St Mirren chairman Gordon Scott was presented with the Scottish Fans Supporters Association's (SFSA) Best Family Club award for 2017 at Saturday's match against Brechin City. The award was presented on behalf of the SFSA by Buddies, Euan and Murray McAllister.
The SFSA is a not-for-profit members body open to everyone and currently has over 70,000 members. The award came following their second Scottish Fan Awards poll to their members.
The presentation of the award followed a fun-filled afternoon in the St Mirren Family Stand that saw local community groups given the chance to buy two adult tickets and up to 20 children's tickets for just £20 along with a range of different activities.
Colin Bright, who acts as the Paisley Panda mascot on match days, was behind the family fun initiative and said: "The match experience for fans is something I have been working on for a while with various match day activities added over the last year or so; 'Bung a Baw', social media competitions, free sweets for kids and live music among other items. However, after speaking to our two SLO's (John Allison and John White) we felt we could move it up a level and do so much more.
"With funding from SMiSA and The St Mirren Fans Council we are implementing a full programme of entertainment at all weekend home matches between now and the end of the season.
"Saturday was the first of those and it was a great success. The kids in the Family Stand loved our new hand clappers, face painter, balloon artist and the star of the show, a football freestylist Chris Draper. This is just the start and for our next home game we plan even more!"
St Mirren Chief Executive Tony Fitzpatrick said: "Winning the SFSA Best Family Club award was fantastic and there was no better day for us to collect it than on Saturday. Colin Bright and the SLO's deserve great credit for their efforts to create a family fun atmosphere on Saturday in the Family Stand before and during the match. It's vital that we keep encouraging the next generation to come to St Mirren matches and feel welcome. There is a real feel good factor around the club at the moment and this continues that feeling."
Pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography and John Millar © - Millar Pictures
