Sport Glasgow

by Phil Gordon, The Times

There are some cities that simply talk a good game. In Glasgow, we just do it!

Whether, it is playing the game or watching, Glasgow wears its passion for sport on its sleeve. It has done so for more than a century, but now has a host of modern arenas ready to acclaim new heroes.

It is a city where you can walk in the footsteps of Zinedine Zidane and Maurice Green, or simply join thousands of ordinary people trying to achieve their own personal best every day.

Glasgow has hosted many major sporting events in the past and is eager to do so in the future. Soccer's European Cup final has been here three times, so have world title fights in boxing. Now a new dream is being pursued - to stage the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

That would be the pinnacle of Glasgow's sporting CV. The best athletes in the commonwealth could christen a new track at the celebrated Hampden Park Stadium, where Zidane struck his memorable goal to win the 2002 Champions League final for Real Madrid.

Glasgow was designated European Capital of Sport in 2003, but in sport nothing stands still and neither does Glasgow. More than 25,000 take part in the Great Scottish Run, the third biggest participation event in the UK, a number matched by the Women's 10k.

Football dominates the sporting landscape. Celtic and Rangers have spread Glasgow's name with the Old Firm derby, the most passionate in the world. Among the leading clubs in Europe with stadia to match, Celtic Park has 60,000 seats and Ibrox 50,000.

Kids play the game all year round, but will be helped by the creation of an indoor centre at Toryglen, with a full size synthetic pitch.

The jewel in the sporting crown, though, will be a £23million sports complex opposite Celtic Park, embracing an indoor athletics track with 5,000 seats and a centre for volleyball.

That’s why Glasgow is a city that will always play the game.