Why the National Football Academy Should Come to Dundee

Why the National Football Acadeny Should Come to Dundee

31 August 2012

Dundee needs more sports facilities. I was speaking to a Dundee Dad recently who said that his son’s team train in Lochee Park on the pitch nearest the street lights because they can’t get a floodlit training ground. When it rains, the training is called off.

For most of the year that kids are out of school, the evenings in Scotland are cold and dark. We have to accept this and build sports facilities in Scotland where kids can spend their evenings warm and dry, playing sport. It keeps them healthy, fit, and builds their confidence.

That’s why I launched a campaign last year to bring the National Football Academy to Dundee. The SNP promised in their manifesto to build a National Football Academy that would be a training facility for some of our top players and other athletes - a new sports facility for the nation.

So why not in Dundee? Glasgow is getting big sports investment because they are hosting the Commonwealth Games. National facilities tend to be in the central belt, but actually Dundee is more central for folk travelling from Aberdeen and the Highlands and is an easy journey from Glasgow or Edinburgh.

This is a project separate from the Commonwealth Games so it’s only fair that the East Coast and Dundee should be considered for the Academy investment.

Dundee is the only major city in Scotland without a UEFA standard indoor football pitch. The Football Academy would bring this. Dundee also has more people who play football per head of population than any other of the 32 councils in Scotland. We are a proud footballing city.

Aside from the Sport, the Football Academy is exactly the kind of building project that we need in Dundee at the moment. The Waterfront development is fantastic but we need lots of new buildings and facilities to get our economy moving and get our people back to work.

Dundee has the worst unemployment per head of any city in Scotland at the moment, even worse than Glasgow. The Sports Minister Shona Robison would be doing a great service to her home city if she could bring the National Football Academy home to Dundee.

The lasting legacy from the Olympics is that sport can inspire, it can motivate, it can let our young people reach heights of success and fulfilment that dreams are made of. We are a nation of sports lovers. The challenge is to become a nation of sportspeople. It binds families together, it gives purpose and vision, it lets our young people achieve in the healthiest way.

I could list a hundred reasons why the National Football Academy should come to Dundee. But the same vision keeps coming back to me and keeps this campaign alive. I have a vision of local boys and girls heading into the National Football Academy here in Dundee for an after-school training session and bumping into some of their heroes who have spent the day training in Dundee; the Scotland squad, Commonwealth Games hopefuls, role models for their young sporting dreams.

5,000 Dundonians have signed the campaign to bring the National Football Academy to Dundee. They are ambitious for our city and want Dundee to be home to the new national sports academy. Why not here, why not now, and why not Dundee?

Jenny Marra MSP calls for new target to tackle record high Drug Deaths in Dundee

Jenny Marra MSP calls for new target to tackle record high Drug Deaths in Dundee

29 August 2012

Dundee-based MSP and Shadow Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs Jenny Marra has called on the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council to strengthen their approach to tackling drug deaths in Dundee by agreeing a target to reduce the number of drug related deaths in the city.

The call comes after Scottish Government figures reveal that Dundee has the highest per capita rate of drug deaths in Scotland , having risen 108% since the SNP took power in 2007.

Ms Marra has criticised the way the Single Outcome Agreements, agreed in partnership between the Scottish Government and the City Council, have recorded their performance on the issue, and has called for the SNP to prove their commitment to reversing the trend in Dundee.

The Single Outcome Agreements have not monitored drug related deaths since 2009, where only alcohol related deaths were recorded, but without a target for improvement.

The only other monitoring of drugs was done in 2008 by a survey taking attitudes on whether Dundonians thought their neighbourhoods suffered from a high prevalence of drugs.

Ms Marra said,

“Dundee is suffering from a very real problem with drug deaths, which has gotten worse over time.

“Latest figures show that we have the highest number of deaths per population in Scotland, and since 2007 the average annual number of drug related deaths has risen over 100%.

“Despite the council recognising that drugs present a real challenge to the health and wellbeing of our city, our key monitoring of the issue has been left wanting and we have had no solid reporting on drug related deaths since 2009, as well as no agreed targets on how to reduce the increasing number of drug related deaths happening in Dundee.

“I am calling on the Scottish Government and the City Council to agree a clear target to work towards lowering drug deaths.

“If the City Council and Scottish Government are serious about tackling the drug problem in Dundee, they must commit to monitoring their performance based on hard evidence and clear targets.

“This is the only way to ensure a sharp focus on bucking the trend that is ending too many lives early.”