Youth Football Scotland is a not-for-profit social enterprise connecting people interested in youth football across Scotland. By providing volunteering opportunities for young people, YFS enables them to gain skills and practical work experience in sports journalism.
When teenager Scott Thomson joined YFS he knew he wanted to work in sport but didn’t know how to get started. After spending nearly two years with YFS he is now a sports reporter.
“Since YFS I have gone on to write for the Edinburgh Evening News as their junior football reporter. YFS gave me an excellent grounding - giving me the skills in terms of writing live match reports as well as liaising with clubs for interviews. Besides giving me the skills to do the job, YFS built up my confidence in my ability to write and to be able to go out and cover matches.”
YFS also increases the number of people involved in grassroots sport through an online service, which matches young players and volunteers with the best possible club for them.
Yet when they were chosen to be part of the Pilotlight ‘Our Moment’ Commonwealth Games Legacy project, the team at Youth Football Scotland needed some new direction. Robbie Forsyth, Director at YFS, explains:
"The Pilotlight project came at exactly the right time for us as we were stuck in a bit of a rut. Working with the business team enabled us to get some time away from the office to think about the bigger picture and what we wanted the organisation to achieve. By getting expert advice we now have the skills to take our social enterprise forward and have a clear vision for the future so that we can help more young people across Scotland."
The business team put together by Pilotlight included senior leaders from VisitScotland, Scottish Enterprise and SportScotland. Tom Ward, Chair of Foundation Scotland and an experienced business leader was also part of the team. He says:
“YFS had some great strengths - a really good concept, effective website developed on a shoestring, and impressive volunteers. But the weaknesses were also serious - especially the reliance on short-term grants, and governance issues. Yet they took our suggestions to heart and, 12 months later, the changes are transformational. I look forward to YFS being much stronger, largely self-funding, and encouraging many more young people to play in their local teams.”
The work with the Pilotlight Commonwealth Games team is already making a difference, according to YFS’s Robbie Forsyth:
“We now have a skilled, active board that meets monthly, our vision, mission and aims for the organisation are clear and in place and we have a strong team of staff to help us achieve our goals. We’ve just won a new contract with the Scottish FA, which will really help our young people get the opportunities to work in the world of football. We now have a clear business plan that we can act on and that’s a great position to be in.”