Supporter Involvement in Scottish Football Clubs

Overview

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill, was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 11 June 2014, and reached Stage 3 on 17 June 2015. When the bill was debated, the amendments relating to supporter involvement in football were  unanimously passed, creating a Part 7 of the now ‘Act’ on this area.

This provides a framework to develop legislation to enhance the rights of football supporters. Scottish Ministers recognise that there are different views on what this legislation should look like, and, therefore committed to consulting on the options available to ensure all views were captured before bringing legislation before parliament.

This approach is now written in to the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and states

“…before making regulations……Scottish Ministers must consult such body or bodies as appears to them to be representative of the interests of football clubs, the leagues in which they play, their players and supporters and; such other persons as they consider appropriate”.

Why your views matter

This consultation paper is intended to provide the basis for the conversation on how best to enhance the rights of Scottish football supporters.

Scottish Ministers are keen that as many as possible contribute to and engage in this so that any future regulations address the interests and concerns of fans whilst also ensuring that, so far as possible, there are no unintended consequences from the regulations brought forward.

What happens next

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by Spring 2016.