Recognised for their success in driving participation, development and performance at all levels of Scottish sport, three organisations have been shortlisted for the title of Governing Body of the Year at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards on Thursday 3 October 2019.

Selected by the judging panel from a strong list of candidates, Cricket Scotland are shortlisted for this award for the third year running and take their place alongside fellow 2018 finalists Scottish Disability Sport and two-time winners Scottish Athletics.

Cricket Scotland have had a stand-out year with both men’s and women’s national sides ranked 11th in the world – the men returning from the middle east with two trophies and five of Scotland’s senior women selected for the International Women’s Global Development Team, the highest representation of any nation. A successful bid for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2019 Global Qualifier tournament means international women’s cricket is on show this month in Dundee, while 10-year deal has been agreed with an Indian promoter on a multi-million-dollar domestic T20 tournament to include the world’s top players in six city-based franchises spanning Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Cricket Scotland’s community engagement programmes have reached new heights with Project Glasgow, recently the subject of a sportscotland case study, engaging with hundreds of underprivileged children, record numbers joining the entry level programme Allstars Cricket and the exciting initiative CricHIIT, created specifically to attract women and girls into the sport, winning a global award at the International Cricket Council Annual Conference.

Malcolm Cannon, CEO at Cricket Scotland said: “It has been an incredible journey for Cricket Scotland over the last few years, meeting both triumph and setbacks along the way. However, the organisation has gone from strength to strength and now represents a hugely diverse community throughout Scotland.  With a passionate and committed workforce and an excellent volunteer base, and from community engagement projects, through grassroots domestic cricket, to the successes on the field of our men’s, women’s and age-group sides, the organisation is pushing at all the boundaries.  We are delighted and honoured to have had our efforts recognised by once more by being short-listed for this prestigious award, particularly given the nature and scale of the competition.”

With an incredible 56 Scottish records broken in 2019 to date, Scottish Athletics continue to excel in terms of performance. Last summer a record 17 Scots competed at the European Championships, bring home five medals, followed by seven medals from seven athletes at the World Para Athletics European Championships. A record five medals for Scottish athletes at the 2019 European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, including a historic double-double for Laura Muir, has been followed by the second highest Scottish representation at the European Junior Championships for almost half a century, Jacob Adkin winning European Mountain Racing gold and Jemma Reekie making history as the first British athlete ever to win double gold at the European U23 Championships.

In the past year scottishathletics have become the first governing body of sport in the world to create a competition pathway for 3^rd gender athletes, have trained over 600 coaches in mental health through their partnership with SAMH and launched a National Club Development Framework for Scottish clubs. With membership up 9% on 2018 and over 120,000 participants in licenced events, participation is booming and a new competition and coaching partnership with the German region, Baden-Wurttemberg will give aspiring young athletes and their coaches valuable experience as they progress towards elite level.

Mark Munro, CEO at Scottish Athletics said: “We are delighted that scottishathletics has been short listed for the National Governing Body of the Year Award for 2019 at the Team Scotland Awards. It is always great honour and privilege to be short listed for these awards and recognises another phenomenal year, not only in global medal terms but across all areas of the sport. It also recognises the efforts, skill levels and success of our army of volunteers on the ground that make the sport happen 365 days of the year. I would also like to congratulate the other NGBs short listed and wish them all the best on the night”.

Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) leads the way in the inclusion of disabled athletes and players across a wide range of sports. In the last year SDS has actively supported 37 Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport to facilitate inclusion, establishing robust sporting pathways, and have also supported all 32 Scottish local authorities to engage disabled people in sport. SDS has also led over 100 education opportunities in the past 12 months, organised five regional para-sport festivals and delivered engagement days for water sports, wheelchair curling and multi-sports for participants with a visual impairment. A co-ordinated series of sport specific championships across eight sports attracted 1,855 participants. Their partnership with the Celtic FC Foundation has delivered the “Inspiring Sport” programme which has supported over 1,500 individuals to attend clubs, sessions, courses and events across Scotland.

SDS is also the lead body for the sport of Boccia in Scotland with Scottish players continuing their success on the international stage. At the 2019 World Open in Hong Kong, Stephen McGuire won BC4 individual gold and pairs bronze and Patrick Wilson won BC3 individual silver. Reegan Stevenson won BC1/2 Team gold on his Great Britain debut at the European Open in Croatia and Scott McCowan won BC3 individual bronze in the same event.

Gavin McLeod, Chief Executive at Scottish Disability Sport said: “Scottish Disability Sport is delighted to be shortlisted for this prestigious award. SDS works in partnership with many Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport to ensure the effective inclusion of disabled athletes and players. We thank them all for their commitment and support and wish all those shortlisted every success.”

Paul Bush OBE, Chairman, Commonwealth Games Scotland said: “In what was a very strong list of nominations, our three finalists stood out for their commitment to the development of their respective sports, particularly with regards to providing new opportunities for athletes, coaches and officials through innovative partnership working. The work of governing bodies is key to the whole Scottish sporting system and we look forward to celebrating their achievements at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards.”

Winners across all award categories will be crowned at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards in a star-studded celebration of Scottish sport on 3 October at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.