Cheltenham Town FC FOOTBALL League One

Cheltenham Town’s ‘Kids for a Quid’ scheme in League One and Papa John’s Trophy praised for encouraging youngsters to watch their local team

The ‘Kids for a Quid’ initiative was introduced by Cheltenham Town as a four-game offer that saw tickets for under 18s slashed to just £1 each. A total of 1656 kids took advantage of the deal, many of whom were visiting the Jonny-Rocks Stadium for the first time.

“This is his first time going actually!” Said a father stood proudly next to his son, who was adorned in an oversized Robins scarf. “It’s a great idea from the club, we actually got the tickets free through his Sunday league team because they were so cheap.”

An influx of Robins supporting youngsters at the Jonny-Rocks stadium

The scheme has helped home attendances soar to an impressive average of 4124 so far this season. This marks a huge increase of 32% over the average attendance in the 19/20 season. Although, the Robins’ promotion into League One will have also contributed heavily to this.

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A record Jonny-Rocks attendance for a Papa John’s trophy match (2932) was achieved when Cheltenham hosted Chelsea U21s on Tuesday, October 26. The presence of the young fans was immense, with many excitable voices filling the Jonny-Rocks as they were treated to a penalty shoot out and a late bedtime.

Young fans enjoying the Robins’ victory over the European Champions’ under 18s squad

“The initiative came from using the profits from our new book ‘All Your Dreams Are Made’ as we saw it as a real opportunity to reach out and encourage lots of young football fans to come and support their local team.” said Cheltenham media manager Richard Joyce, who championed the campaign.

“The book is for the fans looking back on an incredible season where their access was of course restricted because of Covid-19. But through their efforts they’ve also helped play a role in encouraging the fans of the future along to the club, it’s been fantastic.”

The new book was made as a piece of memorabilia, and is packed full of pictures and information about the Robins title-winning season last year

“It’s brilliant, those kids will go away happy and thinking ‘I might fancy doing that myself one day’, and that’s what it’s all about,” stated Saturday’s late goalscoring hero Matty Blair. “I was there at the game against Chelsea and I enjoyed the atmosphere, there was a real buzz about it. In a game that could have been seen as a little bit pointless, it was a really good turn out.”

“They (young Robins fans) are the life and soul of the club,” said goalkeeper Scott Flinders. “They’re the future of this club, so it’s good to get them in the ground watching League One football. Back in the day when I was young I used to go to watch Rotherham when the kids tickets were a quid. I’ve got fond memories of that … it was a brilliant idea from the club.”

Matty Blair scored a goal in injury time to tie up the game against the Owls on Saturday

Last weekends game against Sheffield Wednesday saw an attendance of 5582, the seventh-largest in Cheltenham Town’s history at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium. The recent increase of attendances at The Jonny-Rocks suggest the scheme was a big success.

The Robins will hope to continue to draw in the spectators in League One this season, bolstered by some young new fans created by the ‘Kids for a Quid’ initiative.

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