(Galigan, 2000)
This is a diagram showing the pathway for a footballer from the most basic
level, being grassroots, which is like playing in the local park with your
friends, basically just play for the fun and love of the game. The next level is
at the local school or football team, in Cambridgeshire this would be in either
mini soccer for girls and boys up to the age of 11, or colts’ league for boys up
to the age of 18, or for women the Eastern Region Women’s Football League. The
next phase of the development is playing for the local district side, and for a
soccer academy, like the one at Cambridge Regional College which enables
performers to reach their potential in football and academically. At this level
it enables individuals receive full professional coaching and receiving really
good teaching.
The next stage of the development process is playing to represent the county,
this is quite difficult to get into as the best players are picked in the county
and you have to undergo trials in order to be picked. In Cambridgeshire the
county squads available are under 16’s, under18’s and women’s. The next stage of
the development is Youth leagues played at a regional scale, many professional
football clubs today have teams ranging from under15, under16, under17, under19
and under 21. The last stage is playing professionally for a football club, and
then finally if really good playing internationally for England.
Additional agencies
Funding and sponsorship
The Football Association has developed a new sponsorship programme called the FA
partners; this is order to promote the game of football for the next 3 years up
until 2006. This programme is enabled to support the promotion of the game of
football, and to raise money to invest in the game and develop it at all levels.
FA Partners is the only official access to the entire game of football in this
country, connecting grass roots with the highest levels of professional
football. FA Partners have five top tier partners they are
• Men's football
• Women's football
• Youth football
• Community football
• Elite football (www.thefa.com)
The Football Foundation holds a partnership with the Football Association, the
Government, Sport England and the new opportunities fund. The football
foundation provides enormous funding for grassroots football. Within the second
year the amount of funding available rose to £60 million, and three quarters of
this funding is devoted to the grass roots, in order to improve pitches and
changing room facilities in local schools and parks. The foundation’s other
body, being the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, a programme of stadia safety
and improvement work in the lower leagues as well as funding the next generation
of stadia, including better provision for disabled fans, families and the
community. (www.sportengland.com)
Girls and women: - girls and women football is one of the fastest growing
sports, and officially one of the biggest women’s and girls sports in England.
There are over 800 women's teams across England, playing 11-a-side competitive
football every week. The top 34 women's football teams in England compete in The
FA Nationwide Women's Premier League. Many women and girls are still unaware
that there are clubs for them to join. In Cambridge there are various women’s
team’s currently available most of which play in the Eastern Region league
consisting of 3 leagues premier, division 1 and division 2. They are Cambridge
United which have both 1st and reserve teams, Cambridge United Women’s Football
Club currently has around 110 players, 45 in the senior section and 65 in the
juniors. Cambridge kestrels consisting of just one team, the majority of the
squad came initially from the Cambridge United Women’s Youth Team under-14 side.
Cambridge city which is a newly developed club Formed in August 2000, evolved
from Pye ladies and the girls coming form Cherry Hinton Crusaders who officially
played in the mini soccer league, and also Cottenham Ladies
Mini soccer: - Cambridgeshire Football Association run leagues for Girls
Football at Under 11 to under 16, These leagues are 7 a side and play on a
smaller pitch. The clubs currently playing in the Cambridgeshire girls mini
soccer league are Aztecs, Balsham Girls, Burwell Swallows, Cambridge United,
Cherry Hinton Crusader Girls, Cottenham Girls, Haverhill Rovers, Huntingdon
Rowdies, Godmanchester Rovers, Milton Colts, Newmarket Colts, Wildcats. The
number of girls mini soccer leagues have dramatically increased within the last
fours years, because in the season 1998-1999 there only consisted of two leagues
which were under 12 and under 15.
Since The Football Association took over the running of the women's game in
1993, there have been massive advances in the development and in the amount of
opportunity for female footballers. Right from the mini soccer game played by
the young in small sided games on smaller pitches, to the centres of excellence,
there is a route now to encourage excellence. There are 61,000 players - five
times that of 1993 - and over 2,500 girls’ teams.
This diagram shows the pathway a female footballer should take in order to reach
full status at the top level (international)
(www.thefa.com)
Cambridge city football club have linked up with Cambridge Regional College, and
have set up a girls football academy, which will start in September 2003, it
provides girls with a deep interest in football, the opportunity to fulfil their
footballing and academic potential after leaving school. They are provided with
top professional coaching and enable the girls to realise their full potential
in football and education. This is excellent in reducing the inequality between
males and females when it comes to football, although there still is a long way
to go in making women’s football professional, but this is a start.
Disabled: - I have attempted to research provision for disabled people to play
in Cambridge but unfortunately there is not much information currently
available. Although there is provision nationally, The English federation of
disability sport is working with The Football Association to ensure equal
opportunities for disabled people to play football; they have developed the
Ability Counts programme, which provides training and playing opportunities for
disabled adults and children. This provision is provided through either a
professional football club, Football in the Community scheme or by a County
Football Association. Ability Counts is the grassroots programme that begins to
identify those players with potential to progress to national squads. The
Football Association and the specific National disability Sports organisations
have responsibility to develop the disability player pathway, which enables
players to reach their potential. Currently The Football Association supports
six squads:
Blind- Football is played by blind players, those in the B1 classification and
visually impaired players, those in the B2 and B3 classification.
Deaf and hearing impaired:- All players must have a hearing loss of 65-70
decibels maximum to qualify for games specifically designed for deaf people.
Amputees:- There are World Championships and European Championships every two
years.
Cerebral palsy:- At the moment, cerebral palsy football is the only Paralympics
football event. In a 4 year cycle, the Paralympics Games are played in year
one, the World Games in year two, the World Championships in year three and the
European Games in year four.
learning disability:-. There are various local, regional and national
competitions held by organisations such as Gateway and Special Olympics. Ability
Counts hold regional and national competitions. The International Sports
Federation for persons with intellectual disability (WAS) organise European
Championships every two years and World Championships every four years.
Currently there 45 professional clubs (including half of the premier league) in
England that coach football activity sessions outside of school or work hours as
part of the Ability Counts programme. The Individual football sessions are
supervised by the FA qualified coaches of the club’s. County FA’s around the
country now have football officers in place to enable the development of
Disability football. Over the next few years this should increase competitive
opportunities for all disabled players. (www.englishfederationofdisabledsport)
Analysis: - From the research I have conducted, the conclusions I have drawn are
that nationally and locally there is vast amount of opportunities for young
people as well as elderly people to play football. The Cambridgeshire football
association provides many leagues for people all ages and different abilities of
football whether being male or female. This encourages many people to play
football. With Cambridge united offering their community and youth development
schemes it enables children from the age of ten to be more involved in football
in and out of school, making the game more enjoyable, and allowing them to
receive top professional coaching in order to succeed in the game. I do feel
there is a long way in the provision of football for girls and women, although
leagues like the mini soccer league for girls is continually growing and soon
will provide as many leagues as the boys, which is a big improvement. Women’s
football is a long Way off in becoming professional as there is only one club
currently at professional status, which is Fulham ladies but with the country
continuing to develop these academies like the one at Cambridge Regional
College, allows women to reach their potentially both academically and in
football, this is one step closer in making women’s football professional. There
is a lack of provision for disabled in Cambridge, but nationally is good, this I
feel is not meeting the Football Association and English federation of
disability sport requirements as they state that they want to give disabilities
s equal opportunity in playing football, and with their not being a disability
football club in Cambridge, this is not making disabled football equal. With the
amount of funding provided to football the game is continually growing, allowing
more children from an early age to participate in football, which is good.
References
Websites
1. www.thefa.com
2. www.cambridgefootballassociation.com
3. www.englishfederationofdisablitysport.com
4. www.footballfoundation.org.uk
5. www.sportscoachuk
6. www.sportengland.org
7. www.cambridgeunited.com
8. www.cambridgecityfc.com
