Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to Russell for opening this debate and for accepting our amendment, which is factual. We do regret that cuts have been made to grass-roots sports as a result of funding cuts, and it’s important as well for us to join in congratulating the Welsh football team, who had exceptional success over the weekend. And, of course, that is a great boost to the mental health of all of us, I would think, as we’re talking about the impact of sport on our health—not just physical health, but out mental health. Everybody is happier when our national teams have success and especially so during that time in the second half when it appeared quite poor, but it was great to see the boys turning things round and succeeding in winning in the end.

But I want to talk in the time that I have about the importance of physical education. Fitness, that is: fitness, and the need for everybody to keep fit, even though this can be difficult for a number of us. But we can always walk to places, for example, rather than using lifts. There is a lot of medical research work that has shown that keeping fit safeguards you from developing things such as dementia, reduces the rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke, and so forth—a number of diseases that we’re battling to develop new medicines to treat. Yet, if you’re fit, you tend to suffer less from these diseases. If keeping fit were a tablet, then all of us would insist that NICE agree that doctors such as I should prescribe it. But keeping fit is much more effective than most tablets and medicines that we have at the moment to address dementia and stroke, and so forth.

Therefore, walking 10,000 steps every day is the thing—10,000 steps. It’s very easy to achieve, but it can be a challenge.

I don’t know whether I’ve mentioned yet that I’ve been a Member of this Assembly before. Some six years ago now, I had success in passing a Measure to safeguard our playing fields in Wales, and I was very grateful for support from every party at the time to safeguard the future of our playing fields to ensure that the next generation of Gareth Bales, and so forth, could have somewhere to play and run around, even in the centre of our cities.

And of course, to end now, as we’re all ageing, that speed that we had when we were young in playing rugby or football and so forth is starting to get deficient as we’re getting older, quite naturally. But there are other things that develop, such as walking football. It’s developing in a number of parts of Wales, and it’s important for those of us who are ageing and who can’t run around quite as fast as we could before. That, of course, is looking for support, like all other sporting activities.

In conclusion—the Assembly’s rugby team. There are a number of Members here who can play rugby for the Assembly. I will be making my pitch to be on the left wing again, for obvious reasons. But, of course, membership of that team is open to everybody, and I’m looking at my fellow Members also to develop that fitness, to become an integral part of the National Assembly for Wales’s rugby team. Thank you very much.