Youth Football

That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the important role that youth football plays in the health and wellbeing of participants; congratulates Realgrassroots on its campaign to promote and defend the rights and interests of child footballers, including petitioning the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to investigate (a) the legal status and appropriateness of professional Scottish Football Association (SFA) clubs entering into contracts with children under 16 years, (b) the social, educational and psychological effects and legality of SFA member clubs prohibiting such children from participating in extra-curricular activity and (c) the appropriateness of "compensation" payments between SFA member clubs for the transfer of young players under the age of 16 years; reiterates its support for the recommendations of the report from the Public Petitions Committee published in June 2020 on this petition; welcomes the reported progress made on compensation payments and acknowledges the role of the office of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland in facilitating this; expresses serious concern at reports that the SFA has not agreed to implement in full the committee’s recommendations on multi-year registrations; understands that the Minister for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport is liaising with both FIFA and UEFA to establish whether they intend to address the matter as part of wider reforms to protect children’s human rights and improve football governance; welcomes the minister’s consideration of legislation to protect the human rights of child footballers by prohibiting the use of multi-year registrations; looks forward to the forthcoming report from the Scottish Football Supporters Association on improving football governance in Scotland, and supports the calls for a debate on the case for the establishment of an independent regulator in Scotland as part of a human rights-based approach to Scottish football.