St Roch’s Football Club, who were formed in 1920 and play in the West of Scotland First Division, are furious over the bonkers pitch prices – which they believe is turning the sport into a rich man’s game.
The North End team came face-to-face with the problematic costs when they were left hunting for a new place to train as they had no lights at James McGrory Park, their home ground pitch.
After looking around for premises that had space for all of their teams to use (including under-10s and first team), St Roch’s thought they had found a temporary home in Sighthill Community Campus – but the dream quickly came to an end when they were handed an estimated invoice from Glasgow City Council.
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Iain Kennedy, St Roch’s first team manager, told the Glasgow Times: “We asked the council for an invoice on Sighthill, and they informed us that it would cost about £55 an hour, which didn’t seem too bad.
“But we were soon then told that we would have to pay for the janitor and keeping the lights on, on top of the £55. We were also told it would be about £135 for a game on the nine-a-side pitch.
“It was amounting to just under £100 for one hour – but everyone in football knows that one hour is not enough. Teams need to train for a minimum of 90 minutes, twice a week.”
According to Iain, the costs would mean that the club would be forking out about £1400 a month – when referee payments and kit costs are taken into account.
He said: “I’m furious at the costs. It’s absolutely ridiculous and so frustrating.
“When you add everything up, we would be losing about £800 a month.
“So, the options would be either the club loses hundreds of pounds a month or we start asking players and parents to fork out up nearly £30 a week to play football – and people should not have to pay more than £3 per session at the absolute maximum.”
Iain went on to say that alongside St Roch’s, other teams have been feeling the weight of the Glasgow City Council charges too – and he believes the city is going to quickly see a drop in youngsters playing the sport.
He explained: “We are going to end up losing teams because football will become too expensive for adults and kids to play.
“The prices are taking the working class away from the sport and it’s becoming a rich man’s game.
“Teams are folding, and coaches are throwing the towel in, and this is why – the costs are unsustainable.
“It’s just bonkers and I guarantee in five years’ time there will be less than 30% or 40% of the youth teams there are now, and we need grassroots in football because without that, what do you have?
“Professional clubs will be looking to take nine and 10-year-olds to train them up but that won’t happen because kids won’t be able to play anymore.
“It’s a vicious cycle I’m afraid.”
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Having been a coach for 22 years, Iain believes the prices are at there worst yet.
He said: “This is the worst it’s ever been and it’s just completely out of hand now.
“People wonder why Scottish Football is as bad as it is and it’s because of this.
“You wouldn’t believe how stressful it is.”
Iain believes that to stop the problem altogether, the council must change the way they structure pitch rent charges.
He said that the council should not gauge prices on how much they can make, but rather how much kids can afford.
He added: “If the council want Scottish Football to do well, they have to think of the kids, not themselves.
“They have to charge per kid and not per session, otherwise it will never work.”
However, Glasgow City Council claims that the prices are set due to popularity.
A spokeswoman said: “Use of school pitch facilities is very popular across the city and costs reflect the upkeep and maintenance that is required annually.”
After the Glasgow Times stepped in, the council provided a better rate for the team.
The council spokeswoman added: “The letting team is going back to the group, following further documentation, to inform them that they qualify for the community rate which is almost a 50% hourly rental reduction.”
