The Games People Play

the Commonwealth games, and with Scotland playing host, we asked,

what impact if any it will have on the upcoming referendum in The Games

People Play. There has never been a summer like

it. Glasgow host the 20th Commonwealth Games. And Great

Britain have won the gold for the team sprint. Let us not forget, that

is the fifth gold medal. Scotland's's best athletes will get

the chance to compete at one of the world's great sporting events two

months before we get the chance to decide on the future of our country.

When it comes to sport, issues of political and national identity can

become the source of real tension and disagreement. I remember one of

the English officials saying that this is strictly Team GB. This is

Great Britain boxing. You are not Scottish. I am an absolutely proud

Scot. But I am also a proud Briton. Will this summer of sport make any

difference to the future of Scotland?

John Beattie, number eight. What a game he has played today!

My name is John Beattie. For the last 20 years, I have worked as a

journalist and broadcaster. But for sports fans, I guess I am still best

known for the eight short years when I played Rugby Union for Scotland.

Tonight, I want to bring those combined experiences together. To

look at what happens when my world of sport collides with the world of

politics. Beattie goes! Out goes Scott Hastings. And Scott Hastings

has scored! What a magnificent... I have been lucky enough to play rugby

at a high level. And then, as a commentator, attend many of the

world's great sporting events. When I was a youngster, I loved

simplicity and purity of sport. I didn't have a problem when

politicians should up at big sporting occasions. After all,

events like the Commonwealth Games are paid for out of our taxes. And

we hold all other political leaders accountable. So they need to be

involved. But has sport become tainted by the political world's

cynicism and manipulation? Totally exhausting. I was just

watching. Completely and utterly emotionally spent. Andy Murray is a

great tennis player. Now he is a great Wimbledon champion.

Politicians of all parties are now happy to get a free ride on the back

of our sporting heroes. From us, to the people of Scotland, let the

message be this. We want you to stay. Let's have a look at these.

Rugby Union. I was proud to play for Scotland 25 times before my career

was ended by injury. It meant I didn't get the chance of playing in

what was perhaps the most famous and, to many certainly, the most

political game in history. In 1990, England and Scotland had both

already beaten Ireland, Wales and France. If either side won at

Murrayfield, that would achieve what in rugby is known as a Grand Slam.

And I think that day was about far more than just rugby. And welcome to

the commentary box at Murrayfield... That year, Scotland was in political

turmoil. Tens of thousands of Scots had taken to the streets to protest

against Margaret Thatcher's dreaded poll tax.

It was the first time Flower of Scotland had been played at

Murrayfield on a big game. # Oh, flower of Scotland.

# When will we see your likes again? #.

You could see it meant something to the crowd and the players. There was

something happened in the stadium that day. I think it changed the

relationship between Scotland and England, certainly on a rugby level.

Maybe on a deeper level. But something happened that day. The

referee's whistle goes for the end of the game, and Scotland have won a

famous victory! One of the unique occasions in rugby union football!

And Scotland have won by 13`7. And the scenes of euphoria here! Rugby

legend, David Sole, lead us to victory that day. 24 years later,

David is convinced that politics and sport should be kept apart. Even

though he is an active supporter of Better Together. A remember one team

talk when it was about me punching somebody... The thing is, you as

David Sole, you are the man who walked the team out of the tunnel

down there. And there have been books written. The books say that

was political. The whole game was political. It is complete and utter

nonsense as far as I am concerned. Clearly, if you wanted to beat them.

And there was nothing other than defeating England that afternoon

that I wanted more than anything else. But the poll tax was

irrelevant. Thatcher's government was irrelevant. When Scotland played

England, I would sing Flower of Scotland. I would sing God Save The

Queen. Because I am a proud Briton. I am an incredibly roads got, but a

proud Briton as well. But some athletes are as ready to fight for

independence as they work to fight for their country. Amazing, Alex

South `` amazing Alex Arthur started training in the same gym in Leith

where he now trains his son. I thought I had made it, being hit by

an Irish rugby player, and then you are boxing for your country, what

was that like? Unbelievable, boxing against England, who better to play

your first international match against, I think I was 13 or 14, and

it seemed like the biggest thing that had ever happened in my life. I

never lost an international against England. That was great.

Thank you very much to Scott's gold medallist, Alex Arthur, and the sole

tyre being waved in triumph. At the 1988 Commonwealth games, Alex says

he was warned not to emphasise he was Scottish if you wanted to fight

at the Olympics two years later. I was told by a top English official

prior to the podium that I should not take my sole tyre if I was

seriously thinking about my future Olympic prospects. `` my Saltire.

Eye had won a medal for Scotland and I would wave the flag in front of

the world media. Let someone know I was Scottish and not British. Being

picked to represent your nation against the old enemy can be

intoxicating. `` Auld Enemy. This game has had nastiness and the

referee will want to sort this out. It became part we are fitting that

microwave hitting an Englishman became part of tactics. One player

to a phone call and he was looking at me and put the phone down and

said it was his brother and reckons John Beattie should punch one of the

English players. And I'm going, Norway, but all the rest of the

players said good idea. `` I'm going, no way. So it is tactics that

I was to hit a friend of mine. We went on the pitch and I was so

excited that I ran into one by mistake, he was six foot eight, he

fell down... A bit of an adamant there. Looking back, I think I was

mistaken, but you think you were going to war for your country in the

ring? On seven occasions, I did, definitely. Especially in the

Commonwealth Games, because you knew the world was watching and you were

competing for Scotland, not for anyone else, it was not for Team GB

or for monetary reasons, or to get sponsors, you were fighting for your

country, you had the blue vest on, you wanted to win for Scotland, you

cannot get bigger. But it was not all glory days in the blue jersey.

We played Australia. I chased a bloke down the wing, it ended up

being on the opening highlights for five seasons. William rugby! ``

brilliant rugby! Will John Beattie catching? And another marvellous

Australian try! I went to work on the Monday and every single labourer

was shouting, you were rubbish, you were Shi'ite! So I had to hundred

metres of everybody on the building laughing at me stop and I went to

the canteen and there was a wee girl and she asked what I was having, I

said I was not hungry, I said I would have a cup of coffee and a

Mars bar. She said, David doesn't eat Mars bars. Spin and the

manipulation of public opinion has now come much closer to home. I do

not love sport as much as I used to love it. When you are in the middle

of it as a player, you believe it to be something beautiful and through

and representing your country, winning and losing, but the more

events you go to you realise it is to do with show, spectacle, phoney

war, people unloading flights for crowds to wave. Anthems, new

anthems, it has now become one great big show, it is a party, big

events, big sporting events I think our party now. Connie Ramsey was

kind enough to show me some basic judo moves last year and is going

for gold in Scotland this year in the Commonwealth Games.

Fighting for my country, for Scotland, is a big achievement for

me, especially with the games coming up and having your own crowd behind

you, your family being able to be there, it will be out of this world.

She has little doubt that a winning performance on how home`grown could

have ramifications we're beyond the personal. If you win the gold medal

and you are out there in a Scottish tracksuit, you are crying, holding

the Thistle, proud to be Scottish, what a day this is for me, someone

will say, yes, we can be an independent country. 20 people at

least will say they will vote yes. Yes, but winning the gold medal is

more reporting to me at this stage of my life and career. Owning it for

my team. And your country. Della but for my country and my family and a

video therapist. The men who run the Olympics have

always opposed any attempt to allow politics to affect the purity of the

games. The other games are geographical. The Olympic games are

universal. But all do the same thing. The Commonwealth games happen

to come from a political unit, but for any sports official, it is about

bringing young people together and involving them in sport. I was

speaking to Alex Arthur, the boxer, who said he was not allowed to see

he was doing this for Scotland, there was a message, the Bull told

what to say. He would be told what to say in that respect, in that

there is a clear International Olympic Committee ruled that

athletes may not use the game or any form of political purposes. I have

experience of athletes turning up wanting to wear Scottish flags at

the Olympic Games, which are not allowed by International Olympic

Committee rules. To that extent, they are told they may not cover

that issue and they do not allow them to speak of that. But apart

from that, they can do what they wish. Even though he insists there

is no place for politics and sport, he is willing to a server that an

independent Scotland would not be able to compete at the 2016 Olympic

Games in Rio. The country has to be an independent nation recognised by

the international community. If Independence Day is to be March,

18th of March 2016, and the games that in July 2016, I simply do not

know how long it would take to get recognition by the United Nations.

So I think the timing is against a Scottish team in Rio. So campaigning

for a yes vote in the independence referendum may mean Connie Ramsay

would miss out on the sporting opportunity of a lifetime.

If Scotland was independent, and you could not compete for Team GB, would

you still want to be an independent country? I would have to say yes,

because although I am looking for my future and want to make the games,

my goals since I was a child, I am also looking at the future for other

athletes, not just getting independence for me, but make

Scotland the best country it can be and if this benefits as cotton can

have their own Olympic country and may be `` benefits Scotland. And

maybe my kids can fight for Scotland, I think that will be good.

It is what I am hoping for. So do you think Scotland would have a team

at 2016? They would miss on the basis of adhering to Olympic rules

and simply they would be timed out. But wouldn't you fight as a Scot to

get them in? I was not, I was proud to be chairman of the Olympic

Association and elite athletes in Scotland are being served very well

by membership of Team GB. They have benefited hugely from the very large

amounts of UK funding that is available. And they are now less of

proud Scots to win Olympic gold medals.

Just how political will these Commonwealth Games be?

It's pretty obvious why politicians want to be up there with athletes,

they want the reflected glory, it has gone on since time began,

probably. They want to have that gold dust

sprinkled onto them, they want to be viewed as being? I

think they want to be thanked. Footballer turned Yes campaigner's

Michael Stewart's proudest moment was playing in a Scottish shirt.

For me it is simple, it is a case of self`determination.

Once you realise the resources and the wealth we have in Scotland, it

is a simple question of who's best placed to put it in the best use.

I think without a shadow of a doubt, the people here

in Scotland are the ones best to do that rather than the elite

in Westminster who are increasingly showing to be detached from the rest

of England, never mind Scotland. Stewart.

No problem at all, really, is it? The ultimate achievement is to go

and represent your country and thankfully I was able to do

that, and got a couple of caps at international level.

When you stand there and the national anthem is being played,

you take a second to yourself and realise this is the ultimate.

Michael may have only stopped playing a few years ago, but he has

been quick to learn the new rules of political point scoring.

A lot of people in Scotland are scared.

They say, what happens, are we big enough?

Can we stand on our own two feet? There is no reason why we can't.

With sport, you can increase the belief

and confidence in yourself and not away a lot of the scaremongering.

These are a lot of things that at times, you look at the Edinburgh

trams, for example. Massively overbudget,

we cut sells up about it. But we have to applaud ourselves

at times. The Commonwealth games is

on time and on budget and these things have to be applauded.

It is the exposure to the rest of the world to see what Scotland

is, it is a vital time in history as well and it is an exciting time.

So much at stake, it is natural nothing is left to chance.

I first saw what a big sporting event was like when I first went to

the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. It was huge, massive.

100,000 people at the cricket ground, sunny days

every time and great programs. Beautiful place, wonderful events

great weather, everyone is there. No drugs.

And what you end up with is interviewing people whose you

see have been media trained. What I hadn't expected was

the choreography could even extend to the way the athletes behaved

on the podium. I interviewed a swimmer

and she said how she was fed up. I said, you look perfectly chirpy.

She said, I got podium training. She said, even if you lose the race,

you are viewed around the world as an Australian,

you have to get out the poll, which attracted on, get

on the podium and smile like crazy. Wave to the right and left

in middle, even if you win bronze. It struck me, why are we teaching

people how to behave on a podium? What is that really to

do with modern sport? What it takes away is

the spontaneity. The reality, the truth,

the humanity of this great person who has done this

since they were seven years old. We have athletes been trained

to be like politicians. They're now talking

the way politicians do. Thankfully at the London Olympics

there was the odd athlete who didn't follow the script.

Remember 16`year`old Michaela Maroney,

who won bronze in gymnastics when she was expected to get gold

and who clearly had not get the memo about how to behave on the podium.

It was refreshing to see her. But the interesting thing is also

that Obama used that to help himself by saying the same thing.

There you have the person who is acting the least politically

correctly on the podium being used for a political message by a leader.

What goes around comes around. But at London, the usual was

tightly choreographed, shiny happy people making the country swoon.

I saw people handing out union flags.

Not everyone who came had bought Union flag,

so where do they all come from? Why were they handed out to

the crowd? What did it do to

the background image? Was it a political display?

Who will benefit in the long`term from the games? It will benefit

people in Glasgow because of the facility build that has been going

on. The challenge then is to make sure the host city knows how to make

use of them there after and makes full use of them and gets people to

take part in sport. The depressing part is that even after events like

the London Olympics, public participation in sport appears to

actually go down. As you and I sit here in government, I can't imagine

and a beast child in Govan suddenly taking up weightlifting or going

cycling. `` and obese child. Too many people want the games

organisers to be responsible for the legacy. In fact, it is the host

country or the host city that has the legacy responsibility and it is

up to them to make use of the new facilities and to have programmes

that will encourage people into sport and stay there. The

Commonwealth Games might not affect our children's health, but things

might be very different when it comes to the games' political

legacy. Even though he was at the centre of one of Scotland's most

political sporting moments, David is convinced it is very important to

keep politics out of sport. I think for either the yes or no campaigns

to use the Commonwealth Games as a political platform would be

absolutely desperate. When people watch it, even if it is not being

jumped on by politicians, people might think, actually, I am more

proud to be Scottish and they might go and vote yes in the referendum.

That is up to them. I hope they would make the choice on a rational

basis and based on the rational argument and the beliefs they hold.

But for those committed to a future where Scotland can compete on the

world stage as an independent sporting nation, the Glasgow games

could have been major political impact. When you are in a ring alone

with one other man and his intention is to flatten you and your intention

is to flatten him, it is a bit like to countries. You can make what you

want of that, but that is the truth of the matter. You believe in

independence. Do you think a good Commonwealth Games will help the

cause? I think if Scotland can produce some very good medals, which

they are capable of doing, I think it will give it a boost and a buzz

around the country. Trying to stay dry these two worlds of sport and

politics, it is easy to forget what sport should really be about. ``

trying to straddle. I think the biggest moment I have had was in

London 2012. I wasn't accredited, but I managed to sneak in beside BBC

Wales, behind BBC Wales into the stadium to watch you seen balls's

final. I was hiding from security and I was right on the finish line.

Runners were right on the finish line. There were 80,000 people, warm

ran, he played to the crowd, but I ran, he played to the crowd, but I

watched the crowd as he ran. As he ran, I turned and looked at the

crowd. All I saw was everyone's smiling. Everybody was smiling. But

was a moment I understood what sport is actually about. It is about

making people happy. He made everyone happy. I think the strange

and sometimes worrying relationship between these two worlds, where

politicians try to ride on the shoulders of our elite athletes and

our sporting heroes have learnt a dock that politicians, is now sadly

irreversible. I want people to understand what they are watching.

There are watching a statement of the country's intent, they're

watching a statement of national pride. They are watching a

stage`managed event. They are watching the world's biggest

happiness pill. Bizarrely, I would love to be at the Commonwealth Games

as a Brit is up on. I think it would be fantastic. I would swap

everything for one bash at the 100 metres, or maybe boxing. Boxing

would be good. Another hot day across much of

England and Wales, but there is a change taking place. Temperatures

dropping back to where they should be. In