Parliament Supports Scottish Rugby

Pressure for improved broadcast coverage of rugby in Scotland mounted in Parliament today following a debate lodged by Sarah Boyack MSP. After a packed First Minister’s questions, many MSPs remained seated in the debating chamber to unite in their support of the motion lodged for increased broadcast coverage of rugby in Scotland. The view of the parliamentarians was that increased coverage was needed in order to promote the sport to a wider audience, to cater for the increased number of participants and to showcase the successes of Scotland’s rugby teams at all levels. CLICK HERE TO READ THE SCRIPT OF THE DEBATE (from Friday 2 July)Supporters of Scottish rugby can watch debate at WWW.HOLYROOD.TV in the site’s archive which can be browsed by clicking “Film Archive” from the site’s top menu itemsPressure for improved broadcast coverage of rugby in Scotland mounted in Parliament today following a debate lodged by Sarah Boyack MSP. After a packed First Minister’s questions, many MSPs remained seated in the debating chamber to unite in their support of the motion lodged for increased broadcast coverage of rugby in Scotland. The view of the parliamentarians was that increased coverage was needed in order to promote the sport to a wider audience, to cater for the increased number of participants and to showcase the successes of Scotland’s rugby teams at all levels. Ms Boyack said: Scottish Rugby is on the up at all levels with viewing and participation figures showing that the sport is becoming increasingly popular. Televised rugby matches have been very popular and, with the national team doing as well as it is just now, there’s a palpable sense of unfairness that broadcasters are not covering more. There’s a clear consensus across the Parliament that rugby doesn’t get its fair share of coverage and we are all urging broadcasters to up their game. This year we were able to watch Scotland in Argentina doing fantastically well and two years ago we weren’t – there seems to be no logic why it was on this year and wasn’t two years ago. I think broadcasters need to step up and think about the arguments that were made in the chamber today from politicians from all parties. Scottish Rugby’s director of communications and public affairs, Dominic McKay, added: We welcome today’s parliamentary debate which saw politicians of all parties talk passionately about the broadcasting of our sport and their collective desire to see increased coverage of the game at all levels.