Real grassroots clubs underpin football in this country - and get nothing

There’s a load of baloney spoken about “grassroots” in football.

People in the Premier League (if they think about it all, which is doubtful) and pundits on TV think grassroots is just below the Football League, i.e. the Conference.

The FA (who really should know better) think that grassroots football is played by women or males under 18.

Yet, what of real grassroots football – played by tens of thousands of players for thousands of teams in hundreds of leagues up and down the country – played by adult male footballers.

My club Weysiders FC (I am the chairman) have been playing near the lowest level of football since our first entry into a league in 1974. (We did have some success along the way.)

In all that time we have to play on Council pitches. In all that time (40 years), the changing rooms where we play (Shalford Park, Guildford) have never been upgraded (they may have had a coat of paint, but nothing more). The pitches (unfortunately suffering from not being flat due to the natural lie of the land) did improve under good maintenance in 1980s and 1990s, but recently have been left almost untended. They probably get cut twice a year. They are never rolled. The result is that the surface is hardly conducive to playing football. Last week, the Council had not even bothered to re-mark the pitches (which they usually do, every Thursday).

Long grass, no lines. What real grassroots football has to put up with.

The cost of a pitch is £72.40 (going up to £76 next season). In these days of austerity, this is no more or less than a tax on the use of sports fields. So much for the fight against obesity; so much for any sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympics; and so much for football at a higher level – they just don’t care.

Yet players, clubs, referees, people who run those clubs (yes, volunteers who have been there long before purple and red uniforms made volunteering cool) underpin the fabric of football in this country. The fewer players there are at all levels, the fewer good players there will be at top level. It is obvious and it is evident. The fewer opportunities there are for people to play sport, the more prevalent will be the obesity problem.

But clubs at our level get no help at all and, as I said, are charged outrageously for poor facilities. And yes, I realise ‘this is Surrey’ and I’m sure many other counties and towns have even worse facilities.

Sport England have cut £1.6m of funding to the FA. People outside football will laugh and say, “quite right, with all the money ‘they’ are being paid, they don’t need funding.” I read (Lancashire Telegraph) that “The FA has been hit with a reduction in funding after failing to meet their participation targets, with Sport England instead opting to use the money to create a grassroots ‘City of Football’.

We are the real grassroots of football – we have never had any funding, so where the FA money has gone to reach its ‘participation targets’ I have no idea.

FA General Secretary Alex Horne said that he “understands Sport England’s decision but does not believe it will impact on grassroots football.” He’s right: grassroots football has never received any funding anyway!

Grass Roots Football Part 2

From a contributor:

I read and listen too many of the debates about the Grass Roots football transformation in England lead by the FA. As a youth team coach (volunteer) like so many other willing parents it all sounds wonderful and I’m all for it.

However, I find it so frustrating that The FA, the local County FA’s and the local Leagues don’t seem to be completing the circle themselves.

My own under 12 team have had a fantastic season, playing some really good passing football and developing their skills along the way. I know and agree that it isn’t all about winning but they reached their first ever cup final and were delighted... BUT their day was ruined because the local league insists on playing it on a full size senior pitch with full size goals. Even worse the pitch was awful, like a plough field, only worse! It was the ground on a Ryman League team and goodness knows what kind of horrid kick and rush football they have to play on it. Subsequently the match that followed was by far the worst of the season (for both teams), which ended up in a poor 1-1 draw, decided on penalties (which we won, just so you don’t think this is about sour grapes). Neither team played to their usual level and this was solely down to the size and extremely poor quality of the pitch provided.

We and the team we played in the final both benefit from having smaller junior size pitch with junior size goals (21’x7’ feet rather than 24’x8’) and both of us would have been happy to flip a coin and play it at either of our own grounds – but “oh no, we can’t do that” says the league, it has to be at a neutral ground. Obviously our massive home crowd of a dozen or so parents would be too much of an advantage over the opposition!!

It is just so unimaginably stupid that a local league affiliated to the local County FA which is subsequently responsible to The FA itself who are driving these changes can be so stubbornly ridiculous.

I applaud The FA’s drive and commitment to changes in junior and youth football, particularly bridging the gap between 7 aside and 11 aside with the 9v9 format, which my own team has unfortunately missed out on. But, please get your own act together first and INSIST that local County FA’s INSIST that local Leagues play cup semi-finals and finals that they organise on neutral grounds on appropriately size pitches with appropriately sized goals – surely this isn’t too much to ask!?

Grassroots Football the Debate Goes On

I have made this post on behalf of a contributor who wished to remain anonymous.

I listened with interest this morning to the Radio 5 Live debate regarding Grass Roots football. As usual a large proportion of the callers cited the example (or lack of it) given by professional players each week on Match of the Day etc. They are of course an easy target and a point Trevor Brooking, once great player and an ideal role model, defended to the point of saying to one caller that he was wrong that the top level has to be sorted before the Grass Roots. Trevor’s view is that the club level, coaches and parents, the Grass Roots has to take the lead.

We’ve been told for years that we have to get things right at the bottom with the youngest of players, but as with all arguments there are two sides. My own view, without sitting on the fence, is that both are right. But, as important as it is to get it right when players are young, it is ludicrous to think that you can try to attempt to educate young boys and girls about respect and to play the game in the correct manner and spirit if the same isn’t done in the professional game at the same time. So, Trevor and 5 Live callers you’re both wrong ... and right!

For example, it is interesting that a young player sanctioned for violence on the pitch, i.e. punching an opponent in a youth game is likely to be banned for months at a time, perhaps longer (quite rightly), but the same offence in the Premier League can only carry a maximum three-game ban – crazy! Or that a young player swearing at a referee will be sent off and banned for a long period of time, but a professional player is unlikely to even be booked. Double standards that, I’m afraid, “the professional game” simply ignore and which, even more simply, just isn’t good enough.

The other usual argument that arises in these debates is comparing football with rugby and people generally put this down to a “class thing”: football is a working-class game etc, etc – rubbish! It’s about education and being set the right example. I feel insulted that as a middle-class person of means I can be ostracised from being able to enjoy playing or watching football because I have been deemed to have taken the game away from the masses. In the same manner I am sure the vast majority of decent working-class people feel insulted about being derided as unable to be respectful towards referees and are the parents who watch their child’s match shouting abuse and swearing, etc. This isn’t about class – it’s about society and basic manners.

Both ends of the spectrum have to be tackled and better examples set. This includes the PFA who continually defend players from the sometimes indefensible. Players not being allowed to be fined more than two weeks wages, or insisting some players are given another chance after they’ve punched someone on the pitch or in a nightclub for the umpteenth time and already had three or four previous chances.

The Football Association, County Associations and local Leagues have a long way to go too. Small sided football on smaller pitches is a fantastic idea and the new plans for 5v5 and 9v9 should be implemented straight away. However, County Associations and Leagues don’t promote this themselves.

Last season my under-11 side, playing 11-a-side football for the first season, played a cup semi-final on a neutral ground organised by the League on a full size pitch measuring 110m x 85m with full size goals. This is nearly the maximum allowable size for a football pitch – what a stupid thing to do, and subsequently an appalling game of un-enjoyable football was the result. At my own club we’re lucky to have a youth size pitch of 80m x 45m with youth size goals and yet the League itself insisted on organising matches on pitches that are inappropriate; it’s farcical and shouldn’t be allowed. It’s even more ludicrous when you consider both teams were happy to play the game on our club’s pitch but the League would not allow it!

It’s also interesting to note that now in our second season of 11-a-side football my young team has only played on a youth sized pitch with youth sized goals, that we are fortunate to have, away from home twice.  

The plan for the development of smaller sided teams playing on smaller pitches is great but the FA is going to have to support clubs and councils financially to provide the equipment. A set of 9v9 size goalposts cost approximately £400 a pair and even more for those with wheels that can be easily moved when not in use. Multiply that across hundreds of local leagues and thousands of teams because not all clubs will have the money available and in the current financial climate I suspect local councils will be prioritising their funds elsewhere.

The Respect campaign and Charter Standard Programme also need work. The Charter Standard programme is very good but essentially you get this status by filling out forms. The local FA then monitor that you have the right number of qualified coaches and proper documentation about codes of conduct etc, but they don’t look at the actual behaviour of the clubs, players, coaches and parents.

We play against a Charter Standard Club that frankly shouldn’t be allowed on a football pitch. Players as young as 10 are abusive to referees and the parents are truly unbelievable. I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to swearing but I never do it at football. I’ve even seen a parent from this club walk onto the pitch and confront a 15-year-old referee whilst an under-11 game was in progress and the teams coach was egging him on and hurling four letter abuse at our parents and coach who were trying to calm the situation!  Yet this club proudly boasts its Charter Standard status on their website.

I’ve heard, albeit anecdotally, that these incidents aren’t isolated for this club but other clubs who have complained officially to the League in the past have see nothing happen and now consider that there is no point in bothering to say anything because the League and local FA simply haven’t done anything. Why isn’t the behaviour of a clubs, players, officials and parents the key monitor for continuing to be called a Charter Standard Club?

It’s a damning indictment of the game as a whole such that I felt I had to write this article anonymously because of the concern I have that my own team and club will be vilified by the local FA and the local League by saying things about their organisation and the lack of action taken against clubs whose behaviour and Charter Standard status goes unpunished, even though I haven’t mentioned any by name. I’m sure this view is shared across the country.

All in all the FA have some great ideas for the development of the game at Grass Roots level but both ends of the spectrum have to be tackled at the same time, and professional players, coaches, managers, administrators, pundits, commentators, administrators and the PFA have to recognise that something has to change at their level as well and not continue to use the excuse that they are “professional” and exempt because of it.

Succinctly, a dive to get a penalty is cheating. It’s not “professional” nor is it “being clever”; both quotes are an ex-player-turned-pundit’s worst statements, but they are heard most weekends on Match of the Day when analysing a match and the eradication of that type of attitude alone would mark a major step forward for the game we love, all the way down to the Grass Roots.

Anon: Football fan, and youth coach.