Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Football Association
Committee questions are shown in italics.
Does the Government invest adequately in grassroots
football given its popularity and potential to contribute hugely
to the achievement of the Government's emerging objectives on
active lifestyles?
What does the Government invest at the moment?
What does "football" contribute? (Including
clarification of the FA/Premier league contributions reference
in the FA memo—the £20 million, "each" or
"both" together).
What is the potential benefit that further investment
might be able to unlock?
Is the existing infrastructure adequate? Are playing
fields sufficiently protected in planning law?
Does local government play its part?
THE FA RESPONSE
More than seven million adults and five million
children regularly play the sport. It is this passion that underpins
English football. The annual value contribution of football to
the Treasury via tax is over £630 million and the value of
volunteers to the football economy is more than £500 million.
The key to ensuring the long-term health of
the game, at every level, is to invest in football's grassroots.
English football leads Europe in this respect—The FA invests
over £50 million in grassroots football annually—and
runs a number of programmes aimed at improving the grassroots—and
together with The FA Premier League, we distribute more than any
other European country. By contrast, the investment in sport by
central government is among the lowest in Europe.
Our own research has shown the need for £2
billion of investment in grassroots facilities just to meet the
public's current demand to play the game. That is the single most
important financial issue facing the game in this country today.
Both the FA and the FA Premier League contribute
£20 million each to the Football Foundation on annual basis.
To date, the Government (through lottery funds) has matched this
agreement. It is a partnership that has worked very well as for
every £1 of government money invested, the Foundation has
secured an additional investment of £5.
This arrangement is currently being reviewed
by Government—both the FA and FA Premier League are keen
to continue this partnership and are hopeful the Government will
also agree to this.
The Government is currently finalising its spending
review process. The FA, together with Sport England and other
organisations are making the case for a significant increase in
the level of investment in sport.
The most important area is the contribution
it can make to tackle obesity and physical inactivity. Recently
the Chief Medical Officer released his report into physical activity
and its relationship to health. Professor Liam Donaldson's report
stated that each adult should take at least thirty minutes of
exercise a day and children sixty minutes. The FA welcomes this
advice. The Chief Medical Officer's advice couldn't be clearer;
football is good for you. With seven million adults and five million
children regularly playing football, The FA is one of the largest
exercise providers in the country.
It is now vital that we build on this platform
and make available more opportunities for people to play the game.
This means investing in facilities and people so that more people
have access to good quality football.
The FA is working closely with the Government
and Sport England to meet the challenges set by Professor Donaldson.
It will require significant extra investment from Government,
but this is money well spent if it saves us from the cost of an
obese nation.
GRASS ROOTS
INVESTMENT
The FA is investing between £45 million
and £50 million a year in the grassroots game. The FA has
to prioritise the areas that need the money most. To make a real
difference, we work through partnerships to deliver our strategy;
a unique network of partnerships has been created to ensure the
best use of resource, with local consultation. The Local Football
Partnerships (LFPs) include local authorities, local education
authorities, local professional clubs, Football in the Community
and other relevant local organisations.
Some of the highlights of the "return on
our investment" are worth emphasis here:
— The current season has seen the largest
rise in participation numbers since 2001, 6.7% higher than last
season.
— Football is the number one participation
sport for females in England, a target reached two years ahead
of schedule.
— The number of children (under 10)
playing mini-soccer has almost doubled since 1999.
— The downward trend in the recruitment
of referees of the last few years has been reversed.
— Over 10,000 Primary School teachers
(over 90% women) have been trained to effectively teach football
via the TOP Sport programme.
— Over 1,100 clubs have now reached
The FA Charter Standard, far in excess of the 950 target.
— Since 2001, £100 million worth
of grass roots facility projects have gained approval from the
Football Foundation, benefiting 110,000 new participants in the
game.
All of these achievements have only been made
possible due to the investment of revenue, both directly and via
the Football Foundation, which is primarily generated by the game's
"elite" in The FA Cup and through the England team.
PROVIDING POLICY
LEADERSHIP
The FA therefore looks to Government to provide
support for the game and make sure that policies that come from
every Government department take account of the impact they will
have on the ability to support the game. We look for leadership,
support and partnerships, particularly from the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport.
There are a number of policy issues that are
most relevant as they have a direct impact on the financial resources
of the game. Football can make a huge contribution to tackling
social exclusion issues such as crime prevention, education, health
promotion and community cohesion. We need to continue to build
a co-ordinated approach across Government, to ensure that we can
harness the power of football to build a better future in the
most effective ways.
PLANNING
A well-organised, protected network of playing
fields is vital for football and sport in this country. Not only
does sport need its playing fields for the stars of the future
to hone their skills, the country needs recreational spaces and
sporting facilities in order to meet the Government's goals of
a healthy, active population; this is even more vital where school
playing fields, and children's health, are concerned. However,
despite the importance of facilities, an average of one playing
field every day comes under threat from new planning applications.
This particularly affects football as, unlike
other sports, around 75% of football is played on publicly owned
land, and a vast proportion of football is unaffiliated, played
with "jumpers for goalposts" on unofficial, unmarked
open space. Given the scope and reach of the game across various
levels of participation and support, football has the most to
lose by any erosion of publicly available playing fields. Although
Planning Policy Guidance Note PPG 17 outlines ways in which playing
fields should protected, the loss of playing fields is becoming
increasingly prevalent. The DCMS and other relevant departments
do not appear to be doing enough to ensure that PPG17 is properly
enforced, and consequently vital grassroots facilities are being
lost.
Some of the most significant issues for clubs
and their supporters focus on the club ground, particularly where
a club's board looks to move. The main financial asset of most
football clubs is its ground. Clubs have sought to raise finance
on this asset, and also looked to maximise the revenue from its
use. It is the sale of a ground (particularly without another
one to move to) that often creates the greatest unhappiness amongst
supporters. While the relevant football leagues have looked to
improve club consultation with stakeholders and change their rulebooks
to address this issue, The FA is looking for greater support from
central and local government in its planning framework.
Putting supporters and the community at the
heart of a business is important. Hopefully, local communities
will also treat their clubs as special—something that is
not always borne out by experience. There are tensions between
clubs and their communities, for instance in the form of residents'
associations. We need a more constructive dialogue with all agencies
in the future.
We are focusing largely on the issue of one
ground closing before a club has a very real alternative. It is
The FA's view that the game needs a policy in place that The FA,
local authorities, Sport England and other agencies can use to
deliver a strategy at local level, to protect the long term. This
does not exist at present.
The Government recently updated PPG 17—the
guidance that covers sport and leisure facilities. PPG 17 states
that "open spaces, sport and recreation all underpin people's
quality of life and represent important local community assets".
The PPG also states that local authorities should undertake robust
assessments of the existing and future needs of their local communities
for sports facilities.
The local sports club is a key local community
asset. We would like to see the local authority take a far more
pro-active role in promoting the local club. In particular, local
authorities should not allow the ground to be sold off for housing
development unless a realistic alternative local site has been
approved. Too often the debate is concerned by S106 discussions;
we think the debate should be much more about finding mutual benefit
for the interests of the club and community.
This is a complex issue, but we would urge the
Select Committee to call for leadership from the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in this area. We would also call
for greater consultation obligations through Sport England, when
a club is looking to redevelop and move on.
Has the Government invested public funds aimed
at harnessing the profile of professional footballers, and their
clubs, to the achievement of wider public policy goals?
What has football done on its own?
The Government is a partner with the FA Premier
League and FA in the Foundation. This organisation has invested
in many projects that use the status of footballers to promote
good causes. We would refer the Committee to the Submission by
the FA Premier League, which gives many examples in this area.
Do you think that football gamesmanship (diving,
the so-called professional foul and intimidation of officials)
has increased over recent years at the expense of sportsmanship?
—[If so] do you think this has had a bad
effect on the game? Do you think that this reflects society; or
influences it; or a bit of both?
The FA views any form of cheating in football
as negative, and works hard to both prevent it happening, and
punish offenders if a case is proven. We have already outlined
the work we do in promoting standards on the field through the
development of refereeing. Just as importantly, we also work hard
to educate our young players and their parents of the need for
high standards. This is the way we aim to reach the participants
of the future, both professional and amateur, and preserve the
game's integrity. The FA Football Development Programme has a
large number of educational initiatives, aimed at educating players
of all ages, teachers, coaches and parents at all levels of the
game. The projects are based around the themes of "Raising
Standards", "Young Leadership", "Learning
Through Football" and "Competitions", and some
are outlined here:
RAISING STANDARDS
FA Charter Standard Schools
A national kite-marking scheme to support and
reward schools using football to deliver key strategic objectives
such as raising standards, Out of school hours activity, young
leadership development, school to community links and inclusion;
1,700 schools have currently received the award.
FA TOP Sport Football
The FA TOP Sport Football programme is entering
into its final phase. Over 9,000 schools and 12,000 teachers have
been involved in the programme to support schools to raise standards
in PE and Sport. Bags of equipment and simple coaching advice
is provided free of charge to schools.
FA Adults other than teachers (AOTTS)
Over 500 FA coaches will be trained this year
in partnership with "Football in the Community" to support
teachers at primary schools to deliver high quality PE and Sport
as part of the new FA AOTTS "PE and Football" course.
Professional development for teachers
Nearly 1,000 teachers in training have undertaken
FA courses free of charge as part of, "The FA Coaching for
Teachers in training programme", organised in conjunction
with Sports Coach UK and Institutes of Higher Education. With
over 13,000 teachers trained over the last two-and-a-half years
as part of the FA teacher-training programme.
YOUNG LEADERSHIP
Junior Football Organisers Course
A Junior leadership course designed to support
PE teachers, providing training to young people aged 14-18. Specific
knowledge and skills for working with players aged 6-11 are learned
to deliver safe, fun and progressive football practices and mini-soccer
games. County FAs provide local training courses for teachers
to enable them to familiarise themselves with the course before
delivering to their students. Over 9,000 young people have currently
undertaken the award.
LEARNING THROUGH
FOOTBALL
"UP FOR THE CUP", is a comprehensive
cross-curricular resource supporting the Key Stage 2 Curriculum
for History, Geography, Art and Design and the framework for PSHE
and the Literacy and Numeracy strategies. 6,000 schools every
year receive the free pack.
Euro 2004
Over 13,000 primary schools in England are already
prepared for Euro 2004. The FA's educational pack will support
primary teachers to use the power of football during the European
Championship to tackle key subject areas such as health and fitness
(Science), Geography, Maths and English. All Secondary schools
in England will also have the opportunity to download the Key
Stage 3 Science pack from the FA web site; TheFA.com.
SCHOOLS/COLLEGES
COMPETITIONS
English Schools Football Association
The ESFA are responsible for the provision of
a comprehensive competitions structure for both primary and secondary
aged children in England. Running 20 national competitions for
13,171 teams from under 11 to under 18, in addition to individual
school, district and county teams.
English Colleges Football Association
The ECFA currently run seven regional leagues
for over 70 Football Development Centres that offer young people
full time academic and football provision. The FA is working with
the ECFA to introduce a Charter Standard accreditation in January
2005, to encourage young people aged 16-19 years old to stay in
full time education and participate in football.
April 2004
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