Gareth Williams pictured with the FA Cup at Wembley
Trust board member Gareth Williams was a delegate at the Football Supporters’ Association’s (FSA) annual conference at Wembley Stadium over last weekend.
This is Gareth’s report:
Introduction
The Football Supporters Association (FSA) is the national, democratic, representative body for football supporters in England and Wales. The FSA are the leading advocates for good governance, supporter ownership, better fan engagement, cheaper ticket prices, the choice to stand at the match, protecting fan rights, diversity and all types of fan empowerment. Cardiff City Supporters Trust are full affiliate members of the FSA
The conference was very enjoyable and also very informative as far as the position of the current regulatory position which has been outlined in the King’s Speech in Parliament. This follows on the commitment of all political parties to support its passage through the legislative process.
This was fully established by Stephanie Peacock MP, the new Under Secretary for Culture and Sport addressing the conference with full support to enact the football reform bill through Parliament.
In her speech, she outlined that it is designed to enhance supporter engagement and will give crucial financial protections to clubs as well as setting up an independent regulator and confirms the Government’s commitment to keep clubs at the heart of their communities.
A great deal of work has been undertaken by the FSA to get the process of getting the Football Regulatory Bill to be fit for purpose to protect the interests of football supporters and regulate the clubs to get the football industry on a more positive footing which will present a brighter outlook for both clubs and their supporters.
Workshops attended
Supporter engagement in the EFL– This process was outlined by personnel from the FSA and the EFL. Examples were drawn from work already conducted within the EPL. There were case studies with supporters’ trusts looking at EPL clubs such as West Ham stating that concessions for children and senior fans were being totally withdrawn without any notice to fans.
It was outlined that the establishment of Fans’ Advisory Board at all clubs with emphasis on the following points:
- The FAB shall be totally independent from the club and the club shall have no input into their membership.
- FAB’s must consult with the fan base on all levels to have a broad basis of fan’s views. Clubs will be scrutinised to ensure that they are fully engaging with their FAB and enacting on the fans’ proposals with positive engagement at all levels.
It is clear that there are many clubs throughout the professional game that are resisting fans’ engagement and following a challenging route within this aspect. From observations, I would state that we at Cardiff City
are not by any means in the worst position for fans’ engagement, but, as a supporters’ representative group, we should always be seeking to strive for improvement.
- Engaging Young Supporters – An interesting case study was presented by Charlton Athletic centred around the establishment of a youth section within the ground along the following lines:
- i) Section was for 15-20 years of age only.
ii) The section had initially 100 seats allocated
iii) A pricing structure of £125 for a youth season ticket was suggested. - The idea was centred around building the future generation of football supporters and would form a sorted youth work provision with football at its core. It would look to support the young people in it around:
Behavioural issues within football
Engagement with female fans
Educative to combating discrimination within in both football and throughout communities.
To foster good relationships between all fans.
The possible use of participation in sport for building relationships between communities.
As a youth worker myself, I consider this a positive aspect of supporter engagement but the Trust recognises the fact that the club have made efforts in enhancing engagement with younger supporters.
V.A.R. – I had an interesting try out of VAR with ex-Premier Referee Chris Foy. I was able to give the VAR decisions correctly and in a fraction of the time it takes VAR on the actual Premier
League!! I may have found myself a new career, Haha!
Summary
It was made very clear that there are many clubs up and down the country which have big issues with their respective clubs and in many cases they seem to have far greater issues than ourselves. Issues causing concerns were:
i) Moving domestic matches abroad.
ii) Spiralling Ticketing prices
iii) Clubs discriminating against fans
iv) Reluctance to engage with the new regulatory process which is coming into the game
v) The changes of KOs due to TV coverage getting more challenging for supporter attendance
vi) Frustration that clubs are trying to circumvent the FFP rules, (Manchester City was mentioned)
The conference provided plenty of food for thought and there are a number of issues that the Trust could raise with the club via the Fans Advisory Board.
With the Football Regulator legislation as part of the Football Governance Bill confirmed in the King’s Speech, the Trust, in partnership with other supporter groups, will need to ensure that Cardiff City continues to adopt the principles enshrined in the forthcoming legislation that is based on the Fan-Led Review of Football.
Copies of Conference documents have been retained for future consideration.