English Schools' Football Association

John Appleby

The season is beginning to bubble up nicely. The majority of the Individual Schools’ Competitions are progressing nicely largely due to the clement weather. The County Competitions are under way as are many of the District Schools’ FA rounds of the Tesco Cup. It is a busy time for the ESFA National Competitions Department but they are coping admirably as usual.

The second Annual County Schools’ FA meeting was held at Rayners Lane FC on the first Saturday in November. Mark Ives, Head of The FA’s Discipline Department and Donna McIvor from the Education Department at the FA, were keynote speakers. They were both interesting and informative and we are grateful for their input. Several of my Council colleagues also made valuable contributions and all present were of a mind to repeat the exercise next year. Let us hope that more of our County Colleagues are represented. The two new CWO’s were introduced to the meeting and spoke about the need for compliance. This will be a huge challenge for them in the coming months as currently only about 20% of Associations and Counties playing representative football meet the necessary criteria.

This weekend sees the two England Schools’ Under 18 Regional Trials take place. Saturday 12^th November sees SE take on the SW at Rayners Lane FC and on Sunday, the North meet the Midlands at Belper Town FC. ESFA are indebted to the clubs and officials who allow us the use of their facilities for such important matches in our selection process. 32/34 boys will be selected to go on to the final selection weekend at Lilleshall in December. Following on from these my Council colleagues Neil Hopwood and Stuart Bottoms are in the process of organising the England Under 15 Girls’ Trials. The North trial is at Balby Carr School, Doncaster, on November 20^th and the South trial will be held at Chigwell School, Essex, on the 27^th November.

During the past week I was fortunate enough to be present at the 40 Year Awards Ceremony at Milton Keynes Dons FC. This is for me, one of the highlights of my year as Chairman. To be in the company and to have the privilege of presenting awards to colleagues who have given more than 40 years’ service to Schools’ Football is a humbling experience. These colleagues are still as keen and involved as they were when they started in 1971.

Forthcoming events as Chairman include a quarterly meeting with The FA at Wembley, the partners meeting and being fortunate enough to represent our Association at Wembley for the internationals against Spain and Sweden.

As footnote I would ask that any Association which has an active committee and who would be interested in staging an Under 18 International next season to contact our CEO, John Read, as soon as possible. Having been involved in staging a game, I can assure you that it is an intensely rewarding experience. Brighton and Newcastle this year, where next?

England Under 18 Schools' Fixtures 2012