Whether you’re the England manager or captain – remember them? – or involved in the game at grassroots level, football is never short of a talking point or two. And don’t we just love it!

The last few weeks have been no exception with incidents and talking points aplenty. And as ever, we’ve asked what you think as we try to gauge the mood of the real football public.

Here are the results of some recent Club Website polls, where we find out what you think about the big issues from across the spectrum of the game.

Support for the FA’s youth football revolution?

Last month the Football Association published their final proposals for the future of youth football in England, as brought to you here on Club Website.

Of course, we wanted to know what you thought of the proposals and, not surprisingly, the subject really got you going – again!

Just like this time last year, plenty of you wanted to have your say on the plans, while over 1,000 of you voted in our Club Website poll on the issue.

Almost half of you (44.3%) backed the proposals (26.5% strongly in favour / 17.8% in favour), while 31.3% of you didn’t agree with them (19.6% strongly against / 11.7% against).

Significantly, 24.4% of you remain undecided, which means that there are still plenty of hearts and minds left for Nick Levett and his colleagues at the FA to try to win over before the proposals are put to the National Game Board and FA Council this spring.

Have you made your mind up? Or are you one of the undecided? Tell us what you think in our comments section below.

What constitutes a bad tackle?

One of the hot topics of recent weeks has been tackling and, more specifically, what constitutes a dangerous tackle.

The debate reached a height following Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany’s red card for his tackle on Nani in the Manchester Derby (see below).

The tackle, which saw the player leave the ground before winning the ball with both feet but no contact on the player, really split opinion. So we wanted to find out what you guys and girls thought. Did Kompany’s challenge warrant a red card?

57% of you felt a red card was unjustified. 30% thought that it warranted a yellow card at most, while 27% didn’t even think it was a foul.

One in four of you (25%) understood the ref’s decision but thought the game had “gone soft”, while only 18% agreed that the challenge was worthy of a red card.

What do you think? Is it right that this type of challenge is clamped down on?  Or do you think tackling a dying art? Have your say below!

A yellow card for an imaginary card?

Less dangerous than tackling, but just as annoying to many, is the brandishing of imaginary cards by players wanting to get opponents booked.

Man City boss Roberto Mancini accused Wayne Rooney of talking referee Chris Foy into the aforementioned red card for Vincent Kompany by waving an imaginary card. To stir the debate further, the Italian then found his own imaginary cards twice over in the following week, in a classic case of ‘do as say, not as I do’.

Whilst not as prevalent in grassroots football as the professional game, invisible cards have been known to get brandished at parks and playing fields around the country, so we wanted to get your take on the matter.

We asked if the production of an imaginary card should be a punishable offence in itself.

A whopping three-quarters of our 3,000 respondents said yes, with 61% asking for a (non-imaginary) yellow card in return and 14% going so far as calling for a red card.

With only a quarter of you (25%) happy for this particular charade to go unpunished, we can sense a clamour for a change.

We’ll pass on the poll results to the powers that be but, before you get too excited about a possible change to the Laws of the Game, we’ll leave you with something to ponder.

How can a referee punish a player for waving something that doesn’t exist?

I mean, what if they claim to be waving an imaginary banana?

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Join the debate!

We love our football chat here at Club Website and we know you do too.  If you want to get involved, just add your comments to any article that gets you going here on our news pages. Thousands of CW administrators see the comments, so you can really stir the debate, either here or over at Facebook – both great places for a bit of ding dong!

And of course, if you have a question that you’d like to put to the Club Website masses, make sure you let us know. We read every suggestion and will use the best on our Club Website polls.

So why not let thousands of football fans solve that argument you’re having with your team mate? Get involved today!

It’s a small word but it has a big meaning – at least in the world of English football at the moment.

FA Chairman David Bernstein last week told John Terry that he would not lead out his country at Euro 2012 – a decision that led to the resignation of manager Fabio Capello.

Whoever leads the team into the Championships this summer, their first task of note will be to choose who should wear the armband in Poland and the Ukraine.

The three leading candidates – Steven Gerrard, Scott Parker and Joe Hart – all make good cases, but concerns remain over either their fitness (Gerrard), certainty of a starting place (Parker), experience (Parker & Hart) and ability to affect the action from their position on the field (Hart).

With the debate raging, we got to thinking about what makes a good football captain.

Is it someone who leads from the front?  Who inspires others by words?  Someone who commands the respect of his team mates?  Has been there and done it?

What’s more, do the same principles apply at all levels of the game?  Is what makes a good captain at grassroots level the same as at the top of the game?

Is the choice of captain even that important? What do you want from your captain or is he just another player?

It didn’t take long for the debate to get going on our Facebook page.  We’ve outlined a few of your contributions to the debate below – feel free to add your own thoughts in our comments section.

Your say: What makes a good captain?

Ash Overbury: Simple – leadership!!!

Michael Crane: A captain has to have the respect of the other players, be approachable and lead by example.

Noeleen Butler: A good captain has a lot of boxes to tick but most importantly should be a responsible person, with an appreciation of the game from the point of view of a player and a spectator.

He should be someone who will respresent the team/club and his teammates well, both on and off the pitch, and not only do what is necessary and right himself but inspire his team to do likewise.

Clay Dyson: One of the better players, lead by example, reliable on and off the pitch and well respected by those around him.

Wayne Roberts: Respect, fair, honest, passion, control, leadership.

Westway Whites FC: There is a fine line to be established between the objectives of the team and those of the individual player. I will discuss this in relation to the objectives of the team. The best captain would be someone who knows his players, who understands their game, who via support gets the best out of the talent available, who uses cool and calm language and tone of voice, who addresses his team with respect, who motivates the team through leadership even when the team is not doing as wished for, who manages to convince his player to play to the whistle, who has an ability to read the game and command players’ attention in the pitch.

Beverley Richards Atherton: Has to be vocal, keep the teams spirit motivation up, encouraging, a leader, keeping the team hungry for success. And the rest of the team need to respect and listen. Not an easy job.

Matthew Turner: There shouldn’t be too much of a differents at grass roots football to premier football. At the end of the day it’s football it’s the same rules apply to everyone. A Captain in football isn’t that big as a cricket captain because a Cricket captain tells his fielders where & what to do.

Andrew Hollyhead: Someone who is positive, determined and respected amongst his team . The sort of person you who will keep going even when the game is lost . Someone who will inspire others .

Ryan Smith: A captain has to be aggressive but not an a***hole, good tackler, fight your corner when foul happens, bring the team morale up when your losing, has to give 110% every game, committed to the club and speak out when things are going wrong. They have to motivate the team before any game and to support a player when his form is off, leader, confident, get on well with the manger, try to sort any arguments between players, voice of command and constructive criticism to players.

Scott Northey: As an under 9 coach, I have the difficult decision as to who I am going to select as my captain for the rest of this and next season!  Naturally i have given the children who have showed the most leadership skills a go, but for my final decision i will be picking the child with a combination of the following skills: the most vision, best communication and organisation on field, the greatest desire to lead by example and willingness to learn and improve regularly.

However, if my decision were based on adult football, it would be based on the contender’s on and off field behaviour, desire to lead by example and the person who the rest of the team looked up to the most!  Tough decisions most of the time!

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Now it’s your turn!

Want to add your two pence worth to the debate? Have your say in our comments section below!

You can also check out the full debate at facebook.com/clubwebsite, so come on over and get yourself involved in the next one!

Over 25,000 of you have already joined us at facebook.com/clubwebsite for the latest grassroots football news, topical debate, Club Website updates, funny videos and exclusive competitions to Facebook users.

We’ve also got a growing network on Twitter – @clubwebsite for those in the know! Over 2,000 of you have now joined the twitterati, where you can keep up to date with everything all things Club Website and the big wide world of grassroots football.

It’s a great way to interact with other clubs, join in the latest grassroots football debate and keep in touch with a whole host of fantastic football coaches.

Plus, if your club has a Twitter account, make sure you drop us a line and we’ll always follow back!

We’ll keep using these popular channels to keep people in the loop about what we’re up to, plus our latest news, competitions etc. Throw in the odd debate and a bit of light-hearted banter into mix and you’re there!

As always, it’s a case of ‘the more, the merrier’ so, if you haven’t done so already, come and join us at facebook.com/clubwebsite or @clubwebsite.

We’ll be waiting with open arms!

Tell us what you think!

We’re always up for getting your take on things, so let us know what you think of either our Facebook or Twitter page, plus any suggestions for what you’d like to see on there.

Just give us a shout via the pages themselves or leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Why not let Club Website help you sort it out!

Our online polls feature right across our network of club and league websites, straight to the heart of the game in the UK’s grassroots football community.

The polls get thousands of votes cast every single week, so if you want to put a question to the masses then we’re the people to help.

It couldn’t be simpler to sort out either. Just leave a comment below or email us at clubnews@clubwebsite.co.uk and your question could be the talking point in changing rooms right across the country!

So, if you’ve got an interesting question on any aspect of the grassroots game, send it to us and we might just put it to the masses.

Find out what the people think and settle that debate once and for all!

The inaugural UK Football Academy (UKFA) symposium has been renamed The Gary Speed Football Congress by UKFA founder Raymond Verheijen as a tribute to the manager alongside whom he worked last year to elevate the Wales football team to new heights.

Wales climbed 65 places to 48th in the FIFA rakings last year – the biggest leap of any nation – having won four of their last five fixtures before Speed’s death shocked the football world in November.

Speed was well known as a model professional who embraced a forward-thinking approach. He was a big advocate of Verheijen’s modern coaching methods and was an ambassador for the UKFA. He had been due to speak at the 8 February event.

The Gary Speed Football Congress will now become an annual fundraising event, an arrangement made in collaboration with Gary’s wife Louise Speed. All proceeds from this year’s event will go towards a charity of Louise’s choice.

The congress is supported by Speed’s friends and former Newcastle colleagues Shay Given, Craig Bellamy and Alan Shearer, along with the Professional Footballers’ Association and the League Managers Association.

“Speedo’s forward-thinking approach transformed the Wales National Team,” said Shearer. “He left a true legacy. The Gary Speed Football Congress will allow coaches to learn from this approach. It is an honour to support this event as it will not only remember him but also celebrate his achievements and everything he stood for.”

Shay Given added: “Throughout his career Speedo never stopped giving to football. He would never resist the opportunity to discuss the game or to pass on advice to anyone who asked. This event will enable him to continue to give something back to football.”

The event, which takes place at Emirates Stadium, is open to managers, coaches and practitioners at every level of the game and will feature sessions for professional, amateur and youth football, delivered by internationally-renowned football specialists.

Verheijen will be joined as a keynote speaker by UKFA co-founder and former Dutch coach Guus Hiddink and West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce.

For further information or to register visit www.ukfootballacademy.net.

The plans are part of a new £1bn strategy which aims to get more young people involved in sport at grassroots level – a legacy pledge in the UK’s 2012 Olympic bid.

As part of the five year youth sport strategy, Sport England will help 2,000 local football clubs move into secondary schools, with expert coaches providing sessions that aim to strengthen links between schools and grassroots clubs.

In total, 4,000 schools will be offered a community sport club on their site, with respective national governing bodies (NGBs) committing 1,300 rugby union clubs, 1,250 cricket clubs, 1,000 rugby league and 1,000 tennis clubs to the scheme.

Around £450 million of the funding will go directly to NGBs between 2013 and 2017 for their whole sport plans, with funding allocated on a new “payment-by-results” basis to ensure that targets are met.

County sports partnerships will support NGBs, foster local links and help transition young people into clubs, with a particular focus on the 14- to 25-year-old age bracket.

The government hopes playing sport will become a lifelong habit for more people and a regular choice for the majority.

Building on the early success of their Places People Play scheme, Sport England will invest £100m in new facilities for the most popular sports, including new 3G football pitches.

A further £10m will be made available to open up school sport facilities for local community use. All secondary schools who wish to do this will be supported by Sport England, with at least one third of these receiving additional funding to make it happen.

“Changing the sporting behaviour of a generation is a major challenge which has not been achieved by any other Olympic host nation,” said Sport England Chief Executive Jennie Price.

“With a new focus on young people and an even tougher, government-backed, regime of payment by results, Sport England and its partners are determined to deliver.”

FA General Secretary, Alex Horne, said: “Football welcomes the Sport England strategy and the increased focus on youth.

“A priority will be taking 2,000 local football clubs into secondary schools across the country, offering expert coaching and creating the strong ties that will help young people make the move from school sport to community sport.”

Funding boost for School Games programme

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy was given a further boost with news of an extra £32m of funding for the School Games programme – an initiative in which school children in England compete at intra-school, inter-school, county and national level.

New money pledged from the Department of Health (£14m), Sainsbury’s (£10m) and Sport England (£8m) means the initiative will be extended from two to four years, up to 2015, while adidas will provide sports kit to the 1,600 athletes reaching the national finals at the Olympic stadium and other Olympic venues.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “We are absolutely determined to leave a real and lasting legacy for young people from London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the Sainsbury’s School Games will help do just that.

“The fantastic funding package shows the commitment to completely transform competitive sport in schools.  I want to thank Sainsbury’s and adidas for their generosity in helping to secure the future of the School Games beyond 2012.”

Check out the new youth sport strategy – Creating a sporting habit for life (pdf).

Find out more about the School Games programme on the Sport England website.

The recommendations, which follow two years of research and consultation, will be put forward to County FAs before a final proposal to the National Game Board and FA Council in April.

If given the go-ahead, the radical changes to youth football – which include a new player pathway and a new approach to competitive football for all children of primary school age – will be phased in from the 2013/14 season, although leagues can adopt the changes as early as next season, should they choose to.

The proposals follow two years of research led by FA National Development Manager for Youth Football Nick Levett and his team, including a nationwide tour to discuss the proposals with grassroots coaches and league and club officials from across the country.

The plans have now been drawn up into a handy presentation for the grassroots football community, including notes and supporting information, along with answers to frequently asked questions. Both documents can be accessed via the links below.

FA Youth Development Proposals

• Final Recommendations (Powerpoint doc)
• Frequently Asked Questions (Word doc)

Whilst covering a large amount of detail, the new proposals focus primarily on three core areas:

Revised player pathway

A new player pathway will see the introduction of two new formats of the game. Under-7s and under-8s will play 5-a-side, while 9-a-side will become mandatory for under-11s and -12s and remain an option for all ages up to under-16s.

Each format of the game – 5v5, 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 – will be played on pitches of suitable sizes, with age-appropriate goal and ball sizes.

Feedback from the FA roadshows suggest that 92% of people strongly agree or agree with the new pathway, with many describing it as “just common sense”.

‘Child-centred’ competition

A new ‘child-centred’ approach to competition will see the traditional eight-month season with one league table – as used in adult football – replaced by a more flexible approach for all children up to under-11s by the 2015/16 season.

The new programme, which will ensure a greater focus on development and enjoyment for participants, will combine development matches with creative competition events, so that what children want is at the heart of the process.

The FA found that, once the new approach was clearly explained and fully understood, 97% of roadshow attendees were in favour of the new approach to competition.

Tackling the Relative Age Effect

At the start of the 2013/14 season, the youngest football age group will be selected on a calendar year basis – i.e. “2007s” – rather than the traditional under-7s.

By shifting the selection year for grassroots football away from school football – which will remain on a September to August basis – the FA hopes to reduce the Relative Age Effect on players born in the summer months, thus increasing retention of players in the game.

The FA admit that this is “the hardest concept to understand” but hope to get the grassroots community on-side for what they believe is a “world-leading” approach to this area of the game.

The times they are a-changing – tell us what you think!

These are exciting times for youth football in England so, if you haven’t already, please check out the FA’s recommendations, along with the supporting notes and FAQ.

Once you’ve read them, please tell us what you think.  We’d love to hear your thoughts on the final proposals – what you like most and any concerns you may have.

If you have a question about the proposals that has not been answered by the documents, you can still email them to yourkidsyoursay@thefa.com. Your input to the whole process has been invaluable, as the FA recognise in a message on their website:

“How the proposals look today from where we started two years ago is very different and this has been down to the input from the grassroots game and we thank you wholeheartedly for that. We are very excited as to what the future holds for youth football as we move towards making the game even better for young people.”

You can follow Nick Levett on Twitter – and even provide feedback – at @nlevett.

Would you like to recognise the efforts of an unsung hero of grassroots football, while giving your club the chance to win £1,000?

If so, then the Barclays Community Sports Award could be just what you are looking for.

Now in its second season, the monthly award recognises the outstanding achievements of individuals who use sport to benefit communities across the UK.

The accolade is awarded each month during the Barclays Premier League season, to highlight the great efforts being made by many within community sport.

Each monthly winner will receive £1,000 for their group or organisation, a limited edition trophy and will be entered into the end-of-season award to win a further £5,000, all donated by Barclays Spaces for Sports.

The end-of-season award winner will also receive a VIP trip to London to receive their award from Gareth Southgate. The former England international heads up the judging panel for the award, which is a partnership between Barclays Spaces for Sports, the Premier League’s Creating Chances programme and the Football Foundation.

Make a nomination – it could be your club!

This award goes to real people in grassroots community sports clubs across the UK – people like Simon O’Brien-Ellington who won £1,000 for his club Ipswich Charioteers.

The award was recognition of Simon’s work as co-founder, secretary, website administrator and first aider at Suffolk’s only wheelchair football club, whose website is powered by Club Website.

So if your football club has someone like Simon who has recently made a real and lasting difference in their community, then please nominate them.

You never know, it could be their turn to be recognised by the Barclays Community Sports Award and your club’s turn to win £1,000!

To make a nomination, please complete this online form.

Before making a nomination for the award, please read the Terms and Conditions.

The FA’s Head of Elite Development acknowledged the efforts of thousands of coaches right across the country when he spoke to Club Website.

“It’s bloody hard work if you’re a grassroots coach and you’re taking a kids team,” said Southgate.

“I don’t think parents appreciate how many hours coaches put in, how much planning takes place, all the emails and texts to be sent, all the costs of going onto courses if your club aren’t able to support you.”

Southgate spoke to Club Website at Wembley Stadium this month at a conference for the FA’s Licensed Coaches Club, a scheme launched this season to provide continuous training and support to coaches in a bid to improve the standard of coaching throughout the game.

“The Licensed Coaches Club is part of the drive to make coaching a recognised profession, vocation and to try and raise the levels of that,” explained Southgate.

“In the past, everyone looked at getting a badge. You might have done that two years ago but it might have been 20 years ago. This is about maintaining the qualification, but it’s about continual development and further developing yourself as a coach.”

FA Licensed coaches must commit to a mininum of three hours of continuous professional development (CPD) each year. Coaches can accrue CPD hours through FA Learning courses (in person or online),  mentoring or specific CPD events hosted by the FA, such as this month’s Wembley conference.

Southgate sees the benefits of the scheme as two-fold. Not only does it provide coaches with greater opportunities to develop themselves – “as coaches we are always adding bits to our armoury in terms of how we teach” – but it provides a coach the chance to prove their credentials to others.

“For parents or people wanting to join clubs, there will be the reassurance that the person is committed to coaching,” he added.

“You’ll know that they have got all the CRB checks and things in place and be reassured that your child is going to be receiving a higher standard of coaching.”

Membership of the Licensed Coaches Club, which currently costs £12 per year, will be a mandatory requirement for all FA coaches in the future, according to Southgate.

The FA are currently “trying to build the numbers as much as possible” but, although the timescales are not clear, Southgate says the time will come come “where every coach has to be licensed and has to carry the card.”

Whilst £12 a year will be affordable to most coaches, qualifying as a coach costs significantly more. Obtaining coaching badges can cost hundreds or, for those working their way further up the coaching ladder, even thousands of pounds.

Southgate recognises that the costs of qualifying – both financial and in terms of time commitment – can be off-putting for some would-be coaches.

“We understand that a lot of the people doing courses are volunteers and want to help local communities and clubs, but it’s a balance between not making those costs prohibitive but also making it cost-effective as well.

“In terms of time, County FAs are quite often a good option, because they might put courses on across a couple of weeks in the evenings, rather than people having to take a four day block off work.

“Moving forward, we’re looking at how to make it as cost-effective as possible but, at the same time, I think you tend to get more from a course if you financially contribute to it.

“I’ve done courses in the past outside of football and, if I haven’t paid to go on it, I don’t think I’ve been quite as focused as when I’ve invested in it myself.”

It has been a busy first year at the FA for Southgate. He took up his newly-created role in January as the FA outlined a new approach to youth development.

Since then, amongst other things, he has worked closely with Nick Levett on the Your Kids Your Say roadshow, a series of events presenting the FA’s proposed changes to the structure of youth football to coaches and officials from clubs and leagues around the country.

Should the proposals be given the go-ahead by FA stakeholders in May, children will not play 11-a-side football until the under-13s age group – a new 9v9 format will be introduced for under 11s and 12s – and league tables will be removed for all children of primary school age in favour of a new ‘child-centred’ approach to competition.

The proposals, which would become mandatory for the 2013-14 season if approved, lay the groundwork for improving youth development, allowing Southgate and his FA colleagues to concentrate on improving coaching standards.

“If we’ve got the kids on the right size pitches and in appropriate sized teams, then the focus in on how we are coaching them, what we are telling them to do,” he added.

“We’ve got to get those messages out as publicly as possible, creating the environment for kids to feel they can enjoy what they are doing, not being afraid to make mistakes, playing with their friends – they are the things that kids want to go and do.”

Helping children to enjoy their football will, Southgate believes, help him to fulfill his long-term remit as Head of Elite Development, but he has his focus trained on the bigger picture.

“In the end, we will get better elite players because of the changes, but that is not the primary focus at grassroots level,” he says.

“It’s getting that environment right, so that kids connect with the community, that they are part of a club, that they understand winning and losing, and so many messages that football can give them for life.”

“Their football coach might be the only positive role model in their life. We don’t know what their family backgrounds are. So it’s a big onus on those coaches – we’re not just teaching them how to play football; we’re developing them as people as well.”

Dan Pope, Club Website editor

Pictures courtesy of the FA / Getty Images.

Bernstein: "The National Game Strategy and Youth Development Review are absolutely critical"

Ask any England fan what was the most important event for the future of our national game in recent weeks and it’s more than likely they will tell you it was the draw for Euro 2012.

Yet the man in charge of English football is not so sure. For while he craves success in Poland and Ukraine next summer as much as any England fan, David Bernstein believes The FA’s National Game Strategy for 2011-2015 is equally, or perhaps even more important.

Published a day before the draw for next summer’s European Championships, it will have slipped under the radar for a lot of football fans across the country.

But Bernstein is adamant: “For the long-term future, the National Game Strategy is probably even more important.

“Obviously the Euro 2012 draw was crucial and we are all focused on it and we all want success next year, but the National Game Strategy and the Youth Development Review together are absolutely critical for the way football in this country is going to go. I think it’s a mixture of those two things.”

He added: “The opening of St George’s Park next year and the greater level of skill-based development for young children, the usage of appropriate-sized pitches, the focus on enjoyment and not just on winning, less emphasis on physicality, more emphasis on skill – all those things are absolutely crucial if we are to get more great players coming through the English game, which is what we all want.”

Bernstein was speaking after a visit to yet another grassroots club out in the regions. Unbeknown to much of the footballing world, during his first year in office he has spent many Saturdays on touchlines and in changing rooms at amateur clubs across the land.

On this occasion he was officially opening Boldmere Falcons’ new third generation (3G) artificial grass pitch and changing room pavilion in Sutton Coldfield.

He was accompanied by Gary Hoffman, the new chairman of the Football Foundation, which provided £464,129 of the total project cost of £862,129.

A further £250,000 came from the FA Whole Sport Plan.

Funded by The FA, the Premier League and the Government via Sport England, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 8,000 grants worth more than £420million towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £520million.

Bernstein said: “Since I have become chairman, I have spent most of my Saturdays going around the country – from the north-east down to Lancashire, and down to the south coast, the west country and East Anglia.

“The same message coming through from everywhere is that the biggest concern is facilities, and Government cutbacks or local authority cutbacks.

“So to come to somewhere like this – and many other places too – where there is fantastic development taking place, is becoming doubly important, both for football and for the local communities.

“The whole issue of what can young people do with themselves, from sport to health – there are all these social issues which mix in with football – and they are all absolutely crucial for the future of our country.”

“I hear disturbing stories about facilities being allowed to fall away, or teams being disbanded, for what are sometimes relatively small amounts of money. £10,000 or £5000 here or there can make a hell of a difference.

“It’s very difficult because there’s not enough resources. The places where I often go are places where there are good things happening, because I get asked to open this and look at that.

“There are a lot of fantastic developments, but we all know there are many areas of the country where there are just not enough resources.

“For example, with park facilities, local councils have so many different decisions to make. They are cutting back on maintenance of pitches, they are not putting goalposts or nets up, they are not mowing the pitch or clearing dog mess – those sorts of things make life difficult, they will put people off playing.

“Sport is a wonderful route for young people to occupy themselves in a productive and healthy way.  Whether that’s football or boxing, anything that gets them on to a productive path.

“Society has issues and the more investment which can go in the direction of sport and leisure for young people , particularly in deprived areas, the better.

“For the last three years or so, during this slump in the wider world, and things are not getting any better for who knows how long – the next few years will be difficult. Which makes it even more necessary to focus positively on these issues. If we don’t, then things will just drift away.

“As chairman of The FA, I feel a great responsibility to push our resources and try to influence others in this direction. Generally in this country we have probably fallen behind other parts of the world in this area, and we need to try to catch up – and this is a difficult time to catch up. We have got to do what we can so we don’t fall further behind.

“There are so many imponderables that it’s impossible to say how long it will take; all I can say is that I and all my colleagues at The FA are all committed to this. The more resources we can find, or the more resources we can get from Government, the better, or anywhere else. But it’s definitely not an overnight fix.”

By Simon Lansley of ConnectSport

Images courtesy of Vaughn Ridley / swpix.com