Bairns used to be able to play at football, and it’s something we should be very seriously thinking about bringing back.
There are folk out there desperate to go to Tannadice. Or at the very least, folk in the city and surrounds that would benefit fae taking in a match, at Dens, at North End, wherever.
Hibernian recently proved this.
They trialed accessible football prices in their Friday night game against St Johnstone.
Tickets were a tenner, and Easter Road was completely sold out: nearly 20,000 people turned out.
That’s between 3,000 and 5,000 more than you would otherwise expect for that fixture.
Clearly folk that would come to games arnae coming to games.
Dundee United trialed a very admirable innovation this year.
Any adult season ticket holder could bring an under-12 along to every match, completely free.
I snapped one up for my nephew, and I’m sure many others did the same.
But it isnae easy to bring very young folk to games.
The football cannae haud their attention for the full 90 minutes.
And the poor mobile signal means ye cannae fire on Peppa Pig for them when the restlessness kicks in.
Unofficial childcare was part of the football experience
An inside-stadium play park would be a godsend.
A wee allocated area, with a steward, a decent view of the pitch, a sandpit and some stuff to clamber about on, for free use by all those under-12s.
This isnae a mad idea, and it’s not my original idea.
It comes from a longstanding tradition.
United supporters very slightly older than me talk about the match day childcare facilities in the recent past.
They were rough and ready, but effective.
I asked about it on one of the forums.
Ross Morrison said “When I was about 5 to 10 years old Tannadice was just a playground to me and my cousins.”
He’d get sneaked in fae his dad, and would meet back up with him just before full time.
My kids got to see ronaldhino and messi play at tannadice..but a lot of us of a certain age were blessed to see this man every week..absolute legend..🧡🖤 pic.twitter.com/jLsezYBNkg
— andy crichton (@andycrichton6) May 13, 2021
Neil Gellaty minded something similar. “Used to sit on wall at front, my grandad would leave me all game [to a] combination of viewing game and plastering about with random young shed boys and girls.”
There was a huge childcare element to the day oot. And the bairns really seem to have loved it.
Safety v boredom – a fine line to tread for football clubs
It wasnae without its dangers though, as other forum users telt us.
“We Wir Street Wise enuff, no tih git Trampled,” said David Findlay.
Ronnie said: “Mind a wee lad sitting on the wall … got a ball square in the face fae a Jimmy Briggs clearance…police used to tell kids they were not allowed to sit on the walls but usually ignored.”
Obviously, stadia have to be safer now.
That’s fine.
Bairns getting smacked in the pus off lumped clearances isane any guid.
But the arrival of all-seater grounds, assigned seats and heavy stewarding has eliminated the grey areas around the fringes of the park where kids could find space to play.
They have to sit, quiet and obedient, for what must at times be a pretty endlessly dull match.
I mind being babysat at a game about the age of six and being bored oot ma mind.
It’s this lower boredom threshold amongst the pre teens especially, that bubbling desire to play and pal about with other youngins, that makes it difficult to bring the under-12s to games.
A simple sandpit to send the young lad off to for half an hour would be absolutely ideal.
We could stick it in the very corner of the George Fox, by the Shed.
Maybe install a wee plastic window on it to stop them getting skelped by stray shots.
Imagine the joy of watching Sportscene highlights and seeing a couple of young Arabs building a sandcastle just behind a player swinging in a corner?
Childcare could open up football grounds to families
I bring it up because I think a bit of free childcare would allow so many more people to come along and enjoy a game.
Dr Stacey Pope is an expert in female participation in football.
She was giving evidence to a committee in Westminster this week, and what she said was very interesting.
One point stood oot. Some women cannae come to games because of childcare.
I ken my (male) pal cannae attend games these days for the same reasons.
In the old days, Tannadice was childcare.
Stick the bairns on the wall with the 40 other snottery wee youngins, pick them up again at full time.
It was an eventful time to be in Westminster! Great to contribute my research on women, football and inequalities to the @DCMS Safety at Major Sporting Events Inquiry. Available to view: https://t.co/XOrvUXaAvE pic.twitter.com/jgg0QwecCJ
— Stacey Pope (@StaceyPope20) October 26, 2022
You do see a good swatch of kids at Tannadice.
But they are having to be on their best behaviour, which may surely put some off attending.
Certainly kids don’t go to games in the numbers they could.
And the childcare burden continues to fall most heavily on women, so they cannae come along to games in the numbers they might.
Some sort of space for play would boost the numbers enjoying all the many positives of a day at the fitba.
Conversation