AFTER weeks and months of preparation and planning, the big night itself was a tremendous success, although I am still recovering and lying down quietly in a darkened room.

Last Friday was our Scottish Women in Sport Awards and Fundraising dinner and one of the top events in our calendar. It was also a glamorous occasion for women in sport and they didn’t disappoint. Everyone who attended made a supreme effort and were dressed up to the nines in their best bib and tucker: Scottish sportswomen definitely scrub-up well.

It was a packed programme with eight awards being presented on the night, two amazing speakers, a raffle and auction and a very special guest in Judy Murray, who gave us a little insight to the world of Andy and Jamie.

The age range of our winners spanned from swimmer Abby Kane aged just 13, who was Partick Thistle’s FC Newcomer of the Year, to Susan Howard, Scottish Hockey’s women’s U18 manager, who picked up the SSE Peoples Champion Award, and who, I am sure won’t mind me saying fits in the more mature end of the scale. It was amazing to be in a room full of people who appreciate and support women in sport. We had supporters from netball, cricket, football, athletics, basketball, squash, judo, cycling, tennis and curling to name just some of the sports in attendance.

Our two speakers were Jodie McEwen, assistant national coach for the Scottish Homeless Women’s World Cup team and now a co-ordinator with Street Soccer and Stef Inglis, 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist in Judo. They both commanded respect from all in attendance as they told their individual stories on how sport was instrumental in saving their lives. Jodie from addiction issues and Stef, in terms of her amazing recovery from a dreadful accident earlier this year.

Other awards winners were: sportscotland Young Sportswomen of the Year, Maria Lyle; TitleIX Role Model, Samantha Kinghorn; McCrea Financial Services Coach of the Year, Karen Ross; The National Official of the Year, Sarah Wilson; SWIS Best Team Performance, Scottish Football Association Women’s National Team; Oriam Sportswomen of the Year, Katie Archibald. There was another landmark for Scottish Women’s in Sport that same weekend and yet another reason to celebrate. SWiS reached its third birthday on Sunday. Since inception there has been great strides made, bringing parity into sport and these definitely should be celebrated. However, we cannot afford to sit on our laurels as there is still a lot of work out there to be undertaken. Let me give you two examples that show the opposite end of the scale of where we are at this moment for women in sport. First let’s look at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, which was a global success and among many other commercial benefits, brought an increase of 400 per cent in advertising sales for Fox TV. Add to this the fact that Under Armour reported that their women’s business had grown 60 per cent year over year to the amazing figure of $600 million; both great positive stories.

However, how do we explain that there is still less than one per cent of sport sponsorship invested in women’s sport, this is a complete contradiction in terms and it gives you a little insight to one of the issues surrounding women in sport, not just here in Scotland, but throughout the world. I would like to finish up by sending my best wishes to all the men who take time day in and out to support their wives, daughters, mothers and girlfriends and help them in some way to participate in sport. Tomorrow marks International Men’s Day and everyone at Scottish Women in Sport would like to extend their thanks to them all. This year’s theme is very powerful – Stop Male Suicide as well as a focus on men’s and boy’s health, improving gender relations and promoting gender equality.

Good luck to them and to all men who, as clearly stated on the event’s website, make sacrifices every day in their place of work, in their role as husbands and fathers, for their families, for their friends, for their communities and for their nation. We salute you all.