Scotland should play international matches in Dundee

I have re-iterated my call for Scotland international football matches to be played in Dundee. He was speaking after the SFA announced that St Mirren Park in Paisley is to be the 'home' of the Scotland under-21s team until 2013.

In November 2010 after a full Scotland international was held in Aberdeen I wrote to the Chief Executive of the SFA asking if Dundee could also be considered for international matches or at least for under-21 matches. I received a response which did not rule out the possibility of friendly matches or under-21 matches being played in Dundee. I was surprised to hear today that the SFA have chosen St Mirren Park in Paisley as the base for under-21 matches until 2013. According to the AA St Mirren Park is all of 19 minutes away from the base of the full national team at Hampden Park in Glasgow. I have nothing against St Mirren Park but I do think that the national team should not only be in the west coast. I note that other international football teams move around, for example Spain do not play all their matches in Madrid, indeed the upcoming crucial match with Scotland will be played in Alicante.


I will be writing to Stewart Regan, the Chief Executive of the SFA, again asking that Dundee be considered for matches by the under-21 squad and that some consideration is given to hosting friendly international matches in Dundee.

Hosting international matches in Dundee would be good both economically and in sporting terms for the city. It would be good to have the name of the city reported abroad in the media when a match is taking place. It would also be good to have people visiting the city and using our hotels, pubs and restaurants. It would also give young people the chance to see top quality sport in our city which may well encourage them to play football.