Scotland and England have long been enemies on the sports field.
Yet you would reasonably assume that, off it, the two nations would work together in blissful harmony for the good of British sport, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong.
Last week it emerged that boxing, one of Team GB's most successful sports at London 2012, is in danger of losing more than £10.4m of funding in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as a result of an escalating row between the ruling body, the British Amateur Boxing Association and the Scottish Amateur Boxing Association.
BABA have made proposals which would give their own board members increased voting rights which, in turn, would decrease the voting power of the Home Nations' federations. Scotland, in particular, were unhappy with these proposed changes, and the feud has reached the stage whereby the Scots are refusing to accept BABA as their ruling body. An egm has been called for Tuesday in an attempt to push for the removal of Derek Mapp, the BABA chairman.
All Olympic sports have a GB system in place, in addition to each home nation's governing body. Some of the British set-ups work closely with the national bodies, others are more removed. Whichever way each individual sport decides to operate, you would assume they do so in the best interests of their sport and of the athletes over whom they preside.
Yet this tale of disharmony within British boxing is depressingly familiar. Currently, the details of the fallout remain unclear, so it would be unfair to lay the blame solely at BABA's door, even if their proposals to limit Scotland's involvement in the running of amateur boxing seem slightly autocratic.
In some sports, such as cycling, the introduction of a British system has been overwhelmingly positive, while it has been less successful in others. The inception of a GB ruling body in badminton has, at times, resembled nothing better than a badly-organised shambles. In my estimation, many of the problems which have arisen within the sport are a result of GB Badminton really just being Badminton England in disguise. Almost all of the top jobs within the sport in Britain are occupied by people who are also employed by Badminton England.
This surely presents a conflict of interest for these individuals. When I was part of the GB set-up, rarely did I feel that I was viewed as an equal to my English peers. I'm not looking for sympathy; I was big enough and ugly enough to cope with it and, in the event, it had little impact on my career. Still, this imbalance can't be right. And unfortunately, this predicament is not confined to badminton. There are many Scottish athletes, across many sports, who have felt under severe pressure to relocate south of the border in an attempt to penetrate this English clique which is believed to exist. The pervading feeling, particularly in team sports, is that if you are out of sight then you are out of mind.
England will almost always have the largest percentage of athletes in a British set-up. Their huge population advantage makes it inevitable that English athletes will dominate the majority of British teams. However, this should not give England the right to run the show. Scottish badminton boasts facilities on a par with anything on offer down south, yet the National Badminton Academy in Glasgow has repeatedly been refused status of a British badminton satellite centre.
England deserve to play the most significant role within GB systems, but they must not be allowed to freeze out their smaller neighbours. Athletes themselves are reluctant to voice any disquiet regarding inequality because it would almost certainly result in a big black mark beside their names.
This dilemma is almost impossible to resolve but we must not lie down to England's sporting hegemony. Scots won 13 of Team GB's 65 medals in London last summer, although I am loath to use this as proof of our significance, as almost all of those were team efforts alongside non-Scots. It does, though, demonstrate that Scottish athletes are a vital component of British sport.
If Scotland gains independence next year then this will, obviously, end any involvement for Scottish athletes within a British system. This prospect will certainly not be universally popular within Scottish sport, as many Scottish athletes have benefited immeasurably from their involvement in an all-encompassing British system in the past decade.
All of Scotland's sporting bodies must, nevertheless, continue their fight to maintain some semblance of influence within British sport. Because if not, we might as well pack up our Saltires and start painting St George's Crosses on our faces. And what a thought that is.
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