How Scotland Makes Sure Football is a Sport For Everyone

This post takes a look at some of the work being done in Scotland to make sure football is available to everyone.


WALKING FOOTBALL

Walking football is a sport on the rise around the world and Scotland is no different. A great way for those who aren’t able to keep up with pace of the normal game anymore and encourage people to keep up with physical activity when it becomes more difficult as they grow older.

Two walking footballers compete for the ball

Competitors in the sport advocate the benefits, both physical and mental, that it has had on their lives. Walking Football Scotland is rapidly expanding, with many clubs across the country who are open to all.


Find out more or get involved here


DISABLED FOOTBALL

Scotland is one of the worlds leading countries for disabled football. Scotland’s cerebral palsy team have secured 5^th and 6^th place finishes at the European and World championships respectively and Scotland’s learning disability squad have won the last two home nations championships. The Amputee Football Association Scotland provides amputees with the opportunity to play football locally, nationally and internationally.

Scotland compete in an amputee football match

Furthermore, the Scottish PowerChair Football Association operates various competitions across the country for wheelchair users.


Find out more or get involved here


FOOTBALL FANS IN TRAINING

So what if you’re not quite able to keep up with a full-paced game anymore but you’re also not ready to move in to walking football. This is when the Football Fans In Training (FFIT) programme could be perfect for you. Established in 2010, FFIT is a healthy living and weight loss programme which allows men over 35 to stay involved in a fairly competitive version of the game.

A game takes place at an FFIT session

As well as playing football, FFIT also allows players to get a behind the scenes look at the club they support and receive training from selected club coaches.


Find out more or get involved here

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The amateur football team 'Changing Lives Through Football'

Here in Glasgow, there is an amateur football team who are using the medium of football to make a positive impact on the lives of others on the other side of the planet. That team are Glasgow on the Ball, who represent the charity ‘Africa on the Ball’ in the Glasgow Community and Cooperative League.

Africa on the Ball is a charity set up in 2010 with the brilliant vision of using the sport, which has been bringing people and communities together for hundreds of years now, to make a real impact on the lives of many people. As well as providing the opportunity for boys and girls to play football, Africa on the Ball also focuses on the three main areas of education, healthcare and enterprise – delivering educational scholarship funds, food programmes and supporting community members into employment and enterprise opportunities. Charity trustee Andrew Jenkin had this to say about the charity:-

‘Africa on the Ball uses the power of football as a vehicle for the advancement of education, healthcare and enterprise in deprived communities of Africa. The charity’s mission is to empower, inspire and support African communities and individuals to lead full, healthy and sustainable lives. Started in 2010, AotB has developed a model through which it can engage with young people through sport and predominantly football. To date the charity’s work has been mainly focused in Zambia (ranked one of the poorest country in the world in 2015) and the community of Kalingalinga in the country’s capital city Lusaka.’

Bernard, who has benefited from AotB. Read his story here

In 2015, amateur football team Glasgow on the Ball was set up with the intention of raising funds and awareness for the charity. Since that time, the team have developed very well (securing a 4^th place finish in the league last year) and also managed to raise over £2500 for the charity – an impressive figure considering the costs of running a team in Glasgow. The club also proudly wear the Africa on the Ball logo on the shirt and this pride which the squad have in the charity and the work it does is something which I can attest to being a player myself. As Andrew Jenkin put it:-

‘Many football clubs claim they’re more than a club. However, the use of sport for wider community and social benefit is rarely seen to be quite as embedded and central to what they do as it is within Glasgow on the Ball.’

The 2019-20 Glasgow on the Ball squad

And Glasgow on the Ball are just getting started and there will be plenty more work done in the future to continue to ‘change lives through football'.

If you’d like to find out more or make a donation, you can do so here

 Africa on the Ball Website  Donate


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The Price of Playing Football

Welcome back to Kickabout where today we will explore the cost of playing football and whether it is becoming too expensive.

I’ll begin by discussing the results of the twitter poll. Of those who responded that they play football, more than half indicated that they spent more than £10 a week in doing so. Daniel Marshall got in touch on Twitter to tell us that he spends an average of £21 a week playing football, which adds up to a staggering £1092 per year and that’s before accounting for travel costs etc. Even playing one game of 5’s per week will rack up a yearly spending of over £250. While many of us are happy to pay these amounts, you could forgive someone, perhaps just trying to get into football, for contemplating whether their £250 might be better spent elsewhere as a they take a Mitre straight to the face during their turn in goals on a rainy Tuesday night. There’s also the argument that many people simply can’t afford to part with this much money to play the game they love and, with prime-time 5-a-side pitches in Glasgow ranging from £55-63, its unlikely that they’ll find a cheaper alternative.

With regard amateur football, Jack McQuade of Cambuslang Rangers got in touch saying that their park for home games costs £147 for two hours, before including the costs of a referee. These costs could be enough to deter people from getting involved in football and, with the price of pitches unlikely to drop, its hard to see what can be done.

Daryl Rankin, who has played amateur football in both Aberdeen and Glasgow offered some defence for the prices here in Glasgow, saying that while it can be up to 4 times more expensive to play in Glasgow, games are rarely cancelled, whereas in Aberdeen it was the norm to see games cancelled all throughout winter.

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Welcome and Introduction

Welcome to the first post in Kickabout, the Scottish amateur football forum which will discuss amateur football, 5-a-sides, walking football and all variations of football which we get involved in solely for the love of the game.

Whether it’s a kickabout up the park with your pals or a cup final, there’s nothing that can beat the feeling of having a ball at your feet and all that comes with it – the joy and excitement, the competitiveness, the friendships, emptying the ‘black stuff’ from your boots on to the floor as your despairing mum/dad/partner watches on. As much as we all love to watch Messi and Ronaldo beautifully stroke the ball around in front of 80,000 fans in the Champions League, it could be argued that we get more joy seeing fat Dave notch his first goal of the year at 5's on a rainy Tuesday with a hit-and-hope toe-poke from the edge of his own box. This is football at its purest form. That’s why ‘Kickabout’ will aim to get away from mainstream football news and bring stories, news and opinions from the football community which we can all be a part of.

So, if you’re interested, keep checking back and we’ll explore topics such as the drop-in numbers of amateur footballers and whether or not it’s becoming too expensive to play football with my opinions as well as the opinions of others. It will also be possible for you to share your own opinions or stories on ‘Kickabout’, so make sure to give us a follow on Twitter @KickaboutBlog and Facebook at ‘Kickabout – Amateur Football Blog’ and feel free to drop a message on either of these platforms if there’s anything you’d like to have included in the blog.

Thanks for reading and I hope to have you back next time.