Youth Football

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/danroan/2011/06/tough_times_for_grassroots_foo.html

Interesting article from Dan Roan there about the state of youth football in England. I find it hard to believe that with the Premier League bringing in so much money from television rights that they can't afford to give more than the measley amount they do towards youth football.

Maybe the decline has come about because, like myself, children got bored of playing a game which use to be fun, but turned into an ultra-competitive sport where there were often arguments between players, officials, parents and coaches. Or perhaps because there seems to be less and less places to just have a kick about with friends.

So what would you do if you had the chance to revolutionize youth football?

I'd first look at the funding we give to grassroots football. If the Premier League is making roughly £1bn a year through television rights alone, and do the government of the league take any tax from transfers paid between English clubs? If so then they could fork up at least £100m to give to Grassroots football per season. This could then go towards bringing down the costs for players to play for a youth football team. Doesn't it cost so much now to get a child into football; the subs, the kit, the boots etc. This funding could allow the youth teams to bring down registration fees and subs, and maybe places with football pitches shouldn't charge for letting a football team train/play games on the pitchs.

Another thing that bugs me is the ticket prices of normal football. I'd doubt as many kids are going to football games anymore because parents can't afford it. I know it would be naive of me to think that football teams could bring down the ticket prices straight away, because I know they need to bring in revenue on the doors to cover player wages. I don't think many teams in the top two tiers has a wages to turnover ratio of less than 75%- that's madness. So I'd like to see wage caps slowly introduced over the next few seasons, slowly bringing down the wages and giving the clubs time to adjust themselves for the caps.

I accept that it's probably too late to completely fix youth football for my generation and perhaps the next, but surely something has to be done?

If the EPPP gets the vote it will mean:
End of Reserve Football.
New U21 league.
End of 60/90 min rule.
Independent grading (1-4) of academies (hardly any already match Grade One apparently, not even the likes of Manchester United's).
End of Centre of Excellences.
Strict(er) rules on number of coaches/players ratio.
Possibly more hours.

This is just for Premier League, but apparently non-PL clubs can apply to get PL academy status

I remember when I was younger that there simply wasn't enough clubs, and the clubs that were there were so packed that there was hardly anyway to join. When you finally did join they were so competitive that it took all the fun out of football.

I think the fact that clubs pick people up at such an early age also puts people off of football, clubs are getting them when they're 10/11 years old, so if you don't get into football until a bit later you'd be very lucky to find yourself at a club.

I think it's best if a child is picked up by a club when he's 10/11 though. This means through the age where he is most easiest to develop, he is spending time with top quality coaches and around players of a similar quality. I think if the EPPP comes through then players will be able to spend more hours per week with qualified coaches which can surely only help a player.

If you start later you still stand a chance of getting picked up if your good, and I'm pretty standards wouldn't be really high for all clubs with an academy.

What I meant was because of the lack of football clubs it was hard to actually get involved with football short of playing outside on the street until you got to high school really which is too late.

The SPL killed Reserve football in favour of an U21 League and its been a complete abomination

That's probably the only thing I don't get. It means that for clubs with a bigger squad of 25 and leave players out, if they're over 21 then won't play football for a whole season at the club. Unless they let so many players over 21 play as well.

Plus, I thought all football in the SPL was a complete abomination

As long as the coaches are good at the academies then it can only be a good thing. When I played at one in my mid teens the coach was awful who just picked his son and his mates. You werent allowed to tackle in training either!! As a defender that was really helpful!

Churchill its a better standard than whats given credit for but there is a severe lack of cash due to the death of Satanta and the crowds aren't willing to fork out EPL prices for SPL football, seriously though, many of the changes that they're looking to put in place have been done up here and have took the game backwards