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Are your children excited by Scottish football?


CAI

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I'm in my early 30s and was taken to my first Hearts game by my older Brother. I would say i'm pretty lucky growing up in the capital of Scotland and having a decent sized club to follow. After we lifted the Scottish cup in 98, i've been hungry for us to achieve more. As those years have gone on, i'm pretty disillusioned with Scottish football. It's an absolute slog to watch most of the time and having Celtic win the league time after time is so boring. 

 

Kids have a lot of competition for their time these days, from Xbox/Playstation but also from other Sports which are starting to creep up in popularity. I know my younger cousins and nephews all have a US Basketball team they follow and are playing basketball at local level sometimes. 

 

I also remember growing up that almost no-one had an English football team they would follow. Maybe a few Man Utd fans etc but now it seems everyone also has a English team they support and the EPL product is obviously far more entertaining that Scottish football. 

 

So i'm curious, those with kids, are they excited to go the games? 

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Parttimer1874

The onus is very much on parents to make sure they are IMO. My heart sinks when I see kids running about Edinburgh in a Chelsea or Barcelona top. 

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My oldest now 25 loves Hearts but my youngest , is not interested, more in to cars and doing my house up, (hes a joiner).

Going with my eldest on saturday.

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kingantti1874

No..  our form hasn’t helped and neither has the lack of atmosphere at tynecastle.. they haven’t had the same buzz I got when I went along.. 

 

so much EPL as well

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My dad brought me up right

He started taking me to games when I was about 3 or 4. However back then there was no Sky or BT to pollute the minds of the young generation. Now there is so much more on offer it must make it difficult for parents to show their kids the correct choice. 

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My kids have their season tickets, very close to the dug out which helps as they  often get pictures or signatures with the players. As others have said Hearts are the most important team, but they both still have other teams kits, Barcelona, Liverpool, Juventus and the likes but they wear their Hearts strips as much (if not a bit more) to their football training. 6 and 8 and they still get a buzz from most games

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Can't comment on kids as i don't have any, but when  i was a kid and my dad said we were going to tynecastle if was the best feeling in the world. Walking from the concourse through to your seat and the stadium opening up infront of you, tynecastle felt massive at the time as a young whipper snapper. Would love if my kid(s) had that same feeling.

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Obviously I am in Belgium and my daughters are in Lincolnshire, but when we meet up in Scotland, a Hearts game is a must.  2 year old grandson attended his first game against St Mirren recently. He is a Junior Jambo and a FOH pledger(!!!).  He is attending football coaching every Saturday in Lincolnshire, so hopefully, he doesn't get too hooked on the anti social habits of the generation he is growing into.

 

 

 

 

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Diadora Van Basten

I would say my son likes Scottish football and plays football himself but isnt that interested in football.

 

Football is pretty boring in that the gaps between the finances of the club mean that it’s a bit of a progression as to who is going to win.

 

If you compare it to NFL which is very difficult to call and no one team dominates (aware Patriots have won a lot recently)

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Byyy The Light

I’ve got 2 young daughters. They like dancing, screaming and trashing my house.

 

Had the oldest at a game but she’s not fussed for going back. Will try again with the youngest one in a couple of years. 

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1 hour ago, Smoked-Glass said:

Bragging rights in the playground still matter. 

 

They do indeed. Especially  when your grew up when we were pumping hibs left right and centre.

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Children will always follow the example set by their parents. If you teach your kids that football is about terraces and not TV, you’ll be grand. 

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It's more difficult now as Sky and others have turned football into a farce. Was in a pub last week, most in watching a Premiership match. Friday nights I've enjoyed watching BBC Scotland coverage of Championship matches while others are watching English Championship. Edinburgh in the 80s and kids wore Rangers and Celtic tops, if they wore English it was mostly Liverpool. Into the 90s and suddenly Man Utd was the latest fashion craze. New century next and Chelsea strips were around.  Man City strips the most recent. All of them sucked in by live matches, most saying they support one team or another while never actually attending any games. In my crowd there's a Liverpool, Man Utd, 2 Chelsea, Man City and an Arsenal. All used to go to Tynecastle, now they go along once in a blue moon. Even if a Hearts game is live on tv and an English Premier game is on they'll usually watch that instead. Sad, sad days.

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Selkirkhmfc1874
2 hours ago, Slim1874 said:

My kids have their season tickets, very close to the dug out which helps as they  often get pictures or signatures with the players. As others have said Hearts are the most important team, but they both still have other teams kits, Barcelona, Liverpool, Juventus and the likes but they wear their Hearts strips as much (if not a bit more) to their football training. 6 and 8 and they still get a buzz from most games

We same right at dug outs and kids love being close to the Pitch

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The Treasurer

Not just kids.

The younger lads in our office only talk about the EPL or the CL or even worse, how their fantasy "footie" :veryangry2: team did at the weekend.

Most of them couldn't tell you any results from the Scottish leagues

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Governor Tarkin

Give the kids naughty songs, pavement dancing, and sneaky cans of beer up the back of the shed. Throw in a cult hero centre forward, a midfielder or two who like to crunch the opposition whenever they get the chance, and bring back 10 yard sliding tackles.  That'll get them interested, and they won't care too much if the actual football is shite.

 

Gorgie Rules.

Edited by Governor Tarkin
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My lad couldnt give a rats arse for football. I tried, I really did. Took him to games when he was as young as 5 (after 10 mins he asked when we were leaving). He's been to Derbies. Bored. Played a game on a handset instead of watching the game. Bought him the tops, the Hearts football and tried the kick abouts in the back garden.

 

Not interested!

 

I've stopped bothering him about it TBH. He's 12 now.

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been here before

My oldest went to Livingston, Paisley and Hampden in quick succession. He still cries himself to sleep.

 

We were down today getting both of us tickets for the Airdrie game which he's looking forward too.

 

He'll be chuffed at Christmas when I slip him a surprise ticket for the Hibs game.

 

He digs the Hearts but takes an interest in the usual modern EPL and European fanboy pish but he's only 9.

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Scottish football has become a backwater. I started going to Tynie in the 80s and the teams I feared playing against the most back then were Aberdeen and Dundee Utd. Then Rangers became big with the Souness years followed by Celtic in the early 90s when Fergus McCann got involved. Since then it's been on a downward spiral. Back then Hearts would be playing in Europe every second season, now we can't beat part-timers to qualify. Can you imagine Dundee Utd getting to a euro final these days!? As for Champions League, fake football for multi-millionaires and the gullible. Never watched any of it in 10 years, probably more. Don't know who's won trophies, don't care.

As for the Premiership...don't watch many, if any live games, catch up with it on Match of the Day every weekend but that's about it. Should cancel Sky Sports but don't as we get Hearts games on now and again. Hate paying the same in subscriptions as the English do with most money going down there. Breaks my Jambo heart.

Hopefully Hearts under Stendel will make massive improvements and get me and a lot of others interested in football again.

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It’s been a slow role reversal.  

 

My Son went to games with me when he was quite young but couldn’t care less now really.

 

He’s 16 and developed other interests....my Daughter is different though. I have an ST with her now , she’s 18, and loves Hearts with a passion but she never really went to a lot of matches up until the last few years. 

 

I think you still get some kids who are a chip off the old block but the general environment of football probably doesn’t grip a widespread   audience of youngsters like it used to.  

 

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PhoenixHearts

I don't have kids myself, but I could speak a little on my relationship with football as a kid and how it could still translate with kids these days. 

 

My mum's side are all from Edinburgh and it's a Hearts supporting family, but my mum didn't care about football, but that's about as "genetic" as my support gets.

 

My dad had no real interest in football either. He's from Glasgow but detests that whole squabble thing they have going over there. Besides taking me to the odd Clyde or Scotland games, or a kick about in the park with friends, I was never really pressured into following football at all, and I'm honestly grateful. I was more interested in other things like playing music, drawing and my riding my bike. 

 

I found my own path to football and to Hearts. For me as a kid at school, football was for the "neds" and I didn't really associate with it or a lot of the baggage that seemed to go with it.

It wasn't until I started watching the World Cups, Euros and Serie A in the early 2000s (of my own volition) that I started to care about the game. I'd recently moved back to Edinburgh and lived very close to Tynecastle (still do). There was a fun football team right on my doorstep and the dormant jambo in me was awoken. Eventually my interest in football reached fever pitch with a 2006 Scottish Cup and Italy winning the World Cup merely months apart. Never looked back since. 

 

 

 

There'll be a lot of kids like me today. For every kid that's seduced by EPL, La Liga and Champions League etc, there'll also be a regular dumb kid like me seemingly sleepwalking his way into being a die hard Jambo. Add them to the swathes of kids who are still being raised by good Hearts supporting families and being taken to games, and I'd say the future is still in good hands.

 

 

This essay is maybe a bit off topic, but I'm basically just trying to say that there's more ways to get into football and Hearts than just being dragged by your dad.

 

Anyway, lets go out and win on Saturday, and let's keep winning after that. Kids love winning teams.

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4 hours ago, Smoked-Glass said:

Bragging rights in the playground still matter. 

 

This. Grew up in Dalgety Bay alongside alot of Dunfermline fans. They were in the Premier League and doing pretty well and always remember the arguments with them and not really any other fans. Loved it when we won up at East End. 

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3 hours ago, Pans Jambo said:

My lad couldnt give a rats arse for football. I tried, I really did. Took him to games when he was as young as 5 (after 10 mins he asked when we were leaving). He's been to Derbies. Bored. Played a game on a handset instead of watching the game. Bought him the tops, the Hearts football and tried the kick abouts in the back garden.

 

Not interested!

 

I've stopped bothering him about it TBH. He's 12 now.

I was the same with number one son. Probably pushed it on him too much tbh and - despite me always saying he didn’t have to watch or play football if he didn’t want to - he feigned interest to keep me happy, but he’s just no interest in football so we stopped all that when he was about ten. Number two son is absolutely football daft and while he’s interested in the EPL and big European teams, nothing comes close to Hearts and Scotland for him.

 

If it’s for them, they’ll find their own way there.  

Edited by Zico
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32 minutes ago, Zico said:

I was the same with number one son. Probably pushed it on him too much tbh and - despite me always saying he didn’t have to watch or play football if he didn’t want to - he feigned interest to keep me happy, but he’s just no interest in football so we stopped all that when he was about ten. Number two son is absolutely football daft and while he’s interested in the EPL and big European teams, nothing comes close to Hearts and Scotland for him.

 

If it’s for them, they’ll find their own way there.  

Very true mate. I always liked my daughter better anyway 😂 

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Fort Vallance

My son has had a season ticket since he was old enough. My oldest grandson has had one since he was 9 and his wee brother has been going to games and will probably get one next season. Unfortunately the oldest one is now able to understand how crooked and corrupt the Scottish game is so I dont hold out much hope in the long term. Luckily Hearts are in his blood so he won't give up on us.

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My seven year old grandson has been a season ticket holder all his life and been going to games for the last three seasons. He has also been at games in England a few times but Hearts always came first. This season interest has drained away. He hasn’t seen Hearts win since March. Today he told me he would rather go to Emirates this weekend than Tynecastle !! Some counselling and coaching required and a better product on the park essential. 

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As it stands just now they are NOT excited about watching Scottish Football, do they like Hearts ? Well yeah, are they passionate about the club as much as I am ? No.

Should i compare their excitement and passion levels to what I was like when I was they're age ? No, far too many lifestyle changes.

Every season I ask them do they want they're season tickets renewed and the answer is always a yes but for all the seasons we've had tickets I've barely saw them show any passion or excitement during the game. I always give them a chance to say no but at the end of the day they're more interested in playing football as opposed to watching. 

 

 

 

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I was spoiled rotten as kid in that my first ever game, yes FIRST, was the 1991 Scottish Cup Final. That was probably the most inspiring moment in football for me, walking onto that terracing, nearly 60 thousand standing watching two teams I hadn't a clue about, but I sure hell knew it's something I wanted to be part of. 

Would my wee boy get that experience now?  nah not even close. 

 

Edited by VALDOS'
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16 hours ago, heyjude1 said:

My son is 6 and loves going to the games, for me it's a really good day out/bonding time for father and son.

 

Yeah, although I dont have kids, my Dad and I really get on when at the football. This is also evident during a period of strained relations but Hearts made us stronger and the fact I stopped being a total arsehole also helped. He's due to arrive in Bath in next 15 mins so going to sign out for now.

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Henrysmithstaxi

My son’s 8. He plays football. He’s not bad.  He’s not really bothered watching any, even Premier/Champions League. He wants to play, not watch. We live in Leeds, but a lot of his friends support Liverpool. He supports Leeds. I’ve tried with Hearts, but it’s difficult from down here. He hates Liverpool and Celtic, so he’s getting something about football. I’ll settle for that.

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I have an 18 year old son who has been coming with me since he was 3 and is probably more of a die hard than me now.

 

I also have twin 9 year old girls who both love playing football now that we have a new manager I will be getting them half season tickets to come along for the rest of the season.

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On 12/12/2019 at 15:29, Governor Tarkin said:

Give the kids naughty songs, pavement dancing, and sneaky cans of beer up the back of the shed. Throw in a cult hero centre forward, a midfielder or two who like to crunch the opposition whenever they get the chance, and bring back 10 yard sliding tackles.  That'll get them interested, and they won't care too much if the actual football is shite.

 

Gorgie Rules.

Hear hear! 

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