Feelgood factor can speed up revamp of children’s coaching

The English football authorities have been urged to seize the World Cup feelgood factor as a catalyst to confront serious problems in the grass-roots game and accelerate a modernisation in coaching that can help keep the national team challenging for major honours.

Jimmy Ball, son of 1966 World Cup hero Alan Ball and an academy coach at Stoke City, believes that England’s progress to a first major semi-final since 1990 is proof of huge progress in youth coaching over this past decade but that now is the time to push even further forward.

With so many children inspired by Gareth Southgate’s team and all the wonderful football from Russia being played on terrestrial television at accessible times of the day, Ball has been especially struck by the recent sight simply of so many young people out playing football in local parks.

The English academies are increasingly setting the standard in Europe but, at the bottom of the pyramid, the Football Association is being urged to widen the talent base by effectively tackling a dearth of quality grass-roots facilities.

“Dad always really regretted 1970 – he thought they should have won the World Cup again and carried on internationally rather than have the bad time they did,” said Ball. “English football didn’t adapt as society evolved. It’s only been these last five or six years where England have had this DNA, had a plan and stuck to it. It’s about knowing where we have come from and honouring that but looking to the future and constantly evolving.

“I can see the progress. It’s a very exciting time, but not one to rest. It’s a time to push forward even harder in having players to perform with freedom. Lots of kids have been inspired and there is a huge opportunity in the country but there are some issues at grass-roots level that need to be fixed.”

Amid a postcode lottery of affordable and available local facilities, a multi-tiered system currently exists. At the top are the professional category-one academies who, six years into the Elite Player Performance Plan, have developed enormously. Southgate’s squad was full of players who have benefited from increasingly progressive coaching and it has also been reap-

ing its reward in the triumphs of various national age group teams.

This, in turn, has helped to build more of an identity and club atmosphere with England. The great frustration, though, relates to the grass roots, where the release of statistics earlier this year painted a grim picture. Following independent assessments, only one in three grass-roots pitches was deemed to be of “adequate” quality. Last season one in six matches at a grass roots or youth level was called off due to pitch quality.

These figures were published by the FA and, while they stand as a fairly damning indictment, they are now being used as part of the argument to sell Wembley Stadium. By the estimates of chief executive Martin Glenn, this would amount to a £1 billion windfall for grassroots facilities by 2030. The Save Grassroots Football campaign is also petitioning for a five per cent levy on the Premier League’s broadcast deal that would be ring-fenced for grass-roots football. This would be £400million in the latest cycle.

The Premier League currently filters back down £100million annually in solidarity payments to Football League clubs – although it is unclear how much of this helps at the lowest level – and then another £100 million on grass-roots and community projects. Other changes are also being suggested to better link club academies with their local community.

The ability now to sign children from the age of eight is widely acknowledged by those working in youth development as “a race to the bottom”. Matches involving players as young as six are watched by scouts. Huw Jennings, the academy director at Fulham, says the latest joke is that scouts will soon be organising matches between pregnant mums. Jennings wants clubs banned from signing children at eight.