Press Release
Shetland named European Community of Sport 2013
Publication Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012
Happy Shetlanders after prestentation of the prestigous prize. l-r Gary Robinson, Shetland Islands Council Political Leader, Allan White, Architect who designed all the Centres, Joe Irvine, Chairman Shetland Recreational Trust and James Johnston, General Manager Shetland Recreational Trust and Vice Chairman of the International Island Games Association
Record levels of participation in sport and first-class leisure facilities with enthusiastic and expert staff have earned Shetland the prestigious accolade of European Community of Sport 2013. Representatives of Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT), which runs eight leisure centres for just 22,000 people, and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) were recently in Brussels to receive the award from the European Capitals of Sport, known as ACES.
Shetland’s sports facilities are a legacy of the money received from the oil industry after the construction of the Sullom Voe oil terminal in the late 1970s built to handle North Sea oil. James Johnston, General Manager of SRT and Vice Chairman of the International Island Games Association, attended the presentation at the European Parliament with Trust Chairman Joe Irvine and SIC Political Leader Gary Robinson. James Johnston said: "We are honoured to have been chosen for this award from among the thousands of communities in Europe. It is testament both to the vision of the Founders of the Trust and the hard work put in over the years by everyone involved in sport in the islands”.
Mr Robinson added:
“Tribute must be paid to the late Rob Anderson and John Nicolson whose vision and hard work all those years ago ultimately led us to this accolade. Shetland has to use this as a springboard to greater things in sport. We had two competitors at the trials for the London Olympics and it would be good if, after being European Community of Sport 2013, we could see a Shetland sports person competing at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.”
A team of four inspectors from ACES visited Shetland in August to assess the provision of sporting facilities in the Isles.
Mr Joe Irvine said:
“What the inspection team saw for themselves was the high-quality services we provide. The facilities allow people to get into sport at whatever age and level they are at. As we have seen, they also provide a platform for athletes to reach the highest levels.”
John Swanson, Vice President of ACES, said there were three key reasons why Shetland had been chosen as European Community of Sport 2013.
The first was the exemplary quality of the leisure facilities operated by Shetland Recreational Trust, not only in Lerwick but in the communities of Unst, Yell, Whalsay, Brae, Aith, Scalloway and Sandwick. Second was the high level of participation in sport - there were 729,489 admissions to the eight centres in the year to March 2012 - and the third was the dedicated staff with wide-ranging expertise.
"The network of centres allows access to everyone without anybody having to make a 10 or 20 mile journey to participate in sport. And they are accessible to everyone from early to old age," he said.
"The number of people taking part in sport, and not only at the leisure centres, is very high in European terms. As for staff, it is all very well having strategy documents gathering dust on a shelf but you need enthusiastic, hard-working staff who know what they are doing putting those strategies into practice, and Shetland has that."
The European Capital of Sport 2013 is the Belgian city of Antwerp. Shetland was besides everything else the Host of the NatWest Island Games 2005 which left a long standing memory within the population of the island.
Shetland is in fact the second of our Member Islands to win this prestigous award as the Isle of Man won it in 2011.
Jorgen Pettersson, IIGA Chairman
