Welcome to the new Scottish Supporters Network newsletter, brought to you by Supporters Direct Scotland. This newsletter aims to bring our members closer together and better informed of news and best practice from across the network.

Supporters' Summit & AGM

Book now before tickets are gone!

Our annual Supporters' Summit will be held this coming Saturday, at Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre from 1pm to 5pm. The last tickets are still available free of charge via Eventbrite.

The theme of this year's summit is Scottish fan culture, looking at what makes Scottish football distinctive – celebrating the good things, and also exploring some areas where our game receives unwelcome attention. Join us and be part of the conversation!

Scotland at the World Cup!

By Christoph Roser at AllAboutLean.com under the free CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.

After an absence of 21 years, Scotland are once again competing at a World Cup! After two narrow defeats, the women's national team still have a chance of qualifying for the knockout phase later this week, and we're delighted to have seen such a strong backing for the team.

Researchers from the University of Strathclyde are inviting fans of both men's and women’s football in Scotland to take part in an online survey exploring supporters’ views of media and fandom as well as the factors which influence attitudes and beliefs about the women’s game.

This survey aims to better understand the key factors in potential fans’ decision to attend fixtures and what role the 2019 World Cup and media may have in the game’s development. 

You will be asked some questions about your typical football watching behaviour (including motivations to do so); your perceptions and attitudes towards women’s football; your use of media; and your experiences of fandom. 

Once you complete the survey, you will be given the option to be entered into a prize draw to win an adidas Scotland Women’s World Cup 2019 home or away shirt (RRP £55).

Click here to complete the survey.

"We Own The Future": a documentary about fan ownership at Motherwell FC

BBC World Service recently released a short documentary that looks at the fan ownership model at Motherwell FC and their work to connect with their local community.

It can be viewed here and is highly receommended - it demonstrates the strengths of fan ownership and ultimately the power that fans can have in the running and shaping of their football club.

Has the UEFA Nations League improved the international game?

Michael Devine, and an MSc Sports Management student from the University of Stirling, is undertaking a research project which is investigating the introduction of UEFA’s new international tournament, the Nations League. The research will include a serious of focus groups with football fans to obtain their opinions on the competition and to provide a fans / consumer perspective.  

The focus groups will encourage participants to voice their opinion on matters involving UEFA, the Nations League and international football in general, will consist of 4 to 8 people, and will last 30 minutes to 1 hour. All participants will have the right to remain anonymous and can withdraw from the research at any time.

Times, dates and locations for the focus groups are subject to the availability of participants. If you are interested in taking part in the research or wish to find out more information then please don’t hesitate to contact Michael via email at mcd00012@students.stir.ac.uk.

And finally...

Articles, podcasts and videos from the archive

As part of our objective to better connect fans, share best practice within Scottish sport, to promote supporter dialogue and promote sport clubs through which positive societal change can occur, here we share some relevant stories from the past month.

  1. Learning Curves For Scotland’s Senior Sides
  2. Good Luck To Scotland At The World Cup!
  3. “The Red Lion” by Patrick Marber touring now!
  4. Feeling Excited About The Scotland Steve Clarke Era!
  5. Erin Cuthbert – One Of Scotland’s Brightest Prospects
  6. Guard Of Honour – Aye Or Naw?

You can also check out our back catalogue of podcast episodes and subscribe to Behind The Goals using your favoured ‘podcatcher’ here.

In the latest of our series of videos shedding light on the excellent work happening at all levels of Scottish sport, we paid a visit to the Spartans Community Football Academy to learn more about the extensive work they're undertaking throughout the local community.

And as part of our Club Development Scotland series, we paid a visit to the Isle of Skye to visit Kyleakin FC and find out more about football on the isle.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more!

Want to have your say? Contact us at info@supporters-direct.scot

Supporters Direct Scotland

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01324 602 640

www.scottishsupporters.net

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