ON THE SPOT: Michael Grant

GORDON Smith sounded like a man whose patience had finally ran out. Two years he has been chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, two years of handshakes, meetings and pleasantries: whatever it would take to wring money out of politicians. Two years of dealing with ministers who know perfectly well that football is a vehicle for free, vote-winning publicity. Literally free.

Yesterday, an exasperated Smith challenged them to commit more than hot air to Scottish football. He has had a bee in his bonnet recently about the state of the country's health - too much boozing, too little exercise, too much junk food - and two years' worth of evidence has convinced him politicians simply haven't done enough to confront the matter.

This weekend the SFA has been awarded "Six Star Status" by Uefa for its work in developing all aspects of football across the country. It was news of that recognition which prompted Smith to lay down the gauntlet to ministers at Holyrood and Westminster.

"We are doing our part but we cannot do it alone," he said. "Politicians from all parties must realise that investing in sport - and football in particular - is an investment in the long-term success of our country. Our vision is to make Scotland a better, fitter, healthier country by having more people playing more football, more often.

"We know money is tight everywhere and that governments have to make priorities when it comes to spending. However, I cannot see an argument against investing in sport and fitness. Spending the money now will surely result in long-term savings when it comes to the National Health Service.

The health of our nation and the success of our football teams are linked together. We cannot have success if we do not invest in fitness.

"We need to do more. We need to have a fundamental change in the way we approach health and fitness. We have to make sure that sport is an essential part of school life. We need to have proper facilities, open at appropriate times. All of this will make a difference to our sport and to our country. It is only by taking action and putting our money where our mouths are that we can make a difference."

This was strong stuff from Smith, a call to arms, although I doubt he said it with any great hope that it would draw the political response he wants. A couple of weeks ago I saw him at a press event at the new, £15.7 million regional football centre at Toryglen in Glasgow. It is an enormous, magnificent facility, so good that it was impossible to resist asking him "so, where are the other five?". Smith asks himself the same question. There were to be six indoor football centres around the country as part of the SFA Youth Action Plan announced in 2004. Scottish Labour politicians were all over that at the time, milking the credit for the government's £12.2m contribution to the project. And now? The full amount never materialised, land deals became a problem, building work stalled at the planning stage and - five years on - instead of six centres there is still only Toryglen.

We can talk until we are blue in the face about how well everything works in Holland or Sweden or Denmark. The comparisons are meaningless because the governments or lotteries in those countries commit resources for community sports facilities at a far, far greater level than has ever been the case in Scotland.

Last year, the Scottish Government launched a scheme called CashBack for Communities which redistributes money to sport which has been seized from the assets of convicted criminals. Every little helps and Smith has been effusive in his praise of that initiative, but on the other hand First Minister Alex Salmond and MSP Stuart McMillan have advocated Scotland international games being shown live on free-to-air television channels. The mind boggles.

That would drain £15m a year out of the SFA, money the governing body secured by selling the rights to Sky and spends on, among other things, employing dozens of youth football coaches around the country. Give away the television rights for free and countless coaching courses and sessions would be wiped out a stroke. Tub-thumping politicians don't want to know about that part, of course.

Across the whole of Europe only England, Germany, Holland, Ukraine, Norway and Finland have the "Six Star Status" bestowed by Uefa. In other words the SFA is doing more for football across the country than the French, Spanish or Italian football associations are doing for theirs. Can the same be said of the government?

Smith must try to remain diplomatic. Still, his plea for greater investment came out of a deep-rooted frustration that the SFA swims against a tide of political indifference. It isn't likely to get much better given that an estimated £13m of lottery funding which would have come into Scottish sport will be diverted instead towards the £9.3 billion cost of the London Olympics. Glasgow's Commonwealth Games will devour another £298m of public money. Let's face it, those five other Scottish football centres aren't ever going to see the light of day.

When nine British tennis players tumbled out of Wimbledon in the first round last week UK sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe's response was: "If the results don't come, reducing the money is something that has to be looked at."

Just watch for Sutcliffe trying to muscle in on the spotlight if Andy Murray wins the tournament next weekend.

That, in a nutshell, is the political attitude Smith railed against yesterday.