After a phenomenal 2018 which saw Team Scotland have its most successful overseas Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in terms of the number of medals won, a recent independent research report has re-confirmed the Team’s place in the hearts and minds of the nation, being valued as one of the nation’s favourite sporting teams.

The YouGov Sport survey looked at the perception of Team Scotland amongst the Scottish general population and the findings continue to demonstrate the high impact of the team on the public and the Team’s value in inspiring others, including future generations of successful Scottish athletes.

Particularly pleasing was that 64% of respondents hold a positive perception of Team Scotland, the same level as Scottish Rugby (64%). Over half of respondents rated Team Scotland success as being personally important to them, maintaining the high levels of support generated at the hugely successful ‘home’ 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Ongoing public financial support of the team was also seen to be important, with 35% believing that the team merits greater support, which would help maintain its success and impact.

When describing Team Scotland, the most common words used included hard working (48%), good role models (43%), a source of pride (42%), inspiring (36%), professional (34%), united (29%) and successful (28%), which strongly reflect the Team’s values of Proud, United, Ambitious, Inspirational and Inclusive.

Reflecting on the report, Chief Executive of Commonwealth Games Scotland, Jon Doig OBE said: “2018 was another hugely successful year for Team Scotland and it is extremely pleasing to see that the Team is held in such great affection by people across the country and that they value the work we are doing. This ongoing support, and that of our funding partners in the Scottish Government and sportscotland, is critical in ensuring we can continue to be successful and use the inspirational qualities of the Team to change lives through sport in communities across Scotland.

From the turn of the New Year, our focus now moves on to the next Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England in 2022, where we aim to raise the bar once again. The early stages of our planning are already underway and we hope that the groundswell of support we have enjoyed over the last four Games cycles will continue, with the opportunity for many of our fans to travel only a short distance to support the team, as once again they fly the flag for Scotland with pride.”