Rangers chairman David Murray’s old school Broughton High in Edinburgh and Labour leader Tony Blair’s alma mater Fettes College have been quietly forging informal sports links.
Traditionally the two schools have had fixtures in a number of sports, including rugby and basketball, and as Fettes has no games hall Broughton is able to assist with indoor facilities.
Mike Sinclair, head of physical education at Broughton, says the likeliest result is a curriculum link-up: “We have a couple of years’ extra experience in this area and we have been consulting over areas of co-operation, for example, if we have a rugby student then they could help him with his practical while, if they have a basketball student, we could do the same for them.”
Mr Sinclair cites the problems involved in setting up practical work. Pupils taking PE certificates cover a wide range of sports. This year Broughton has pupils wanting to do basketball, rugby, squash, swimming and tennis in their PE Higher.
Practical co-operation on an informal basis does exist elsewhere in Edinburgh. Leith Academy and Portobello High, for example, have joint rugby teams because neither can field separate teams from its own resources.
