• West Ham’s most expensive mascot package is £600 • Several clubs charge more than £250 for under-16 season ticket • Clubs accused of ‘excluding families from poorer backgrounds’ • Nine clubs, however, do not charge at all for mascot places

More than half the Premier League clubs have been accused of “excluding families from poorer backgrounds” after a Guardian study found that a few of them are charging as much as £450 for children to be mascots, with West Ham United’s most expensive package coming in at £600.

With the average price of a replica kit for a junior fan costing £65, according to the study, parents faced with forking out for matches over the festive period are having to count the increasing cost of following a top-flight club.

Eleven Premier League teams, most of whom have spent time in the Championship in the past 10 years, ask a fee for being a mascot on matchday. Queens Park Rangers and Swansea City both charge £450 plus VAT for their packages while West Ham’s prices range from £350-£600 depending on the fixture.

The packages vary between £250-400 at Tottenham, £300-400 at Leicester City, £150-425 at Crystal Palace and £330-390 at Stoke. Burnley, West Bromwich Albion and Hull City also charge, while Newcastle United’s corporate hospitality packages of £3,000-4,000 include mascot places.

Some clubs, including Spurs, QPR and Newcastle, do, however, offer a number of free mascot places through competitions and charities. Others do not charge at all: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Southampton and Sunderland.

Clive Efford, the shadow minister for sport who is campaigning for fans to be represented on club boards, said: “I find it extraordinary that clubs which are getting so much money from TV rights then exclude kids from poorer backgrounds by imposing a fee.

“It means that a certain class of kids will never be able to be a team’s mascot, and that doesn’t seem fair when their clubs are earning so much money. It seems ridiculous that some will be excluded because their parents can’t afford to put them on a waiting list.”

The majority of the mascot packages include hospitality places at the designated match, a free kit, signed footballs, photos of the day, match tickets and other benefits. Some clubs, including Swansea and Stoke, describe the deals as “great value for money” and say that there are long waiting lists, yet supporters have questioned the need for Premier League clubs, many with super-rich owners, to charge such prices.

A spokesman for the Swansea City Supporters’ Trust said: “The pricing of mascot packages is higher than we would like as a trust and we are pressing to get this price reduced.” Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust added: “There is a general feeling that it’s a poor show to charge for being a mascot.”

A spokesman for the QPR1st fans’ group said: “£450 to be a mascot … We think it would be much better if the club used mascot opportunities as a chance to get local schools involved more with the club. For a club like QPR, which really relies on community support, that is poor.”

The survey also found that the average cost of a full Premier League junior kit – including shirt, shorts and socks – is £65, while a number of clubs charge more than £250 for an under-16 season ticket.

Matchday ticket prices vary significantly from club to club and while reduced prices can be found, the burden on parents to fund a child’s burgeoning support is evident.

An average full kit for a junior fan, which most clubs regard as under-16 and others as under-18, costs £65. Newcastle offer the cheapest kit at £50.50, with Chelsea’s being the dearest at £77. A small number of Premier League jerseys are available at a discounted rate via the retailer Sports Direct – the former Newcastle stadium sponsor – yet most fans have to purchase strips through official channels and there are significant additional costs for names, numbers and Premier League badges to be printed on the shirts.

The founder of Mumsnet, Justine Roberts, said: “Mumsnet users when surveyed said overwhelmingly that they think football merchandise is a rip-off and with an eight-year-old’s replica kit costing over £65 you can see why.” Kevin Miles, the chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Federation, described the costs as “counter-intuitive”.

“So many of the trappings around football, like junior replica kits and mascot opportunities are designed to win a place in the hearts of children for the football club. It then seems counter-intuitive to make those things themselves extortionately priced,” said Miles.

A few Premier League clubs offer free mascot places as well as charging. West Ham offer junior tickets for £1 on six fixtures a season.

The issue of ticket pricing in the Premier League has already caused a groundswell of opposition from supporters across the country, with the average cost of the cheapest matchday ticket for an adult rising by more than 15% in the past three years.

For juniors, the prices are significantly cheaper and most clubs offer reduced rates for cup games.

However, the dearest junior matchday tickets at Arsenal, Manchester City, QPR, Leicester, Southampton and West Ham are £30 or more.

There are certainly preferred prices when compared to adult rates, yet individual junior tickets can regularly eclipse £25. At West Ham the dearest concession is £41, and £35 at Queens Park Rangers, £34 at Leicester City and Southampton, £32.50 at Arsenal and £30 at Manchester City.

Crystal Palace’s most expensive season ticket for juniors is £550, Southampton’s £525, QPR’s £499, Chelsea’s £480, and Newcastle’s £446. All these clubs offer much cheaper options yet the lowest season ticket price for a junior at Arsenal is £340 – the highest in the division.

Like full-price tickets, there are geographical disparities. In general, the London clubs charge more than teams outside the capital, while bargains can be picked up in the north-east. An under-16 season ticket at Sunderland is £99 and Hull City’s vary from £90-£156, while Newcastle offer some individual tickets for £5.

Certain clubs, including Burnley and Palace, make a number of season tickets available free for under-10s if they are accompanied by an adult. West Ham run a “kids for a quid” scheme for under-16s alongside an adult at six matches per season, under-8s at QPR can attend free accompanied by an adult, while four- to 12-year-old members at Arsenal can sit in the family enclosure for £10.

In days gone by it was, for many, a rite of passage to support a team and attend games weekly. In reality this trend is becoming increasingly rare, with some excluded due to cost. It is an issue that is not merely limited to England, with Bayern Munich supporters unsuccessfully lobbying for reduced rates for students and under-21s. At Bayern, though, a regular ticket in the standing area of the Allianz Arena is only €15 (£11.70), significantly cheaper than most Premier League tickets.

Miles said: “In terms of atmosphere at a match, a crucial role is played by adolescents and young adults. We are concerned that there is a pinch point at which those people who graduate out of concessionary pricing as it currently stands are expected to pay full adult prices at a time when they have extremely limited disposable income.”

A Premier League spokesman said: “Premier League clubs work very hard to ensure that accessible and affordable tickets are available for children and young adults. It is a very important part of the record levels of attendance and occupancy we are currently enjoying, with grounds 96% full and, last season, the highest average gate in top-flight football since 1949-50.”