The social disease that is senior football

[ManOnABike]

Over the last few months Governments north and now south of the border are demanding football fixes itself.

Starting with taking responsibility for their fans, namely those whose money they take at the gates or through season tickets and then try their best to ignore their offensive behaviour.

Add to that clubs run by dodgy characters, some from the UK, many from elsewhere.

After the Hampden cup final the Justice minister (yes Justice) turned up at the AGM of the SFA to send a strong message. Either you guys sort things out or we will. http://goo.gl/A3YIap

And then today I see the UK Government Sports Minister is saying they too have had enough. http://goo.gl/NVjTNo

The SFA are already losing some of the public funding they had been receiving from the Scottish Government

The argument from the SFA and SPFL that we are football and Governments can't interfere is an argument well past its sell by date. All you need to do is say, Blatter, Platini, and the others, some of whom have already pleased guilty, other trying to brazen it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIFA_corruption_case

Anyone who thinks corruption in football starts at the UK border is living in a fantasy world. (How many senior clubs have Swiss bank accounts or owned by companies based in Panama?)

Let them stew in their own mess is what I say. But how can the junior game benefit directly from this? After all junior clubs are owned by their supporters, run by committees elected from amongst those same supporters, staffed by volunteers, run on a not for profit basis, holding Annual General Meetings that deliver transparency and democracy while connected to their communities in a way that the SFA defined 'Community Clubs' can never achieve.

We have good stories to tell. How do we make sure we tell them?

 

 

[SimonLichtie]

21 minutes ago, ManOnABike said:

After all junior clubs are owned by their supporters, run by committees elected from amongst those same supporters, staffed by volunteers, run on a not for profit basis, holding Annual General Meetings that deliver transparency and democracy while connected to their communities in a way that the SFA defined 'Community Clubs' can never achieve.

I'm pretty sure you'll find the majority of the part time senior clubs in Scotland are run in the same manner.

What clubs in Scotland are run 'for profit'?

What clubs in Scotland do not hold AGMs?

What clubs in Scotland do not rely on volunteers to help run the club? A handful at most I suspect...

[parsforlife]

This is going to be fun.

[blue manalishi]

[Hertha/BJFC1938]

Football fans are football fans ; 

Im a football fan and not a " junior fan"  just as i wouldn't class ️myself as a " senior fan " if I supported a senior club.

Dont see why junior clubs can think that our level of football can take the moral high ground over anyone  or anything and it's a crazy notion. 

If if I was raised in paisley I would be a St mirren fan, greenock then I would  be a Morton fan , methil then it would be east Fife for me , I wasn't and I was raised in Beith so it was Beith juniors for me 100%, im delighted that this is the club I support but junior football is way behind senior football in terms of organisation and infrastructure , people have a romantic notion of it being great , perfect & cosey, the reality is that it's as flawed as any level of football , we dont  even have anything that resembles a fixture card and the most important part of the league campaign is sandwiched into the last few weeks of the season via 4 games per week to accomodate a cup that means very little to anyone . 

 

[itzdrk]

The one thing Scotland and Scottish football doesn't need is more junior thickos.

[HTG]

^^^ You need to up your game old bean. Your catches are bound to diminish with the same thicko patter. Step up fella!!

[HTG]

I would just like to add that Linlithgow Rose Community Club is SFA defined and you'd struggle to find any organisation that is better run so this argument is nonsense. It caters for everyone from 8 to 80. 

There's also a reason why the age demographic of junior football is much older than other sectors of the game.

[Hillonearth]

54 minutes ago, itzdrk said:

The one thing Scotland and Scottish football doesn't need is more junior thickos.

[Shooboax]

58 minutes ago, HTG said:

I would just like to add that Linlithgow Rose Community Club is SFA defined and you'd struggle to find any organisation that is better run so this argument is nonsense. It caters for everyone from 8 to 80. 

There's also a reason why the age demographic of junior football is much older than other sectors of the game.

Haven't they fallen out with another club and lost players etc?

[Shooboax]

Dunfermline Athletic were poorly run, not wanting to bring that up (yes we cheated etc) but since then the way the club has been transformed is a credit to those involved.

First of all, they guys running the club don not take any form of payment. They also pay for every ticket at every game.

The clubs ethos is one of social inclusion and every effort is made by the club to engage at every opportunity with the supporters.

They also make every effort to engage with the local community and also with the local business community.

Our club is leading the way in the game with their engagement initiative regarding our disabled supporters. 

The club is part fan owned and we have representation on the board. All the board are referred to as Patrons.

There are huge efforts to bring in fresh blood to ensure succession planning is taking place to ensure the future of the club.

The club has no credit facility so rightly has to live within it's means. We are likely to return a small profit this year which is good news seeing as we haven't seen any profit in the last 20 years.

I think over time fan led groups will effectively become the main players in most Scottish clubs. The days of money men pumping cash (or the Banks cash) into clubs has gone.

Live within your means and give youth a chance to flourish. Give the supporters the platform to give their say on how the game should be run because right now the governing bodies are making a total c*nt of it.

[parsforlife]

Everyone is different. Nobody is right or wrong. 

I know many lads from kirky who are born in kirky but support celtic or rangers who also support rob roy some even support the ammies .

 

I myself do something similar and enjoy all three grades. Each grade offers or gives me something different and i get fulfilment from every level. 

Nothing wrong with that. 

Plenty wrong with buggering off to support teams in other towns, especially those 2.

[Hertha/BJFC1938]

10 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

 

Plenty wrong with buggering off to support teams in other towns, especially those 2.

 

Exactly and its a major reason why other senior clubs can't keep up with Rangers and Celtic , loads of supporters buses from big towns like paisley, greenock  and Kilmarnock travel to watch Both the old firm ️While by-passing their " own " senior teams grounds. 

Loads of the same types of people go to Ibrox and parkhead from junior clubs towns but the big difference there is that they aren't denying their own towns senior club their support which isn't quite as bad for me. 

 

Why anyone raised in places with senior clubs like Kilmarnock , paisley , Greenock , Dunfermline etc would rather support one of the old firm rather than their hometown club is beyond me but each to their own I guess . 

[peasy23]

Because a lot of these "types" were raised by people who moved out to these places from Glasgow, and were brought up to support the same team as their parents.

[Geordie Blastie]

2 hours ago, itzdrk said:

The one thing Scotland and Scottish football doesn't need is more junior thickos.

.......From a man that supports Ayr Utd.!! 

[Shanner]

 

3 hours ago, parsforlife said:

This is going to be fun.

 

It very much isn't. 

[Shanner]

3 hours ago, ManOnABike said:

Over the last few months Governments north and now south of the border are demanding football fixes itself.

Starting with taking responsibility for their fans, namely those whose money they take at the gates or through season tickets and then try their best to ignore their offensive behaviour.

Add to that clubs run by dodgy characters, some from the UK, many from elsewhere.

After the Hampden cup final the Justice minister (yes Justice) turned up at the AGM of the SFA to send a strong message. Either you guys sort things out or we will. http://goo.gl/A3YIap

And then today I see the UK Government Sports Minister is saying they too have had enough. http://goo.gl/NVjTNo

The SFA are already losing some of the public funding they had been receiving from the Scottish Government

The argument from the SFA and SPFL that we are football and Governments can't interfere is an argument well past its sell by date. All you need to do is say, Blatter, Platini, and the others, some of whom have already pleased guilty, other trying to brazen it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIFA_corruption_case

Anyone who thinks corruption in football starts at the UK border is living in a fantasy world. (How many senior clubs have Swiss bank accounts or owned by companies based in Panama?)

Let them stew in their own mess is what I say. But how can the junior game benefit directly from this? After all junior clubs are owned by their supporters, run by committees elected from amongst those same supporters, staffed by volunteers, run on a not for profit basis, holding Annual General Meetings that deliver transparency and democracy while connected to their communities in a way that the SFA defined 'Community Clubs' can never achieve.

We have good stories to tell. How do we make sure we tell them?

 

 

One of the most irredeemably stupid posts I've ever read on here. Bravo!

 

 

[itzdrk]

34 minutes ago, Geordie Blastie said:

.......From a man that supports Ayr Utd.!! 

Not sure who you support but it's probably Rangers. 

[itzdrk]

2 hours ago, HTG said:

^^^ You need to up your game old bean. Your catches are bound to diminish with the same thicko patter. Step up fella!!

Can't disappoint my fans when provided with an open goal tbf. 

[Marshmallo]

2 hours ago, Hertha/BJFC1938 said:

Exactly and its a major reason why other senior clubs can't keep up with Rangers and Celtic , loads of supporters buses from big towns like paisley, greenock  and Kilmarnock travel to watch Both the old firm ️While by-passing their " own " senior teams grounds. 

Loads of the same types of people go to Ibrox and parkhead from junior clubs towns but the big difference there is that they aren't denying their own towns senior club their support which isn't quite as bad for me. 

 

Why anyone raised in places with senior clubs like Kilmarnock , paisley , Greenock , Dunfermline etc would rather support one of the old firm rather than their hometown club is beyond me but each to their own I guess . 

I have lived in four or five different places in Central Scotland and I have never once supported my local club.