MSP pushes for free football (for kids)

[Scotty]

Just to give us all a brief respite from the ICT circus for a few minutes, I thought I would post a few interesting stories I found on the BBC site ..........

BBC Website

MSP pushes free football for kids

By Liam McLeod

MSP and Labour sports spokesman Frank McAveety has called on Scotland's top football clubs to allow children free entry to games.

McAveety reckons it would benefit Scottish football in the long-term as well as boosting current attendances.

"You only need to look round clubs' stadiums and there are gaps in the attendance," he told BBC Scotland. "I think it would be a good gesture - in this difficult economic time - to look at letting youngsters in free."

The former sports minister admitted many games such as Old Firm and Edinburgh derbies sell themselves, but that there were other fixtures that could have increased attendance under this initiative.

"I recognise there will be matches that clubs will want to hold on to because they'll get demand for that," he added.

"But they must know there are games where they don't have that full demand for a game and I think that's where clubs could look at it a bit more intelligently to ensure free access for youngsters - accompanied by an adult. "And from that you're then building loyalty to that club for the future."

Celtic recently announced that children would be able to purchase 'half' season tickets for ?25 with Aberdeen offering mid-season tickets for ?33 to under-12s.

In October, Motherwell chairman John Boyle admitted Scottish Football was too expensive.

Boyle then announced that under-12s would be admitted free to all SPL games, except those involving the Old Firm, if accompanied by an adult or juvenile season ticket holder.

And in the First Division, both Queen of the South and Partick Thistle have pricing schemes to encourage youngsters to attend home games.

But McAveety says more could be done to coax youngsters along to games.

"I welcome those initiatives and I would hope some of the other clubs can follow those who have done so in the last few months," he said.

"I think what we're trying to say is there are ways in which clubs can generate income both in the short and the long term.

"They can do that by having more people in the stadium anyway, items that can be purchased like the match programme, the half-time pie or something from the club store. "These things will happen anyway but the other advantage is you're building a commitment from a young person towards that club and I think those who market clubs cleverly might see some opportunity in this."