch Edinburgh Rugby as well as occasional journeys through to watch Glasgow Rocks, the professional basketball team. The quality of play and the atmosphere at both are excellent.

This Saturday sees the start of the Six Nations Rugby Tournament and I’ll be backing blue and supporting the Scotland team. The World Cup semi-final defeat to Australia was cruel as the of the players had been heroic. Their performance, seen by millions of television, helped the game grow. Comments about it being a “posh boys'” sport are both prejudiced and wrong.

I went to a state school in West Lothian and played rugby. Countless kids from similar schools do so to this day. Private schools do play rugby but so what? Some of the team may be from that background; others may have a Scottish granny being a kilted Kiwi or Springbok. Some kids get scholarships to private schools on the basis of their rugby talent and accepting it is as natural as a gifted footballer going to the Manchester United Academy.

Most, though, are just from relatively humble backgrounds across all parts of this country; and many not from so-called rugby heartlands but areas where the game has had to be nurtured. The question on schooling is as pernicious in class terms as it’s insidious in religious ones.

I’ll be supporting the Scottish team not just because of the feel-good factor that will come from a victory in the Calcutta Cup or any other match; but because I know the good work the team and the sport does in communities the length and breadth of the land.

I’ve been with international players on Friday nights in peripheral housing schemes, as they engaged with star-struck youngsters. I know the stardust the SRU can trickle down as well as the support it tries to give to the grassroots despite financial challenges.

That applies across all sports. I’ve seen basketball stars in schools in deprived communities encouraging kids in life and in sport; and hockey internationalists trying to boost the game and engage youngsters on foul nights. The governing bodies of all sports do their best to try to support such endeavours and the game in general at the grassroots. Despite what some fans may think, there’s no more a crock of gold under the chief executive's desk at Hampden, Murrayfield or elsewhere, than there is at the end of the rainbow.

Of course, even the stars acknowledge that the real gems are those countless individuals who give their time for the benefit of so many, especially youngsters. The sacrifices made not just by those who reach the pinnacle of success but those who helped launch them on the journey are huge. It’s not just the resources they put in but their time that they give up. Those unsung heroes and heroines deserve to be lauded throughout the land.

It’s across all ages and all abilities that sport can transform lives; all sports are involved at all levels. It involves not just professional clubs but amateur organisations. Football as the nation’s favourite sport has the longest reach. The Celtic Foundation operating through the football club in the east end of Glasgow and elsewhere is perhaps the template to be aspired to. It does remarkable work not simply in health promotion but employability in an area scourged by appalling levels of poverty and joblessness. Smaller clubs are equally involved. Annan Athletic and Spartans do great work in the south west and in Edinburgh, not just with youngsters but also with more challenged and challenging individuals. Both the Scottish Prison Service and social work departments have good reason to be grateful to football and other sporting clubs for their help and support.

Sport can motivate men to improve their health and lifestyle. Advice on smoking and drinking less, eating better and exercising more is listened to with respect from the club coach, if disdained when the doctor imparts lifestyle guidance. It’s no wonder health boards have sought to tie in with football. It can also engage in learning, as the outstanding Glory and Dismay project working with adult learners shows. Individuals who would not engage directly with further education can be brought on board through sport. Similar ventures exist to address dementia with equal success. There’s also the self-esteem that can come about through participation. Police officers can testify to the benefits when some wayward young men joining boxing clubs. Invariably in deprived areas the sense of purpose generated in keeping fit can result in better lives for both them and their community.

So it’s not just on the park but off it that sport matters. It’s as much for the common good as hope of the collective feel-good factor. As the SRU will say on Saturday for the match against the auld enemy: As One.