Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2026
Absolutely. I would not be a true Todd if I was not completely aware that, when we talk about football coming home, we mean home to Queen’s Park.
The network of football clubs across Scotland is absolutely incredible. Football is the country’s number 1 sport. There are more than 2,500 clubs spread across the country, and there are currently more than 150,000 registered players, with a further 50,000 coaches and volunteers. If we also include the number of recreational participants, parents, fans and influencers in the local community, the Scottish FA estimates that football clubs impact more than 900,000 people every week in Scotland. That is phenomenal.
The sport holds a central place in Scotland’s cultural landscape. Annually, there are attendances of more than 6.8 million at matches involving Scottish professional football teams and international matches. In addition, the Scottish Premiership attracts the highest average weekly attendance per head of population in Europe.
Scotland has some of the best community football clubs in Europe. They are organisations that are deeply rooted in their community and that help to support players, coaches, volunteers and parents. We have heard about many of them this evening. They play a fundamental role in our society, and they have a far greater ability to connect communities than other statutory and non-statutory organisations. George Adam rightly talked about the role that St Mirren plays in the community.
The breadth and diversity of the communities that these clubs serve are considerable, and many operate in areas of significant deprivation. That became crystal clear during the Covid pandemic, when many of those organisations quickly pivoted from delivering football sessions to kids to delivering food parcels and providing hope for many in their local communities.
The main motivation for our clubs is evident: they want to serve and better their local community and use the power of football to positively impact on the lives of many. The unique reach of football and, from the Scottish Government’s point of view, its ability to deliver across multiple Scottish Government portfolios, offers a platform to improve, influence and develop Scottish society and impact on a wide range of key thematic areas, both on and off the pitch.
Scottish football has a track record of delivering on Scottish Government national and local outcomes through projects and programmes that are often delivered by the SPFL clubs’ community trusts and foundations, supported by the SPFL Trust.
Just before Christmas, I was delighted to be invited by St Johnstone FC to attend its festive friends Christmas lunch at McDiarmid Park. That was a community initiative by the St Johnstone Community Trust, in partnership with the SPFL Trust. Such things will have been happening all over the country. The intention of such events is to combat loneliness for isolated older people during Christmas by delivering hampers, hosting festive lunches and providing companionship, often with surprise visits from players—indeed, at the lunch that I attended in December, the team manager, Simo Valakari, came along to speak to those attending. It was a wonderful experience.
The Scottish Government is also working in partnership with the Scottish FA to deliver before-school, after-school and holiday clubs through our very successful extra time programme. I have met the people in St Mirren who deliver that programme.