Local and National Essay - Football
MICHAEL MCDONNELL 12SH
Local and National Essay
Grassroots Development
The FA is committed to developing and supporting all aspects of grassroots football across England.
In line with the Football Associations National Strategy the County FA's have produced a three year plan aimed at providing everyone with the opportunity to participate in football for life.
The plan allows parents, managers, and teachers and coaches the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and gain qualifications.
They are keen to develop partnerships to promote the benefits of football and improve the facilities were football is played.
Working with key partners they hope to access essential funding which can be invested to increase the quantity and quality of pitches and quality of pitches and facilities providing more and better playing opportunities.
To meet the demands of implementing the plan the Development Office includes a Development Manager, Football Development Officer, two part time Women's Development Officers and an Office Administrator.
Developing football at grass roots level requires funding whether it's for building new dressing rooms, up-grading of pitches or simply buying a new team kit.
There are a variety of funding opportunities available to clubs and organisations who wish to develop there facilities or the service they provide their members.
At grassroots level football most clubs will have teams starting at a young age such as under 9's and have a team in each age group until under 16's. By having this many teams this allows clubs to have organised nights to help raise the funds available to all teams such as a race night. The funds raised will be split equally between all the teams allowing them to buy things such as new balls, bibs, cones, tracksuits, anything that will help take the club forward. The main funding for the team usually comes through one of the parents businesses/companies though as they will try and get the company to sponsor their children's team and give some money towards buying the kit and other things that it might be needed for.
Disabled Football
The FA supports six international disability squads for players with differing kinds of disabilities. These are: Blind, Partially Sighted, Deaf and Hearing Impaired, Cerebal Palsy, Learning Disabilities, Amputee.
The teams all receive official England kit, a physio, a fully-trained technical advisor, and money towards travel costs for attending European and World Championships.
The latest addition to the service is the awarding of caps to all internationals that play in a major tournament. "The aim," says The FA's Jeff Davis," is to see every football player (and we mean every football player) in the country has the possibility to play organised football and realise their maximum potential.
Four years ago The Football Association made its first commitment to disability football. It has now progressed to such an extent that it is widely considered to be the world's leading governing body in the development of disability football.
And the progress does not stop there either, as over the next three years; The FA, with the new Disability Strategy, will be increasing its commitment to developing disability football, from the grassroots, all the way through to England squads.
The Liverpool County FA are determined to provide all disabled people with the pathway to reach their potential as a player, coach, referee or administrator. With their commitment to the new FA Disability Strategy there is much planned for the coming two years, including: an improvement in the quality of training, coaching and support to disabled people; a creation of performance pathways to assist in the progression of players to county, then national squads; a five per cent participation increase; the creation of clubs with regular playing and competition opportunities; coach mentoring schemes; role models; and the continuation ...
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The Liverpool County FA are determined to provide all disabled people with the pathway to reach their potential as a player, coach, referee or administrator. With their commitment to the new FA Disability Strategy there is much planned for the coming two years, including: an improvement in the quality of training, coaching and support to disabled people; a creation of performance pathways to assist in the progression of players to county, then national squads; a five per cent participation increase; the creation of clubs with regular playing and competition opportunities; coach mentoring schemes; role models; and the continuation and development of our Centre of Excellence.
The FA and The Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) announced a partnership designed to support existing and prospective disabled footballers to access training facilities across the country. The IFI encompasses 150 sites across England and has been developed with The FA to support elite players in accessing inclusive training facilities near their homes.
The FA currently has seven national disability squads incorporating in excess of 100 players.
The IFI's approach to creating inclusive facilities will not only ensure that players are able to physically access the facilities on offer, but that they will also be able to receive support and back-up from staff that have received specific training relating to exercise programming for disabled people.
Funding
The Football Foundation is dedicated to revitalising the grassroots of the game, investing in our parks and schools and funding radical and innovative community and education projects.
The Foundation aims to do this by:
- Putting in place a new generation of modern football facilities in parks, local leagues and schools.
- Providing capital and revenue support to increase participation in grass roots football.
- Strengthening the links between football and the community and to harness its potential as a force for good in society.
Who is funding for?
Anyone involved in the development, administration or general running of grassroots football or any organisation using football to promote social inclusion and education.
Applications are welcome from:
- Football and Multi-sport clubs
- Local Authorities
- Educational Establishments
- Registered Charities
- Companies limited by guarantee
- Industrial or Providential Societies
- Unincorporated not-for-profit organisations
What funding is available?
The grassroots funding stream primarily supports organisations who wish to build, develop or refurbish facilities in order to increase or sustain participation.
The maximum grant available is £1m or up to 90% of project costs. The average level of support is 65%.
Community funding may include community coaching schemes, study support schemes, anti-crime initiatives, Football in the Community schemes and social inclusion projects.
Community and education grants are available up to a maximum of £250,000 and can be for a period of up to 5 years. Again the percentage level of support varies taking account of need and can be up to 90%.
The role of Sport England is to;
- To be the strategic lead for sport in England
- To make focused investments through partners
- To provide advice, support and knowledge to partners and customers
- To influence the decision makers and public opinion on sport
Sport England will provide strategic leadership to sport by providing partners with support, knowledge and expertise whilst establishing the performance criteria against which the impact of all future investment will be measured.
The National Lottery was set up by the Government in 1995 to raise extra money for good causes. Sport was named as one of the good causes to benefit from Lottery money and Sport England (then known as the English Sports Council) was named as a distributor. Sport improves the quality of life for all and provides lasting benefits in areas such as education, health, the regeneration of communities and promoting social inclusion.
Sportsmatch is the government's grass roots sports sponsorship incentive scheme. It is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through grant aid from Sport England and administered in England by the Institute of Sports Sponsorship.
Sportsmatch receive around £3.5 million of government funding per year and to date around £70 million has been invested into grass roots sport thanks to the Sportsmatch Scheme.
Sportsmatch can match for commercial business sponsorship for a grass roots sporting event or activity. Sportsmatch acts as an incentive by offering to double the pot of money available from your sponsor on a £ for £ matching basis.
Any not-for-profit group can apply e.g. sports club, school/college, charity, governing body of sport, local authority, voluntary groups etc. Sportsmatch can match money from any profit-distributing business e.g. a bank, restaurant, estate agent, supermarket etc.
Matching awards are available between £500 and £50,000. The minimum sponsorship per sponsor is £500 and the maximum per project is £50,000.
Pathways
World Class Performance:
England
Senior
Team
World Class Potential: England
Youth Teams
International Player
Development Centre
(Women's Football
Only)
National Player Courses
World Class Regional Player Courses / Development Squads
Start:
Regional Games (Women's Football)
Centres of Excellence / Academies
Charter Standard / Community Clubs
Participation: Affiliated Junior / Youth Clubs
National Curriculum / School Teams and Competitions
(Including FA TOP Sport Football)
Foundation: Mini League After LA / FITC LA / FITC
Mini Soccer School Schemes Competitions/
Soccer Star Clubs Festivals
Sponsorship
Most sponsorships are paid for in cash, but in-kind sponsorship can be useful and effective. Instead of money, the sponsor provides equipment, services or management expertise as all or part of its fee for the rights to a sporting activity. Companies may also provide money to sporting organisations in other ways.
Sponsorship is a commercial agreement between a company and a sport to enter into a joint venture to promote their mutual interests. In return for a financial contribution a sports organisation will allow the use of its name in commercial activities. These activities can be as varied as the imaginations of the participants. Some of the most obvious are:
* Display of the brand name on kit, banners around the venue, advertisements in programmes, and on other merchandise.
* Use of the club, event, team or individual in advertisements and other promotions undertaken by the brand.
* Personal endorsement of the sponsors products by teams or individuals by use of their products, kit or equipment
* Production of joint websites or developing close links between separate websites. For examples of this in action you only have to think of the Vodafone sponsorship of Manchester United or the O2 sponsorship of Arsenal.
Provision for Women
Women's Football has never been so popular. It comes as little surprise that football has now replaced netball as the most popular female sport in England. When The FA took over the running of the women's and girls' game in 1993, there were just 11,200 registered players. Today that figure stands well over 100,000. Yet despite this rise, it still lags behind countries such as the United States where there are 7.8 million players. For a country which claims the beautiful game as its heritage, why is it that the US women are more revered than our own?
Under representation of women in sport, and football, is by no means an uncommon thing, you only have to look at the back pages of any newspaper to realise that, but after the success of Euro 2005, the times may be changing. Record attendances, impressive form, good TV ratings and an array of talent, all proved to propel the women's game into the limelight for a short time.
Throughout Euro 2005 the average attendance for England's women's football games was 23,160 people with the record attendance for an England women's international coming in the 1st game at the City Of Manchester Stadium were 29,092 fans went to watch England's 3-2 victory over Finland.
Provision for Men
The popularity of men's football is growing causing teams to expand their stadiums or consider building new ones; teams are also doing this because wage bills and player prices are rising so they need to up their income if they are to compete with the best. Male football is accepted more than female football as it is the country's number one sport and its past of culture and it is what has been developed over time. The England national team however have been failing to live up to expectations over the last 40 years though as they have not won a major honor (European Championships or World Cup) since 1966 when they won the World Cup at Wembley. As Wembley is currently being rebuilt the national team play their matches at the biggest and most accessible grounds in the country normally being Old Trafford. Wherever England are playing they use the clubs training facilities such as Carrington training ground if they are playing at Old Trafford.
NGB Schemes
About The Charter Standard Scheme
The FA Charter Standard Clubs programme, supported by FA Community Partner McDonald's, was launched in February 2001 and is a core component of The FA Football Development programme
The project is aimed at boys and girls under sixteen years old and will help children and parents find a club in their local area that meets FA standards.
The FA, in conjunction with various bodies, has drawn up the following set of criteria for clubs wishing to reach Charter Standard:
· A written constitution
· Self-certified screening of managers, coaches and officials
· All managers to have minimum of FA Junior Team Managers Award
· Commitment to attend in-service training
· Acceptance and promotion of Codes of Conduct
· Commitment to provide Mini-Soccer opportunities for Under 10's
· Commitment to promote schools liaison and equal opportunities for all
Clubs that are successful in achieving the Charter will get access to a range of benefits:
· Use of Charter Standard Crest
· Exclusive Regional Workshops
· Access to Child Protection Training
· Kit and Equipment Grants
· National and Regional Awards
· Subsidies for FA Junior Team Managers and other courses
· Certificates
· Starter Pack, including posters, Codes of Conduct, Certificates
· First Aid Kit
FA Community Clubs
The FA Community Club scheme builds upon the foundations of the Charter Standard scheme in placing clubs at the heart of their community.
Community Clubs, the pinnacle of the club development pathway, will be those that have a high quality, multi-team (minimum of 10 teams) set up with excellent social, training and playing opportunities for all. As such, the number of Community Clubs is one of the truest measures of success for The FA Football Development strategy.
All new FA Community Clubs are required to meet FA criteria, ensuring they provide opportunities for players irrespective of age, gender, religion and ability. Clubs must also provide qualified coaches, first aiders and child protection officers.
All clubs that meet the criteria and achieve FA Community Club status will receive a host of benefits, including:
- FA Community Club Kitbag that includes balls, bibs, cones as well as an FA Community Club plaque
- Opportunities for tickets for England youth and women's internationals.
- Access to a bi-annual newsletter.
Although gaining Community Club status cannot guarantee funding from the Football Foundation for facility improvement, gaining the kite-mark has already been a significant factor in assisting clubs funding applications by providing evidence of a commitment to providing a sporting facility for use by the entire community.
Analysis/ Evaluation
I think that football is improving in most ways although I do believe more money needs to be put into developing grassroots as this is the start for future stars of English football. In order for the nation to progress in football terms I believe the FA must invest in future talent, this means improving facilities, coaching and hiring more talent spotters. I think the situation with the provision for disable participants is excellent. I believe the FA is the best association in the world for providing provision for people with disabilities, this I emphasised by the fact the nation has six national teams for people of different disabilities. Women's football is becoming increasingly popular and this can only lead to better things as more spectators and more sponsorships means more funds for grassroots development, and maybe one day mixed competition. I believe that things look good for the nation in terms of football but if the country wants to continue to progress more money must go into grassroots development.
