FOOTBALL

The success of Kent’s top nonleague clubs has been cited as a major factor behind the falling numbers of adult men playing football in the county each week.

Dover, Ebbsfleet, Maidstone and Bromley are all playing higher up the pyramid than they were when Paul Dolan took over as chief executive of the Kent FA in 2010.

Dolan, who starts a new job at the Football Association this month, believes those promotions and subsequent rise in attendances have contributed to the number of grassroots teams and leagues folding during his time in office.

The 40- year- old feels the association has made great strides over the last eight years but admits his successor, Darryl Haden, still faces a major challenge to halt that particular decline.

Dolan said: “We are awash with high-level, senior non-league teams and that’s really positive when you look down the pyramid structure.

“The only downside is that it is a contribution to the participation levels in the adult game. It’s not the sole reason but I think it’s one of the contributing factors.

“A lot of people now want to watch their local non-league team on a Saturday afternoon rather than play grassroots football, which I think is a shame.

“The Premier League having matches on Saturday lunchtime will have had a knock-on effect, too, because people would rather go to the pub or it only takes minutes to get into London to watch games.

“We’re having to look at how we can be more innovative in terms of how we meet changing lifestyles.

“There are massive increases in mini soccer, youth football, youth female football, adult female football, disability male football and disability female football but the area where we’ve had issues is around the adult malel game in terms of declining l participation trends.

“We must ensure football is played when it suits (players) and not when it suits the leagues.

“There will always be a market for Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning grassroots football but we want leagues to also be running flexi-divisions, leagues that are run during midweek or Sunday evenings on 3G pitches.

“The Kent FA’s role is not to take teams away from local leagues l but to provide a product that suits people and provide them with their football fix.”

Dolan replaced Keith Masters as CEO in 2010 with the aim of improving the image, profile and reputation of the Kent FA.

He began by rebranding what was then the KCFA and led the association to a series of award wins.

But improving relationships with clubs was always going to be the acid test and Dolan feels he succeeded there.

“We were previously perceived in a pretty negative way,” he said. “We were seen as a sports governing body that dealt with governance, affiliation and league rules but there wasn’t a greater recognition about some of the work we do around promoting, protecting and developing grassroots football across the county.

“The work we’ve done around building partnerships has helped transform that image of us as an outward-facing, caring association.

“Not everyone agrees with what we do and you will never be able to please everyone, but some of the work we’ve done around increasing participation levels and raising standards has shown the grassroots football community we’re there to support and not just govern.”

Finance was an issue when Dolan took over, the Kent FA having moved into headquarters on the A20 in Ditton.

Dolan said: “We had a loan to pay back but what I didn’t want to do was load that burden back onto the clubs and onto grassroots football. What I’m really proud of is that our affiliation fees have remained unchanged for years.

“Discipline is a consequence of poorly-behaved players but we understand clubs have their own expenses in terms of paying for pitches and referees.

“For the last six years, we’ve had an amazing community partnership with Kent Reliance and we’ve also had some great funding contracts with local colleges. Because we’ve started to build up some cash reserves, it’s enabled us to reinvest back into grassroots football.

“We can provide the best customer service out there but the only way people will really start to change their perception is if we physically start giving cash back to clubs and leagues.”

Culture, like cashflow, changed under Dolan.

He said: “We always look for the best people but we don’t necessarily look for the person with the highest academic qualifications. We look for people who are involved in grassroots football.

“We’ve got staff here that are league secretaries, club secretaries, referees, players, coaches, involved in club committees and finance within clubs. Unless you’re involved in the running of clubs and leagues, I don’t think you can go out there and help. You can’t provide an effective service if you don’t know what’s going on.

“I wanted to do some work around the culture because it was a bit fragmented. Some people were sceptical about what the staff do and some of the staff were sceptical about what the council did and the standing committees so we quickly set about changing that so we are seen as one team.

“Whether you’re a staff member, a council member or a director, you are all representing the Kent FA as a brand. We worked really hard on that and the culture within the organisation is now second to none.

“That’s demonstrated at county cup finals. When I started, you would struggle to get people there – staff and Kent FA members – but now some people say there’s almost too many people there in Kent FA blazers! For me, that’s a positive because people want to be at our events and they want to represent the association.”

Dolan managed to raise the profile of the Kent Senior Cup, helped by the return of Gillingham and Charlton to the competition, and he’s been encouraged by large crowds at recent Kent Senior Trophy finals.

He hopes to see more 3G pitches in the county and would love another Kent club to join the Gills in the Football League to raise the profile of football in the county and inspire more youngsters.

Diversifying the Kent FA council is a key task laid at Haden’s door but with Dolan effectively mentoring him as the FA’s senior regional manager – responsible for nine county associations in the South East – the transition should be smooth.

“I’m incredibly sad about leaving,” added Dolan. “Fifteen years being employed in the same place is a long time and I go with incredible memories.

“I’ve met some amazing people, I’ve worked on some amazing projects and I’d like to think I’ve made a big impact.

“I’m gone but not forgotten. I will still be around the place and trying to assist them moving forward into a new era.”