Enhancing Scottish football roundtable minutes: August 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Maree Todd, Minister for SCMW and S (Chair)
• Ben Macpherson MSP
• Gillian Mackay MSP
• Neil Bibby MSP
• Forbes Dunlop, CEO, sportscotland
• Ian Maxwell, CEO, Scottish FA
• Neil Doncaster, CEO, SPFL
• Calum Beattie, COO, SPFL
• Hannah Leslie, Partnerships Manager, SWPL (deputising for Fiona McIntyre)
• Aileen Campbell, CEO, SWF
• Gary Booth, CGO, Scottish FA
• Nicky Reid, CEO, SPFL Trust
• Fraser Wishart, CEO, Professional Footballers Association
• Alan Russell, Supporters Direct Scotland
• Stuart Murphy, Scottish Football Supporters Association
• Andrew Smith, SFSA
• Henry McLeish, SFSA
• Iain McMenemy, Former Stenhousemuir Chairman
• Scott Robertson, Musselburgh Windsor / Realgrassroots / SYFA Board member
• SG, Official, Active Scotland
• SG Official, Active Scotland

Items and actions

Introductory comments

• Maree Todd (MT) thanked everyone for attending and recognised the passion for football amongst those in the room and across society. She acknowledged the Parliamentary debate in January and the wide range of issues raised but noted that it was important to understand all of the work ongoing within the governing bodies as we look to discuss these issues. It was hoped this would be a collaborative and constructive discussion
• it was noted that the meeting would be minuted but that if any participants wished a particular point to be kept confidential they could so indicate

• Ben Macpherson (BM) recognised the value of the debate in January and was keen to see the group discuss building on the current period of success and improvement and acknowledged this was the start of a series of meetings. He had intended to create space for discussion on a range of issues including public health, behaviour, facilities, accessibility in all its forms, and independent scrutiny, which we should watch and consider as it goes through the UK Parliament. He noted that he would like the ScotGov to consider a formal consultation on the game at some point before the 2026 election

Football authorities update

• those representing the football governing bodies provided an update on the work of their organisations. Ian Maxwell (IM) noted that the Euros in Germany was a fantastic experience which united a nation, and he recognised the hugely positive impression of our fans on the rest of Europe, which highlighted the importance of men’s and women’s teams qualifying, and developing the pipeline of players to support that. He recognised that developing a shared understanding of activity and structures is helpful to begin these discussions and was happy to engage on how we improve the game.  He summarised the recent improvements to safeguarding club heritage, and recognised the value in a review of the current fit and proper person test for directors, and the need to continue to collaborate with other agencies to tackle unacceptable conduct, and to address the issue of facilities
• Nicky Reid (NR) described the community-based work of the SPFL Trust through 36 community trusts focused on improving lives. She recognised that football does much more than getting people exercising, citing positive statistics around the impact of FFIT, Festive Friends and Cashback programmes, which proves there is lots of potential for football to contribute to societal improvement and cohesion
• Aileen Campbell (AC) set out the work of SWF, from tier 3 in the adult game down to girls’ football. SWF’s aims are to increase visibility, increase participation (noting a 3-fold increase in registered players recently) and increase investment. AC noted the successful Scottish Power and Barclays partnerships, but also ongoing challenges of funding issues at clubs, clubs folding, and reliance on volunteers, which has created a need to support resilience and sustainability of clubs. Values are important – empowering women and girls, inspiring girls by improving quality, supporting girls to become referees
• Hannah Leslie (HL) noted that the SWPL was formed in 2022 following a comprehensive review which showed clubs wanted to professionalise. The SWPL is commercially funded and through these partnerships they are delivering improved funding to its clubs. The SWPL is also increasing visibility with broadcast partners, with record breaking viewing figures last season to over 2 million viewers. The focus this year continues to be on increased profile, viewing figures and fans, all aimed at increasing revenues to clubs.  Facilities remains a challenge. HL noted the SFSA Review contained very little content relating to the women’s game.  AS noted that the SFSA Review was just about the men's game and that the SFSA welcomed the representation and full inclusion of the Women's game
• Neil Doncaster (ND) noted that the SPFL is operating in an increasingly competitive entertainment market but is achieving success due to its adaptability and creativity. He noted that the SPFL remains the best attended league in Europe per head of population by some distance, and that a new record breaking William Hill sponsorship, and broadcast deals have been achieved.  This has been helped by the creation of Scottish Football Marketing last year, marrying the SPFL, SWPL and Scottish FA to maximise marketing power.  Last season also saw record payments to clubs and record prize money

Supporters groups update

• Stuart Murphy (SM) welcomed the updates. He advised of the prevailing feeling over time that football has become disconnected from fans, which has been the overwhelming feedback through the SFSA’s research. Independent scrutiny on governance, finance and accountability was the key outcome of the review, which the SFSA believed was for the good of the game. SM acknowledged there was a lot of good work happening, but was not sure this is communicated as well as it could be
• Andrew Smith (AS) reflected that we needed to consider how to make it much easier for children to play football, and making it free could be a game-changer. The decline of schools’ football was a significant concern.  The 3 key issues were to recognise where are we now, where we want to get to, and how do we get there. AS felt that there was scope to unite over a long-term vision, looking at where we wanted to be in 25 years, but AS was concerned that the self-interest in football could undermine the common good
• Alan Russell (AR) acknowledged that there are things which can be enhanced and fixed, and we have the power in the room to do that. Strong governance, financial sustainability, and transparency are key and we can improve on all these in Scottish football and at clubs. AR noted that English football cannot fix itself because of the power held at the top but noted we are not there.  We have much more fan ownership in football now, we’ve not had financial insolvency for a long time, and financial distribution has improved markedly in the last 15 years.  Transparency and democracy are critical themes that come through strongly from fans

Discussion of key themes

• there was agreement that this was an opportunity for genuine collaborative working to help the game to excel
• it was recognised that there was a lot of good work going on, and the heritage protection moves by the Scottish FA were welcomed, but also that there were significant challenges to be addressed. Discussions on whether and, if so, how fit and proper person tests could stop bad-faith actors entering the game would be welcome, and it was agreed safeguards need to be in place
• communication was agreed as being critical 
• facilities investment is also key, and supports the potential for football to tackle societal issues even more given their particular location in many towns and cities. It was suggested that it may be helpful to include COSLA in the next meeting. Community asset transfer could be a key process here to improve facility access, but some central expertise to help clubs with this would be good
• independent regulation was highlighted but Government’s view was that legislation should be a last resort, and many issues that fans feel strongly about, such as VAR, would not be in a regulator’s scope. It was noted that we should be looking at what is happening in England on regulation, not necessarily to follow suit, but it would be remiss not to be well sighted on it. Whether or not regulation was pursued, financial soundness health checks would be helpful. MT noted that Scot Gov would continue to speak to the new UKG on this, but also that SG was looking further afield and referenced the new sports regulator in NZ, which is very expensive, and that we should consider very carefully whether taking money out the game to fund a regulator is helpful if there are significant investment needs such as facilities. FD noted that speaking to colleagues implementing regulation internationally the experience is that the impact of these bodies is often not as initially envisaged
• the impact of the grass vs synthetic pitch debate was noted, where it might impact on women’s and youth teams having to play away from a club stadium, and that it would be helpful to understand the decision making process around these things
• fan engagement was seen as key – while it was good to see increased fan ownership, most clubs are not fan owned
• alcohol sales at football was discussed, with views expressed for and against. It was questioned whether reintroducing health-harming products like alcohol sits well with the benefits of football but it was also understood that there was an issue about treating football equally with other sports, and recognising that squaring the commercial needs of the game and associated sponsorship (including betting sponsorship) with the public good football can do could be a difficult balance
• it was noted that the Children’s Commissioner has engaged on specific issues and we need to consider whether to include them
• HM felt the meeting had been a big step forward, the recognition that we can continue to improve is welcomed and it would also be helpful to focus on what unites us. A broad range of issues had been identified but the cultural and community historic worth of the game needs to remain central
• youth is key to making the game better and we need a youth strategy which caters from elite to grassroots, particularly given 21 of our SPFL clubs have no youth academy. Societal issues can often prevent young people making the best of themselves, and football is a way of improving these chances. Public health and preventative health is a key deliverable for football, and a real opportunity to support hundreds of thousands. MT agreed on the importance of this, noting that sport being part of the health portfolio is ideal, although it of course makes the alcohol discussion harder. She noted the Icelandic model developed to tackle young people dying early through smoking, drinking and drugs
• Forbes Dunlop (FD) brought this part of the discussion to a close noting that within the 50 different sports and 32 local authorities with which sportscotland closely engages, facilities is the number 1 issue, followed by the volunteering decline since covid and, thirdly, cost barriers to participation, so football is consistent with the wider sector. Sportscotland is engaging with COSLA on a new special interest group to look at sports and leisure provision. FD also noted that other countries have introduced regulators for other sports and a number have found the process challenging, proves to be expensive and has not produced the anticipated results

Terms of reference

• it was agreed that there were broader issues afoot than were looked at in the fan led review and by the regulator in England so the group needs to decide where to focus its energies. The group was content to delegate drafting of the TOR to SG officials for circulation prior to next meeting. AC noted that consideration should be given to how to weave in additional voices with an interest in the grassroots game beyond those in attendance
• minutes would also be circulated shortly

Next meeting 

• SG official to suggest dates but definitely before Christmas, and it would be helpful to agree dates early for meetings in 2025 to minimise diary issues