By Tranzic
September 30 2005

Lord Mawhinney - "I want hundreds of thousands of young supporters to watch Football League matches for free" In what could be described as

LEAGUE CLUBS TAKE THE INITIATIVE WITH
‘FANS OF THE FUTURE’
Lord Mawhinney – “I want hundreds of thousands of young supporters to watch Football League matches for free”

In what could be described as a "brave and forward thinking" move, the Football League have started their latest campaign.
'Fans for the Future' has already been picked up by 40 League Clubs and more are expected to follow.

The latest Press Release by the league says;

"The ‘Fans of the Future’ campaign aims to encourage the next generation of supporters to watch live football at their local League club by providing a range of innovative ticketing initiatives for young supporters. More than half of League clubs have introduced a ‘Kids Go Free’ scheme, offering free entry to children accompanied by a paying adult. In total 34 of these have committed to applying the scheme at all home matches. Additionally, other clubs are offering ticket discounts, kid-a-quid matches, family tickets and free tickets for school groups. ‘Fans of the Future’ is a core part of The Football League’s re-branding programme. It breaks new ground for the world’s original league football competition by being its first centrally co-ordinated attendance building initiative. The League has provided clubs with a range of marketing materials that can be individually tailored by each club."

With 40 clubs introducing a Kids Go Free scheme, 34 are doing it at all home League matches including. In the Championship Leicester City, Coventry City and Preston North End. Age groups vary with the most common being all under 7’s (19 clubs) some clubs have even gone under 11’s, under 12's and even under 14's (Scunthorpe Utd).

Research was undertaken during September with a sample of 1,026 parents who have children aged between 5 and 7 residing within the catchment area of the League’s 72 clubs. This revealed that where clubs had the scheme in operation:

• 77% of parents, who have not taken their kids to their local Football League team’s matches before, would consider now doing so

• 67% of parents who are not football fans would consider now taking their kids to watch their local Football League team play

This all comes at a time when press speculation leads us to believe that The Premiership is seeing falling attendances while The League is enjoying its best attendances for more than forty years, with total attendances of 16.4m in the 2004/05 season being the best recorded crowd figures since 1959/60.

Lord Mawhinney stated “Supporters are the lifeblood of professional football. By making League matches more accessible to young supporters through ‘Fans of the Future’ Football League clubs are taking a courageous lead. They are helping themselves by helping young people to enjoy football locally. I congratulate them on being far-sighted enough to commit themselves to an initiative that will deliver real results for generations to come. I am certain that young supporters and their parents will react positively to this initiative and I encourage them to take advantage of it. Having the opportunity to see their local side in action will begin a lifelong football passion for many.”

Tranzic comments "This is something that Burnley Football Club MUST be taking part in. No excuses, no 'better ideas', this scheme! We are currently suffering from our league position and the surcharge, which has left many fans not attending. What better way to get the 'walk ons' back?

Preston North End are quoted in the Official Press Release from The Football League, what GREAT publicity and I get the feeling that yet again we have missed something here. We may as well 'Bus' our kids across to Deepdale next!

THE LONGSIDE call on the club to SHOW US YOU CARE. I would also ask The Clarets Trust to consider their response to this."

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