Women’s soccer stands alongside the men against transport proposals in Scotland

There's a potential change to travel legislation targeting soccer fans and the Scottish Women's Professional League (SWPL) have joined forces with the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and the men’s Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) to condemn the proposed new rules.

The Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain, Richard Turfitt, has shared a proposal document outlining new requirements for fans traveling to sporting events by public hire vehicles in Scotland. Turfitt says the proposals for Scotland are already successfully in place in England and Wales and could be helpful in mitigation against football-related violence and disorder. 

There are several key restrictions being proposed in the consultation document. These include restrictions on where and at what time supporter buses can arrive or depart matches, where they can park and barring pub stops for a beer unless a substantial meal is taken at the time. This evokes memories of Covid 19 regulations in the UK where there was much debate (and little clarity) on what was considered a substantial meal. 

Turfitt is asking for views and opinions and based on the outrage of many fans on social media he is getting plenty of feedback. There is a joint statement from the SFA and the men’s and women's leagues outlining their concerns and lack of support for the proposals. They jointly make the point that there is no evidence of a significant problem in Scotland currently and are unhappy at the demonization of football fans and the way the proposals would unfairly affect the vast majority of traveling fans.

"We don’t support these unnecessary and heavy-handed proposals and we will be making our views clear in the consultation."

- Joint statement from SFA, SWPL and SPFL

Gillian Mackay, Member of Scottish Parliament has also heavily criticised the proposals on her social media as unworkable. Mackay did though welcome the football authorities joint approach.

Probably the men’s teams fans will be more impacted by the proposals, but with SWPL attendances already up by almost 30 percent this season over last, the women's game won’t want to see anything risking that momentum. It’s good to see the soccer authorities in Scotland coming together on this matter and presenting a joint response.

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