Skills shortage

I have read with great interest comments regarding the state of Scottish football (Sport, 24 April) and how our great nation can once again regain the former glories on the field.

Henry McLeish's report suggests Scottish football is "underachieving, under-performing and under-funded". That may be, but what many an expert has failed to look at is the demographic profile of Scotland. If they had, they would have seen births have been falling since 1905 and the current poor state of home-grown players is simply down to the collapse in births from 1965, leading to a smaller and smaller pool of talent. The same simplistic story can used to explain Scotland's demise on the rugby field.

LOGIE CASSELLS

Nova Scotia, Canada