
Swindon Town this week announced the launch of "Pro Red" a new initiative from the club designed to strengthen links between the professional game and youth football clubs in the area and Robins were one of the three clubs selected to help launch the scheme. Robins chairman, Paul Wainwright, and U8s captain, Ethan Wilmot, attended the press launch at the County Ground along with STFC chairman Ged McCrory and manager Mark Cooper and representatives from the other youth football clubs chosen to help launch the scheme, Highworth and Malmesbury.

Pro Red is an exciting new initiative from Swindon Town designed to encourage the fans of the future, as well as giving young players in the area the chance to form a link with their local professional football club and experience the thrill of live matches at the County Ground at a special discount rate. Clubs will be able to nominate a Swindon Town home game to attend as a club, where young players and parents can enjoy the game together at a special reduced rate, play on the pitch at half time and form a guard of honour as the two teams emerge from the tunnel. Clubs are also assigned an STFC First Team Player as their "Player Ambassador" for the duration of the season.
Robins chairman Paul Wainwright explained why he felt it was so important for Robins to back the new scheme, saying "Robins is a community club, STFC are part of that community and the linking of the two is absolutely excellent. These are the new supporters of the future and it's excellent that we're aiming at the young grass roots and turning them into supporters of the future. It’s nice to see them going around in Swindon Town shirts rather than the top Premier League clubs' shirts. Obviously for us clubs we get a discount back and mums and dads get the opportunity to see their sons and daughters on the pitch. I think it’s an excellent initiative, I really do."
Robins were involved in an earlier pilot of the scheme in 2010 when nearly 100 young players and parents attended the home game against Sheffield Wednesday and had a brilliant time - the players formed a guard of honour at the start of the game, played on the pitch at half time and met star striker Charlie Austin afterwards! It was a really good day, so we're all really excited about being in right at the start of this new expanded scheme, a great initiative from Swindon Town.
Further details on which match Robins have been assigned will be made available shortly so keep an eye on the Events section of this website for further information. Anyone who attended the Sheffield Wednesday game a few seasons ago will tell you it was a great day out and, especially, a great thrill for the young players to form the guard of honour and play on the hallowed turf of the County Ground!
Read more at the STFC website