Local league media coverage may be viewed through the Internet looking at Football team’s websites. A local newspaper that is called the Medway News sponsors the league and this provides coverage on results and match reports.
When performing at a certain level players will asked to play for the school football team, once in the team schools are entered into a League and cups and if the teams do well within these cups they will be entered into National cups during the ages from under twelve’s to under eighteens.
Provision for Elite performers
Players are able to start playing at a young age due to the availability of a football team that primary schools have during year six. This will enable young players who have the ability to play at this level to compete in competitions where there may be scouts watching. When joining a secondary school and a young player has the ability to play at a certain level they are able to play for their school that play in the Kent league. Whilst playing for there school they are able to compete in league and cup games. These cups will either be the Kent Cup or Medway cup and players may get the opportunity to be scouted into a county, regional or even into a football academy. Many academy teams will have an award scheme in place that will allow the player to see how well they are doing and also for the scout to compare them with others. These are called player reports and will show statistic information for when they started at the club and to the present day on how they have improved.
The clubs Gillingham F.C, Charlton F.C and also Millwall F.C will scout players within Medway that have potential. These clubs with either have an academy or a school of excellence for players to develop themselves into an elite player. Players that are at a good standard of football will be given the opportunity to sign a contract to the club because they are seen to be a good potential to be a professional. By allowing this school work is not affected.
Additional Agencies and Bodies
There are several agencies that will help towards development for football and these agencies will include Football Foundation, UK Sport and also the National Lottery. The National Lottery will provide grants to help with equipment for schools.
Provision for Male/Female Competitors
When entering football both genders are able to do this easy but it may be harder for a girl due to the broader age groups and fewer leagues given because of fewer girls participating in the sport.
Within Medway the main access point for females is to go to a training day that will be setup by Gillingham F.C. This will allow local clubs to come and sign players that will play on a regular basis at weekends. There will also be scouts there that will be looking for elite players to join either the county teams or even Female academies such as Charlton L.F.C or Gillingham L.F.C.
There are many professional clubs like Arsenal FC, Fulham FC and Charlton FC that have a ladies team for elite females. These teams will be provided with sponsors and funding from the Women’s Football Association. Teams like these will have access to the Ladies FA Cup whilst playing in a league. Females that have a high standard of football will be asked to play for their national team that will compete in Women’s European Championships and World Cups.
Media coverage is very little for females in football in Medway, but national also has minimal coverage too. This means that local sponsors will be limited and funds given will not help to develop females into football.
Provision for Disabled participants
People that have disabilities will find it hard to access football within Medway but Medway Council provide a disabled sports development team that will allow disabled people to develop skill and football. Although there is a club for disabled called Hutton Medway F.C that plays in the Southeast league and provides development and promoting of disabled football. Due to different types of disability it means that there is different levels of disabled football. This means that there is many organized events for the disabled and also transport for the participants taking part in the event.
Critically Evaluation
On the whole it seems that males are the easiest to enter football and also to get to elite national levels of playing due to the availability of organised leagues and cups during school and leisure time. Females have a lot of organisations helping them to develop them into football but its difficult to enter. Disabled people find it hard to enter into football and even all levels have limited facilities. When looking at Local provision for football in Medway it looks good due to many parks and also organized days by Gillingham FC to bring people into football. To make things easier for everyone to play football and progress to higher standards more agencies need to organize events.
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