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Friday 11 December 2009
Message from the Chairman
Since I last wrote, I have had the pleasure of presenting fifty year long service awards to Tony Mosson (Newbury & District PSFA) and Adrian Riddiford (Stroud SFA) at Forest Green Rovers FC. It was a particular pleasure to be able to present Adrian with his award as he was my ESFA Council Member when I first became involved in schools’ football back in 1979. It is always a nice occasion to be able to award these gentleman who have given a lifetime of service for the benefit of our school children. I remind membership that nomination for this years’ long service awards must be with our Chief Executive by 31st January.
Last week I travelled with the England under 16 squad to Edinburgh and saw them retain the Victory Shield with a hard earned 2-1 win over Scotland in front of a vociferous and passionate Scottish crowd at Heart of Midlothian’s’ Tyncastle Stadium. I also had the pleasure of watching both of England’s home victories against Wales at Yeovil and Northern Ireland at Chester. Whilst away in Scotland I had the opportunity to socialize with the team management and it was pleasing to hear both Kenny Swain and Noel Blake extol the importance of education to the young players in their charge. Both of these ex professional footballers are qualified teachers and it was also pleasing to hear them reminisce about their own schooldays and playing representative school’s football.
The selection process for our own under 18 squad for this season, hit a hiccup with the weather recently when both regional games were called off due to waterlogged pitches. However, next Sunday at Uxbridge the South East will meet the South West whilst last Sunday at Bodymoor Heath the home of Aston Villa’s training facilities I witnessed an excellent game in which the North defeated the Midlands by four goals to three. The quality of the football was very good and this augers well for the season ahead.
I continue to meet both old and new friends as I attend both matches and functions throughout the country and I look forward to this pleasurable experience continuing throughout the coming months. In the meantime I take this opportunity to wish all membership a Peaceful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Paul Rickard.
Chairman
Chief Executive’s Report
Darren’s a Dad! He has just returned, exhausted, from two week’s paternity leave – whatever next – nowt like that in my day! Young Ben is practising to be a Liverpool fan already and enjoys playing with rubber balloons!
At long last the move to Wembley by the FA staff has been completed and I must say that the offices on the fourth floor of the stadium are magnificent. For those of you who are interested the under 16s have started well by beating both Wales and Northern Ireland. They face Scotland at the end of the month. I am lucky enough to be going to the international Board meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel during January 2009.
We are all here to help membership. Whether it is queries on competitions, rules and regulations or Child protection issues, we will try to help. The following members of staff are responsible for:
Lorna Hartwell – matters of administration, affiliation and Handbook - lorna.hartwell@schoolsfa.com
Mike Spinks – all competition enquiries - mike.spinks@schoolsfa.com, darren.alcock@schoolsfa.com and
ed.mitchell@schoolsfa.com
Dawn Howard – all financial matters - dawn.howard@schoolsfa.com
Sue Gifford – international matters and Child Protection - sue.gifford@schoolsfa.com ,
and of course myself. 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’. We shall be taking this day on 23rd December. THEREFORE THE OFFICE WILL CLOSE AT 12.30PM ON TUESDAY 22ND DECEMBER and not re-open until Monday 4th January 2010
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.
County Business Plans
With any luck by the time you are reading this your grants will only be days away. We always knew there would be teething problems in satisfying the FAs requirements. Also by now I would hope that all our County secretaries will have met their County Competition Manager and County Football Development Officer and finalised their Business plans. This is a must for us to access the funding offered by the FA.
Competition Department
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. Mike.spinks@schoolsfa.com We hope to go fully electronic by the turn of the year.
Schools entering the competition must be made aware that 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.
The new electronic draw system seems to work well and Darren is really pleased with the outcome. Please assist us by posting your results on line quickly and please adhere to the well published deadlines.
At this point may I apologise to some of you who were shocked at having to pay a £10 fine for overstepping the round deadlines. Although Council agreed its implementation as early as September 2008 the ramifications of this fine were not truly explored. Therefore we have withdrawn it for further work to be done.
Coaching and Selection
Owing to the bad weather recently we have been unable to finish the under 18 international trials. Both the 2 regional matches had to be postponed and will now take place in December. The lucky 34 players who are selected for the trial squad will then meet up at the National Sports Centre, Lilleshall at the beginning of January. The squads will play matches against the Royal Navy under 21s on Saturday 9th January 2010 (10am kick off) and the RAF Development squad at 2.00pm, also on the 21st.
The final 18 player squad will then be selected for further training during the last weekend of January when they will play their first international against Australia. The squad then moves on to Spain and Gibraltar, courtesy of Inspire Sport, for the half term week in February. A match against the CF Malaga under 17s on Tuesday 16th February will be followed by an international against Gibraltar (in Gibraltar) on Thursday 18th February. The first real test will come a week later when the squad play Northern Ireland in Comber, County Down on Friday 26th February. Wales follow in Wrexham on Friday 12th March.
Following on from the very special trip to the States in 2009 we will then go to Atlanta, Georgia and Knoxville, Tennessee to play two matches and undertake a number of community visits to under privileged children.
Back to reality a touring New Zealand Schools’ side will then be played somewhere in the West Country on Friday 16th April. Scotland are next at Carlisle United on Friday 23rd April, a match that will be live on SKY TV. Finally, we will play the Republic of Ireland at Burton Albion on 30th April. Another live SKY match.
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. Below is an extract from the minutes of the Promotion & Development Committee meeting of 21 November 2009…
…8. Long Service Awards/Life Membership
8.1 It was agreed that a reminder e-mail would be sent to all County and District Secretaries (where on e-mail) to remind them of the 30th January submission date with a link to the ESFA website for the down loadable form.
8.2 It was further agreed that the e-mail would state that any presentations would be at a local or County or ESFA National event. There would no longer be an option of a specially organized luncheon.
8.3 As a result of the rule change at the last AGM, it was agreed to recommend that John Robson, who was the only past Chairman who had not been made a Life Member should be granted that position…
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
I am pleased to announce two new signed sponsorship agreements. A third one should be complete by the end of the year.
We are pleased to welcome on board, as our new kit sponsors, PROSTAR. We hope to launch this partnership at our match against Australia on 31st January 2010. Obviously it is hoped that we can play the match at the PROSTAR Stadium Shrewsbury Town FC, however, this is NOT confirmed.
DANONE, the sponsors of our under 12 individual schools’ Cup have confirmed that the winning school will represent England in the DANONE Nations Cup in South Africa during the half term holidays in October 2010. It is unfortunate that the DANONE Nations Cup plays under European age grouping so that some of the winning team at the end of this season will be too old to take part in the South Africa in October. European age groupings are from January to December unlike those in England which are August to July. This is a repeat of what is mentioned in the Competitions Paragraph, but it is important that no one assumes they are going to South Africa when they may not be!
In support of girls’ football Walkers Children’s books have sponsored our Under 11 girls 7 a-side competition under the partnership of their book “Girls’ F.C.” Two new editions of the book are out this month – ideal for Christmas presents, these books are aimed at the 9 to 12 girls’ age groups. Go to their web site and try the competition. www.walker.co.uk
We also welcome Munich 72 Trophies who will be sponsoring the under 18 Inter County Boys Cup. Munich 72 already supply all our medals and cups so it is a pleasure to work more closely with them.
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 published on our web site. The Independent Safeguarding Authority which should have been the answer to the portability of CRB checks has been delayed by the Government (again) until October 2010. However, all ESFA County & District Associations must have a trained CWO named on their affiliation form for season 2010-2011. Martin Duffield, cwo@esfa.co.uk is still our National Child Welfare Officer. Either contact Martin or speak to your local County FA to find details of training around the country. Affiliation will be refused if this regulation is not adhered to.
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. If you encounter bad weather and have to postpone a match please communicate with your opposite number at the Excellence Centre in order to reach an amicable agreement as to when the match can be played.
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 of which appears in the 2009-2010 Handbook. It can also be found on the ESFA web site www.esfa.co.uk
May I remind all County and District secretaries and teachers in charge of school teams wishing to play unaffiliated football that they must give me plenty of notice, ideally 30 days, to turn a sanction around. Obviously I will turn these requests around a quickly as I can but I may well be out of the office for a few days and if you apply late there is a chance I will not be able to action it in time!
May I wish you all a happy Christmas and a successful New Year? I look forward to meeting up with many of you during the season.
John A Read
Chief Executive
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