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Football Matches - Family days out

Professional football matches are played from early August to the end of May each year. There are currently 92 teams in the English leagues and another 42 in the Scottish leagues. There are of course many towns with non-league teams playing very good quality football and drawing crowds of a few thousand or more.

Kick off for games is generally 3:00pm on a Saturday afternoon but televised game times vary greatly and many of the Premiership games are now played on a Sunday. Often games are played midweek but with a young family these games may be difficult to attend as they do not finish until gone 9:30 pm.

If your child is keen on football and wishes to attend a live game I believe it is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon together. Before taking a young child I would carefuly consider a few points -

Are your children the right age?
There is no "right age" but if you take your child when they are very young they be frightened or bored and you may put them off for the future. I believe 7 or 8 years of age is a good time to start attending matches.

Will they be scared in a large crowd?
Depending on the game you attend there may be a very large crowd, being caught up in the crowd (especially when you are small) can be very intimidating. To avoid being caught in the crowds you could get to the game an hour before Kick-off and then leave 5 minutes before the end.

Are you prepared for your children to hear some bad language?
How ever hard clubs are trying to eradicate bad language from players and spectators, in the heat of the game you are very likely to hear obscenities shouted from somewhere in the ground.

There are some games that will be better to attend than others when taking a young family. A local derby can provide a great atmosphere but can also create huge hostility between fans and this is not always a nice experience for young children.

What will you pay?
This varies tremendously from club to club, division to division and region to region. Here are some ticket prices I have found -

  • Chelsea between £35 and £60.
  • Portsmouth between £32 and £41.
  • Man Utd between £23 and £38.
  • Swansea between £16 and £19.
  • Stoke between £19 and £30.
  • Torquay between £14 and £15.

The prices above are all adult ticket prices and junior prices should be roughly a half to two thirds of the adult price. Many clubs offer a Family section of the ground where ticket prices are a little cheaper. If you wish to attend games regularly then a season ticket may be a more financially viable option. A good example of a season ticket saving in a Family section of a Premiership club -

Tickets per game = Adult-£32 and junior-£12
Season ticket = Adult-£585 and junior-£185
This makes a saving of £23 on the adult ticket and £43 on the junior ticket (across 19 games).

Although the savings are not huge owning a season ticket guarantees you your own seat at each league game and allows you first offers on tickets for cup games. Some of the larger clubs are very popular and you may need to join a waiting list to purchase a season ticket, this is because the current holder of the ticket may renew each season.

In addition to the entrance fee to the ground you will invariably be expected to purchase a program for the game. The program will discuss current events at the club, feature interviews with the players and also provides a momento of your day out.

Food at and around football grounds is not often featured in healthy food lists and can add a fair bit to the cost of the day. If you do plan to get to the game early you can always have a packed lunch and a warm flask of tea at your seat before the game.

Watching a live sport is a unique experience and watching the side you support win and feeling the atmospehere of a crowd is wonderful, I would highly recommend watching a game to any family. If you do want to attend a game and the costs of watching a big team is too expensive then I would still recommend you watch and support a small local team. Don't forget that you need to take quite a few layers of clothing and a flask of tea for those cold and wet games, it is suprising how quickly you get cold when sitting down outside.

Your Views


Posted by:
nshrieves

Posts: 1

From:

London


Football Matches



Why not go and see some grass roots football. All the passion of the Premier League at a fraction of the cost.

http://www.kidsfunlondon.co.uk/kids-days-out/london/football.html

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Posted: 27/Jan/11 at 13:26:07


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