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.
The provision for football in this area is good with many football pitches, which are marked and also have changing rooms. Good examples of this are Kimber road, Wandsworth common and Haydens road playing fields. However in other areas the pitches are not so well kept, and are rarely remarked especially during the winter months, this problem is highlighted by the Clapham common playing fields. All of these pitches do not have floodlights, which means that they are unplayable for much of the year. As a result of these plentiful facilities there are a large number of local teams ranging from school teams, to Sunday league and semi professional teams playing in the many leagues available, such as the southern district and Wimbledon league.
Women and girls provision
In the main the facilities I have described are utilised by male performers. When researching football provision for women performers it is clear that this is inadequate. A survey was undertaken by the Football association in order to determine the state of this provision within the UK. The survey has revealed a lack of changing facilities, particularly for female footballers. Of the 21,067 sites, only 7% had dedicated female changing provision. The best areas for women and girls football provision are Guernsey, Herefordshire, Isle of Man, Jersey, Northamptonshire, and Wiltshire. The worst areas for women and girls football provision are Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, West Riding, Worcestershire. There are already a significant number of womens' football clubs in the UK. This number is increasing every day through publicity generated by films such as 'Bend it like Beckham'. However, this increase in popularity amongst girls and women is not being fully capitalised upon as women are not given the same opportunity to play football at school as boys. Also, the media coverage of womens' football is almost entirely non-existent and women professional footballers' pay is on a huge disparity with that of men.
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. These teams work in conjunction with The British Sports Association for the disabled, The British Paralympic Association, The British Amputee Sports Association and The UK Sports Association for People with Mental Handicap. These organisation aim to maximise sporting opportunities for disabled performers by raising funds to provide facilities and helping to organise teams and fixtures within the UK. Provision for disabled performers varies hugely from area to area. In my local area of Surrey there is little provision for people of disability. Access issues for the disabled are poor with changing facilities and wheelchair ramps significantly below the national average.
The provision for playing football is the best in the country in terms of team sports, 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. Britain should be the envy of the rest of the world as it is acknowledged that mass participation is a necessary pre-requisite in the quest for excellence. However the search for talent in the UK has and is still too much of a hit and miss affair despite the ever increasing opportunities and provision being made available. It is 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 bring their talent in from abroad hoping for success. The diagram below is an overview of elite development in association football.
Local Club
Local School
Centre of Excellence
Area/district
YTS
County Level
Youth Leagues
Regional level
Elite Performer National Selection
Professional Career
I feel that, 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.
