Sport

Scottish sport

It could be Scotland’s dream landscape; or our people, with their lust for life and a huge desire to enjoy themselves; or an innate inventiveness and creativity. Most likely it’s a combination of all of these factors that has led to Scotland’s sporting heritage and today’s true love of sport.

Scotland’s sporting traditions are legendary worldwide. Our country can lay claim to the

invention of a number of popular international sports, including golf, rugby and tennis. Other sports are also rooted in Scotland’s history books, such as hockey  (which originates from shinty), curling, and, of course, the Scottish Highland Games.

Football is one of the nation’s most popular spectator sports. It was a Scotsman, William McGregor, who set up the first English football league and it was in Scotland in 1872 that the first international match was played in Partick, Glasgow, where England and Scotland drew 0-0.

Today, a passion for football is played out in villages, towns and cities across Scotland, where you’ll discover amateur through to world-beating professional matches, leagues, cups and championships.

Olympic Games success

Scottish sport is a hotbed of talent. Our country was even more proud of its sporting heroes when 55 Scottish Olympians and 27 Scottish Paralympians were selected for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Team GB exceeded all expectations during this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic games, winning an unprecedented 185 medals in total.

Scotland’s 24 medals were in athletics, cycling, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, slalom canoeing, swimming and tennis.

And in 2014, Glasgow hosts the XX Commonwealth Games. Already the excitement is building for sports men and women – and spectators – with the opening of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and a myriad of other work being carried out on athletics arenas, swimming complexes and mountain bike trails.

There is also a wealth of opportunities for Scotland’s people to become involved in sports. State-of-the-art facilities, such as at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho; a wide variety of dry slope and real snow ski centres, world-acclaimed mountain biking trails, excellent athletics complexes and Sport Scotland’s National Sailing Centre on the Isle of Cumbrae all combine to provide a sporting environment to rival many countries worldwide.