Team sports are "expected to move up the pecking order for public investment" when Sportscotland reveals its distribution of funding later this month, according to HERALD SCOTLAND. With around £12M ($18.2M) in government cash to distribute through its grants to governing bodies, as well as the support services provided through the Institute of Sport, the agency has been "given the green light to opt for a significant change of tack with women's football among the expected beneficiaries of a dual emphasis on achieving success and delivering wider societal returns." Dir of High Performance Mike Whittingham said that they "have had to make some tough decisions," despite "pressure which is understood to have been exerted on Sportscotland to cut its budget in the wake of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games." Whittingham is also "grappling" with an estimated 28% increase in proposed expenditure from the sports that "submitted requests for cash in the current spending review." However, the policy shift comes at a moment of strength for the Stirling-based Institute, which "contributed to a record medal haul" at the Commonwealth Games, bucking a trend that many argue has been underpinned by U.K. Sport's "obsessive pursuit of success in individual disciplines." Whittingham: "Historically, the U.K. has never done that well at team sports. ... We're driven by investment principles. We reviewed these and let sports knew what they were before Glasgow." Scotland, for now at least, "will go its own way with a looser target that will encourage collective success." Whittingham added, "That's defined for us as top six at a Commonwealth Games or the top 20 percent of the world rankings. We've looked at women's football and we think there's a great chance for us to work collaboratively to get a great result in '21-22, where we think the women can qualify for the World Cup" (HERALD SCOTLAND, 5/5).
