ESFA Chairman, Neil Pont
My role as Chairman gives me a great opportunity to watch football at all levels and to meet dedicated people involved with schools’ football throughout the country.
Easter weekend saw me in Belfast where our Under 15 girls’ international team participated in the Bob Docherty Cup against the home nations. This team is still a fairly new venture for us and we still struggle to find the right selection processes that will give all girls the opportunity to represent their country. We are currently working with The FA on next season’s fixture timetable so that there are clear windows for Inter County football and for our selection trials and matches.
The girls and their support team, led by team manager Sarah Steadman, certainly did us proud. The results were the best yet with a win over Northern Ireland and draws with Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. More importantly the girls’ attitude and behaviour were above reproach - they showed respect for all those around them, both on and off the pitch and upheld the proud traditions of our association. This team is a key part of our strategy for the development of girls’ football.
On my return to the North East I was able to take in one day of the North Tyneside Primary Festival where, as ever, Andy Littleton was bravely smiling through a biting easterly wind as he organised yet another brilliant event. It was good to catch up with primary stalwarts, such as Jackie Batley from Leeds, who continue to ensure that primary district-level football thrives.
However, it is clear from research that I and my Council colleagues have carried out very recently that the rosy picture provided by such pockets of excellence (for example) as Gloucester in the Cotswolds, many districts in Kent and other Home Counties, teams in Yorkshire and the North East and others in Merseyside, is not to be found across the whole country. A very worrying 65% of our districts do not run a team. This is a situation we would dearly love to change.
In an effort to provide support for primary district football we are in very early negotiations with the Premier League, who see this as a cause in which they would happily become involved. It would not be sensible to say more than that at this stage - but I can also assure you that it is a cause close to my own heart having run young district sides for over 30 years myself.
I never actually ventured from Northumberland to Jersey with one of those teams but happily, as Chairman, I was able to go from North Tyneside to that other well-established primary festival so many miles to the south. There I was privileged to meet Pat Cullinane for the first time - having heard so much about the work he has done for Channel Islands’ football. This was the 39th Jersey Primary Festival and it featured more of those districts who are beacons for football at this level. The 40th Festival will see the players involved in 9-a-side football - a move that was welcomed by the teachers I spoke to on Jersey. Many are hoping to bring two squads of players next year and all recognised the benefits of the smaller-sided game.
After the (slightly) warmer environment of Jersey I was next heading north to Scotland to witness our U18s win their first international of the season. Earlier results mean that we will not win this year’s Centenary Shield but the players and management will look to secure second place when they visit Cork for their match against the Republic of Ireland on 26th April. I am looking forward to presenting caps to the players after their last game which will be a friendly match against New Zealand at AFC Wulfrunians (Wolverhampton) on Monday 6th May (1.30 p.m.).
The girls’ international team will receive caps too. This will be after their challenge match for the Lloyds TSB Cup against Scotland at the Toryglen Football Centre (Glasgow) on 20th April.
Website watchers will see that dates for all of our finals are now in place and, after the Easter break, these matches come thick and fast. I will be attending finals in the north of the country when I can and my Council colleagues will do the honours further south. It is a tremendous achievement to play your way through to a national final and I hope all those involved are able to do themselves justice on the day and play as well as they can. May the weather now be kind to us at the climax of the season.
Neil Pont
15 April 2013
