Scotland captain Andy Robertson has called on the Government to give every child, including those in secondary school, free school meals.
The country’s most famous current footballer said the issue, during the current cost-of-living crisis, is so serious he felt compelled to speak out.
The dad of two, who supports five food banks in his home city of Glasgow, told of first-hand experience, through his charity foundation and volunteer work, of parents unable to feed their children.
Andy, who is backing the Sunday Mail’s campaign to feed all schoolchildren, said: “It’s such a good campaign.
“These kids are trying to grow, trying to learn.
“If you’re getting good meals, then it can help their learning abilities. Being on an empty stomach, you don’t get that.
“I don’t think anyone should be going hungry, so the fact is if people are coming to school with no food, then we need to try to get these people fed – that’s so important.”
The Liverpool left-back, who grew up on Glasgow ’s south side, said his work helping food banks and feeding children at football camps run by his charity AR26 have inspired him to do more.
He said: “It means a lot to me. My mum and dad brought me and my brother up to always be socially conscious.
“They always put food on the table and a roof over our head but we were never well off.
“But they always gave to charities and me and my brother were brought up with that and I think both of us have carried that on.
“I live my life very normally and don’t really see myself as Andy the footballer and didn’t think my voice carried that far.
“But I think that everyone who is in that position, we do have a voice and can use it. If one person reads this article and thinks, ‘I’m going to help support that,’ or ‘How do I access a free meal?’ then that’s me done my job.
“That’s what it’s all about and hopefully more people do support it and back it.
“If that can happen, it means more and more people get fed and kids are coming to school in a better place – that has to be the end goal.”
The campaign calls on the Scottish Government to expand the current scheme, which provides for all P1-P5 children, to all pupils in primary and secondary schools.
Leading poverty charities and unions have backed universal free school meals and warned of dire consequences for some children without it.
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Andy decided to help out at a food bank in Liverpool where families were struggling to make ends meet.
He’d already started donating to food banks in Glasgow but the visit had a profound effect on him.
The 28-year-old said: “I don’t walk in there as a footballer, I walk in there as a normal person who is seeing someone else who is so reliant on these things.
“I met the people who were running it and relying on it and saw how overworked they were and how much work they were doing
to get all this food out.
“The number of people relying on food banks was at an all-time high, especially during the pandemic.
“That’s why I supported five of the food banks in the Glasgow area at that time to help adults and kids.
“I’m based in Liverpool and I know the food bank numbers in Liverpool went through the roof during the pandemic.
“Nobody wants food banks because, if there’s no food banks, it means everyone is getting fed but, unfortunately, just now we need them and a lot of families rely on them.
“It’s up to everyone who can to help to try to ensure the number of these food banks goes down as we come out of the pandemic and try to get people in a better place financially. I feel as if we are a bit far away from that.”
And through his foundation, Andy knows why it is so important that children do not go hungry.
He said: “We’ve put on football camps and they get lunch there. We’ve given them packed lunches so we know they are getting fed every time they come to us.
“We’ve seen a huge difference in the kids that have come through our programme.”
Pointing to Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, whose food poverty campaign forced the UK Government into action on free school meals, he said: “I think footballers now are a lot more socially conscious and a lot more socially active.
“There’s a lot of us doing good work, especially in the background for things which don’t get headlines, but it means a lot to the charities and that’s sometimes the more important stuff.
“Not everyone is as fortunate as that and that doesn’t sit well with me. There’s always something that drives me forward.”
That drive is always evident in his football career and he’s determined to use it now to help tackle poverty and hunger.
While he may not have needed free school meals himself, the footballer – now ranked as one of the top 15 players in Europe – does know what it’s like to have no money and no job.
As a teenager he was released from Celtic and, while playing unpaid for Queen’s Park, a friend helped him get a job answering the phones at Hampden Park.
He then played for Dundee United before heading south to Hull and then a dream move to Liverpool, before finally becoming captain of the national side.
He said: “The pandemic gave me a chance to reflect and think.
“Living costs are more expensive and more and more people are struggling, so that’s why these things are so important.
“Life hasn’t been the same since the pandemic but things are slowly and surely getting back to normal but, with that, we have to make sure the gap between those who are fortunate and those less fortunate doesn’t get too big.
“If we can do small things, it can make a huge difference.”
Last month MSP s were asked to vote on a Labour-led bid to expand the free school meals policy to all kids but it failed to get the backing of the SNP and Green coalition with key politicians – including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Greens leader Patrick Harvie – not bothering to turn up for the vote.
It’s estimated the scheme could cost an extra £14million.
Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the current policy for P1-P5 had made sure children were “ready to engage in learning” and would help to “reduce the impact of poverty on thousands of families across the country”.
Andy said: “I know I can’t help everyone, I’m very realistic that I can’t. But I always said when I started my charity, ‘If I could help one person,’ and it’s always been like that.
“If you can help a small number of people or a big number of people, it doesn’t matter.”
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