FootballNational PrioritiesThe ESFA are the National Governing Body for Schools Football with a Football Association remit to administer and organise all National, Regional and Local schools football competitions. There are currently 16,017 school teams that participate in the 22 ESFA Football Competition programme an increase of 4,303 teams since 2002-3. The ESFA 2008-12 Strategic plan will set out the vision for schools competition programmes in England as part of the National Game Strategy. A key objective of The FA National Game Strategy is growth and retention of teams and to provide tiered levels of playing opportunity for over 1.1 million young people that identified the would like to play for a team (club or school). High quality schools competition programmes can contribute considerably to this. To maximise investment and outcomes of high quality competitions for school teams, competitions should be co-ordinated in association with the network of 44 County Schools Associations, additionally programmes must not been seen in isolation and therefore planned as part of The FA Club Links and Leadership and Volunteering programmes which are managed by the network of 43 County Football Associations (Football Development Staff). The ESFA Strategic plan 2008-12 sets out a clear priority to develop 44 County Schools competition plans in partnership with Senior Competition Managers and the network of FA County Football Development Officers (FDO). Co-ordinated planning and investment is essential to meet the needs of the partners and young people. (There are 418 ESFA District Schools Associations who would be included in this process co-ordinated by the County SFA). County Competition plans will clearly outline the baseline figure for inter school football teams with predicted growth and retention figures across the School Sport Partnerships / Districts Schools Associations to meet the needs of the young people. County Schools Associations will hold the data on the current number of teams participating in SFA and ESFA competitions. Additionally County Football Association FDO’s hold area data that can also support the mapping of local population figures to team growth. The Focus for SCM’s is to provide flexible and sustainable playing opportunities for young people to take part in football from recreational, intra school competition to playing in the first 11 in partnership with the County SFA and CFA identifying and filling gaps in provision. The priority is to ensure the work is strategically planned with The FA club links and leadership and volunteering programmes to ensure there are exit routes for young people and a new workforce of volunteers and officials is created to support at all levels. South Yorkshire’s Plan for FootballAs Football is yet to identify their specific priority areas for competition managers the South Yorkshire team have been working with the local development groups, the South Yorkshire Schools Football Association and the NGB to work on local priorities for Football competition across the county. The Competition Manager team has identified that there is a significant amount of traditional Football taking place in schools across the County at all ages. As with Athletics, it is the English Schools Football Association that delivers the schools competitions for boys. Therefore, the CM team have agreed to work with the NGB on the development of underrepresented aspects of football such as Futsal, girls’ Football and disability Football, whilst continuing developing strong links between the county FA, the county schools FA and the competition managers. The County FA year 5 & 6 girls’ competition is very successful in South Yorkshire and will therefore continue to run with each area holding a local competition with the top 4 teams from these area competitions feeding into a South Yorkshire County final. An area for development for girls’ football identified is the year 3 & 4 age group. The plan therefore includes running a fair play league for the years 3 & 4 age groups in each of the 4 areas in South Yorkshire to develop the opportunities for girls in this age group to begin playing football in a controlled, non competitive environment. There is a national Futsal competition structure for all age groups (u10s, u12s, u14s and u16s). This competition was slightly underrepresented last year and focus will be on engaging more schools in taking part in local Futsal competitions to be run in each area for each of the age groups. The winners of each age group will then feed into a South Yorkshire final which, for the secondary age groups, feeds into a national competition. The Youth Sport Trust funding will also be used to deliver competitions for young people with disabilities in Football. Those children invited to take part in this competition will be young people predominantly with physical disabilities from mainstream schools, linked with the playground to podium scheme. The aim will be to engage young people with disabilities in a competitive experience which they may not have had the opportunity to take part in previously and to provide exit routes from the competition into clubs and development pathways for those identified as being gifted and talented. The competition managers will also support the South Yorkshire County Schools FA in the development of the traditional schools competitions feeding into the English Schools competitions. ContactsChris Bly Sheffield and Hallamshire FA Senior Football Development Officer Gemma Gale Sheffield and Hallamshire FA Girls’ and Womens’ Football Development Officer Matt Handley Sheffield and Hallamshire FA Football Development Officer Peter Harper South Yorkshire Schools County FA |
Downloads |
