Some of the kids at the ground actually play for the Juniors boys and girls. Our two foster girls love to meet up with their team-mates from the Black Kites. They do not run about, but they do mither me for money to buy drink and chocolate at the game. They love the matchday experience, having never been to a football match before they came to us. They do actually contribute to the team and are now keen followers of the club, my younger foster daughter who plays in the under 11's has dreams of playing for the 1st team girls when she is older, or even at United or City Ladies, she is doing very well. When she came to us she had never even kicked a football.
While I acknowledge parents have a duty to keep an eye on their kids, my only restriction I put on my girls is not to go outside the ground without me. Other than that, they can go within the ground with their pals. They are generally well behaved, have had spells as ball-girls and flag wavers etc. They represent the club as supporters and players. They do their bit chanting in the main stand too, and can be heard by the players on many occasions. Some children do run around and need a little more supervision from parents maybe, but I would be more worried about a few teenagers sometimes, and the individual who threw a firework on the pitch after our equalising goal. They do more damage to the club, especially as it went into the referee's report.
Not all children dash around unsupervised, but our girls know they have to behave themselves and generally they do. If not, they would have me to answer to. A threat of not being able to go to any more games soon seems to calm them down. The children who dash around today will soon calm down as they get older and hopefully yes, they will become season ticket holders. It's when we don't get these young children in that we need to start worrying about the club and it's ongoing support. We need these young supporters to be our fans of tomorrow.