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ESFA Newsletter - Friday 10 July 2009

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Chairman : Paul Rickard

Chairman Paul Rickard

I begin my first Chairman’s Message with a thank you for all the messages of congratulations I have received not only from my Council colleagues but also from ex Council and from membership since receiving the ‘baton’ from my good friend and colleague Stuart Inger recently at the AGM in Stafford. It has been a pleasure to be vice chairman of our association under the excellent stewardship of Stuart and I hope that I can be as successful as he has been in the past year.

I joined Council on the 10th July 1993 and the chairman in my first season was Tony Cryer, so it was particularly pleasing that I was able to join him and other ex council for the Council Dinner on the Saturday evening following the AGM. It was also at this dinner that I made two 50 Year Awards presentations. The first was to Barry Ferguson from the Guernsey Schools FA and the second to former ESFA chairman Pat Smith from Nottinghamshire Schools FA. It is marvellous that both these men have put a lifetime of work into football for the benefit of schoolchildren and I know there will be other occasions this year when I will have the pleasure to honour other teachers who have worked tirelessly in schools football.

On the Monday evening following the AGM I attended my own county’s AGM. I am pleased to report that despite Worcestershire being a small county their activities during next season are on the increase. Young and enthusiastic teachers have come forward to manage/coach teams and entries to the County cups have increased in all age groups by nearly 20% in some of their competitions. Add to this an increase in the league structure throughout the county which has been brought about by the association working in tandem with the School Sport Partnerships and Vicci Webley the Worcestershire Competition Manager then the future looks rosy for my own association. I am aware that not all the country has welcomed the School Sports Partnerships but there is a way forward with them and I believe we all need to make them work for ours and the benefit of schools football.

Finally, I am looking forward to meeting as many old and new friends as possible in my travels during the next twelve months. As a full time teacher in a comprehensive school, September will see further changes to work force reforms when ‘rarely cover’ will be the norm, how this affects not only mine but all other teachers release from school remains to be seen. I hope to be able to get to many events throughout the year and I look forward to serving the association as its Chairman. Have a good summer break, recharge your batteries and come back all refreshed for the challenge in September.

Paul Rickard.
Chairman

Chief Executive’s Report

I would like to start the new season by thanking Stuart Inger for his support of myself and the office staff throughout his reign as Chairman. Despite being a very busy teacher with enormous exam pressures, Stuart was always available to support the Association and on the few occasions he was unable to attend or had attendance clashes managed to get Council to rally round him so that ESFA was always represented at the highest level.

As I was unable to defend my corner at the Annual General Meeting I would like, through the medium of this General Newsletter to assure membership that I operate with the best interests of ESFA at ALL times. It is worth noting that although I have lost some battles at the Football Association (over women and girls football and 11 a-side for under 10s), I have managed to bring into the Association a working practice, partially funded by the Football Association, which enables our hard pressed volunteers to use their County colleagues at County FA and County Competition Managers to deliver schools’ football at a local level. My work with the FA Development Committee and with the National Game Board allows me to debate all the aspects of school football and to maintain a good relationship with the National Governing Body. This work also involves attending meetings at Government level alongside my Football Association colleagues.

In the 7 years that I have been a member of the Football Association Youth Committee I have been honoured to represent ESFA as the Football Association Head of Delegation in Turkey, Sweden and Germany, but I must point out that this is not to the detriment of my ESFA duties as I take annual holiday to perform these Football Association tasks.

As we say ‘goodbye’ to people at the end of the season we have the opportunity to say ‘hello’ to any new comers; but before that may I put on record our appreciation of the services of our two retiring Council Members. Kevin Wilbur (Area D) leaves us after 14 years on Council and Rick Brown (Area B) after 5 years. Kevin will continue as a field officer for Area D and will continue to represent ESFA on the CCPR. Rick is retiring from teaching as well as from his various roles in school football so I wish him all the best for the future.

My staff continue to work all hours given and must be congratulated on their efforts over the management of 22 National Finals, Wembley and the Annual General Meeting. In the end the office became something of a family affair as both Lorna and Dawn’s sisters were co-opted onto the staff to ensure that all the Wembley tickets were distributed. We are all here to help membership. Whether it be queries on competitions, rules and regulations or Child protection issues, we will try to help. The following members of staff are responsible for:

Please feel free to use either my mobile or email address if you wish to discuss any ESFA matters. john.read@schoolsfa.com and/or 07740484490

Annual General Meeting

Thank you to all the members who have thanked the staff for their contribution in organizing the AGM. We are happy to do so again next year, so the AGM will be held here in Stafford on Saturday 19th June 2010. The staff agreed to accept an extra days holiday instead of taking the ‘organiser’s fee’

For those of you who attended the AGM you will recall the subject of Schools Sports Partnerships et al came up on a number of occasions. Now is the time for ALL membership to consider inviting their local Senior Competition Manager, Competition Manager or County Football Development Officer to the next AGM. These words are a repeat from my comments in the July 2008 General Newsletter, but still apply. All Counties now have a County Competition Manager in place and it would be good to see some of them at the 2010 AGM. If you are unaware of who your Senior County Competition Manager is please call the office and speak to Mike Spinks.

Competition Department

We welcome Neil Pont (Council Member Area A) as the new Chairman of the Competition Committee and wish him luck in his stewardship of this committee. At this time of the year I always make the plea for you to help us by arranging your matches on time and not leave things until the last minute. There is now a comprehensive Competition Page on the website for your use www.esfa.co.uk/competitions

The National Competition Department keeps you informed of the progress of competitions throughout the season by producing regular information sheets for council, County and Districts. If you are not receiving these then please contact Mike and leave an email address. We hope to go fully electronic by the turn of the year.

You may know that the under 12 Individual Schools’ Cup changed sponsorship hands just before the Cup Final at Goodison Park in May. DANONE the French yoghurt makers have taken over from MATCH magazine, who remain on board as media partners. More of the DANONE sponsorship later, however, I must bring to your attention a fact that MUST be conveyed to the schools in your Districts that enter this cup that the winning school will be entitled to enter a team into the DANONE Nations Cup in the October half term in 2010. This year’s winners, Archbishop Beck Sports College from Liverpool will represent England in the 2009 DANONE Nations Cup in ….. Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The 2010 venue has not been finally agreed but is likely to be a major city in……South Africa.

Schools entering the competition must be made aware the DANONE Nations Cup follows the continental age groups, is mixed (although no breakdown of numbers is stated, so an all boys team could be entered if the school wanted to) and is only 9 a-side. Therefore a number of the boys winning the final in May 2010 will not be eligible to take part in South Africa. This is regretted but as it is in the rules of the competition we cannot disregard them. Remember, it is the school not the team that qualifies for the DANONE Nations Cup.

Coaching and Selection

The 2009-2010 season kicks off with the usual Keele Coaching Week at the university. Dave Woollaston, as Course Director, and Phil Nardiello (National Team Manager) will be putting up to 80 County selected players through their paces with the help of our team of 8 fully qualified (and also currently employed school teachers) coaches. International Selection trials start in October with the North trials on Saturday 24th October and the Midlands on Sunday 25th October. This is followed by the South East on Saturday 31st October and the South West on Sunday 1st November.

The North will then play the Midlands on Saturday 14th November and the South East will play the South West on Sunday 15th November. From these two matches 32 players will be selected to attend further coaching and training at the National Sports Centre, Lilleshall. During one of the weekends two ESFA teams will be selected to play the Royal Navy under 21s and the Royal Air Force Junior Development Squad. From there 18 players will be selected to form the basis of the international squad and will have another weekend at Lilleshall at the end of January before playing Australia in a schoolboy international somewhere in the West Midlands on Sunday 31st January 2010. The squad will have a warm weather training trip to Spain during the February half term, courtesy of our sponsors INSPIRE SPORT.

The full programme of Centenary Shield and friendly internationals will be published after the Schools’ Association Football International Board (SAFIB) meeting in Dublin on Saturday 12th September.

It is hoped that a repeat of the 2009 trip to Atlanta, USA can be organised for the Easter holidays in 2010. The 2009 trip was such a success that the UN programme “Players for Peace” are keen to sign us up for the next 5 years. The work done by the squad and management in Atlanta was truly amazing whilst visiting Elementary Schools and taking on both football and educational tasks.

It is also hoped that we can expand our agreement with SKY Sports who showed our 2 away Carnegie Centenary Shield matches in early 2009

Primary Schools Activities

What a day was had by our Primary School finalists at Wembley early last month! Despite a coach breaking down and the Wembley authorities keeping the gates closed until the start of the first match it was a great day for all the children, teachers and parents involved. Even if we cannot pull off another Wembley occasion the Primary Committee are determined to organize another high profile event for 2010. The Football Association continues with its 5-11 Skills Coaching strategy. If any members have experienced this perhaps they would give me some feed back (good or bad) as I know that Sir Trevor Brooking is always trying to improve the strategy.

Promotion & Development

It was with regret that we had to curtail some of our Long service Award ceremonies. I know that some members were quite upset but I can assure you all that the meaning behind the Awards has not diminished and that to complete 50 or 40 years service to Schools’ Football is something very special. We will try to continue with the Long service Awards for as long as we can but with the economic downturn and the lack of new sponsorship agreements we will almost certainly have to tighten our belts.

Rules & Referees

This committee look after discipline as well. We continue to try to get our reciprocal arrangement for discipline off the ground with the Football Association. We are not sure of the reasons, but this is proving to be quite difficult. Despite 4 County Secretaries and 3 members of staff taking a Football Association IT programme, we have not progressed passed the ‘talking shop’. Let us hope for a trouble free 2009-2010.

There are few rule changes this season, either from the FA or the ESFA. These will be communicated to Membership along with the annual Handbook.

Sponsorship

As mentioned earlier the economic position is not good and with the 2012 Olympics just around the corner I cannot see the position improving over the next 3 years. This season we have lost both of our long term and biggest sponsors in Coca Cola (Minute Maid) and the Royal Air Force. They will be very hard to replace but we must thank them for their financial support for 8 and 6 years respectively.

After just one season (which didn’t include the final game) MATCH moved aside to allow DANONE to take over the sponsorship of the under 12 Boys Individual Schools Cup competition. We welcome DANONE to our portfolio. I first met the DANONE representatives over 7 years ago, so it has been a long fight to get them on board. Their financial assistance is of course very welcome, but also for the winning school to play in the DANONE Nations Cup will be a fantastic opportunity for the school and their young players.

A list of our current sponsors is at the back of this General Newsletter. Please support them where you can, they are the life blood of the Association.

Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults

The Football Association guidelines for 2009-2010 are attached to this General Newsletter

All District and County Schools’ FAs are reminded that if they wish to avail themselves of assistance from adults other than teachers, the individuals must be registered with ESFA HQ. The new registration form can be found on the ESFA web site under the drop down menu for Forms. www.esfa.co.uk

Women and Girls FA Centres of Excellence

Membership is reminded that on non Excellence programmed weekends, girls may play for their county. The Centres have agreed to find an available weekend per month without fixtures so that County football can still flourish. As mentioned at the AGM I interpret the FA rules to allow girls to play midweek for their school teams, however, a programme of training and matches best suited to individual girls must be agreed between schools and the centres.

Sanction to Play Matches Against Foreign Teams

Schools, District and County FAs must have the sanction of the ESFA before they play any unaffiliated football. This means against any team that is not affiliated to ESFA and includes teams in the FA Excellence Programme, County Youth teams and foreign opposition both home and way. The form to request sanction for matches against English based teams can be found in the Handbook and on the web site. 28 days notice is normally required. District and County Secretaries should note that if you are traveling abroad out of school holiday time you are required to get the Head Teacher’s written permission for each player attending.

There is a NEW form for the sanctioning of football against foreign teams. A copy is attached to this General Newsletter and a copy will appear in the 2009-2010 Handbook. It can also be found on the ESFA web site www.esfa.co.uk/documents

May I wish you all a pleasant summer? I look forward to meeting up with many of you next season.

John A Read
Chief Executive

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