Supporters Direct in Scotland
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S3M-1295, in the name of Marilyn Livingstone, on Supporters Direct in Scotland. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the work of Supporters Direct in Scotland; recognises its contribution to Scottish football and believes that supporters' trusts provide the best mechanism for involving communities in their football clubs and that the Raith Trust in the Kirkcaldy parliamentary constituency is an excellent example of where supporters' trusts promote community empowerment and strengthen local football teams, and believes that they should continue to be supported.
I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate and to express my support for the work of Supporters Direct. I attended my first football match in 1969, along with my dad and my brother, and football has been a passion ever since. I have been hooked on the game all that time, so it is an honour to open this debate, which focuses on the topic of football.
I speak in favour of the motion in the name of Marilyn Livingstone. I know that she supports the work of Supporters Direct and that she is a strong supporter of the work of the Raith Trust in her constituency.
Football is very important throughout Scotland's communities. It is very much the staple diet of people's lives and conversations—in fact, I believe that some members are heading off tonight to a football match, and I wish them a happy, enjoyable and successful evening.
There is no doubt that the attendance at football matches has changed a lot since my first game in 1969. One of the positive developments has been the increase in the number of women who now come along to the football. When I used to go in the 1980s along with my cousin Rose-Marie, she was the sole woman in large parts of the ground, but when I took my daughter Carys to her first game a couple of years ago, I am pleased to say that that situation had changed. That is positive for football and for Scottish society.
A range of clubs is involved in football throughout Scotland, as can be seen in my constituency. On the professional side, there is Clyde—a team that has moved to Cumbernauld, but which still has strong links with the Rutherglen constituency in which it resided when it won the Scottish cup in the 1950s. On the junior side, Rutherglen Glencairn and Cambuslang Rangers have both been very successful, and we are lucky enough to have successful amateur sides in Eastwood United and Rutherglen Amateurs.
There is no doubt that the financial impact of the game looms large these days. Indeed, in the next round of English Premier League contracts, the English premiership clubs will get £40 million of television money. We live in a time in which some players earn more in a week than the people who go to watch them earn in a year—a time in which the combined debt of Scottish Premier League clubs is £200 million.
Against that backdrop, the importance of supporters and communities is very important. As Jock Stein said:
"Football without fans is nothing".
From that point of view, the work of Supporters Direct is absolutely essential, because it promotes a co-operative approach, and it promotes work in the community. It gives supporters voices, through the supporters trusts, and it gives an element of accountability and democracy. Football supporters feel strongly about their clubs, and it is important that they have a vehicle through which to communicate their feelings to the directors about the way in which the club is run.
One of the successes of Supporters Direct has been the setting up of 35 supporters trusts throughout Scotland, which have 15,000 members. Supporters Direct has been instrumental in saving six clubs—Morton, Clyde, Clydebank, Dundee, Raith Rovers and Falkirk—and it has facilitated the investment of £2 million in clubs. Supporters Direct has also moved into rugby union, and it is considering how it can move forward supporters trusts in that field. There is a lot of support for the trusts throughout Scotland and across the political spectrum.
Tonight's debate comes at an appropriate time for Supporters Direct. It is currently funded by the reduction in pools betting duty, but that funding runs out at the end of March. It has submitted a funding programme of £140,000 a year over the next three years to the Scottish Government; there have been a number of meetings and discussions but, at this point in time, no hard cash. Time is clearly running out, and I take the opportunity of this debate to call on the Scottish Government to provide the funding that is necessary for Supporters Direct to do such essential work throughout Scotland.
The minister could respond to the debate very positively by giving a positive commitment on funding for Supporters Direct. This is an excellent debate to take part in—it has allowed me to showcase the work of Supporters Direct, and that would be reiterated if Marilyn Livingstone were in the chamber. The debate has to have a purpose; as I said, it gives the minister a chance to come forward and score a goal by providing funding to Supporters Direct, and by giving it a platform to develop its future and to roar forward to success in 2008-09.
In recent years, Scottish football clubs have not exactly been blessed with significant financial investment, and we sometimes look with envy at the obscene amounts of money that are poured into football south of the border by television companies. Without the welcome and essential sponsorship that our clubs receive from Clydesdale Bank, Irn Bru and Setanta, many of our clubs would be in dire straits. It must be with great concern that we observe the latest situation at Gretna Football Club.
In supporting the motion tonight and having looked over some of the speeches that were made in previous debates, I believe that the emergence of Supporters Direct and football trusts was inevitable. We had better get used to the fact that the long-term survival of many of our clubs lies in the hands of their dedicated supporters. Some of our biggest clubs almost went out of business in recent years—James Kelly mentioned a few, and we could possibly add Motherwell to the list—perhaps because of too heavy a reliance on external funding from TV contracts. Wages rocketed on the back of the deals, and clubs faced closure as a result.
We perhaps now have a more realistic and practical approach to the financing of our clubs, although many rely on the efforts of their supporter organisations to sustain them from season to season. Self-sustainability is the key these days. The kick-start funding that Supporters Direct received in 2002 was widely welcomed, and it enabled many supporters groups to establish themselves and become self-financing. Many have gone from strength to strength.
The wish of football club supporters to have a say in the running of their clubs is not new, but the emergence of Supporters Direct and the trusts gave a clearer focus to the efforts, and we now see supporters represented on the boards of a number of our clubs. That can surely only be a positive step.
For their own reasons, which are not always particularly sound, many football club boards have resisted welcoming supporters on to the board, preferring in some cases to invite people with no local connections, no investment to offer and no record of ever having attended a match of the club concerned. However, progress is being made.
It is perhaps appropriate that this debate is taking place when the football club of Barcelona is once again in Scotland to pit its wits against Celtic. As many members know, Barcelona, with well over 150,000 owners, is actually owned by its supporters. They all have a say, and they meet in their own assembly to deliberate on how to develop the club and to foster wider community initiatives in Catalonia.
At the other end of the financial scale, the trust of the football club of Forfar Athletic has the honourable intention of keeping a watchful eye on and helping to reduce the club's overdraft. The common factor is that the supporters of both clubs love their football club and are committed to its continued existence and development. That spirit and dedication remain constant in football, no matter the location or size of the club, and that spirit must be welcomed and harnessed by the football clubs that have not yet invited supporter representatives on to their boards.
From what I can see, many trusts in Scotland will fundraise to buy shares in the club—to get their voices heard at annual general meetings and so on. It seems to me that that is more of a barrier placed in front of them rather than an open invitation to have a say in the running of the club. It would be welcome to hear that more football club boards in Scotland were beginning to co-opt supporter representatives on to their boards to help them face the challenges of the future.
The trust at my own club, Kilmarnock, has just announced that it will be making available £2,000 to the local community in the form of a community bursary. That will be connected not necessarily to football schemes but to community initiatives in general. There have been other initiatives, such as 50 for the future—a fundraising scheme to identify and support new players for the club—which has been very successful.
Scottish football club trusts have proven over the years that they have the dedication and know-how to support their clubs. They have drive and imagination, and their fundraising efforts have been first class. I have great pleasure in supporting the motion, and I look forward to the rest of the speeches.
Bayern Munich's visit to Pittodrie last week was a great occasion. For young fans, such as my daughter Sophie, it was a first chance to see the Dons match up to one of Europe's biggest clubs. For those of us old enough to have been at the previous game between Aberdeen and Bayern Munich 25 years ago, it was a chance to remind ourselves where we were sitting the moment that winning goal was scored back in 1983.
Tomorrow night is the return leg, but tragically one great Dons supporter has not lived to see whether Jimmy Calderwood's team will match the achievement of Alex Ferguson's, as Alexandra Stalker of AFC Trust died at the weekend.
Alex Stalker was what the supporters trust movement is all about. She loved the game, and she was a passionate follower of her team, but more than that she was dedicated to ensuring that the game and the club belonged to football supporters and the wider community—not just in Aberdeen, but wherever professional football is played.
I was privileged to know and work with Alex Stalker in the past seven years, after the AFC shareholders association turned itself into a supporters trust in March 2001. For much of that time, she played a critical role on the trust's committee. She was not afraid to speak out on behalf of her fellow supporters, while her calmness in difficult moments commanded respect from all sides.
Alex Stalker understood well that supporters trusts are about more than just a single football club; they are about shifting the balance of power in the football industry to ensure that supporters have their say and can influence decisions. She recognised that a strong supporters trust is one of the best defences that a community can have against its football club falling into the hands of people who have no real interest in its future. That was why she promoted links through Supporters Direct, encouraged new trusts at clubs in Scotland and England and even—I am told—helped to get the supporters trust up and running at Celtic Park.
That wider approach is not just about trusts themselves. The AFC Trust and others have supported initiatives such as Show Racism the Red Card, which uses football to break down barriers. There have been other initiatives by fans, such as the Dnipro kids fund, which Hibs fans set up after their team played FC Dnipro in 2005. Dons fans supported children in the same Ukrainian sanatorium when Aberdeen were in Ukraine at the end of last year.
Of course, there are issues nearer home for trusts and supporters. For example, Aberdeen Football Club has been at Pittodrie for more than 100 years, but it is exploring options to relocate to the edge of town. Different views are held about that. My view is that moving the football stadium out of the heart of the city would be bad news for fans—no more walking to the game or catching the service bus into town for people who want to leave the car at home or do not have a car. However, people have different views, and what is important is acknowledging that supporters have those views and listening to them.
Football supporters should make their voices heard. That is why the AFC Trust and its equivalents elsewhere are important and why Alex Stalker would have wanted more people to join and become involved. The supporters trust movement offers the right vehicle for fans to get their views across and for clubs to hear from the people who matter most.
I hope that the debate helps to reinforce that message, not just in Aberdeen, but throughout Scotland. Beating Bayern Munich again would be a wonderful achievement. Securing the future health of all our clubs and a say for supporters in the game's future might take a little more than 90 minutes, but it will be well worth the effort and will be a tribute to all those who have gone before.
Marilyn Livingstone is to be congratulated on securing the debate. I am sorry that she could not speak to her motion, but James Kelly did an excellent job as her substitute. I, too, am a substitute—for Jamie McGrigor. With so many subs, it is a good job that the debate is about football. Family illness prevents him from being here, but I am pleased to have been asked to come off the bench as his replacement.
The debate takes place at an appropriate time, as yet another Scottish football club—Gretna—seems to be in financial difficulties. I hope that matters are not as serious as they appear to be. Of course, we will want to pass our good wishes to Gretna's Brooks Mileson, who is in hospital. Gretna is not the first, and will certainly not be the last, Scottish club to face money troubles.
Jamie McGrigor recently had a positive meeting with Supporters Direct. As Conservative sport spokesman, he has been consistently enthusiastic about the organisation, as he was in his speech in the previous members' business debate on the subject in spring 2006.
In the relatively short time of five years, Supporters Direct has—impressively—helped to start 35 supporters trusts in Scotland, 25 of which have been assisted to take a shareholding in their clubs. That has brought fresh capital that amounts to more than £2 million into Scottish football at a time of severe financial pressure, as we have heard. That has helped many clubs to move towards a more substantial financial future. Of the clubs involved, 14 have appointed a supporter to their board because of their work with supporters trusts.
As we have heard, Supporters Direct is moving into rugby. All rugby fans will agree, as I do, that Scotland needs all the support that it can get—especially against Ireland this weekend.
The Scottish Conservatives are very much in favour of ordinary football supporters having a say in how their clubs are run. That democratisation of the game is to be commended. I pay tribute to all the football fans throughout Scotland who have become involved in supporters trusts. Their input is valuable.
Supporters trusts have an important role to play in campaigning to open up local facilities and expanding the role of football to boost local health care, education and community cohesion. Indeed, their role in promoting the health benefits of football at local level is crucial and ties in with the Government's aim of increasing participation in sport and improving health. As I am discussing local issues, I should remind members that my local team, East Fife, which is a keen participant in the supporters trust initiative, is currently some 18 points ahead at the top of the third division. Marilyn Livingstone would have enjoyed reminding us that Raith Rovers, which has some fairly distinguished supporters, is a prominent club in the supporters trust movement through the Raith Trust. Of course, that club is also flying high in the second division under the effective chairmanship of my friend David Somerville.
At European level, I am encouraged that the Union of European Football Associations has engaged Supporters Direct to conduct research to determine how to apply the supporters trust model in other European countries. Supporters Direct has achieved much in recent years with limited funding from the Scottish Government. I am aware that it has submitted a three-year funding proposal to the Government that seems to offer real value for money. Acceptance of that proposal would allow it to continue to expand its good work in communities throughout Scotland. I hope that the minister will take the cross-party good will that has been evident in the debate as an indication that there is support for his looking favourably at what has been proposed.
I am pleased to speak in the debate. I will talk a bit about Raith Rovers Football Club, whose home is in Kirkcaldy, and the model that that club represents to others for genuine fan involvement and engagement. Marilyn Livingstone will, as a committed Raith Rovers fan, be disappointed at not being able to take part in the debate, although she has at times, I think, been a Raith Rovers widow. We seem to see her husband Pete rather than her at many games.
A few years ago, Raith Rovers faced an uncertain future, but the club was saved by a £1.3 million community takeover, which was the first of its kind in Scottish football. When the owner of the club decided to sell, a community consortium worked hard to raise funds. It recognised the value of the team to the community and demonstrated the sheer passion that people can have for their team. That passion was mobilised through the fans group, Reclaim the Rovers. Supporters Direct played an important role. For the first time, a supporters trust member is on the club's board, which is hugely significant, and Raith Rovers is committed to a range of community outreach work to schools and local clubs. Like all clubs, it faces challenges, but people have made enormous efforts in the past, and I am sure that the commitment that has been shown will continue.
In addition to being involved in the trust, fans are involved through an active supporters club, which is run by a committee of lifelong Raith Rovers fans. The committee is elected by supporters and there are two honorary positions, one of which is held by the Prime Minister, who is a lifelong Raith Rovers fan. We can start to see a pattern in fan involvement with the team. There is a huge commitment by members, who are responsible for a number of tasks that are carried out at Stark's Park on match days, including running the official club shop, distributing and selling match programmes and organising the ball-boys and mascots. I do not know whether the Prime Minister helps out with those tasks.
He used to.
That is true.
At the weekend, I attended a celebration of Jobcentre Plus in Kirkcaldy. The contribution that Raith Rovers and other teams are making to support unemployed people with long-term or complex needs into employment is to be acknowledged and commended. That further demonstrates the contribution that teams can make to their wider communities, and that they deserve support.
I hope that the Government will begin to give support to Supporters Direct, because it can make a difference to local football clubs. Raith Rovers is a good example of a club that positively captures its fans' enthusiasm and energy. I hope that the support that Supporters Direct offers will continue.
I support Marilyn Livingstone's motion. I recently had discussions with Supporters Direct in Scotland and have been impressed by its work.
As Ted Brocklebank said, there are currently 35 supporters trusts in Scotland. All the Scottish football divisions as well as one junior football team and two groups of rugby union supporters are covered. More than £2 million has been invested in football over five years, which, as James Kelly intimated, represents around a 400 per cent return on the funding that has been made available.
Morton, Clyde, Clydebank, Dundee, Raith Rovers and Falkirk have all been helped to remain as viable football clubs through interventions from their supporters via the supporters trust model. So far, 25 trusts have taken a financial share in their football clubs and 14 football clubs have appointed supporters to their boards because of the work with supporters trusts. Supporters trusts impact positively on their communities by campaigning to open up access to local facilities and expand the role of football in local health, education and community cohesion. In my role as shadow minister for communities and sport, I support the aims of the organisation. Encouraging communities to become involved in sport ticks all the boxes for me.
Historically, football clubs have always been part of their local communities. When I started to look into the history of my local team, Dunfermline Athletic, I was surprised to read that the club began as a cricket club. In 1874, Dunfermline Cricket Club formed a football section in order to maintain fitness during the winter season. Dunfermline Athletic Football Club was formed in 1885 at East End Park—at the time, just west of the present stadium—and has been part of the community ever since.
Unfortunately, football clubs have grown away from their communities over the years. That could be due to the money that is now invested in clubs from other sources and the fact that people no longer support their local town or city team. Local fans and fans who have moved away but still support their local clubs are being given a say and a stake in their clubs by supporters trusts. Donald Gorrie, the former Liberal Democrat MSP, who was a member of the previous Administration, played a significant role in supporting Supporters Direct. I would be happy for the organisation to continue and extend its good work throughout the country.
On 5 February, Rangers received a cheque from the Rangers Supporters Trust to buy 84,000 new ordinary shares in the club. That was just the first acquisition that it plans to make over the next few years from its GerSave initiative, which allows fans to invest in shares in the club. In return, fans who are members of the Rangers Supporters Trust receive an entitlement to ordinary shares in the club.
The December issue of the Supporters Direct's magazine reported on the kick out bigotry campaign—Scottish football's united campaign against sectarianism, which was launched in November by the First Minister. Many supporters organisations have also been actively involved in the show racism the red card fortnight of action campaign, including those at Dundee United, Kilmarnock and Clydebank. Many young people were very much part of the campaign, and Supporters Direct must be congratulated on that action. Education will help to change attitudes. Racism must be stamped out, and support for the organisation is a positive step forward.
Many of Scotland's senior clubs have some form of direct supporters involvement, but others do not. I would encourage them to consider supporting Supporters Direct, as the organisation has some positive things to offer all clubs, whatever their size. Successful clubs will always attract support, but what happens when a club is going through bad times?
Supporters Direct is currently funded until the end of March 2008. Its core funding has previously been made available through the remaining finances in the reduction in pools betting duty budget; however, that funding is no longer available and a decision on support for the organisation is still to be made. I know, from speaking to the development manager of Supporters Direct, that it feels that it is getting squeezed in the middle of the Government's refocus. Let us not lose the good work that the organisation has already done, and let us support it in its future work.
I congratulate Marilyn Livingstone on her motion and James Kelly on presenting it so well to the chamber. In his speech, he showed that there has already been a significant return on the investment that was made by the previous Executive in Supporters Direct. I hope that the Government will take the opportunity to build on that success.
My interest in the subject comes from having been the reporter on football for the Enterprise and Culture Committee in the previous session. The report on football that was agreed by that committee recommended that the support for Supporters Direct be continued, with appropriate funding to enable its work to be expanded. I hope that the cross-party support for that work continues in the current session.
The work of Supporters Direct is important not simply because football is a great passion in Scotland and, for a number of us in the chamber—as George Foulkes knows—a great burden, but because there has been, for too long, too great a gulf between the people who run football and the fans without whose support, week in, week out, the clubs would not exist. That is something that George Foulkes, in his all-too-short time as chairman of Heart of Midlothian, tried to address. We also know that football clubs are not just about the excitement of the league but can play a much wider role in their communities.
Aberdeen Football Club has led the country in developing community outreach programmes, using football as an educational tool and addressing key issues such as antisocial behaviour. Some clubs, such as Ross County and Raith Rovers, which Claire Baker mentioned, are even involved in running extremely successful programmes to help people who are out of work to find employment.
The benefits of what can be achieved in a community by a well-run club became clear to me when I compiled the committee report on football to which I have referred. That is why good governance of clubs and of football as a whole is so important.
Involving supporters in governance is crucial, not only because they should be involved but because they can provide an important check and balance at board level. For me, the impetus for the report on football came from the need for us to examine how our football clubs and the game as a whole are governed. Political scrutiny of such issues is not welcomed in the sport, but the fact that the way in which the game is governed has not changed materially for decades and that governance is centralised needs to be scrutinised.
The Scottish Football Association is moving in the right direction. The appointment of Gordon Smith is challenging and welcome. Organisations such as Supporters Direct and the Scottish Professional Footballers Association, which have expertise and innovative ideas for developing football, have an important role to play in the future of football and our clubs.
Our clubs, our national game and our society as a whole can reap the rewards of properly involving in governance people who have a passion for their clubs and for the development of football in Scotland. Many examples of that have been given tonight. Lewis Macdonald mentioned the commitment by fans of Aberdeen. Like other speakers, I hope to hear from the minister that the Scottish Government will continue to commit itself to the important goal of involving supporters in the governance of our clubs and the good governance of our game.
When opening tonight's debate, James Kelly referred to his first football match. I will not admit to when I first went to a football match. Suffice it to say that early in my life I had a big decision to make, because my mother comes from Kilmarnock and my father comes from Ayr.
You chose the wrong one.
From an early age, I was no stranger to controversy and had to take hard decisions. I began supporting Kilmarnock and have continued to do so. I have been very involved in ensuring that a supporters trust was set up there and that some of the issues that have been raised today were addressed.
It is important that we focus on the rationale for the establishment of Supporters Direct in Scotland, which was to ensure that trusts were set up locally. Members have provided good examples from across Scotland of how that approach has worked in practice. The establishment of Supporters Direct was part of an effort to give supporters a say in the running and organisation of their clubs, to ensure that they had a meaningful voice and that, in certain circumstances, they had an opportunity to participate in financial ownership of their clubs.
One of the few issues on which Willie Coffey and I agree is our support for Kilmarnock Football Club. The Killie trust sponsors local youth football teams and has invested in youth development. Willie Coffey referred to the Killie trust bursary, which was launched earlier this month and offers local community organisations the opportunity to bid for money that has been raised. The trust's 50 for the future scheme asks fans to donate 50p until the trust has enough 50p coins to cover every seat in the Kilmarnock stadium. The money that is raised will be shared between youth development and support for local community projects.
I have already mentioned Ayr. People may find this strange, given that I am a Kilmarnock supporter, but I must confess that I was brave enough to attend the launch of the Ayr United supporters trust. I believe so passionately in supporters trusts that I was prepared to make the journey to Somerset Park to be at that launch. To be fair—I always try to be balanced on this issue, although Ayr United supporters are our rivals—the Ayr United supporters trust has worked very hard. In particular, it has campaigned against racism and has sought to ensure that the trust is actively involved in the local community.
In a previous members' business debate that I led, the minister was good enough to respond positively to a movement with cross-party support.
I remind members that the growth of football supporters trusts did not happen by accident but because of the good and positive work of Supporters Direct in Scotland. It had a plan, targets to hit and funding in place. It is a professional organisation that has given supporters at grass-roots level the support that they need not only to get their trusts up and running but to maintain them and ensure that they are able to continue in future.
We cannot take any of that for granted. We do not want to lose it but must continue to build on it in future. The only way to do that is to ensure that Supporters Direct in Scotland continues as a professional organisation with a forward plan for the next three years. I hope that the minister will be able to give us some positive words on that and that the good work that has been started will continue across Scotland.
I congratulate Marilyn Livingstone on securing the debate and James Kelly on the way in which he opened it. I know how involved Marilyn has been in Supporters Direct and, in particular, the Raith Trust, about which my colleague Claire Baker spoke.
Representing a large area such as Mid Scotland and Fife means that one treads a dangerous path when lavishing praise on individual football clubs in the area. However, I am an ex-union official, and I remember that, when union officials were elected, it was impossible to find any who supported Rangers or Celtic, Liverpool or Everton, or Manchester United or Manchester City, but there were plenty who supported Partick Thistle, Tranmere Rovers and Burnley.
I expected Marilyn Livingstone to be here, but I am pleased that Claire Baker mentioned the work of the Raith Trust because, in the interest of balance in Fife, I will speak a bit about what the Dunfermline Athletic Supporters Society—the Pars trust—has done. I declare an interest: having a member of my close family on the playing staff at Dunfermline Athletic FC brings some privileges, which are highlighted in my entry in the register of interests. Unfortunately, my attendance at recent games has not brought the club any luck.
There is no doubt that Supporters Direct has done an excellent job. It has provided financial support to the Pars trust, for example, and a platform for trusts to interact, learn from one another and develop.
Although the Pars trust does not have a place on the Dunfermline Athletic board, it has constructive dialogue with board members and is now the 13th largest shareholder in the club, which is an important position. Such activities can happen only with the support of Supporters Direct, which has ensured that many ordinary supporters have been able to make a positive contribution to Dunfermline Athletic.
As well as giving the fans a voice, the trust has been able to support the youth and community side of Dunfermline Athletic's work, which, as I am sure members all agree, is important. Three years ago, the trust bought the Sammy van, which is named after the infamous Dunfermline mascot, Sammy the Tammy. The van has enabled community coaches to transport equipment around schools and community classes throughout Fife. The trust also bought much of the equipment.
The Pars trust is in a strong position. It will buy a new van for the community outreach programme in the next few months. It has also provided direct support to Dunfermline Athletic during a difficult financial time for the club. Trust members have volunteered their services during busy times, particularly during the three cup finals that the club has reached in the past three years, which is unprecedented in its recent history.
Members will recall that the club faced financial difficulties when it was forced to remove its synthetic pitch a couple of years ago. However, they will not know that the Pars trust set up a half-time competition called Sammy's squares—members will see a recurring theme—which enabled the club to bring in extra revenue to replace the money that was lost through the removal of the synthetic pitch.
Those and many other activities confirm the importance of the work of Supporters Direct and the many trusts about which we have spoken to ensuring that football is a success. I hope that, in future, with the assistance of Supporters Direct, an increasing number of trust members will be involved in boards and have a greater influence at board level in the running of clubs throughout the country. I hope that the Government is in a position to support that.
I think that one of the many ways of ensuring that we have a proper debate on summer football in which ordinary supporters' views are considered is to have supporters themselves operational at board level, and Supporters Direct in Scotland will ensure that that happens.
I thank Marilyn Livingstone for securing the debate and echo Ted Brocklebank's thanks to James Kelly for coming off the bench as a late substitute.
First, I acknowledge Supporters Direct in Scotland's significant contribution to Scottish football and Scottish communities. As with many members' business debates, I was interested to hear about members' lives and experiences as children. Everyone seems to have visited many football clubs but, as John Park said, no one ever seems to have gone to see Rangers or Celtic. That is just one of those funny things that often crops up.
As I have spoken before in this chamber of my respect for Supporters Direct in Scotland's good work in developing and increasing the number of football trusts throughout Scotland, I am happy to repeat my belief that such organisations can play a fundamental and principled role in football.
Supporters Direct in Scotland has invested considerable hard work and effort in establishing supporters trusts, which are developing clubs as assets to local communities and promoting corporate governance, financial accountability and community responsibility. As football clubs are well known in their communities, they can help to attract people to attend events as spectators and to get more involved as volunteers. Indeed, such local support is crucial to any football club.
We are all aware of the passion of Scottish football fans for the game and their pride in their team's achievements and know that supporters are the lifeblood of Scottish football. Anyone who has been to a football match knows the importance of the relationship between the players on the pitch and the spectators in the stands, and the same holds true not only for old firm games but for local derbies between, say, Kilmarnock and Ayr, which I believe are quite exciting events. Indeed, I am sure that Ms Jamieson has been to many such derbies.
At its best, that bond between players and supporters can inspire both and create a memorable sense of occasion. I experienced that most recently at the UEFA cup group match between Aberdeen and Copenhagen in December. As members might recall, the evening began with Aberdeen two points behind Copenhagen and needing to win if they were to qualify for the knock-out stages. The team's efforts and the fans' passion combined to create an amazingly stirring atmosphere and the remarkable—and, I have to say, very welcome—outcome was a thumping 4-0 victory for the Dons. That kind of night stays in the memory for a long time—and I hope that we get another memorable night later this week when Aberdeen play a second leg against Bayern Munich.
There are many examples of the good work that is being done by supporters' trusts throughout Scotland and I acknowledge the achievements of one such group: the Raith Trust in the Kirkcaldy parliamentary constituency. In particular, I congratulate the trust on raising £30,000 in its first two years and ensuring that much of that money has been invested in youth football to help find future star players.
I applaud the trust's involvement in the successful reclaim the Rovers campaign in 2005, which played a part in the deal to secure the future of Raith Rovers, and endorse the Raith Trust's stated view that football clubs and supporters must give something back to the communities from which they derive their support.
There are excellent examples of such activity at Raith Rovers, which now has a community group that promotes hospital visits and clean-up days at Starks Park and has started Raith TV on the club's website. I have not watched that programme, but I am sure that it is very interesting.
As other members have pointed out, Supporters Direct in Scotland has helped to turn round many failing clubs by, for example, working with the clubs, the community and the supporters and encouraging fans to get more involved. I applaud those achievements, and I encourage that approach as a way forward. After all, as fans make a lifetime commitment to a club, they should have a greater say in how their club is run, and I am certain that clubs, communities and fans working together is the way forward to create a sustainable future for Scottish football.
Over the past six years, Supporters Direct in Scotland has received a substantial amount of biannual funding—what I believe Willie Coffey called kick-start funding—which has been used to set up, establish and resource this valued organisation. As other members have said, Scottish Government officials have met Supporters Direct in Scotland twice in the past six months to discuss future funding arrangements. In the first of those meetings, which took place in August 2007, no firm commitments could be given beyond the expiry of the current funding arrangements due to the on-going spending review.
Officials also discussed the Scottish Government's belief that organisations should aim to be self-sustaining. It is clear that Supporters Direct in Scotland recognises that fact because, in 2006, it stated that one of its key objectives was to establish itself as a financially self-sustaining organisation. Supporters Direct in Scotland has indicated that it has had contact with a possible sponsor. That is a matter for the organisation to pursue. We await the outcome and hope that it will be positive.
In December 2007, Supporters Direct in Scotland submitted a request for renewed, and increased, Scottish Government funding for a further three years from 1 April 2008. Officials met the organisation again in January of this year to discuss its application. In discussion, it emerged that the organisation has not held any formal conversations with the Scottish Football Association or sportscotland. Officials suggested that such a discussion could be useful and offered to arrange a joint meeting for Supporters Direct in Scotland with the Scottish Football Association and sportscotland to discuss future funding opportunities.
We have now spoken to Gordon Smith, who is the SFA chief executive, and to the partnership manager of sportscotland, both of whom will be happy to attend a joint meeting with Scottish Government officials and Supporters Direct in Scotland. That meeting will be an opportunity to explore future partnership arrangements that will ensure that the organisation can continue to deliver its aims and objectives.
In that context, does the minister see a continuing role for Government support as well as for the work of the other partners that he mentioned?
It is too early to say. Discussions are on-going between Supporters Direct in Scotland, the Government and other partners such as the SFA and sportscotland. I encouraged the organisation to come on board by coming to a meeting with the SFA and the other partners to find out how we can progress the funding initiative.
I confirm that I welcome the work of Supporters Direct in Scotland, recognise its contribution to Scottish football and agree that supporters trusts provide the best mechanism for involving communities in their football clubs. I wish Supporters Direct in Scotland well for the continuation of its good work in the future.
Meeting closed at 17:47.