Latest news with #Whittle
Glasgow Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
'Angry' MSP calls for compromise with SFA and SPFL over 'skulduggery'
However, Whittle, who was a member of the Public Petitions Committee at the Scottish parliament when the governing bodies were urged to scrap regulations which had been branded 'exploitative' back in 2020, expressed his frustration at youth football campaigners turning to legal representatives in an attempt to achieve their objectives during heated exchanges. He called for compromise from both sides so that a long-running dispute which has now raged for 15 years can be settled and change achieved which enables promising players to flourish at elite professional clubs and kids who fail to make it in the paid ranks to remain involved in the sport. The Scottish Conservatives politician was speaking following a meeting of the Health, Social Care and Sport committee at Holyrood which heard evidence from Nick Hobbs of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, Scott Robertson of RealGrassroots and Mahesh Madlani and Alex Waksman of Gunnercooke. RealGrassroots and the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland made complaints to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) back in December about four SFA and SPFL statutes which they alleged violated UK competition law and potentially constituted the economic exploitation of children. Read more: The CMA wrote to the SFA and SPFL in March reminding them of their obligations to comply with competition law and recommending they assess their practices. Whittle, while expressing his concern about the disputed 'no poach', 'no approach', 'unilateral extension' and 'development contribution' rules, admitted that he would now like to see the two factions reach agreement which benefitted the Scottish game. Hobbs, the head of investigations with the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, alleged the Wellbeing Panel which was set up to determine if players in the CAS set-up could be released from a controversial two year registration which they sign when they turn 15 acted in the interest of the clubs not children. 'The Wellbeing Panel is a really good example of the kind of attitude that underpins all of this,' he told the committee. 'On the surface, it looks and sounds like a very positive mechanism for facilitating that movement between the clubs where necessary. 'But when we met with the SFA we asked, 'In what circumstances would you envisage a wellbeing panel would refuse permission for a child to move from one club to another'. They weren't able to tell us. That strongly suggests to me that the wellbeing panel exists not as a mechanism to facilitate that movement, but as an obstacle to prevent it from happening. 'Children will tend not to raise complaints when there are significant administrative processes that they have to go through and barriers that they have to jump over. I think The Wellbeing Panel is designed to restrict movement between clubs rather than facilitate it. 'The underlying issue here, and it always has been, is that the clubs principally view these children as economic assets and have rules and processes in place which allow them to be monetised. That SFA has made rules which are in the interests of clubs and not of the children.' (Image: SNS Group) Whittle, who won European Championship and Commonwealth Games medals and competed in the Olympics during his running career, expressed hope that Ian Maxwell, SFA chief executive, and Neil Doncaster, his SPFL counterpart, would address the accusations in person when they are called in front of the committee following the Scottish parliament's summer recess. However, he revealed that he has two grandchildren who are members of the CAS system and stressed that their experiences did not tally with the evidence which had been given. He said, 'The changes which have been made to the unilateral extension rule are an adequate compromise if they're actually applied properly. The devil's in the detail here. The reality is that some do it properly, some don't. So I would like to see the application of the rule tightened up rather than the rule changed. The rule is not a problem. The application of the rule is where we need to start looking. 'There are some significant issues which need to be tackled. I have spoken to Mr Maxwell about this in a meeting we had at the SFA offices about six weeks ago. I was equally upset in that meeting as I was today. The 'no approach' rule, for example, doesn't make sense to me whatsoever. What nonsense is that? That's restrictive to everybody. 'But that's not getting to the nub of what the problem is. That's why I was getting so frustrated, because this is not getting us to where we need to be. We need to start with a blank bit of paper and say, 'What do we want?' We want a system here where we bring kids in at one level and they have the ability to route map all the way through to international level. 'But along the way there are other stations where their talent can be utilised, even if that's just playing five-a-side football with their pals. That's not happening at the moment. There's lots of things we could be doing and should be doing that would make it much better.' Read more: He added, 'I'm not optimistic the change that is needed can be achieved. If you get two sides so entrenched, it's very difficult to find compromise. My problem is this is a real grassroots issue, but all we heard from were lawyers. You're never going to get a compromise out of that. 'The SFA and SPFL will always be on the defensive if lawyers are involved. If it's a legal problem, deal with it in the courts. They kept saying, 'They're breaching this, they're breaching that'. But they've proved nothing. 'Some of the things they were saying in there did not reflect my experiences. I've got a couple of grandkids who are in the Club Academy Scotland system. One moved from a smaller club to a bigger club as well. I never saw any problems. Don't get me wrong, there are problems. If you've got 2,700 kids and you've got all these clubs, you know there is some skulduggery going on. 'But as it's not just in Scottish football where there are problems. In my sport, in track and field, if you move to a club without it being okayed you get a nine month ban. You need to have extenuating circumstances. The clubs have to agree or Scottish Athletics have to say, 'You're allowed'.' Whittle continued, 'I am quite frustrated. I think the SFA and the SPFL have got questions to answer here. But I heard a lot of conflated evidence here today which I was actually quite angry about. 'We need to get the two sides in the room with the same objective. We all have the same objective. We want to get all the kids to play football. We want all levels of football to be at their best. We want Scotland to win the World Cup. That's not going to happen obviously, but that's what we want. At the moment, the system is not allowing that to happen.' The SFA and SPFL were both approached for comment. Back in March, an SFA spokesperson said, 'We have been in dialogue with the CMA and will continue to monitor our policies and procedures in line with FIFA regulations.'
The National
3 days ago
- Politics
- The National
'Angry' MSP calls for compromise with SFA and SPFL over 'skulduggery'
However, Whittle, who was a member of the Public Petitions Committee at the Scottish parliament when the governing bodies were urged to scrap regulations which had been branded 'exploitative' back in 2020, expressed his frustration at youth football campaigners turning to legal representatives in an attempt to achieve their objectives during heated exchanges. He called for compromise from both sides so that a long-running dispute which has now raged for 15 years can be settled and change achieved which enables promising players to flourish at elite professional clubs and kids who fail to make it in the paid ranks to remain involved in the sport. The Scottish Conservatives politician was speaking following a meeting of the Health, Social Care and Sport committee at Holyrood which heard evidence from Nick Hobbs of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, Scott Robertson of RealGrassroots and Mahesh Madlani and Alex Waksman of Gunnercooke. RealGrassroots and the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland made complaints to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) back in December about four SFA and SPFL statutes which they alleged violated UK competition law and potentially constituted the economic exploitation of children. Read more: The CMA wrote to the SFA and SPFL in March reminding them of their obligations to comply with competition law and recommending they assess their practices. Whittle, while expressing his concern about the disputed 'no poach', 'no approach', 'unilateral extension' and 'development contribution' rules, admitted that he would now like to see the two factions reach agreement which benefitted the Scottish game. Hobbs, the head of investigations with the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, alleged the Wellbeing Panel which was set up to determine if players in the CAS set-up could be released from a controversial two year registration which they sign when they turn 15 acted in the interest of the clubs not children. 'The Wellbeing Panel is a really good example of the kind of attitude that underpins all of this,' he told the committee. 'On the surface, it looks and sounds like a very positive mechanism for facilitating that movement between the clubs where necessary. 'But when we met with the SFA we asked, 'In what circumstances would you envisage a wellbeing panel would refuse permission for a child to move from one club to another'. They weren't able to tell us. That strongly suggests to me that the wellbeing panel exists not as a mechanism to facilitate that movement, but as an obstacle to prevent it from happening. 'Children will tend not to raise complaints when there are significant administrative processes that they have to go through and barriers that they have to jump over. I think The Wellbeing Panel is designed to restrict movement between clubs rather than facilitate it. 'The underlying issue here, and it always has been, is that the clubs principally view these children as economic assets and have rules and processes in place which allow them to be monetised. That SFA has made rules which are in the interests of clubs and not of the children.' (Image: SNS Group) Whittle, who won European Championship and Commonwealth Games medals and competed in the Olympics during his running career, expressed hope that Ian Maxwell, SFA chief executive, and Neil Doncaster, his SPFL counterpart, would address the accusations in person when they are called in front of the committee following the Scottish parliament's summer recess. However, he revealed that he has two grandchildren who are members of the CAS system and stressed that their experiences did not tally with the evidence which had been given. He said, 'The changes which have been made to the unilateral extension rule are an adequate compromise if they're actually applied properly. The devil's in the detail here. The reality is that some do it properly, some don't. So I would like to see the application of the rule tightened up rather than the rule changed. The rule is not a problem. The application of the rule is where we need to start looking. 'There are some significant issues which need to be tackled. I have spoken to Mr Maxwell about this in a meeting we had at the SFA offices about six weeks ago. I was equally upset in that meeting as I was today. The 'no approach' rule, for example, doesn't make sense to me whatsoever. What nonsense is that? That's restrictive to everybody. 'But that's not getting to the nub of what the problem is. That's why I was getting so frustrated, because this is not getting us to where we need to be. We need to start with a blank bit of paper and say, 'What do we want?' We want a system here where we bring kids in at one level and they have the ability to route map all the way through to international level. 'But along the way there are other stations where their talent can be utilised, even if that's just playing five-a-side football with their pals. That's not happening at the moment. There's lots of things we could be doing and should be doing that would make it much better.' Read more: He added, 'I'm not optimistic the change that is needed can be achieved. If you get two sides so entrenched, it's very difficult to find compromise. My problem is this is a real grassroots issue, but all we heard from were lawyers. You're never going to get a compromise out of that. 'The SFA and SPFL will always be on the defensive if lawyers are involved. If it's a legal problem, deal with it in the courts. They kept saying, 'They're breaching this, they're breaching that'. But they've proved nothing. 'Some of the things they were saying in there did not reflect my experiences. I've got a couple of grandkids who are in the Club Academy Scotland system. One moved from a smaller club to a bigger club as well. I never saw any problems. Don't get me wrong, there are problems. If you've got 2,700 kids and you've got all these clubs, you know there is some skulduggery going on. 'But as it's not just in Scottish football where there are problems. In my sport, in track and field, if you move to a club without it being okayed you get a nine month ban. You need to have extenuating circumstances. The clubs have to agree or Scottish Athletics have to say, 'You're allowed'.' Whittle continued, 'I am quite frustrated. I think the SFA and the SPFL have got questions to answer here. But I heard a lot of conflated evidence here today which I was actually quite angry about. 'We need to get the two sides in the room with the same objective. We all have the same objective. We want to get all the kids to play football. We want all levels of football to be at their best. We want Scotland to win the World Cup. That's not going to happen obviously, but that's what we want. At the moment, the system is not allowing that to happen.' The SFA and SPFL were both approached for comment. Back in March, an SFA spokesperson said, 'We have been in dialogue with the CMA and will continue to monitor our policies and procedures in line with FIFA regulations.'
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
'Angry' MSP calls for compromise with SFA and SPFL over 'skulduggery'
He called for compromise from both sides so that a long-running dispute which has now raged for 15 years can be settled and change achieved which enables promising players to flourish at elite professional clubs and kids who fail to make it in the paid ranks to remain involved in the sport. The Scottish Conservatives politician was speaking following a meeting of the Health, Social Care and Sport committee at Holyrood which heard evidence from Nick Hobbs of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, Scott Robertson of RealGrassroots and Mahesh Madlani and Alex Waksman of Gunnercooke. RealGrassroots and the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland made complaints to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) back in December about four SFA and SPFL statutes which they alleged violated UK competition law and potentially constituted the economic exploitation of children. Read more: The CMA wrote to the SFA and SPFL in March reminding them of their obligations to comply with competition law and recommending they assess their practices. Whittle, while expressing his concern about the disputed 'no poach', 'no approach', 'unilateral extension' and 'development contribution' rules, admitted that he would now like to see the two factions reach agreement which benefitted the Scottish game. Hobbs, the head of investigations with the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, alleged the Wellbeing Panel which was set up to determine if players in the CAS set-up could be released from a controversial two year registration which they sign when they turn 15 acted in the interest of the clubs not children. 'The Wellbeing Panel is a really good example of the kind of attitude that underpins all of this,' he told the committee. 'On the surface, it looks and sounds like a very positive mechanism for facilitating that movement between the clubs where necessary. 'But when we met with the SFA we asked, 'In what circumstances would you envisage a wellbeing panel would refuse permission for a child to move from one club to another'. They weren't able to tell us. That strongly suggests to me that the wellbeing panel exists not as a mechanism to facilitate that movement, but as an obstacle to prevent it from happening. 'Children will tend not to raise complaints when there are significant administrative processes that they have to go through and barriers that they have to jump over. I think The Wellbeing Panel is designed to restrict movement between clubs rather than facilitate it. 'The underlying issue here, and it always has been, is that the clubs principally view these children as economic assets and have rules and processes in place which allow them to be monetised. That SFA has made rules which are in the interests of clubs and not of the children.' (Image: SNS Group) Whittle, who won European Championship and Commonwealth Games medals and competed in the Olympics during his running career, expressed hope that Ian Maxwell, SFA chief executive, and Neil Doncaster, his SPFL counterpart, would address the accusations in person when they are called in front of the committee following the Scottish parliament's summer recess. However, he revealed that he has two grandchildren who are members of the CAS system and stressed that their experiences did not tally with the evidence which had been given. He said, 'The changes which have been made to the unilateral extension rule are an adequate compromise if they're actually applied properly. The devil's in the detail here. The reality is that some do it properly, some don't. So I would like to see the application of the rule tightened up rather than the rule changed. The rule is not a problem. The application of the rule is where we need to start looking. 'There are some significant issues which need to be tackled. I have spoken to Mr Maxwell about this in a meeting we had at the SFA offices about six weeks ago. I was equally upset in that meeting as I was today. The 'no approach' rule, for example, doesn't make sense to me whatsoever. What nonsense is that? That's restrictive to everybody. 'But that's not getting to the nub of what the problem is. That's why I was getting so frustrated, because this is not getting us to where we need to be. We need to start with a blank bit of paper and say, 'What do we want?' We want a system here where we bring kids in at one level and they have the ability to route map all the way through to international level. 'But along the way there are other stations where their talent can be utilised, even if that's just playing five-a-side football with their pals. That's not happening at the moment. There's lots of things we could be doing and should be doing that would make it much better.' Read more: He added, 'I'm not optimistic the change that is needed can be achieved. If you get two sides so entrenched, it's very difficult to find compromise. My problem is this is a real grassroots issue, but all we heard from were lawyers. You're never going to get a compromise out of that. 'The SFA and SPFL will always be on the defensive if lawyers are involved. If it's a legal problem, deal with it in the courts. They kept saying, 'They're breaching this, they're breaching that'. But they've proved nothing. 'Some of the things they were saying in there did not reflect my experiences. I've got a couple of grandkids who are in the Club Academy Scotland system. One moved from a smaller club to a bigger club as well. I never saw any problems. Don't get me wrong, there are problems. If you've got 2,700 kids and you've got all these clubs, you know there is some skulduggery going on. 'But as it's not just in Scottish football where there are problems. In my sport, in track and field, if you move to a club without it being okayed you get a nine month ban. You need to have extenuating circumstances. The clubs have to agree or Scottish Athletics have to say, 'You're allowed'.' Whittle continued, 'I am quite frustrated. I think the SFA and the SPFL have got questions to answer here. But I heard a lot of conflated evidence here today which I was actually quite angry about. 'We need to get the two sides in the room with the same objective. We all have the same objective. We want to get all the kids to play football. We want all levels of football to be at their best. We want Scotland to win the World Cup. That's not going to happen obviously, but that's what we want. At the moment, the system is not allowing that to happen.' The SFA and SPFL were both approached for comment. Back in March, an SFA spokesperson said, 'We have been in dialogue with the CMA and will continue to monitor our policies and procedures in line with FIFA regulations.'
West Australian
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Albany State Emergency Service volunteer Ben Whittle takes out Great Southern Volunteer of the Year Award
Albany SES volunteer Ben Whittle has won the top award at the Great Southern's Volunteer of the Year Awards with a range of community organisations and individuals recognised on the night. The annual awards recognise the work of volunteers across the region in a myriad of capacities, from the Albany Returned Services League to the Cancer Council, and from the emergency services to arts and radio. Mr Whittle, who accepted his Great Southern volunteer of the year award at a ceremony at Albany Entertainment Centre last Thursday, said he was proud to serve his community as an emergency services volunteer. 'It was good to get the acknowledgement more than anything, we're definitely kept busy and we do a hard job sometimes, so it's nice to be nominated and to be recognised by the community,' he said. 'There's always a new challenge and a new adventure with the SES, and I love a challenge, so I've loved my time volunteering with them and I'm planning on sticking around for a fair while yet. 'Volunteering is always an incredibly rewarding way to give back to the community, and there's a role out there for everyone, whether that's with us, we're always after even caterers and communications operators and that sort of thing, or elsewhere, there's so many different volunteer associations out there that there'll be something for everyone to do.' Mr Whittle won the coveted award out of a field of more than 10 nominees, including two other finalists: Cancer Council's Debby Davies and Albany RSL's Stephen Edmonds. The second major award of the night was the volunteer organisation of the year, which was awarded to Albany Historic Whaling Station. Managers Jen Bane and Alice Ackley received the award on the organisation's behalf with Ms Ackley acknowledging all the hard working volunteers in the room on the night and thanking all the organisation's supporters and volunteers. 'We're very honoured to be accepting this award tonight,' she said. 'We have some of our fabulous volunteers here who, each and every day, helped bring the story of our site. 'We offer such a wealth of experience to visitors of all backgrounds, and it's through our volunteers that this experience is just brought to a whole new level. 'Working 365 days a year, we've got a fabulous team that undertake our maintenance, greeting guests, welcoming people to site, looking after our plans and our wildlife, we're just so proud and honoured to have them as part of our team, and just delighted to be here tonight.' The four other nominees were Soroptimist International of Albany, Great Southern FM radio, RSLWA Albany branch and the Albany Over 50s Recreation Association.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Special anniversary marking 40 years of celebrating town's rich heritage
Forty years of celebrating, preserving and promoting a town's rich heritage will be marked this weekend. Horwich Heritage will celebrate four decades of existence on Saturday, May 24 from 10am to 1pm, with the opening of a special anniversary exhibition, which will run until July 31. Both the Mayor of Bolton and Mayor of Horwich will be there, with faces past and present who have been involved with the group also attending. The society was formed in 1985, in the wake of the closure of the Loco Works. Starting from nothing, it has grown to the stage where it has its own heritage centre on Beaumont Road and 300 Whittle and Geoff Waine, the group's 'founding fathers' (Image: Horwich Heritage) Chairman, Stuart Whittle, has been with the group from the start. He said: "It is quite an achievement. You can feel both proud and pleased with the way things have progressed over the years, coming from no money and no home to where we are now. "We are a fully-fledged heritage centre, we have over 300 members and have a lot of activities. We have every right to feel pleased with that." Speaking about Saturday, he said: "It will be a tribute to everyone who has been involved over the years. Unfortunately some of those are not with us anymore. A 'Wartime' theme at Horwich Carnival, 1992 (Image: Horwich Heritage)Read more: Fascinating insight into ancient history at exhibition - including Bronze Age dig Read more: 'There were wild celebrations when news of German surrender was announced' Read more: Celebrating Bolton's rich heritage at centre "But our members have been able to energise us and we have a good community. We want to keep it going in this way for as long as possible. "We have managed to recruit younger committee members and the membership is growing, so there is every hope and belief that this society can keep going for many years to come." A visit to Horwich Loco Works in 2018 (Image: Horwich Heritage) The group will also be running events to celebrate its anniversary over the coming year, including walks, talks at the centre and a celebratory party at its AGM on June 10. To keep up to date with goings on, visit their website here: He added: "The success of Horwich Heritage has been built on 'many shoulders' over the past 40 years and in particular we should remember the outstanding service given by Geoff Waine, Norman Pendlebury, Terry Almond, Geoff Pollitt and committee members Jean & Ken Webster and Betty Ainsworth. Sadly only Betty is still with us. "None of this success could have been achieved without the exceptional efforts of the society's committee and volunteers who ensure that the centre is open 6 days a week and that a steady stream of new speakers, events, exhibitions, displays and archive material is produced."
