HUNDREDS of people have backed a petition calling on Glasgow Life to reduce pitch fees at their facilities across the city.

Clyde School of Football head coach George Innes set up the petition after discovering fees had gone up to hire half a pitch at the Stepford Football Centre in Glasgow’s East End.

The football club, which trains kids between 8 and 16, will now have to pay £43.20 an hour for a quarter of an 11-a-side pitch.

Previously they were charged £37.30 an hour, which was an increase from £28, the cost of pitch hire during the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

George said: “These price increases are predominately aimed at pitch fees in and around the Glasgow area. It is not just our club that is effected it is multiple grassroots clubs in and around Glasgow.

“It cost £28 during the Commonwealth Games and we were meant to be having a legacy of kids getting involved in sport.”

He added: “Prices just seem to have sky rocketed over the last couple of years and it is unsustainable for a lot of clubs

“We have several boys from low income families and we have to subsidize as coaches a lot of times out our own pocket to buy equipment and to help pay for lets as well.

“We are trying to get kids off the street, tackle child obesity and increase the amount of kids involved in sport but we are being priced out the market.

“Why is a country which has not been to a major tournament in 16 years not doing more to subsidise fees for kids?”

A spokeswoman for Glasgow Life, said: “In May we introduced a new pricing structure across all Glasgow Club pay-as-you-go facilities including football pricing. Despite facing increasing operating costs, we’ve had no price increases for synthetic football pitch bookings over the last few years.

“As a result, customers have been paying the same as they did in 2016 for synthetic football at Glasgow Sport venues while the cost of providing and maintaining pitches continued to rise. These costs are no longer sustainable if we are to maintain our sporting facilities across the city.

“The new simplified costing works on a ‘price-per-head’ model, regardless of the size of pitch being hired. This new model has led to a reduction in price for 5-a-side and 11-a-side pitches – and we’ve also extended our off-peak times from 4pm until 6pm.

“Our previous cost for under 18s to use a 7-a-side pitch was £37.30. The new cost of £3 per head (or £42 per hour) works out at an increase of just 34p per player based on 14 players – although teams can bring more players if they wish and therefore bring down the cost per head.

“The new pricing structure will also allow us to protect our network of 32 Glasgow Club facilities across the city, and continue to provide world-class facilities with state-of-the-art equipment at a cost which is competitive and attractive and equal to or better than the private sector.”

You can sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/clyde-school-of-football-reduce-pitch-let-fee-s-in-glasgow