The County Football associations are now also responsible for the development at local levels, for example organising coaching, Mini-Soccer tournaments, women’s’ and girl’s football and training programmes for referees and first-aiders.
The individual county associations are then affiliated to the Football Association. It is the responsibility of the technical director to oversee the development of football from ‘grass-roots’ through to the highest (national) level. The FA has establishes many of the centres of excellence, mentioned earlier, which develop young players through a high quality of coaching. They have also reduced the amount of 11-a-side games very young players compete in.
There is however a very significant amount of work delegated to the County Football Associations, including £1.2million that went to developing coaching and educational programmes.
Provision in the local area
In this area there are several playing fields with football pitches marked out, however these are rarely re-marked, especially during wet periods, when the pitches often become waterlogged due to poor drainage in the area. Examples of these are at Norton village hall, where one corner of the pitch becomes so wet that player’s feet can sink down about an inch, and becomes quite dangerous in extreme conditions. Another example is Nowton Park, where even though the pitches are on a hill, the drainage is poor and they become unplayable quite quickly.
In this area there are several all-weather (astroturf) pitches which are available for use, including Nowton Park, ‘KEGS’, County Upper School and Bury Leisure Centre (5-a-side only).
In the wider locality there are also some well kept pitches, which are used regularly for cup matches. In Ipswich there is ‘The Hollies’ FC ground, which is used in local cup matches, aswell as the Royal London Insurance sports and social club and Colchester Barracks’ pitches in Colchester.
Local teams
In this area there are a large number of school football teams, most of which compete against each other at some point throughout the year. There is also the opportunity to play in a football team outside of school in Sunday league football, in different leagues, for example the Ipswich & District Sunday Youth League, Suffolk & Essex Youth combination, Norfolk & Suffolk Youth league. These leagues run separate competitions for ages between 9 and 18, from 7-a-side through to full 11-a-side, 90 minute games in the under 18s. From there, players can progress through to full men’s teams, in leagues such as the MetalTec Suffolk and Ipswich League, or, at a higher standard, the Jewson league.
If players are good enough, a scout can see them and offer them places at clubs’ own football academies, or they could go to places like the Bury Football Academy, which is part of West Suffolk College. From which they can progress through to more professional football and on to National Football League or even Premier League competition if they can play to a high enough standard.
Disabled Provision
There seems to be no disabled clubs in the region, but there are obviously opportunities for the mentally or physically handicapped to participate in football. There are physically handicapped referees in the area, and there is now National “Multi-disabled Soccer Association” which runs North and South. Chelsea football club has a very successful team, who are the European champions. Scotland has a National Cerebral Palsy Squad, which competes in international tournaments.
Summary
The provision for playing football is probably one of the best in the country, as it is the ‘people’s game’ which anyone who wants to can participate in. There are boys and girls leagues, professional and amateur men’s and women’s leagues, and leagues for the disabled. As the facilities do not need to differ for most groups, the facilities available are open to all, to practice as a team, to kick-about as a group of friends or to play competitive matches.
It is however the development of players which lets the provision down, as not enough players get through to the academy systems or centres of excellence as needed to build up the success of football internationally. There are however teams which show that young players can be brought through, like Manchester United (Beckham, Scholes, Neville G & P, etc), while others like Chelsea buy in their talent from abroad hoping for success. It is some consolation that Manchester United have been Premiership champions so many times while Chelsea do not seem to have that success. However, as a country more players need to be brought through the ranks of football, either through academies, or by scouts signing them up to professional clubs where their talent can be nurtured through to playing professionally
