Results of the past week having provided the latest evidence of why Scots must look beyond traditional outlets for sporting inspiration, thoughts turn once more to Judy Murray’s planned sports hub and the argument which surrounds it which is a classic consequence of the capitalist trap.
In the eighties the tool was ‘loadsamoney’ hubris and the City/Wall Street driven philosophy that ‘greed is good’. In the past decade the device that has seen society deprived of the funding required to distribute wealth properly has been ‘austerity’, with right-leaning politicians seizing upon the opportunity provided by their friends in the banks.
As a direct consequence there has been, we are told, no money available to build the facilities required to seize upon a rare sporting success story that has provided inspiration to a generation of youngsters.
This is exactly how the capitalist would have it. The widening gap between rich and poor places power in the hands of those who have control of resources. Instead of society deciding collectively upon its priorities a grasping few instead decide with whom they will share their largesse.
They can consequently position themselves as the great and the good, people of means who shared their success. In some cases that is genuinely so. Mostly, however, it is merely a way of writing names into history by handing out what to them is petty cash, the scraps from their table.
Their preference is to choose among those who queue, cap in hand, seeking favours. In Judy Murray’s case, however, she had rather more with which to bargain, thanks to her family’s hard won status. So she found herself rubbing shoulders with people of means and access to what was required to build the sports facilities she has rightly identified as being required to maximise the wider benefit of her sons’ success on the tennis court.
Her estimable concept, focused upon ensuring the multi-sport, family-oriented facility remains accessible to all - essentially what we used to expect of publicly run facilities before our councils placed them in the hands of trusts which installed pricing structures aimed at competing with commercial operations - depends on the facility being debt free at the outset so that only running costs need be recouped.
Of course Murray wants tennis to be the main recreational device through which that is achieved and of course she wants in to be in the area in which she and her family grew up.
That local community representatives, the very people who should be seizing upon what her boys have achieved, sought to build their case against Murray creating a sporting hub in her own backyard on the basis that it would be better placed elsewhere, borders on dereliction of public duty at a time when no local council has the wherewithal to maintain, let alone improve public services and facilities.
Those persuaded that the ‘greenbelt’ must be protected at all costs from the associated housing project that would cover costs, allowing the sports facilities to be built debt free should meanwhile look at what surrounds us in Scotland. By way of aside, a visit to the revived and currently touring play ‘The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil,’ might offer insight into just how vast the open space available to us is… and why.
As to the scale of local opposition, supposedly persuaded that this is a project motivated by vanity or greed, surely no-one attending that planning inquiry, other than the handful of people who have identified this is a matter upon which to wage war, could fail to recognise the passion and sincerity of Murray’s desire to see her communities, geographical and sporting, benefit from her boys’ success.
The project she is championing may not be ideal, but that ideal cannot be achieved overnight and current generations should not be sacrificed until the bigger political battle is won.
One of Murray’s observations in particular meanwhile stuck in the mind.
“We have a chance to grow the game in this area which of course is something that is very, very close to my heart,” she implored.
“When I was a junior tennis player in this area there were probably twice as many tennis clubs in Central district and way more people playing. In this golden era of tennis the sport is in decline and that is incredibly sad.”
The real danger is that the only winners will be those other friends of the rich, the lawyers who make their cases by casting doubt over motives through insinuation and fear-mongering.
On a personal level, of course, Judy Murray and her boys will not lose out because they have already triumphed in the capitalist game, risking all and winning through a combination of massive talent and some good fortune.
Perhaps they will remain motivated to find another way to benefit the greater good, but if this opportunity is spurned they may simply be scunnered and walk away, which would indeed be incredibly sad for the youth of Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, Stirling and Scotland.
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