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Date: 31st May 2021
COMMON GOOD OVER NARROW SELF INTEREST’ AS HENRY MCLEISH AND SCOTTISH FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS LAUNCH NEW SCOTTISH FOOTBALL ALLIANCE
NEW INDEPENDENT GROUP ESTABLISHED TO DELIVER A LONG-TERM STRATEGIC PLAN ON THE FUTURE OF THE SCOTTISH GAME
THE REVIEW WILL LOOK AT ALL ASPECTS OF THE GAME WITH PRIMARY FOCUS ON ENSURING COMMON GOOD OVER NARROW SELF INTEREST
OVER 20 ‘ZOOM’ FOCUS GROUP MEETINGS ALREADY CONDUCTED WITH AIM TO PRODUCE AN ACTIONABLE REVIEW BY THE AUTUMN
GROUP TO CALL ON SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FROM ITS REVIEW
30 May 2021: The Scottish Football Supporters Association (SFSA) has announced the formation of a new independent body – The Scottish Football Alliance – at its Conference today (30th May 2021) to deliver a long-term plan for the future of Scottish football.
ALLIANCE Website: www.scottishfootball.org
The Alliance includes former players, many of them internationalists, former club administrators, representatives of the men’s and women’s game, club representatives, journalists, politicians, coaches, managers, academics and of course ordinary football fans.
Work has been ongoing over the past six months to bring these kindred spirts together to focus on how the positives in the Scottish game can be taken to produce a blueprint that will benefit the whole game.
The research is well underway, and the report will be authored by Henry McLeish and Dr. Andy McArthur.
Henry McLeish said, “We know that football in Scotland is an industry that is an integral part of the fabric of our society not just for its rich and colourful history but also for the strong vibrant community engagement that it currently fosters. What we also know is that the game has in many ways failed to adapt or to reform to allow many of the key stakeholders to have a say in how it operates. Many of the reasons for that systemic failure has been the constant battle that it faces where narrow self-interest trumps the common good”.
The reform process is now also underway in England where the UK Government has pulled together a task force to explore the governance of the game. The Scottish Football Alliance contacted all the political parties prior to the recent Scottish Parliamentary election to make them aware of the pressing need for reform and oversight of the industry.
Co Author of the report Dr Andy McArthur, who facilitated the meetings said: “Many of the issues in England are very different to what we face in Scotland and the recent European Super League proposal have highlighted that football has to take into consideration the greater good of the game rather than the narrow course that self- interest steers itself. The findings from our group work so far have been concentrating on the positive opportunities that the game can offer us here in Scotland. I hope that in opening up the consultation today to other industry professionals and all supporters across Scotland will be another significant step forward for the Alliance.”
Football faces many challenges ahead in a post covid environment and there is a collective need to ensure that the governance of the game that we all love can help shape a positive future that genuinely shows that football is indeed for all.
ENDS
For further information on the Scottish Football Alliance contact Courtney Orr 07957 194993
For further information on The SFSA please contact Paul Goodwin on 07702-252519
Notes to editors
The Scottish Football Alliance is a collective of over 40 professionals who have a passion for football and believe that reform of the game is now and essential way forward for our sport. They are now opening the debate to all supporters of the game to provide a prospectus for the greater good. You can be involved by visiting www.scottishfootball.org
The SFSA, which has over 76,000 members supporting clubs across Scotland, is Scotland’s fans’ representative in The Football Supporters Europe network (FSE), an independent, representative and democratically organised grass-roots network of football fans in Europe with members in currently 48 countries across the continent.
* The SFSA can be found on Twitter and Instagram via @scottishfsa, and through hashtag #reclaimthegame and on Facebook. The website is: http://scottishfsa.org/about-sfsa/
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