The Scottish FA are exploring the possibility of implementing a ‘trusted keyholder’ policy, which would allow access to football facilities for free when they are lying unused, as part of the association’s drive under their president Mike Mulraney to make the national game more accessible for all.
Mulraney met with officials from COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) this week at his Hampden office as he looked to tackle the issue of rising costs for clubs to hire pitches, as well as discussing where funds from the SFA’s ‘Pitching In’ campaign - which has so far raised £13.6m of a £50m target - would best be invested to build new facilities.
A common concern among community football clubs and those involved in player development in this country is the number of pitches which lie unused, with local authorities harbouring fears over the risk of vandalism if they were to remove the padlocks around expensive artificial surfaces.
The SFA believe that the trusted keyholder policy may well be a solution to that problem though, allowing people access to facilities that would otherwise be unused while maintaining security, not compromising on safety, or incurring cost.
