[St Charles Owl]

I think the problem is societal - that's right audience another football related item that isn't necessarily football's fault.

Kids have a lot of choice and no choice at al these days: if they want to compete  there is a multitude of sports available and the opposite is also true, if the can't be bothered there are a host of ways to occupy yourself without taking part in sport.

Historically - and I include myself in one of the last generations to "suffer" this - working class (read little disposable income) kids in Scotland had no outlet for physical activity other than kicking a ball about. All day, everyday.  The much vaunted "contact time" with the ball was all you had. I played football before, during and after school. That was it. Occasionally I'd go somewhere on my bike and play football there.  That's what there was.

When you read the reports on the state of the nation's health etc - across all age groups - it's no surprise that we aren't as we once were.  Decadence.

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/09...#res485546

From the stats in that Scotland is not raising a nation of athletes.

I agree with what you say here but surely this isn't just a problem for Scotland??  I would imagine kids in the countries that were mentioned have essentially the same choices with what to do with their time?  I wonder if a switch to summer football would eventually benefit the game as more kids can go to games, get excited about it and maybe go home and kick a ball around themselves while the weather is decent.