Badminton: Duo take their fight for recognition to Holyrood

Mar 18 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

NATIONAL badminton champions Jamie Neill and Keith Turnbull are taking their fight for international recognition to the Scottish Parliament.

Jamie (25), from Hamilton, hopes a petition for a vote of no confidence against BADMINTONscotland on the Scottish Parliament website will force the governing body to change their criteria for international selection.

He and partner Keith Turnbull (27), from Larkhall, were stunned to be overlooked for Scotland’s squad hoping to qualify for the prestigious Thomas Cup, an international competition, despite being crowned national doubles champions.

Jamie said he has been told by the game’s authority that he and Keith would have to defeat players on the international circuit to merit selection.

Jamie’s believes it is unrealistic to ask unfunded players, such as him and his partner, to pay to take on players on the European stage.

Jamie said: “We’re trying to be positive about the whole thing and it’s not just about our issue – we want to help others in the future.

“I would hope to force a restructuring of badminton in Scotland and to clarify the selection criteria, changing it from a funding-based mentality if possible.

“The amount of promising kids who are lost to the game as adults when they lose their funding is shocking.

“Either it should be more about results in Scotland or, if not, then that should be made clear.

“People have said maybe we should work harder and train harder and do all of our talking on the court but it’s about knowing what your reward is going to be at the end of it, whether or not you’re training for a purpose.

“We won the Glasgow Open a couple of weekends ago and it was almost a hollow victory.

“Because we’re national champions, we were expected to win but if we hadn’t then a lot of people would have been on our backs. We want everything to be clearer and fairer and to have an equal chance.

“If that can’t happen, then Keith and I have to decide if we want to try and get funding to go and play on the European circuit but that is a big decision.”

Jamie, Keith, East Kilbride’s Craig Goddard and Glasgow player Alistair Casey have formed the Scottish Badminton Players’ Union and hope others will join up.

Jamie added: “We’ve had to constitute the SBPU so we’ve been working through official channels and that is taking a bit of time.

“Myself and (Hamilton South MSP) Tom McCabe are also waiting for answers to questions we’ve asked the Sports Minister Shona Robison and sportscotland.

“But the petition is going live on the Scottish Parliament website soon and we hope this encourages positive change.”

BADMINTONscotland chief executive Anne Smillie said: “They have not personally made contact with me with regards to a petition or on what they want to do.

“As far as a Scottish Badminton Players’ Union is concerned, I would be delighted to see the formation of a properly constituted players’ union and would do all I could to assist in setting it up, which means it would then have the backing of BADMINTONscotland.

“But at the moment what we seem to have is an ad-hoc group of self-elected players calling themselves a union.”

l For more information on the Scottish Badminton Players’ Union or the petition email: yourvoice@sbpu.co.uk.