WHAT an enlightening letter from Robert McIntosh in Sunday’s National regarding the likely pervasive private school influence within the ranks of the Scottish Rugby Union, relative to the formal announcement of the 30 young male rugby players lucky enough (maybe not for all of them!) to be given contracts to FOSROC Scottish Rugby Academy.

So nothing has changed in that regard, as I recall well over 40 years ago how some rugby-playing friends regularly mocked the same disparity between state school players and the clear bias towards those from private schools to the point where some of them took great pleasure in beating THEM – they clearly tried harder than in a normal match! Is that attitude among young players (and others from state school sport and education) the same today? I’ll wager it mostly certainly is the same!

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And are they similarly aware of the ridiculous difference/division in the heavily-criticised two-tier education system that is still intact in this small country, Bella Caledonia, with unequal opportunities like this one being highlighted as usual? Although this is only the tip of the iceberg in my humble opinion, I must say the whole topic is worthy of a fully comprehensive newspaper article covering the different strands of a minority, wealth-driven education system that is steeped in institutional/political bias and providing all kinds of demographically disproportionate future opportunities to the few while ignoring similarly talented non-privately-educated individuals.

Sticking to the sporting theme, note we are almost a year away from participation in the Paris Olympic Games. It will be interesting to scrutinise the official list of approved GB sportsmen/sportswomen in order to identify if more than 50% of these people are from private school backgrounds, as highlighted in the previous two Olympics in London and Tokyo – an absolutely disproportionate outrage that drew rightful criticism at the time! And yet the “powers that be” carried on regardless, influenced (possibly infiltrated) in much the same way as the SRU.

One could go further and quite easily identify Olympic sports that are represented by this minority group of wealthy people – rowing, hockey, equestrian events, sailing, archery, shooting events, skiing. Cycling possibly fits in to that category as well, mainly because of the massive expense attached to the sports equipment these days. And certain other sports are not extensively accommodated in state schools either! Indeed, I’d call some of them “niche sports” as they are not accessible to many people across the globe due to the huge expense attached to the equipment that one requires to train in the sport.

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I could move on from sport to the huge issue of plum jobs being given to this select group of privileged people who are still being favoured in a variety of different ways while successive sitting governments in Scotland have hardly touched the surface of this divisive educational problem in much the same way as they haven’t dealt with the pressing need for effective land reform measures to be brokered. I suspect fear of reprisal is a huge factor in this failure to act. Courageous politicians of repute/resolve are definitely few and far between!

We cannot continue towards a modern progressive Scotland full of equal opportunities and hope without redressing these kind of problems that have festered in our society for a very long time.

Bernie Japs
Edinburgh