New national stadium is on the right track

A dictum by FIFA that, from 1992, World Cup matches will have to be

played in all-seater stadia has revived debate about a new national

arena.

Earlier this year SFA secretary Ernie Walker spoke in favour of a new

stadium, costing from #100m to #200m and centrally located outside

Glasgow or Edinburgh with adequate road and rail services - one

suggestion was Strathclyde Park.

Hampden's owners, Queen's Park, have their own ideas about upgrading

the ground, but transport to, and parking at, an old-established urban

site is likely to be an insoluble problem.

The Scottish Sports Council fully supported the Hampden Park Working

Party which sat from 1973 to 1980 and discussed redevelopment plans.

These included suggestions for the incorporation of an international

athletics arena - which Glasgow still lacks - and facilities for others

sports, but the view was that a running track removed football fans too

far from the action.

However, the economics of a custom-built stadium for football only are

now almost certainly prohibitive.

''A reconstituted Hampden Park was clearly the best solution at that

time,'' said the Scottish Sports Council's chief executive, Ken

Hutchison yesterday, ''but in the light of the FIFA edict, all proposals

should be looked at again and amended.''

Indeed they should, and the Sports Council itself should be first off

the mark in calling all interested agencies to work together for a

national arena for all sport, one of which the nation can be proud.

* * *

NETBALL is about to lower its feminine armour. As a preamble to the

World Games, currently being staged in Karlsruhe, the world governing

body, the International Federation of Netball Associations, has opened

the door to men.

Until now, IFNA's constitution has expressly excluded men from any

international role. All players are female and the current ruling is

that: ''All umpires, official scorers and official timekeepers at

international matches shall be women.''

A similar proposal was rejected six years ago, but now IFNA want their

next council meeting to accept male officials.

There will, however, be no male stampede. The next meeting is not

until 1991.

* * *

THEY take a pretty narrow view of the world in Beamish,

Northumberland. That is where the world 10st 7lb Cumberland-style

wrestling title was decided last weekend, and local pride was badly

bruised when the title went to Gordon Fisher from Milngavie Wrestling

Club - the first Scot ever to win the crown.

Preparation for such contests, which take place on grass, is not easy

- which goes some way to explaining the number of gardens in Milngavie

which are now totally bare. With community education centres closing for

the holidays the wrestlers have moved outdoors.

Three gardens have already been devastated, but they will get a rest

today when the action is at a traditional Highland games (2.15) revived

at the Inverarnan Inn on Loch Lomond, birthplace of Rob Roy's mother.

* * *

IT is 25 years since Prestwick's Alistair Wilson represented Great

Britain in the second of his two Olympic Games. But the 49-year-old

canoeist is still picking up medals.

On Thursday he and architect Drew Samuel, representing Scotland, won

the bronze medal in the 25,000 metres at the World Masters Games in

Denmark. From Monday, on four successive days, the Ayrshire duo will

compete in singles and pairs over 500 and 5000m.

Samuel, 52, still features in the Guinness Book of Records as holder

of the fastest time for canoeing the length of Loch Ness.

Wilson, in his youth, won every British canoe title from sprints to

10,000m.

Now he and his wife, Marianne, also a double Olympian, run a canoe

equipment and manufacturing business, Lendal Products. They send their

paddles all over the world, and they have even been used canoeing down

from the glacier that flows off Mt Everest at more than 17,000 feet.

* * *

WHISPER it, the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association allowed a

professional to enter last weekend's ScotRail national championships at

Crownpoint. In fact, whisper it very quietly, they actually entered the

pro themselves.

It is SAAA policy to include all reigning title-holders. But since

winning last year, shot putt champion Alan Pettigrew has turned

professional.

One professional who did appear, but only spectating, was multiple

hammer champion Chris Black. The former Southern Harrier, forced to

abandon the hammer because of prolonged neck problems, turned to pro

strongman events which put less stress on the affected area, but his

injury problems persisted.

This year however he underwent revolutionary surgery, and in a

four-hour operation a piece of bone from a bull's leg was grafted into

his neck.

''My spinal column had been compressed to about half its size, and the

relief has been wonderful,'' said Black. ''It has put an end to years of

agony and frustration, but all too late for my athletics. There's only

one problem,'' he added. ''I've taken a dreadful liking to hay.''