ESFA Newsletter - Tuesday 27th May 2008
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Chairman Gerry Smith
Welcome to the last newsletter of this current season and my last one as Chairman of the ESFA. Normally this newsletter would be produced in March /April but the arrangements for the Wembley International against Scotland superseded all other ESFA commitments and therefore this one is later than normal. My Wembley report will appear later in the newsletter.
Well the last two months of the season have been hectic for me personally and for the ESFA staff. During April there has taken place three centenary under 18 internationals, Easter Festivals at Jersey, The Isle of Wight, Durham and North Teeside and the remaining semi finals of all the national finals. The numerous national finals began in earnest at the end of April and finished on the 20th May.
My own contribution to this busy period began at the start of the Easter holidays when I visited Haverford West, West Wales to witness the Under 18 team win 1-0. Chris Smalling rounded off a fine individual performance by scoring the only goal mid way through the first half. The Welsh officials were delighted to be back in the Centenary Shield after a couple of year’s absence from the competition even if they were not so pleased about the match result.
The following week I visited the southern based Easter festivals taking in the Under 14 Festival at the Isle of Wight and the Primary festival at Jersey. Starting at the Isle of Wight I spent two days, accompanied by my wife, watching games in various locations on the Island. At the presentation evening were twelve district teams from all over the country, a host of parents and guests from the island teams. I was very proud to make presentations to a terrific group of young players experiencing all that is good with festival football. From the Isle of Wight I travelled to Jersey to experience an ESFA primary festival for the first time. This festival has been organised by Jersey Secretary Pat Cullinane for the past 34 years and what an excellent experience these young players have during their week on this beautiful island. All teams were accommodated in the same hotel, along with me and other officials, and played in the morning of each day before embarking upon an afternoon visit of a sporting or educational/cultural nature. Yet again it was a pleasure to be in the company of these young players and their team officials and make presentations of team certificates to each team captain.
Home for a couple of days after the Easter festivals I travelled North to Sunderland to watch the under 18 play the Republic of Ireland at the Stadium of Light. A fantastic occasion was not matched by the overall performance of the team, unfortunately losing 1-0 with the only goal scored from a penalty, somewhat disputed after 39 minutes. This result also gave the centenary shield competition to the Irish with their record of three wins and a draw. The next date for the team and me was Wembley and what a day it was for all involved.
April 26th was undoubtedly my proudest day as Chairman of the ESFA. Returning to Wembley for the first time in eight years was truly a memorable occasion for all concerned. The England Under 18 team was playing Scotland who was sure to be competitive and energetic. Hosting the pre match hospitality with David Frost and Sir Trevor Brooking and my Scottish counter part Stewart Taylor as guests, was followed by half time presentations to all the primary national competition winners. The under 18 match proved to be an excellent game with England leading 1-0 at half time through Taylor Morgan and adding a second by Danny Watson mid way through the second half. James Wannell made an excellent penalty save just before the end of the game to ensure a 2-0 win and runners up spot in this year’s centenary shield. As I stood in the Royal Box looking out across Wembley in front of 20,000 spectators presenting caps to I felt privileged and proud to be part of this association who had brought true grassroots football back to Wembley. My thanks to the many ESFA officials, team managers and teachers who made the day possible.
Since Wembley I have journeyed to various parts of the country attending national finals. Although unable attend all such events because of my own school commitments I have taken in finals at the grounds of Yeovil, Swindon, Coventry and Manchester City.
All these finals have been superbly organised by our competitions department and it has been a fantastic pleasure to witness the enjoyment that our young players have experienced in playing at these great venues. I have seen some very competitive and technically good games from both girls and boys and all the reports can be viewed on the ESFA website.
I witnessed a very special game at the City of Manchester in the RAF Under 16 Boys Individual Schools Final between Rock Ferry and Torquay. Torquay were 3-0 down after 20 minutes and 4-1 down at half time. They staged a monumental fight back in the second half scoring an equaliser to make it 4-4 with 10 minutes to go. With a minute left Torquay Captain Sean Adderley smashed in a goal to give his team the lead for the first time in the match and ultimately the winner’s cup. Rock Ferry, bitterly disappointed picked themselves off the floor and proudly collected their runners up medals to rapturous applause from all present in the stadium. What a game, with the players and spectators from both schools exhibiting all that’s best in schools football.
My year as Chairman is rapidly drawing to an end with the AGM on the 21ST June being my last official event. Details of the AGM are being distributed to membership along with this newsletter so please make the effort to attend.
Coincidentally my year in office is ending as I started it with me making presentations at 40 year awards luncheons. The 2008 Southern 40 year awards luncheon recently took place at Reading F.C. Five recipients of these awards, were asked by me to recall their most memorable moments in school football. Highlights of trophy or national finals were recounted with amazing detail but what stood out for me was the obvious respect that the young players held for ESFA team managers and the respect colleagues received from other like minded individuals when contesting matches. In other grassroots football this does not happen too often. This is why they have stayed for 40 years and hopefully for fifty years. I make the long journey to Derby from Wiltshire next week to the Northern awards at Derby looking forward to being in the company of other ESFA volunteers. How we maintain this work force is a challenge for this association, as are other issues that we have experienced this season.
Finally for me and my wife Jackie a special thanks to all colleagues across the country who have made us so welcome whenever I have attended official events. Being Chairman for the past year has been challenging, enjoyable sometimes exhausting but most of all a privilege to be in the company of so many who are devoted to schools football and the benefits it brings to the young players in our care.
Gerry Smith.
Chairman
Chief Executive’s Update
Council
I am still somewhat distressed that we are approaching another AGM and we still have vacancies on the National Council. A position that is about to get worse with the retirement from Council of Martin Duffield, Area C and Steve Abson, Area D. That will leave vacancies in Areas C, D and H and at this point in 2009, if no new nominations are received you will be able to add vacancies in Area A and another in Area D on the retirement of Dennis Fulton and Kevin Wilbur. I understand that there is a nomination from area C, for which I thank that Area for their support.
I know that Council has been attempting to recruit new members over the past three years and have not had any luck as it is perceived that the work load of a Council Member is at a level that current teachers cannot cope with and still play an active role as a teacher in a school or college. There are, of course, certain responsibilities that come with election onto Council but apart from these the role can be as small or large as you wish and there is nothing (in fact we actively encourage you) to stop you organizing a small committee below you to help deliver in your area. You can expect to attend 6 Council Meetings a year and be asked to run (supervise) a competition in your area. Advice on referee appointments and discipline are also required from a Council Member but the remainder of duties can be split between your County and District Committees. The one thing that is essential is that each Area must have at least one national representative for our association to function correctly.
If you feel that you might be able to help at National level and join Council, please feel free to talk to either your sitting member or myself, and we will give you a run through of the responsibilities of a Council Member.
Annual General Meeting
All membership should be aware that the 2008 AGM will be held in Stafford on Saturday 21 June 2008. You should all have received the necessary paperwork by now.
In recent years the number of members attending the AGM has dropped ~ please halt this decline and make arrangements for your District or County to be represented. You are free to invite members from any organization that assists you with the delivery of schools’ football including Competition Managers, School Sports Coordinator and Football Development Officers. They will not have any voting rights and we cannot assist with travel or accommodation claims, but would welcome their attendance and inclusion in any debates.
School Sports Partnerships
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the induction seminar of the new Government appointed Senior Competition Managers and was able, in conjunction with the Football Association, give a 45 minute presentation on Schools’ Football and the role of the Competition Mangers. These Senior Competition Managers will be hosted 2 per County Sports Partnership and will have the remit to control the Competition Managers situated in the School Sports Partnerships. Without exception the Senior Competition Mangers agreed that it was the role of the English Schools’ Football Association to deliver competitions and Festivals at all levels within the national Competition Framework. It was accepted that we do not deliver in certain areas of the country or at certain age groups within our District and County Associations. It is in this area that the Competition Managers’ communication with our network will be essential and as a bye product will be the eradication of any duplication of competitions in any one district or county.
I have agreed to supply each Senior Competition Manager with the names and contact details of all our County Schools’ Football Associations and in turn I will supply our Schools’ County secretaries with the contact details of their appropriate Senior Competition Manager. I would request that County School Football Association secretaries contact their appropriate Senior Competition manager as soon as they have the details (if you already have the details, please do not wait for my communication) and arrange a meeting to discuss what the County and the relevant District Schools’ Football Associations are about to deliver in 2008-2009. If help is required to deliver the local programme then the Senior Competition Managers will enlist the army of School Sports Coordinators and Primary Link teachers to deliver on your behalf.
It is essential, however, to ensure that all schools are affiliated to their District Schools’ Football Association. If no District Association exists, then the schools must affiliate through their School Sports Partnership to the County Schools’ Football Association.
When in discussion with the Senior Competition Managers, don’t forget to discuss funding as the Schools Sports Partnerships certainly have budgets that can cover many aspects of the delivery of the National Competition Framework. I attach a copy of the Football National Competition Framework for your perusal. Again, if there is no school football in any of your areas many County FAs will assist through their Football Development Officers. Essential though that they follow the affiliation pattern as detailed above.
International Schools’ Football
We continue our membership of the Schools’ Association Football International Board [SAFIB] and the Chairman, Vice Chairman and myself will represent the Association at the SAFIB AGM in Glasgow over the weekend of 12/14 September 2008. The secretaries meeting will be held in Vienna, Austria in January 2009.
Although we lost the Centenary Shield to the Republic of Ireland we can be proud of the fact that we have returned to Wembley. Despite the pressure of playing at Wembley in front of a large (for the players anyway!) enthusiastic crowd the players of both England and Scotland produced one of the best under 18 internationals seen for many a year.
I was very disappointed that we only managed a crowd of 20,000 for the match at Wembley and nearly 17,000 of those came from youth groups. I understand all the problems of cost, travel and risk assessments but still feel that our member schools could have supported us in a more proactive way by taking parties to the match. If just 10% of schools entering National Competitions took their school mini bus with 2 teachers and 15 boys / girls we would have had a gate of 50,000. Please consider this next year when we return to the National Stadium. More details will be published very soon.
Competitions
May I congratulate Mike Spinks, National Competition Manager and Darren Alcock, National Competition Secretary for once again organizing a wonderful programme of National Schools’ Finals. Yesterday, the 20th of May being the last of 22 which started way back in March with the under 12 indoor finals at Derby. I have managed to get to a number of the finals myself and I have been very impressed by the standard of football and behaviour shown by players and management. It has been especially pleasing to see the continued rise in girls’ football. We still need more lady teachers to take on the managing of these girls teams and indeed if you know of a lady who might be running a team who would be interested in becoming a Council Member, see my comments above. Over the past couple of seasons I have been quite concerned by the behaviour of some of our teacher / managers, who seemed to be getting carried away with the need for success and their antics on the side lines and in the technical areas. Thankfully I have not seen any of this type of behaviour this season, so well done to all.
The website continues to improve and shows all competition results for this season. We are continually improving the site so if you haven’t had a look recently, please do so: www.esfa.co.uk Affiliations will soon be able to be completed on line and we also hope to be able to complete all our competition draws electronically using a new software programme.
Coaching
Our new international manager, Phil Nardiello, will conduct a high level coaching course for county under 18 players at Keele University between 15 and 19 August 2008. This course is no longer financed by FA Learning which has resulted in an increase in the course attendance fee. It is still good value at £150 per player as all travel, accommodation, food and coaching is included in this figure. Counties are requested to assist their nominees if there is a financial problem. Grants from the School Sports Partnership Gifted and Talented programme maybe available. This course is counted as an international level course and is eligible for this funding. Each County should now have their nomination forms and are requested to nominate at least one player so that we can have a truly national representation.
Primary
Our work in the Primary sector carries on and we are proud to announce the support of JETIX TV in the organization of 8 regional Fun Festivals for our Year 3 and 4 pupils. These will take place between now and the end of the summer term
Promotion & Development
An 8 page Kicks magazine should be available in schools by the end of the summer term. Please look out for it and if you do not receive a copy in the post please get in touch with me so that I can investigate why not.
Long Service Awards
40 and 50 Year long Service Awards will be presented by the Chairman at two luncheons at the Madejski Stadium and Pride Park Stadium within the next two weeks. Congratulations to:
50 Years:
- Pat Cullinane – Jersey PSFA
- Norman Giannasi – Merseyside CSFA
- Keith Newbold – Coventry SFA
40 Years
- Derrick Biddlecombe – Coventry SFA
- Tudor Lewis – Bedfordshire CSFA
- John McPherson – Nottingham SFA
- David Pavey – Somerset CSFA
- David Playford – Essex CSFA
- Geoff Salter – Hampshire CSFA
- Michael Youssouf – Inner London SFA
Girls’ Academy Football
Discussions with the Women’s Department are ongoing, but a new rule governing the eligibility of players is to be voted on at the FA Summer Meeting in July. It is proposed that their will be weekends made available to School County football so that our competitions can take priority over academy football. It will still be very important for County Schools’ secretaries to liaise with the appropriate Academy Directors especially in the case of rearranged matches. Any problems with the Academies should be directed to me in the first instance. There will be no advantage to schools’ football if we take an aggressive attitude to fixture clashes. I believe, in this situation, the softly, softly attitude will do us better in the long run.
Mixed Football (repeat)
The Football Association, under pressure from the Government, has agreed to investigate the age restrictions to mixed football currently in force in this country. Any junior league which has players up to the age of 14 and above the age of 11 and within the current age group banding (no more than 2 years) may apply to their County FA for permission to play up to 4 girls in any one team for the season 2007-2008 only. If there are a number of leagues in each county applying for this dispensation, the County FA may restrict the number of Leagues given this dispensation. Boys are still restricted to boys’ leagues and may not play in girls’ football.
The Football Association will:
- Monitor the number of girls who actually register and play for boys’ teams.
- Monitor the number of girls’ teams withdrawing from girls only leagues.
- Compare the situation with other European countries
- Debate the results with the Women's Committee, Development Committee and the League sanctions Committee before putting recommendations before Council in June 2008.
All of the above does NOT apply to SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL where current regulations remain extant.
Child Protection / Child Welfare
A new post of National Schools’ Football Child Welfare Officer on a part time basis has been requested from the Football Association. If this request is successful we will be advertising for the post which will be for 2 ½ days a week and based here in Stafford.
Although the “Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults and Children” Act has been deferred for 12 months, the Football Association and ourselves have agreed to continue on the timelines agreed at the beginning of this season. All District and County Schools’ Football Associations, as a requirement of membership, will have to nominate a Child Welfare Officer and to have a fully trained Child Welfare Officer in place by season 2009-2010.
Finally
- see you at the AGM
- If you are in area D or H and even have the slightest thought about becoming a Council Member – give me a call.
- Check the credentials of all the AOTTs involved in your Associations – they must all be registered, CRB checked and qualified to Level 1 if actually coaching a team unsupervised.
- Keep a watching brief on the introduction of girls’ Centres of Excellence
- look after player discipline.
- ensure parental behaviour is acceptable.
- Best wishes for a sunny summer holiday and return refreshed for Season 2008-2009
John A Read
Chief Executive
