English Schools' Football Association

ESFA Newsletter - Friday 10th February 2006

Message from the Chairman Mr. Kevin Wilbur

It may seem odd to wish you a Happy New Year, as we are already half way through the spring term, but as this is the first newsletter since December, I will do just that anyway. So - 'Happy New Year!'

My workload as your Chairman is certainly increasing weekly. I can now appreciate what past Chairmen have been through, and how those who were fortunate enough to retire from teaching during their year of office benefited from that decision. I am extremely grateful to my head teacher and Local Authority for allowing me to have time away from my junior school class. With S A T's rapidly approaching, I must weigh up the needs of my school children with the requirements of being Chairman of the ESFA.

Some of my time has been spent meeting members of the Chinese community. You will remember that in 2005 the proposed Under 18 visit to China was aborted at the last moment. Well, the 'China connection' will not go away. The Chinese are desperate to learn from the experience and history of the ESFA. We have now agreed in principle that Chinese students will visit Keele University next August to take part in the coaching opportunities alongside their English counterparts. In return, the Under 18 team will visit China in the spring of 2007. There are many technicalities to overcome and finance to finalise, for we do not want a repeat of 2005. But mistakes have been made and lessons learned.

I had the pleasure of attending the annual Sponsor's Dinner at Lilleshall last month. This followed the final selection weekend for our aspiring Under 18 International players. The team has now been selected and the fortunate sixteen who will represent their country this season were also present at the Sponsor's Dinner, together with a Chinese delegation of seven.

Several of our sponsors, or their agents, were present. They included Tom Shorey of Inspire Sport, the firm responsible for arranging the Under 18's training sojourn to Valencia, and Des Comerford of Fallen Hero (late of DeeJays Men's Wear), who provided the players uniforms. Thank you, both.

Other sponsors represented were the Royal Air Force, Coca-Cola, California Raisins (Kicks Magazine) and Robert Windle Photography. I had the great privilege of presenting our players with their playing kit, courtesy of PUMA. A wonderful occasion it proved to be.

Two days later, the International team played their first game, at Stafford Rangers, versus Australia. On a slippery and difficult pitch, both teams struggled with the conditions. A 2:2 draw was a fair and satisfactory result for both squads: all the England boys received their first caps.

So now we move on. The domestic competitions have reached the last 4, 8 or 16 and soon it will be finals time. Our Competitions Manager, Mike Spinks, is always on the lookout for clubs willing to offer their ground for schools finals. So if you can help, please let Mike know. Before any finals are played, there are the Inter-Association Festivals at Easter to be kicked off. I am going to visit the Under 11 Festival at North Tyneside, the U13's at Durham, the U13's at the Isle of Wight and the U11 !s in Jersey. All this will be in the space of six days. I hope my ageing Astra is up to it! I hope I'm up to it!

Please go along and support as many of the ESFA activities as you feel able to. Refer to the competitions by their proper names - including the names of the sponsors - these companies and firms are so valuable to us. As I am sure you know, Sainsbury's supports the Under 11 Competitions, Jetix the U12's, the N U T the U15 Trophy and girls' U16 Inter-County, the F A Premier League the U16 and U18 Inter County, and it is the Football Association that provides the funding that all Associations have received (provided criteria was met). Some of these sponsor's contracts are due to be re-negotiated soon, and our Chief Executive, John Read, not a well man may I add, is hard at work behind the scenes.

Finally - another reminder regarding the ESFA A G M on June 24th in North Lincolnshire. If this date is not yet in your diary then put it in now. I will be giving details of hotels and lodges within close proximity to the venue if you really do not want to stay at the Forest Pines Hotel. But please come to the AGM - you will not be disappointed.

Best Wishes for 2006

Kevin Wilbur

Chief Executive's Update

The Future

Thank you to the Association members from the South West (Newbury), East Midlands (Scunthorpe), and West Midlands (West Bromwich) for attending the recent regional meetings. It was pleasing to see that there have been a number of Partnership Development Managers, Football Development Officers from County FAs and a Competition Manager attending these meetings. There are no further meetings planed. I shall be putting together a paper for Council to study and debate at the Council Meeting in March.

A number of threads have emerged from these meetings but I will not discuss them until I have discussed my report with Council.

This is a timely reminder that all items under General Rule 8(b) ..."should be given to the Chief Executive on or before May 1st."...

Sponsorship

As indicated by the Chairman, we will be at the end of a number of our sponsorship contracts at the end of the season. I am doing my best to replace them but the market has had a down-turn in recent months. The ideal situation will be if I can persuade our existing sponsors to stay on board for another period of time.

Competitions

Mike continues to keep you up to date with his weekly / monthly Competition Circulars. We are now reaching the busy time of the season when we will be preparing for all the Cup Finals.

Goalposts (repeat)

Schools in your area are able to get a grant from the Football Foundation for the replacement of illegal or unsafe goalposts. The FA County Football Associations are coordinating this procedure and should be contacted in the first instance. There is no cap on the number of goals that can be replaced. If you need to 'change them'.

General

I have had to take a certain amount of time away from work due to an infection of the soft tissue in my left leg and foot. The result of too many injuries during my playing career. I am therefore somewhat behind in a number of areas in the office. Please have patience with me; I will try to catch up as soon as possible. If there are any urgent matters that have slipped through the net during my absence, please do not hesitate to call me in the office or on my mobile.

I have therefore, deliberately kept this Newsletter short to enable me the time to concentrate on other matters. This will be rectified in March when we will be sending out a 'KICKS@ magazine to our 26,000 schools and another general Newsletter to County and District Associations.

Long Service Awards

Those nominations received are being checked by the PR committee and will be announced after the next Council Meeting in March.

Please do not forget our other sponsors:

• Under 11 - Sainsbury's
• Under 13- Coca Cola
• Under 15 Trophy -NUT
• Under 16 -Individual boys and girls schools cups - RAF
• Under 16/18 Inter County - FA Premier League
• Under 16 Girls County - NUT
• Award Scheme - California Raisins
• Photography - RWT Photography
• International Kit Sponsor - PUMA
• Uniforms - Fallen Hero
• Festivals - The PFA
• School Football Strips - The Soccer Co
• Trophies and Festivals - Linakers

Insurance (repeat)

We have changed our insurers, but the details of our policies are the same as before. If you have any queries on insurance please contact Malcolm Alexander at Linaker, Sport & Leisure Division on 0117962 5888. In particular they are producing some very competitive rates for Public Liability cover. However, all affiliated associations come under our national policy for third party liability so long as they are acting as part of the ESFA. This includes the hosting of your annual or regular meetings held where public liability is passed onto you. If you require a copy of the Liability Certificate (now being asked for by local Councils / Schools etc) please contact Dawn in the office.

The Annual General Meeting

Further to the Chairman's words on the 2006 AGM:

Please consider coming to the AGM even if you do not want to stay in the AGM hotel. The Chairman, in the next Newsletter, will outline a number of cheaper B&B options for you. It is most important that we have a good turn out this year, especially as there is so much going on in the field of education and sport.

Excellence Programme

This is a reminder to District and County Associations (and schools where appropriate) that if they enter into an agreement to play against Premier League Academy or Football League Centre of Excellence age group teams, both teams require sanction to play non-affiliated football. The ESFA affiliated team needs clearance from here in the office and the Academy/ Excellence team from their respective League HQs. Only Year 6 (under 11) and above are allowed to play 11 a-side football. If you wish to continue with playing under age children you may well find insurance invalid or in the worst case the subject of a court hearing if a parent wishes to take out a litigation case.

Adults Other Than Teachers

There have been a number of requests for clarification of the rules concerning AOTTs. The following extract is from the 2005-2006 ESFA Handbook

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3. CONTROL

(c) All teams must be under the ultimate control of either

1. a practicing teacher,recognised as such by the Department of Education or
   
   
2. a retired teacher, or present or past employee of the education service who has received direct approval in writing from the appropriate local or county Schools' Football Association to undertake such responsibilities,
   
   
3. A person who has direct approval in writing from the appropriate local or county Schools' Football Association who: -
   1. is a member of the (FACA) Football Association's Coaches Association (giving a coaching and first aid qualification and child protection best practices)
   2. has undergone a (CRB) Criminal Records Bureau check - any payment associated with this shall be the responsibility of the local / county Schools' Football Association.

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This information must be registered with the E.S.F.A. on the appropriate form (available from the ESFA HQ in Stafford) and the CRB certificate must be attached to the form. This registration is to be done on an annual basis. Approval may be withdrawn by the E.S.F.A., the local or county schools' football association at any time.

Any other person assisting with or coaching a team must operate in the presence of a person who is qualified under (i), or (ii) above

Note:

3(c) (ii) - we are advised by the FA that those qualifying under this criteria (i.e retired / past) should now undergo a CRB check

If you have someone who is not a teacher and you wish them to look after a district or County team you should contact me in Stafford an I will send the forms directly to you by post or email. On completion the forms should be sent back to me for registration. Martin Duffield, our National Child Protection Officer will then keep the full data base. 1 am sorry but this needs to be done annually.

Martin and I have a meeting with the FA's Child Protection expert early in the New Year to discuss the progress of this scheme and to suggest where we might improve it or simplify it. More information will be available in the New Year

For further advice contact Martin on 01384 242526.

NOTICE BOARD

1. Funding Opportunities for schools and associations (kit etc.). This is available via The Football Foundation at www.footballfoundation.org.uk
2. Funding Opportunities for large projects e.g. improving changing rooms, drainage work etc. is available via your Local Football Partnership group at your County F.A.
3. England (under 18) 2-2 Australia Schools
4. England under 18 v Scotland under 18 at Home Park, Plymouth Argyle FC on 24th March 2006. Details in the Handbook
5. England under 18 v Republic of Ireland under 18 at Broadfields Stadium, Crawley Town FC on 31st March 2006. Details in the Handbook
6. England under 18 v Northern Ireland at Glenavon FC is now 27th February 2006 with a 7pm kick off