Love Curling, Hate Scottish independence

Scottish independence will have a major impact on society. Politically and economically there would obviously be a major effect but also Great Britain as a sporting nation would face a major.

For those watching the Sochi Olympics and getting hooked by the success of Great Britain's curling teams would face the prospect of an inferior England team being overshadowed by an internationally renowned Scottish team.

Curling only has one rink in England, Fenton Tunbridge Wells, so there is a limited amount of facilities available. Where as in Scotland there are over 20 designated curling rinks available. Also there is only one in Wales.

Such is the focus on Scotland as a Curling nation, rather than over nations in Great Britain, that in the world rankings it reads as Scotland/Great Britain.

The Scottish team (let's be honest it is the Scotland team) are ranked second in the men's and third in the women's. These teams provide just a few of the world class athletes that Scotland provide for Great Britain teams.

Tennis is the most obvious one. Andy Murray, two time grand slam winner, is the focal point of Britain's Davis Cup team and the success they have had over the last 18 months in reaching the world quarter finals this year.

With Murray in the side so far it has always been an inevitability that the man from Dunblane would pick at two points from his rubbers and that, with the talent that Britain possess in the doubles circuit, three points would be assured every match.

Without Murray England would be languishing in the Europe/Africa II zone rather than beating USA in San Diego, a few weeks ago

In the London Olympics 2012, as an independent nation, Scotland would have won 7 gold medals, 4 silvers and 3 bronze. This is a significant amount of medals for Team GB to lose. Even though 8 of those were from team events, the Scottish participant was a crucial part of the respective team, for example Sir Chris Hoy in the team pursuit.

For Scotland the negative side of independence would be a decrease in the amount of funding that they would be able to provide their athletes.

Sport Scotland has a budget of £74m for 2013/14, £14m of which funds elite athletes, Scotland would find it hard to provide programmes for world class athletes leading up to major competitions.

At the moment, Scottish athletes receive around 10% of UK Sport's World Class Performance Programme, which is worth about £125m a year.

What they lack in funding is nowhere near what they would lose in terms of facilities, superior medical facilities and quality of coaching.

If you love curling, and seeing a successful British team, then the movements in Parliament will bring about much malign.