English Schools' Football Association

Mr David Woollaston, Chairman of the English Schools' FA, issued this report at the latest Council Meeting, following the ESFA Questionnaire to establish the current status of District and County Schools' Football.

The survey was produced in response to a question raised at the ESFA/FA Partners meeting about the influence of Youth Leagues being played on a Saturday. It was an effort to find out how the rise of these leagues and their playing during the time set aside by the FA for schools football had affected the landscape of representative schools football in recent years. A number of complaints had been received at Stafford regarding the pressures being put upon players to ignore their traditional school games and instead play for their local youth team. The complaints were not confined to one particular area of the country though some areas have been more vocal than others.

The survey asking eight questions aimed at representative football was sent to all association secretaries, district and county, by email on 4th October 2013 and the results were collated one week later. In that time there had been a response from 123 associations. 42 were from the Northern Region, 21 from the Midlands, 45 from the South East and 15 from the South West.

Games were played primarily on a Saturday by 80% of respondents with the remaining 20% playing primarily in midweek. One association complained about the quality of the questionnaire as they wanted to tick both boxes. They obviously played an equal number on both Saturdays and midweek or misunderstood the word ‘primarily’!

Throughout the last 10 years there has been little change in the number of teams playing percentage wise. The most prolific age groups in descending order are;

1. U15 Boys
2. U14 Boys
3. U11 Boys (more latterly mixed)
4. U13 Boys
5. U12 Boys
6. U16 Boys

There has been a decrease across the board in the actual number of teams playing and the reasons for this are detailed below. In the U15 Trophy competition of 2013/14 122 teams were entered whereas in 2003/4 162 teams took part, a 25% loss. The more recent U13 Trophy has also mirrored this with 135 teams taking part in 2009/10 but only 101 this, again a 25% loss but over a shorter period of time. Boys individual school team participation in ESFA competitions has gone up year on year and shows a healthy position of 4795 teams in the competitions this year which is a 16% increase over the last four years. Girl’s competition entries continue to fluctuate but are now approaching the levels reached in 2009/10.

In the free comment section there were a number of positive responses which I would like to focus upon first. Most common amongst these were;

• Greater staff involvement
• Non-teachers helping
• Introduction of ESFA inter county competitions
• Promotion of girls’ football
• Turnover of younger staff
• Smaller associations merging
• Support of the Labour Government
• Adding ‘B’ team games
• Playing midweek matches
• Specialist PE teachers in primary schools
• ESFA U13 Trophy
• Influence of FDO’s

It is interesting to see the novel ways in which some districts have adapted to the changing landscape. Smaller associations merging? Are people overcoming their parochial tendencies?

The movement towards playing representative matches midweek is also a good solution for those areas which are not widespread and it is a solution which may work for many especially in the major conurbations. 3G pitches and floodlighting are also major contributors to the changing face of schools football.

The negative responses were more numerous which was to be expected. Despite the questionnaire being triggered by the rise of the Saturday youth leagues this was not the major contributor to the decline of representative football in most areas. It was, however, the third ranked cause of the demise. By far the biggest factor contributing to the decline in representative schools football on Saturdays was that teachers are too busy. Workloads, coursework, exam pressures and even OFSTED were blamed though two associations quoted the problem as ‘teacher apathy’. 43 responses blaming work overload equates to just over 1/3^rd of our responses.

The influence of pro clubs and those wannabe’s from the non-league sector was in second place and quoted by 23 associations. The rise of the Saturday training regimes to prepare for the big game on Sunday has impacted severely in some areas. Some respondents would be happy for ESFA to ban academy registered players from their competitions to ensure that there was an even playing field for all those who found their top level in schools football.

Youth leagues playing on a Saturday, some now kicking off on Saturday mornings, was in third place with 17 mentions recorded. The a.m. kick offs are in contravention of the FA memorandum on schools football and school activities but they have been allowed to happen. One Saturday league secretary and his County FA CEO I spoke to were blissfully unaware of the memorandum and believed they were doing no wrong! But the question remains, “Why are the youth leagues flourishing”. I suspect the answer is allied to the number one reason identified by our survey; teachers are too busy to run teams! Boys want to play football, parents organise it!

Other negatives quoted were;

• Lack of volunteers
• Lengthy incumbents in association posts
• Costs of travel, referees and facilities
• LEA reorganisation – funding withdrawn
• Facilities not being available
• Small association
• Teachers not feeling appreciated
• Funding
• County FA taking credit for CSFA success but not providing any help to schools

Some districts requested that we remove the Saturday rule from ESFA Competitions; others requested that ESFA be more proactive in promoting representative football. One suggested that we should scrap the schools international teams and redistribute the funding to districts. Numerous complimented other districts by saying how successful they were and wished that they could be the same. One even said that the ESFA was doing a good job!

We have to accept that times are changing. School footballers today do not have the opportunities that were afforded to me in the days of my youth but then again I never had the chance to play in a national competition as schools do today. My school team had a fixture list which involved participation on every Saturday of the school term and midweek too. Most school fields were packed with children taking part in a wide variety of sports on a Saturday. Where are they today? I really do appreciate the time and effort given to me by my teachers in my sporting education and I remember every one of them fondly. Most of them were not even pe teachers and you certainly respected them when you entered their classrooms. However, they are a thing of the past, many teachers today have other things to balance in their lives and Saturday school sport is well down on their agendas.

Schools football is an institution which must be preserved but it has to change with the times. We need to be innovative; we need to recognise that change is necessary; we need to make representative football relevant today and attractive to the young people in our schools. Above all we need to promote our sport for the full value it has. It is about enjoying yourselves, being active and healthy, learning new skills in a safe environment, playing with your peers and possibly making lifelong friendships. It is also about finding the coaches, administrators and teachers of the future. Without them we are going nowhere.

I look forward to constructive debate and all ideas, however wacky, need to be considered.

Notes; when I joined Council in January 1991 the ESFA ran just six competitions. We now run over forty, mostly for individual school teams – quite a change.

District and county schools' football was the highest level a school age player could play at, is that true today

November 2013

Feedback

• 3Harry
  The attraction is the carrot dangled with names such as Junior Premier League and for some reason people jump at a league with this sort of name, they are always played on Saturday mornings and they decimate district football teams. Can the lads progress to county or England schoolboy levels in another Saturday league ? No !! These leagues are just money making schemes for the people who set them up who just do not care about the impact on District teams.25 March 2014 @ 22:51

• 2J M Spooner
  Fortunately, my daughter attends a school that includes girls football in its sporting activities. The school benefits from having a number of players who play for one club and are having a decent season. It strikes me there needs to be some sort of dialogue between clubs and schools because while schools football affords children some terrific opportunities the schools don't always appreciate that they are reaping the benefit of the hard work and enthusiasm of the unpaid coaches involved in grassroots football03 January 2014 @ 22:35

• 1Michael Springett
  Did anyone consider sampling our numerous district players and parents? Do some players & parents regard district football as second class? Are we offering a product at district level on and off the field equal to Chartered Standard clubs but with an educational slant? Greater funding for district football?03 December 2013 @ 19:45