when I have just seen a programme on TV showing the absolute sh*t way we treat kids in this country. As a country and as its citizens we should hang our heads really low in absolute shame. My season ticket and sky tv fee keeps impoverished footballers like Wayne Rooney and others of his ilk on a quarter of a million quid a week while little kids starve and walk around in rags. One kid in this programme said he hated school holidays because he went hungry without free school dinners. I just cannot bring myself to put another penny in the pocket of a pampered footballer. What do you think? Should I renew my season ticket or should I give the money to Save the Children? Can we really call ourselves Saints if we stand by and do nothing?
So are we to all not bother and give money to these causes then? Sorry to be upfront and slightly rude but if we thought like this all the time we'd buy nothing in life. I'm not diminishing the cause because things like this sadden us all but, at the end of the day, we can only help so much. I'd hardly put any of our players attitude or wage on par with Wayne Rooney. That's insulting to our players imo. Get a season ticket because in a few months time you'll regret it if you don't.
I was watching that show and it was amazing to find that one of those children had it in them to feel sorry for children living in worse condition than themselves. It was a real eye-opener and it makes me feel guilty that I can be worrying about trivial things like whether I will get a season ticket in the Itchen or Kingsland North. How we can still have children living like that in this day and age is crazy.
And I do donate to charities including Save the Children and Barnados, although it still doesn't make me feel any better about the **** those kids are getting served up day-in day-out.
Definitely donate, but I don't think I agree with the connection you're making between "overpaid" footballers and starving kids. In economic terms footballers aren't overpaid, as their salaries are dictated by basic supply and demand. It's just how capitalism works; some win and some lose. So don't abstain from buying a season ticket on that basis. If you can afford to, do both! Massive respect to you if you choose to donate that amount of money to charity though.
So do not talk about not renewing your season ticket. Just don't renew it and give your money instead to the charity. Then when it comes around again next year you can do the same. Trouble is you will see very little difference, if any, in the poverty level. There is no comparison or reason to blame anyone but the parents of those children. Why have children if you are not in a position to look after them. There lies the route cause of the problem. There is no excuse for allowing children to get into that state in the first place. How the hell you can blame this on over paid footballers is a total mystery.
Some of those kids and their were an inspiration. I remember The Gorbals scandal in the 60s. They pulled some down and put up modern but equally bad flats. The original buildings probably should have been renovated instead. Most of us probably give to charities as well as our football tickets. If you feel that strongly, respect to you but try and do both. To keep the economy going we all have to earn and spend...its how it works. SFC is a factor in Southamptons local economy and the football generates happiness for a lot of people, even the poor. Made us all think and perhaps we should all see what we can manage.
Naff all to do with football. Always been social injustice, scumbag parents and poverty, always will. Any news on the new home kit?
St Godders, if you see or read something that moves you with this type of feeling or call to action, then take some action. Do some work with Saints Foundation and do your little bit for society; it all adds up and it all counts. Only you can decide if that meanas giving up your season ticket. Why not make a sacrifice elsewhere? Don't have a beer or a burger at each game and donate that instead. I know how you feel when you see something that stirs those saintly feelings; just take an action and do your bit. I did that when I read about the Saints Foundation Kenya trip and signed up.
An interesting Idea I saw once (some Christian website) was to offset luxury items, e.g. if you go to a football match and it costs you a tenner (I wish) you give a tenner to charity as well. I mean, ideally we would give all our non-essential income to charity, but human nature isn't really like that.
The parents were not the brightest of people but they had to put up with some really poor housing. They were not scumbags. The single dad had made a brilliant job of bringing up his children but he just did not have enough money to feed and cloth them properly. That being said his children were polite, articulate and well behaved. They could therefore possibly lift themselves out of poverty. The child saying he was always hungry in the school holidays set me thinking that if our welfare system believes that the parents can't afford to feed their children when they are at school why does it expect them to be able to feed them in the holidays? I also believe ChocolateBoxKid that like me you experienced all the consequences of WW2 including rationing and the post war austerity so you will know what it was like as a kid not to have enough to eat. For goodness sake get a heart man and show some empathy.
Footballers pay tax, the Prem league generates money for UK PLC. Taxes pay for Social workers, Benifit etc. I'd be more worried about money sneaking out of the country like the Billions Philip Green sent to his wife in Monaco for starters.
I am not disagreeing with you St Godders........However why is the man saying he does not have food for the children? He can walk into any social services office and tell them he hasn't the money to feed them. They have emergency funding to do just that. They indeed may not give him money to go and buy the food however they will at least buy him the food he needs to get by. (I know that for a fact) Something is not adding up about the situation. Others in a similar position scrape by. I am not saying it is easy or that it is right. I cannot get my head around the fact of a child not having enough to eat in this country. A parent yes perhaps, a child no.........
The amount of money people get on benefits should mean no child goes hungry. Most, not all on benefits are just lazy and spend most of it on ***s,booze, sky tv, etc. If you want loads of kids get a better paid job, if you dont want to work dont have any.
Nothing to do with football or Southampton FC. And anyway, never believe what "documentaries" say these days. They are all edited and exaggerated to fit a "story" or "angle". St Godders, if this was such a wake up call for you, then seriously, you've been living under a rock.
As a summer job I collected food from church donations and also Sainsbury's (stuff that was perfectly good, but they couldn't put on their shelves) for SCRATCH charity in Southampton. They would then make up parcels and give them to families that needed a bit extra. It's a good cause and very applicable for how you want to help. http://www.scratchcharity.co.uk/
Bollocks, I dont believe there is one kid in this country that needs to go hungry, or is walking around "in rags". When people talk about povety in Western Europe and the USA, they insult the millions of kids around the world that are in povety. That are litterly starving to death, and face challanges that no kid in this country can begin to comprehend. Give up your season ticket and donate the money to charity if you want, but I presume you'll stop buying CD's (Musicans are pretty wealthy), stop watching ITV (Ant & Dec are worth a few bob), and stop posting on here (Bill Gates is hardly living in a cardboard box). Me, I'll give any donations I make to the elderly of this country, the generation who defeated Hitler and are now treated terribly by this country. We need to look at the way we treat our pensioners in this country, rather than a few brats who cant afford a PS3
St Godders, I'm doing a charity skydive later this month for the Saints Foundation which aims to help people from deprived backgrounds - you could always take a visit to my just giving page if you want to help at all.
