By Ian McConnell
STREET Soccer Scotland, the social enterprise which uses football-inspired training and personal development as a medium to empower people affected by social exclusion, has appointed Malcolm Robertson as its new chairman.
Mr Robertson is a founding partner of Edinburgh-based strategic consultancy Charlotte Street Partners.
David Duke, who harnessed his personal experiences in creating Street Soccer, said: “Ever since we kicked off in 2009, our organisation has benefited from the great support and expertise of volunteer trustees and board members.”
Malcolm Robertson said: “Every conversation I have with David Duke is an inspiring one. In creating Street Soccer, he put his own deeply personal experiences to work, helping countless people meet and overcome often complex challenges. I am immensely proud to be joining Street Soccer at such an important time, when the power of sport to change people's lives for the better is needed more than ever.”
Mr Robertson is joined on the board by Sabina Kadic-Mackenzie, an experienced third-sector communicator and partner at Charlotte Street Partners. Jamie McCall, a senior marketing professional at Nike, is joining the board in March.
Ms Kadic-Mackenzie said: "“It is an understatement to say that Street Soccer Scotland transforms lives. I’ve seen it first-hand over the years, having spent time with their players and coaches. Their commitment to offering purpose, relationships and hope is so important, now more than ever. I’m excited to keep working with David and the whole team and look forward to lending my support so that they can continue to make real and lasting change to people and communities across Scotland.”
READ MORE: Ian McConnell on Brexit: Keir Starmer U-turn dismal as Tories unable to run menodge
Mr McCall said: “The inspiration of sport, and its ability to transform lives for the better should never be limited to any one group or community, we must always prioritise its power for those who need it most. This is exactly why I’m proud to be joining Street Soccer, to help in any way to bring the emotion and engagement that sport offers to all.”
Mr Duke said: "As we approach our 12th year of service, we are delighted to welcome Malcolm as our chair - as well as Sabina and Jamie - to support our vision and growth, ensuring that we can support more people in our communities. They each bring a wealth of experience, skill and leadership and I believe with their partnership we will accelerate Street Soccer’s vision together as one.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here