AS the 90-minute nationalists enjoyed their long-awaited taunting of their reviled Auld Enemy yesterday a far more serious sporting challenge to the English was being issued.

Anne Smillie may preside over what is perceived as a rather more gentle pursuit, but Badminton Scotland's chief executive is an impressive figure who has achieved considerable things for her sport by daring to take on the powers-that-be rather than surrender meekly in the manner of several of her counterparts in other governing bodies.

Elsewhere in this sports section today you will find her criticising the way that Scottish badminton players are effectively being blackmailed into joining the English-dominated, but considerably less successful, British programme in Milton Keynes.

Badminton is not the only sport where this occurs, examples of similar practice having previously been highlighted in hockey and weightlifting, to name but two.

This amounts to what has been described in the past as a brawn drain of talent across the border, something that is reflected in all walks of society, not least politics, and which is all the more relevant in light of the big events to come next year: Glasgow 2014 and the referendum.

In that context, Edinburgh Rugby's recent recruitment of a posse of Scottish-qualified Australian-born players and, in particular, that of the Tollis twins, has been fascinating. It seems conceivable that we in Scotland may have Margaret Thatcher to thank for the ready availability of such overseas players.

The brothers' mother, Linda, hailed from Carluke; not renowned as a rugby heartland but very much a mining one prior to what the Proclaimers' Letter from America portrayed as the second Scottish clearances in the 1980s.

Even if there were other reasons for this particular family's migration, there will have been countless others who were forced to leave this country through no fault of their own. Despite this, though, some people on either side of the border will instinctively criticise Scottish rugby officials for again trawling through the genealogy of up-and-coming players in other parts of the world. They need to examine their perspective.

When Scottish sport recruits those whose parents and grand-parents became economic refugees over the past 30 years, it is merely, as one New Zealand official once memorably put it, claiming a due return on investment of our skills and labour.

What is happening in badminton and elsewhere is the latest example of young Scots being forced out of the country, and it is all the more unpalatable in their case because it is being done under the cloak of Britishness. If things are allowed to continue as they are, we are potentially some 50 years away from Kirsty Gilmour's grandsons or granddaughters being sneered at for waving a flag of convenience should they choose to represent Scotland because, as a teenager, she was made to leave Scotland by an English-dominated regime.

That, too, must be read in its proper context because I personally cannot abide the sort of anti-English sentiment that will doubtless have been spouted around London over the last 48 hours or so.

Furthermore, I readily understand why English sporting bodies exploit their numerical dominance by seeking to influence the way elite programmes are run, as Badminton England is trying to. That does not make it right, though, particularly when it is clear that, per capita, the Scotstoun-based system is so substantially superior.

Unlike last night's meaningless friendly, then, this is something Scotland's sporting authorities and politicians ought to be getting worked up about. Smillie should not be having to fight this battle alone because it is an issue of national importance if Scotland has genuine pretensions to nationhood, sporting or otherwise.

If there is any point in having Scottish parliaments and national sports quangos, this is it. Can she count on Alex Salmond and co to join her in the trenches then?

Personally, my expectation on that is pretty similar to what I believe will happen next autumn when Robert Burns' sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous - and blustering - countrymen and women head for the polls . . .

And Another Thing . . .

On what could be viewed as a related subject, Cricket Scotland is currently trying to sort out the holes in its schedule caused by the decision of the England & Wales Cricket Board to determine that it no longer suits them to have the Scottish Saltires play against their county sides in regular competition.

As Preston Mommsen, the Scotland captain, noted this week there are pros and cons. On the one hand, Scottish players need to get game time against the quality of opposition and on the quality of surfaces that they encounter when facing the counties.

On the other hand, he pointed out that the Scottish schedule lacks structure, most notably this season when their series of wins over Kenya in important tournament play was followed by a three-week lay-off in mid-summer.

Juggling those various considerations is a difficult task, but officials believe they are close to finding solutions which, it is hoped, will be made clear tomorrow.