Stewart Paterson: Football can be a greater force for good in Glasgow

Football often gets a bad name in many ways.

Overpaid players, players abusing their privileged status, misbehaving fans and clubs that are so out of touch with supporters they might as well play on the moon.

Often it is merited, too often it is absolutely merited on all of the above counts but sometimes there are moments that show the good that football can do, and does, in communities.

READ MORE:Partick Thistle players praise Jags For Good fans' initiative

The big clubs do their bit with charity foundations and even the biggest name superstar players have their own charities and trusts that pump in millions of pounds of their own money into projects they feel strongly about.

At a community level, where there is not millions of pounds sloshing around the game and clubs are battling for their survival, the impact can be even greater.

This week, a group of Partick Thistle fans started the Jags for Good initiative, to encourage greater involvement in the community to promote social justice and support those who need a bit of help.

The group is organising a food bank collection at the club’s match at Firhill today. Other initiatives will follow.

READ MORE: Partick Thistle fans launch charity drive Jags For Good

Fans of other clubs have held food bank drives and the supporters have responded with tonnes of food donated to restock shelves in the food banks.

The Jags for Good group are also raising cash to buy season tickets for local community groups to use to let people attend a match or two, who otherwise couldn’t afford it.

The club sponsor has donated and the Thistle players have contributed with a collection of their own in the dressing room.

Note, these are not players earning superstar wages but a decent living many people would be more than glad of.

Football is not cheap, at £20 for a Championship match and even more if your team is in the Premiership, before you even think of buying a pie.

With the cost of living crisis deepening there are many events and activities, like football, that people will not be able to afford.

The sad fact of life is that there are tens of thousands in Glasgow who have not been able to afford these events even before the current crisis.

A day at the football, or a being able to afford to go to an exercise class, or to the swimming pool or a yoga class can help people’s mental state enormously.

But for many it is out of reach financially when they are struggling to find enough money just to buy food and pay the bills.

Other, community clubs are offering free entry, not just to children as many do, but to all spectators.

A couple of weeks ago Labour leaders Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar visited Glasgow Perthshire FC at Keppoch Park in Possilpark, one of the many Junior football clubs in the city rooted in their community.

Their pitch was being used for a kids school holiday club and they offer a free entry community membership scheme to their club’s home matches.

Starmer and Sarwar were given membership cards for the Shire and hopefully they will return to take in a match.

The UK Labour leader is an Arsenal fan so he might enjoy a ground with a bit of atmosphere for a change.

On the other side of the country, we have seen Hibernian fans bringing orphans from Ukraine to a new home in Scotland, where they are safe from the Russian bombs and missiles.

The mission was the result of an initiative set up by fans almost 20 years ago after Hibs played a Ukrainian team, Dnipro FC, in the Uefa Cup.

The fans organized a collection of their left over foreign currency from the away leg raising thousands of pounds for the orphanage.

When they returned to Edinburgh, the supporters made the link more permanent and have raised thousands of pounds every year since.

Football, and more importantly, the supporters make a huge contribution to communities locally and internationally.

The game at the highest levels has lost its identity, billionaire ownership, the courting of big sponsors and TV deals has removed clubs from their roots.

But the game existed before big money took over and will exist once the superrich move on to something else.

When the moguls and the sheiks and tycoons have had enough the fans will still be there.

Fans, like those who organise charity collections at Firhill, Celtic Park and Ibrox.

Fans, like those from Hibernian who are helping orphans in Ukraine.

Fans, like those at Junior clubs like Glasgow Perthshire who keep their club alive.

So, when we next see fans of one club or another letting their club down with behaviour that is inexcusable, remember that football is much more than that.

It can be even more and be a greater force for good in the community, no matter how big or small the club is.

Glasgow is a city with many social problems and it is also a football city.

Football can be a force for good.

Success is about more than trophies.