05/06/2012 Sport Nation

Hello and welcome to the June edition of Sport Nation,

packed full with the best of Scottish sport.

Tonight - we have rugby, golf, more on the London Olympics,

and a new one for us - speedway.

Coming up - did you hear the one about the Dutchman

playing rugby for Scotland in Fiji?

I genuinely believe that if someone is proud to play for a country

and is going to give it their all, then they should.

Our best golfers talk to us about the summer season ahead.

We meet the Olympic hopeful in badminton,

who has the Celtic manager as a fan.

Not long after I won my world medal,

I went along to Celtic and I met him and he was really nice.

A special report into the financial troubles at speedway's Glasgow Tigers.

And a Scottish rugby legend,

Chris Paterson faces up to life beyond playing the game.

I'll have to schedule that in at some point, a training session, or go for a run,

so that was the first sign I thought actually, things are going to be different.

But first, how about this?

There's a man touring with the Scottish rugby squad,

but he's Dutch and he doesn't qualify to play.

But by next week, he'll be a Scot,

and he can freely pull on the blue jersey.

His name is Tim Visser. He plays for Edinburgh,

and he qualifies because he's lived here for three years.

Yes, Visser is touring Australia, Fiji and Samoa,

and now Scottish rugby is scouring the world for more non-Scots

to play under the same rules.

Eligibility has always been a hazy subject.

If you believe that you have to be born in a country to play for it,

then I was never eligible to play here at Murrayfield.

I was born in Borneo, lived in Malaysia till I was ten,

spent my days feeding monkeys, climbing frames

and being dressed in improbably baggy shorts.

But somehow, I'm proud to say, this happened.

Charged down by Beattie.

Clear run into the line. Beattie! The levelling score!

That's in black and white because it was ancient history.

Let's come slap bang up to date.

You were born in Holland but you're about to play for Scotland.

How come you qualify?

Since I've lived in Edinburgh for three years,

I qualify on the residency rule on the 12th June this summer.

Are you Scottish?

Er... Not from birth, but I do feel very Scottish, yes.

Explain that to me, how do you feel Scottish?

I've lived here for three years now and that is a long time.

I love the people here. I love the country.

Everyone's been really friendly.

They've made me feel at home right from the start.

You know, I would feel very proud to represent them.

There is obviously the cases where people haven't been wholehearted

and played for Scotland and then left only a year later.

You know, that's not my intention.

I've been here for three years,

I'm going to be here for another three years at least.

I'm on a contract till 2015.

I do... I do think this is my home now.

There's always going to be two sides to the story,

and people will think whatever they want to think,

and I genuinely believe if someone is proud to play for a country

and will give it their all, then they should,

as long as they obviously qualify on some sort of rule,

and the residency seems to be the rule,

so there's not much more I can do.

That's the story. So what do people think?

Here we are in Edinburgh, a stone's throw from where Tim Visser lives.

David Barnes, should we as a country be going abroad to find players

who might qualify to play for Scotland in three years?

I would say not. I think it's a fairly sad route to go down.

I'm all for a guy like Tim Visser paying his dues in Scotland

and being selected on merit,

but hunting people out is a completely different kettle of fish.

The rule's there to be used.

Other countries use it, so why don't we take advantage and use it?

If there's players out there who are willing to come to Scotland

and give their time to become a resident, then pick them.

To compete with the best, you've got to use every advantage you can get,

and if that means looking around the world,

then that's what I would expect our national team to do.

In 1990, Sean Lineen became the most famous kilted Kiwi of all time.

He was part of a Grand Slam-winning team.

A chance for Lineen!

It's a try! The whistle has gone! The arm is up!

And Sean Lineen has scored his first try for Scotland!

So how does he think Tim Visser will feel

if he pulls on the Scottish jersey later this summer?

He'll know the anthem I'm sure, Flower Of Scotland,

and he'll get out there and he could be an outstanding winger

for Scotland for years to come.

How weird was the whole thing for you though at the time?

Well, I think obviously having played club rugby in Scotland,

it's changed now, you've got the pro teams.

In the old days, you got to play against the other clubs

like Stirling County, Melrose, you got your head kicked in

every time you went down to the Borders,

so you had to really be better than the other players in your position,

right around the country,

so it was a real privilege to play for Scotland,

because you knew there were other guys behind you that wanted your jersey,

and this Kiwi that had come from the middle of nowhere

and suddenly, I'm playing for Scotland,

so I had to make sure I didn't let people down.

Lineen was part of a Scottish bloodline

but that was then, and this is now.

Visser's the first of many, as Scotland now scour the world

for foreign players - project signings.

Before eligibility could be defined by residency,

Jim Calder helped Scotland win the Grand Slam in 1984.

He's now chairman of Edinburgh, and I asked him to explain

this hunt for foreign targets.

Tim's been an standing player for Edinburgh for the last three years

and he's been top try scorer in the RaboDirect every season

and Edinburgh's not been in the top performing teams,

so I think from both Edinburgh and Scotland's point of view,

to have someone like Tim coming through is just fantastic.

I know that Edinburgh now, you have signed a player

on what's called a project term. Tell me about that.

Sure. This is a tight-head prop called WP Nel.

In two years' time,

he will qualify for Scotland under the eligibility rules.

On the way through, he'll contribute hugely to Edinburgh,

but crucially at the end of that period, he will be available to play for Scotland.

He's 25, 26, tight-head prop, so they come to their best

at the age of 28, 29, 30, and if it all works out,

Scotland will get a good three or four seasons out of WP Nel.

Will there be more people brought in on what you call project signings?

For Scotland to compete in years to come, we have to do this.

I don't see down the line there'll be seven or eight of them.

I do see each team, Edinburgh and Glasgow, having maybe two or three.

To be good enough to play for Edinburgh and Glasgow in years to come

will mean you will be good enough to make a difference at international level

and I don't think we've had that up until now.

So there you have it.

We've had South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders

playing for this country, and we're about to have a Dutchman,

but the big difference is now we're looking for players to come here

and stay for three years on the off-chance that one day,

they'll be good enough to play for Scotland,

and all the SRU's doing is playing by the rules.

The world's best golfer says he can't wait to get back to Scotland

to defend his Scottish Open title.

Yes, Luke Donald, one of a fleet of top-class golfers coming here

for the summer swing, as Phil Goodlad reports.

The galleries are growing.

The world's best are in town.

And the sun is out. Welcome to the golfing summer.

At this time of year, Wentworth is where the action is.

The flagship PGA championship,

attracting the cream of the European tour,

all ready to dazzle us with their skills,

both on and off the course.

I think this tends to be the start of the bigger tournaments I suppose,

and we've also played some in the Middle East, every week now,

good prize money, but this is the real start.

While the traditional golfing season here is just getting under way,

players on the worldwide European tour

have almost reached the midway point in their campaign.

It's a good time for European golf.

A celebration of how good European golf has become lately.

We hold a couple of the Major champions,

numbers one, two and three in the world, we have the Ryder Cup.

There's a lot to celebrate.

And it's a good time also for this man.

At 43, Paul Lawrie is in the form of his life.

Outside the world's top 250 just 18 months ago,

the 1999 Open champion now sits inside the top 30.

I'm very focused on what I'm trying to do.

The Ryder Cup's a big part of that.

I'm just trying to play every week as I can.

Not for a second am I thinking that I'm in there yet

so you just play one week at a time as hard as you can.

The Ryder Cup's at the end of September.

Do you have that time off?

No, I don't have anything in my diary that far ahead.

I'm not organised to be fair, not just because it's Ryder Cup.

We'll wait and see what happens.

The transatlantic battle for Samuel Ryder's famous trophy

looms large over the golfing summer.

Jose Maria Olazabal's quest to lead his European men to defend their crown,

and who better to turn to for advice than Mr Ryder Cup himself?

I've been speaking to Jose Maria, he's just staying ahead of me here

and we're going to have a chat afterwards

about not things that went well, that's easy,

it's the things that I thought were going to work out

that somehow didn't and I don't want him to make the same mistakes again.

The Americans are a forceful team now and they're a very proud nation

and they want it back.

If we can win the Ryder Cup away from home, it'll be a fantastic achievement.

Jealous? You should be, because this is part of golf's crown jewels,

and while traditionally, the battle for the claret jug

is the highlight of the golfing summer,

here in Scotland there are two rather important trophies to be played for.

It takes something special to come back from the dead.

I've been resurrected back here today to show you these bonnie trophies.

But Ayrshire hosting the amateur championship and Senior Open

this summer is enough for Old Tom Morris to make an appearance.

Golf's father figure passing on his knowledge to the stars of tomorrow.

Before the amateur championship, Great Britain and Ireland's amateur ladies are in Nairn

hoping to beat their American rivals to win the Curtis Cup

and in August, the Johnnie Walker championship at Gleneagles

is always a date to look forward to.

But the highlight of the golfing summer is a trip to the Highlands.

The Scottish Open hoping to make all the right headlines

after THAT weather 12 months ago.

Not a great week weather-wise but for me,

I was the one who walked away happy

and I had a great final round there, and I'm excited to go back.

I've heard they've done a few changes to the course,

lengthened it and added a few more bunkers.

I'm excited to go defend my title there.

It's been an uncertain 12 months for the event

that Donald won so convincingly.

Losing its sponsor led to rumours that the Scottish Open would move

from Castle Stuart, or disappear from the golfing calendar altogether

but that's all changed now that a new backer has been secured.

We're delighted to go back because it's the perfect -

Phil Mickelson said, Darren Clarke said, many players say,

it's the perfect preparation for an Open championship.

It's got its date in the calendar and if we hadn't kept it going,

we'd have possibly seen that crucial week going out of Britain again.

For people watching this,

you can tell them that the Scottish Open will be at Castle Stuart

the week before the Open championship for the foreseeable future?

Absolutely.

So the Scottish open at Castle Stuart is here to stay.

The stand-out date in a very busy Scottish golfing summer.

And so it's time to sit back, relax and take it all in.

After all, what's summer for if it's not to watch golf?

There are just 52 days until the opening ceremony of London 2012.

Words that will bring butterflies to many of the Scots

who have qualified for the Olympic Games.

Among them, badminton medal contender, Imogen Bankier.

Rhona's been to meet her and her English partner Chris Adcock

at the home of the sport in England.

This is Milton Keynes in leafy Buckinghamshire -

home of Badminton England,

and home for now of Scotland's Imogen Bankier.

In her bid to be the best, Bankier moved here over five years ago.

Training is intensive as pressure builds towards London 2012.

That's a typical mixed doubles session

so I'm on court with my partner, Chris,

and we're playing against another mixed doubles pair

and a coach as well, so we do a series of practices.

It's a lot harder with two but it's good

cos when you then go against two people,

it seems as if there's a massive court and there's so many gaps.

Bankier and Adcock established themselves as big hitters

by winning silver at last summer's World Championships.

Their coach believes an Olympic medal is well within their grasp.

They've beaten the world ranked top pair and the world champions twice

this season, so the potential is definitely there.

I think the Olympics is a very edgy game for anyone

so there's going to be a lot of upsets, I believe.

It can be quite busy.

It's quite a lively place to be,

and we've got about 30 people at the moment staying,

training full time as part of the GB programme.

So what we're walking over to now is the accommodation block,

where about 15 of us stay full time.

Obviously we've got our room here,

but then we eat all our meals in the badminton centre.

They've got a nice cafeteria upstairs,

and they provide us with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This is it. The Ritz suite.

'It is a bubble.'

You're here all the time, 24 hours a day,

and you can't get away from it.

That's maybe one of the downsides of being here,

is the commute and finding that work or badminton-to-life balance.

I don't regret my decision at all.

I think it's essential that I'm down here

because Chris is English and, yeah, I wouldn't be where I am now

if it weren't for the GB programme.

If it weren't for the English system,

which I've come in and taken advantage of.

Now, your dad is, of course, Ian Bankier, the Celtic chairman.

So how many heated discussions about media coverage of badminton,

as opposed to football, have gone on in your house?

Actually not as many heated discussions as you'd think!

Obviously I'm from a minority.

It's considered a minority sport, badminton.

It's so fast and it's so good to see live,

you hope that people will watch us

and be really inspired, and then take up the sport.

Maybe he can make a difference and open peoples' eyes

and we'll get some extra support.

I don't know. Anything would be good.

Do you go back and watch Celtic games at the weekend?

I try to. I've been to a couple.

I've been lucky enough to be in

the director's box for a couple

and I've met Neil Lennon and the rest of it.

It's been a really fun experience,

but recently I went with a couple of friends

and we were just in the crowd, and it was so much better!

I didn't want to say that, but it was just really fun!

Does Neil Lennon know what you do? Did they show an interest?

Yeah, actually, I met him

not long after I won my world medal.

I went along to Celtic and I met him and he was really friendly and nice.

My dad says he asks after me, but I said,

"Well, that's because he's trying to impress the chairman!"

But, yeah, he seemed like a really nice guy,

and I think it's brilliant to know that people ask after you,

and that's what you want for your sport.

In the Team GB badminton handbook,

Chris says that his ambition is to win an Olympic gold medal.

And in yours, you say you want to win an Olympic medal.

Oh! I should definitely change that to gold!

Yeah, we both said...

I need to update that!

We both said that we want an Olympic medal,

but now gold seems so much more realistic to us.

We've beaten the world number one pair and the world champions.

We've beaten them twice now.

And we finished the season

ranked 10 in the world.

And that's an accurate reflection of where we are.

But I think at the home games, with the support,

and with the whole occasion,

I think we can really push that extra mile.

I think we can get another fantastic result.

Now what has one gear, no brakes

and goes from 0 to 60 faster than a Formula 1 car?

Well, the answer is a speedway motorbike,

and there are two teams in Scotland.

And for one of those teams,

this last year has brought some mixed fortunes.

David McDade has been finding out.

MUSIC: "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses.

CHEERING

Every Sunday, Ashfield Stadium in Glasgow hosts the thrills...

Come on, James!

..and spills...

-Look how many of them fell down!

-HE LAUGHS

..of speedway.

APPLAUSE

It's the home of the Glasgow Tigers,

and they draw nearly 700 fans each week,

including stars of the small screen.

Just the smell of the engine and the fuel, you know.

And the noise.

And I forget, every time you drive near the stadium,

you can hear them doing warm-up laps.

You get this excitement. There's nothing quite like it.

No other one thing makes me feel like that.

The team's been going for nearly seven decades,

and they've just had one of their best years yet.

That's the Premier Division trophy from last season.

The Scottish Cup from last season.

The Summer Cup from last season.

The Super Cup! The Super Cup! >

And the Premier League Pairs from last season,

when we were a very successful side.

But sporting triumphs have been tempered

by financial adversity,

at the venue they share with the local junior football team.

We'll just walk round to behind the goal area.

'We weren't hours from going out of business,

'but we were maybe weeks.'

We find ourselves with some accumulated debt,

which we've been unable to pay off as yet.

The debt came about as a consequence of changing the shape of the track.

The track here was a bit tight,

so by widening it, it gave them a greater expanse to race on,

which would lead to more passing and more excitement.

The track slopes down quite substantially.

The rains that fell came down, flooded the park constantly.

Caused a lot of flooding

and we had to make pitch changes.

We had to put drains in.

We're not yet out of the woods.

I would sum it up this way,

by saying the patient is still in hospital,

but the patient is out of the critical situation.

It's an institution in the city.

It's one of the longest sporting institutions.

Well, there's an emotional tie.

There's also a loyalty,

and there's also not wanting to let fans down in any way,

by having to close the club.

And it's clear that's something

the team's ardent followers are eager to avoid.

It's a big thing for our family. We're here every Sunday.

It's something we all do together,

and we'd be devastated if the Tigers went out of existence.

It would be a disaster!

I don't know what any of us would do on a Sunday.

A really big part of our lives would be missing, I think.

One year we weren't in business,

and it was the most miserable year we've ever had.

It was 1996? '95? And it was terrible.

So we don't want to do that again.

A large or a medium?

The target sum for safety is around £30,000.

And the fans are doing their bit to boost the club's coffers.

I was asked to be chair of the fighting fund,

and we've six people on the committee.

We've been working at a Rider Of The Night.

Every Sunday we'll get some volunteers to go round

after heat nine, asking people if they want to vote for

Glasgow Tigers' Rider Of The Night.

Half the money goes to the rider with the most votes,

and the other half goes to the fighting fund.

Everybody's trying to keep us going.

And we need it. Yep.

£900 to the fighting fund. Well done!

CHEERING AND HORNS

This is another major help today

and it's great that the fans are mucking in

in our hour of need, so to speak.

Now we all know that John is a bit of a rugby legend.

But when it comes to breaking records,

this next chap tops the lot.

Chris Paterson has hung up his boots,

but leaves behind a remarkable career.

Yes, he's the record cap holder with 109 international appearances,

and the highest scorer, 809 points.

Not bad for a wee guy!

Rhona caught up with him just after his last competitive appearance.

MUSIC: "Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

I just want to take you back, first of all,

to your last competitive match.

Describe your emotions.

I don't think you ever know how exactly you're going to feel

until the final whistle goes.

But then, as the kick-off grew closer, it was,

"In a couple of hours, that's going to be it."

And you wait with a wee bit of anticipation

to see how you're going to feel.

Allan Jacobsen came up to me in warm-up and said,

in his own special way,

"This will be the last time we ever work together."

That kind of hit home,

because we'd played together since the '90s.

I can honestly say I felt really happy when the final whistle went.

The reception from the crowd here at Murrayfield was fantastic.

I genuinely retired happy,

and I think it maybe underlines

that it was the right decision for me.

Tim asked me, "So when do you train next?"

And it hit home at that point. "Actually, I don't know," I said.

"I'll need to schedule that at some point!"

A training session, or going to the gym, or a run.

So that was the first sign.

I thought, "Actually, things are going to be different."

It's wee changes like that that sometimes hit home.

I think, "Actually, I won't play out there again."

So in the 14 years, best bit, and worst bit?

Both of them would be 20 minutes apart.

My hundredth cap in Cardiff.

When it eventually came,

and I led the side out at Cardiff,

it was that feeling of elation and pride.

COMMENTATOR: Chris Paterson to receive a standing ovation

from 70-odd thousand here

in the Millennium Stadium, to mark his 100th cap for Scotland.

And 20 minutes later,

I was in the back of an ambulance heading to A&E

with the worst injury of my career.

I split my kidney.

I lacerated and split my kidney and had some internal bleeding.

Which we didn't know.

I played on for 20 minutes,

thinking I'd maybe damaged a rib.

But it got worse and worse.

Usually you take knocks in international games

that wear off and get better as you go.

But this was getting worse and worse, and eventually,

I don't know that anyone would have expected what happened.

I've never seen it on a rugby field before,

so it was a shock to me when I found out how bad it was.

'Chris Paterson desperately sad on this momentous occasion.'

It's funny these happened so close together.

So best and worst would be about 20 minutes apart.

And your next challenge is as a coach.

How ambitious are you, for how far you can go with this?

Well, I'm an ambitious person, and whatever I set my mind to,

I've always tried to do as best I can.

Be as good at it as you can,

but also get as high up the ladder as possible.

You know what pressure is like, as in, you've had to place a kick

that could win a game in front of a capacity crowd here at Murrayfield.

So that's one kind of pressure.

What do you think about the pressure you see

people like Andy Robinson under?

Frank Hadden had a whole lot of pressure as well.

It must be worse than playing, because as a player,

you can have an impact.

You can make a difference on the field.

As a coach, you can't.

You're 30 yards away, sitting there.

And I know as a player, we've worked on things through a week,

and the first thing you do on a Saturday

is the complete opposite to what you worked on.

A coach can't control that.

You said that you're ambitious, and that you're competitive.

So do you have your eye on, hopefully one day, the Scotland job?

I think I need to learn a whole set of skills.

I'm starting off something new,

and starting at the bottom rung of the ladder.

I'm a competitive person, as you say.

I want to do the best I can,

but having only studied PE teaching before turning professional,

I don't have experience as a coach.

I don't have experience outside the rugby playing environment.

So I need to, I suppose,

learn what I enjoy.

I might struggle to coach.

I might really not enjoy it.

Getting overly frustrated at not being able to get out on the field.

I might really embrace it, and push myself on.

But at the moment, I want to commit myself to learn as much as possible.

Especially this coaching side and do as best I can.

COMMENTARY: Here comes drop goal. Chris Paterson!

-He's got it!

-He has nailed it!

Oh, and it's intercepted by Paterson!

And Paterson goes straight to the line!

Paterson goes for the drop goal.

Strikes it cleanly through the posts.

A simply impeccable kicking display from Chris Paterson.

The remarkable Chris Paterson.

Well, that's it for tonight.

John and I will be on Olympic duty for the next Sport Nation.

Yes, we're in London for an Olympic special,

the night before the opening ceremony.

Make sure you join us for that. That's Thursday 26th July.

And follow us on Twitter, @bbcsportnation.

And we're on BBC Radio Scotland every Saturday morning at 9AM.

-We'll see you next time.

-Bye-bye.