West Lothian football club demands more clarity from the Scottish government

A West Lothian football club president has issued a plea to the Scottish government to stop discriminating against young people who participate in youth football in new lockdown measures.

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Darren Pegg, club president for Broxburn Athletic Colts, wrote to government ministers, local MSPs, the SFA and the SYFA earlier this month but has said that only the SFA had the courtesy of giving him a reply.He fears certain teams within the club structure could go bust and has warned of a mental health epidemic sweeping across his young players.Mr Pegg said: “We urgently need clarity from the Scottish government and SYFA with regards to what the rules are so we can keep our young people physically and mentally fit.

"With each passing week we have more players approaching us saying their mental health is really suffering.”He added: “With us moving to a local authority tier system next week, we have still not been informed of what this means for us.”

“Previously, restrictions had caused a lot of upset amongst our players, with Alfie, the 2011’s goalkeeper, having to miss a game due to government guidance that meant that he was not able to travel into the Lothian Health Board boundary from his home just outside.

"This was regardless of the fact that Alfie was in the same class at school as most of his teammates and that same weekend Creetown travelled 114 miles to play our seniors.“I coach the under 19’s and have been told that I am not allowed to play matches because one of my players is over the age 18. It is laughable.“Under the previous guidelines only around five players were impacted. But now with the new tier system, we could end up losing up to 100 of our players and officials if they are stopped from travelling between tier three councils.”Every team at the Colts has to pay just under £100 to be a member of the SYFA and so far the club has paid fees for 20 of their teams.They have also spent over £1,000 on two sets of strips for their under 19’s who now cannot play because one player is over the age of 18. All of the above is paid for by members fees and the club has been left wondering whether parents will continue to stump up if they are not getting the full service.

A ‘State of Play Report’ was carried out by energy company Utilita and asked parents about their fears for the grassroots game under Covid restrictions.They found that on average kids in Scotland play four and a half years in total at the grassroots level with 33 percent of parents saying they volunteer at their children's club.But 70 percent of parents said that their children were really struggling without having football back properly. A further 38 percent said they feared for their children's clubs future due to the restrictions in place.

The Scottish government and the club’s local MSP, Fiona Hyslop, were contacted for comment.

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