Morton in the Community, the charity arm of Greenock Morton, is lowering the cost of taking part in football for families in Inverclyde, an area ranked the most deprived in Scotland. Speaking to The Herald, chief executive Brian McLaughlin explained how the charity has trialled “pay what you can” holiday camps, where parents can “put a tenner in a bucket, a pound in a bucket or nothing at all.”
The response was immediate. “What you find is that the numbers are double or triple what we would normally get,” McLaughlin said. The charity asked families whether they could afford the normal £12 a day, and “the overwhelming answer was ‘no’. The cost of playing football is a real issue now.” It has also run free football holiday camps.
Christmas is a key time for the charity. Since 2019 it has taken part in Festive Friends, the SPFL Trust programme that provides turkey and trimmings for those who need them most. This year, for the first time, families from the east end of Greenock will also be invited to Cappielow for a separate Christmas dinner, while a Boots and Pieces pop-up shop in the town centre provides sports kit and equipment.
The need is deep-rooted. In the 2020 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, Inverclyde recorded extreme scores for income, employment, health, education and crime. “We are top in terms of health and poverty rates and child poverty is through the roof,” McLaughlin said.
The charity runs more than 20 initiatives for people aged from 18 months to 80, and football now makes up about 60 per cent of its activity. On Monday nights its Team Talk sessions open the stadium to anyone who wants a cup of tea and a chat. On Friday mornings it co-hosts a session with Moving On Inverclyde, a local drug and alcohol recovery charity. “Last week we had 16 men in a room,” McLaughlin said.
One man who had not left his home for years is now a volunteer facilitator, delivering programmes for Scottish Action for Mental Health after completing a degree. “And all that started with coming to a freezing cold Cappielow on a Monday night for a cup of tea,” McLaughlin said.
The work continues while the club faces a £320,000 shortfall after its main sponsor failed to make promised payments. “What we can control is the work that we do to support the wider community during difficult times,” McLaughlin said.
For the sport for good sector, Morton in the Community shows how a club charity can take the cost barrier out of sport and turn a stadium into a year-round place of support for the people around it.
Source: The Herald https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/26688014.morton-may-struggling-charity-bringing-hope-community/