Last Saturday morning I was involved in a discussion regarding Scotland’s performance against the All Blacks the previous week when it was pointed out that one of the women in our number hailed from New Zealand.

When the connection was made between the two she said swiftly, with a laugh: “Don’t ask me anything about rugby. I must be the only New Zealander who isn’t interested in it.”

In truth, she was by no means the first of her countrymen to have said so in my company, but the conversation took place during Dunblane Runners’ Saturday morning run, once more suggesting that New Zealand may be dominated by its love of one particular sport, but even those not fixated with it still tend to seek to be active.

It would be daft to suggest that this was the case across the board and that there are no inactivity related health issues in the land of the long white cloud, but for all that she may not have lived up to one of the stereotypes associated with her homeland her choice of weekend pursuit fitted with the other. The general impression we have of Kiwi culture is not only is activity encouraged, but it is rather more unusual not to be involved in any sort of sport.

By contrast, just the previous day, an email had arrived bearing the headline: “Participation in sport and physical activity remains static finds a new parliamentary report.” Issued on behalf of Holyrood’s health and sport committee it indicated that, contrary to what we are frequently told by sports governing bodies and agencies, but very much in keeping with the anecdotal evidence of those actively involved in many sports, there has been no increase in the number of Scots taking part in sporting activity over the past decade, despite the claims made in relation to the ‘legacy’ impact of hosting major sports events. Following a lengthy process of evidence gathering it stated that: “The Committee has found no evidence £500 million of public funding in the last year has increased the number of people getting active.”

Speaking to those findings the committee’s convenor, Neil Findlay, was by no means destructive in his critique, noting that there is a recognition that hard work is being put in, but challenging the Scottish Government to outline its plans for increasing sports participation after adding that: “we are disappointed that overall participation figures have remained fairly stagnant.”

My own long-held view is that far too much emphasis has been placed on seeking to use elite level sport to inspire, hoping for some sort of trickle down effect, rather than working from the bottom up in investing in creating a sporting environment which helps establish active lifestyles as the norm, what used to be called ‘sport for all’ until that term became strangely unfashionable.

Get enough of the population involved in a wide enough array of sports and the natural instincts of the more competitive among those gifted with athleticism, feel or attitude will generate excellence, while their communities will be more inclined to support their development rather than drag them towards what are, in Scotland, currently deemed ‘cooler’ ways of socialising.

I cannot claim this detailed report is an unqualified endorsement of that view since the report contains a passage which begins by saying: “Elitism in sport is essential, for driving inspiration and generating money.” It goes on, though, at that point, to read: “However we believe there has to be a different approach if a balance between the recreational and performance sides of participation is to be achieved.”

As someone whose own instincts were always to reject the Olympic motto that it is not about the winning but the taking part, in favour of an emphasis on winning, I accept the notion that we need to provide some support to our most promising performers as they move towards elite level.

However once there, we and they must surely accept that they can or cannot make a living from their chosen sports. Public money is in short supply these days and tough choices have to be made. In terms of how it is used the evidence seems ever more clear that it should not be invested in the winning of medals, but in getting people to take part in sport.