The Scottish government will contribute 80% of the cost of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow City Council and Commonwealth Games Scotland will contribute the remaining 20%. It would appear that the core funding for Commonwealth Games Scotland comes from the taxpayer.
This means that the taxpayer will pay for the vast majority of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Having watched the following video, and after some years of wondering just how much a country benefits, I've decided it doesn't. We're going to be more in debt.
Since the likes of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games admitted professionals, both competitions have lost any interest for me. Allowing professional athletes into the arena paved the way for international sponsors. Perhaps parts of Glasgow will be rebuilt to benefit Glaswegians, but, like the rest of Scotland, they'll be paying for it for many years to come.
Surely there is a much cheaper, and certainly more effective, way of encouraging our young to enjoy sport.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
11 comments:
"Since the likes of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games admitted professionals, both competitions have lost any interest for me."
At least it removed the pretence of "Amateurism".
No 'full-time' sportsperson was an 'amateur'. And neither were those full-time college 'students'.
"The Scottish government will contribute 80% of the cost of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Glasgow City Council and Commonwealth Games Scotland will contribute the remaining 20%."
So taxpayers in Glasgow suffer a double-whammy then.
And in 2012 we in England will all suffer. I am not from London. In my little part of the world there will be zero events and therefore the alleged benefits to the local economy will be £0.00. But, as a taxpayer, I have already shelled out god knows how much to allow Lord Coe et al to get richer beyond my wildest dreams. Also for 'TEAM GB' to win medals. I like sport. As a middle-aged man I still go to the gym regularly and stopped playing competitive sport only when I couldnt keep up with the young. But I have no interest in the Olympics.
Thank god we failed to get the World Cup.
When I was a lassie Joe (aye I know that's some years ago) amateurs were in the likes of the Olympics. Dick McTaggart won the gold in boxing. He'd lived down the road from me when I was a bairn and his family were anything but well off. They were a close, caring one though.
Aye, Glasgow gets done twice over.
As the video shows thespecialone, these events only line the pockets of the already rich and us poor souls just fill the coffers even more by buying tickets for the things.
Then of course, for the Olympics, our licence money will pay for the BBC luvvies to live like kings and queens for a while.
It never ends.
http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions/120
Dundee, Sat 18th Dec 2010
Added on Sat 11th Dec 2010, 2:49pm
No Ifs, No buts, make tax evaders pay.
Results from Wednesday's poll (see other post).
Meet City Square. 12.30pm.
http://ukuncut.org.uk/
Thanks for that Highland Cooncil. I'll spread the word. Hopefully snow won't deter folk travelling.
The bankers should be first in line though. They brought the country to its knees.
When sport becomes 'professional', when corporate interest is attracted, the big money follows. That kills the sport. Football, snooker, golf, once the cash pours in it degenerates into X factor on steroids. How many fans actually play? Maybe many, but how many could play professional? Probably none - not nowadays. The Olympics were fashioned to develop supreme beings of endurance and strength. Their uses were to be put as examples of what an army should aspire to - fighting forces. That it was competetive is a flaw in the human psyche - everyone laps it up.
Sport can bring people together, but let it be on the common, the green, the canteen snooker room. It should be bonding communities as it once did, when England's team were full time workers and back on shift Monday.
I guess you can tell I don't have a sporting bone in my body! But I had a whale of a time at an indoor Kart track with fellow employees years ago. Sport didn't really enter - that was pure fun! That's the problem, sport is no fun.
I think the idea of Glasgow getting "done" is hard to believe. When do they ever? Glasgow is the city that will benefit directly from visitors for the Games. It has also benefited bigtime from the massive work going on in the east end which the City Council has ignored for decades and allowed to fall into a shocking state in every way. Its the Scottish taxpayer who is getting done, not Glasgow.
Past a basic level I agree that sport isn't fun anymore Derek. In far too many sports money matters most. The best trainers, the best bikes, the best of everything is bought. Makes a fortune for the sports industry but gives short-lived pleasure to the majority.
You're quite possibly right Jo. What I was meaning is that Glasgow is paying twice for the Games, however it will come out far better off than the likes of Dundee.
I won't be travelling to any events as nobody close to me is involved. I'd rather watch a primary school's sports day for enjoyment.
Post a Comment