Fans Gain New Voice With Launch of Fans Parliament

Although it is not the kind of article that would normally be featured on Blueprint for Football, the feeling was that the subject was too important to 

A new initiative to gain a wider view of Scottish football fans’ opinions, which has been endorsed by the Scottish Government, has been launched by Supporters Direct Scotland.

Supporters Direct Scotland has already had talks with the Scottish Football Association, The Scottish Football League and The Scottish Premier League about working with them in the coming months and years.

The ‘Fans Parliament’ initiative will allow a two way communication with all fans of all clubs, from senior to amateur and in every community in the country, to help Supporters Direct Scotland gather fans’ views which will, for the first time, be collected and reported directly to the Scottish Government and to the football authorities.

Included in the ‘Fans Parliament’ initiative will be the new ‘scottishfans.org’ website, a series of roadshows across the country, increased engagement at matches and social media channels and a series of surveys on specific topics concerning the game. Supporters Direct Scotland have already had input into the current

Henry McLeish said, “It has been a unique year for football fans in Scotland, on a local as well as national basis, with ordinary fans’ voices being heard loud and clear in a way they’ve never been heard, or listened to, before. Now there is a drive and determination to ensure that the momentum that was gained isn’t lost.

“The new ‘Fans Parliament’ initiative will provide a platform for fans to continue the debate in the knowledge that it will be reported back to the Scottish Government and to the organisations running football in Scotland.”

Paul Goodwin, Head of Supporters Direct in Scotland said: “Fans voices are being listened to more than ever before and we know that in recent months there has been an unprecedented debate about the game in Scotland.  Through Supporters Direct Scotland fans have a direct route into government and policy makers and we want the new ‘Fans Parliament’ initiative to be the conduit for the debate and discussion between fans across the country and, in effect, be the voice of Scottish football fans.

“We want to facilitate discussion on key issues affecting our game through online discussions and debate and regularly present those findings to Government and the game’s governing bodies as the very latest in supporters’ opinions and views in the game.  As an organisation funded by the Scottish Government we have the ability to present supporters views directly to them as well as to the SPL, SFL and the SFA.  Talks have already started at Hampden Park looking at how we formalise this relationship with the governing bodies.

To have your say, you can follow Scottish Fans on Twitter (@ScottishFans), like them on Facebook and join the debate on their Pie and Bovril sponsored forum– all of these links are available from their website www.scottishfans.org.