ESFA Chairman Monthly Report : October

Tuesday 09 October 2012By ESFA Office

Last Updated:
10/02/2021 10:49:19

Neil Pont, ESFA Chairman

Having just flown in from the Scilly Isles yesterday (where the weather was sometimes unkind but the bird-watching was good!) I am happy to add my comments to this month’s e-zine.

Prior to my holiday on Scilly I was pleased to accompany The FA Under 16 team on their visit to Belfast to play Northern Ireland in the Victory Shield. Although this team is managed and administered by FA staff, it is important that ESFA keeps its links with these players - who are, of course, all attending school. As ever, the arrangements were first class and the boys could not be in better care when the team manager is Kenny Swain - himself a qualified teacher.

England were far too strong for their Irish counterparts and were clear 5-0 winners of the match. They played some excellent football and a couple of the goals were outstanding. The match was televised live on Sky Sports so I am sure you could find replays of the goals somewhere on the internet - well worth the effort if you can.

Recently my notes from our recent Council meeting were distributed to membership. The most important work of that weekend was to set in motion Council’s development of an action plan for the next few seasons. There was full and lively debate covering a wide range of topics and during October half-term I will be meeting with the Chief Executive and a small group of Council members to make the first draft of that document. I will present the results of our discussions to the County Secretaries’ meeting being held in London on November 10th.

John Read writes in this e-zine about other matters related to Council - I do urge members in the South and Midlands to consider whether they can fill the two remaining places on Council. Any member of Council and John himself will be happy to discuss the work we do and the commitment involved.

Council recently received an update from Darren Alcock on the progress of National Competitions. It may surprise you to know that already 944 matches have been played in ESFA competitions. Well done to those teachers who are actively involving players in these prestigious trophies. Like me you will probably be disappointed to learn that 85 matches were conceded by schools unable to fulfil their fixture. I would urge schools to contemplate carefully their commitment when entering our competitions.

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