Let’s Support The Lower Leagues This Christmas!

Date: 24th December 2021

Scottish football received a turkey in the government’s Secret Santa this year – a three week capacity restriction for all matches in what is normally a popular and lucrative derby-packed programme. The Premiership clubs took the wise decision to bring their winter break forward, while the other three SPFL divisions elected to continue in spite of the restrictions. While the rights and wrongs of these decisions fill column inches, we’d prefer to focus on searching for a silver lining!

We believe that one of the best things about Scottish football is the breadth and depth of the pyramid – which for the first time this season is fully integrated, with a defined pathway for clubs in every corner of the country to achieve promotion all the way through the divisions. It may surprise many of you that the pyramid now encompasses more than 280 clubs in it’s eight tiers – and in many parts of the country each of us has several clubs within easy reach who could all do with our support.

One well-known media pundit this week remarked that “football with 500 fans is a misery” – while he was clearly referring to the prospect of SPFL Premiership matches playing to crowds of this size, his choice of words did not go down well with the clubs for whom a 500 crowd is the norm or even a pipe dream. Football at any level, and with any number of fans, is a joyful occasion. Even in the SPFL, there are a number of teams regularly playing to smaller crowds than this, and at almost every match below this level you will receive a warm welcome, a hot pie, and a terrific 90 minutes even with the current 500 fan limit.

So, over these three weeks we’ll try to help you find a game to watch! Follow our Twitter feed (@SuppDirectScot) for details of each day’s matches, and use our interactive map and get to know the pyramid better.

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