Building the foundations of school football

The desperate need for high-quality sporting facilities in the country is increasingly becoming a priority issue for many. The conclusions of the Football Association’s (FA)chairman, Greg Dyke’s England Commission pin-pointed the absence of quality facilities at grassroots level as a key area which is contributing to the shortage of top quality English players breaking through to the top tier of club football, and this is something which must be addressed.
    
Fortunately, The Football Foundation is addressing the issue, and has been for 15 years. The country’s largest sports charity are committed to increasing participation in the game by improving the experience of playing for regular players by both refurbishing and developing new facilities across the country. It does this by directing funding from the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund into areas of greatest need and where that funding will have the greatest impact.

Schools are among the many beneficiaries of the Foundation’s investment, with floodlit third generation (3G) artificial grass pitches (AGPs) and modern changing rooms, often being praised as invigorators for the participation and enthusiasm for sports in the academic sphere.
    
Manchester Enterprise Academy
The Manchester Enterprise Academy, who had five new small-sided 3G AGPs opened by legendary football manager Sir Alex Ferguson, were awarded a grant of £107,075 from the Foundation to refurbish their previous sand-based pitches which had deteriorated significantly.

This resurfacing has provided the Academy with a new, high quality sports facility that further supports the Academy’s sports initiatives in partnership with the Manchester United Foundation and local partners to transform sports participation and provide a centre of excellence in one of the most deprived areas of the country.
    
The state of the previous facilities, which were over 15 years old, meant that the surface became extremely dangerous after sustained rainfall thanks to its poor drainage, and when temperatures dropped below freezing, ice patches appeared. Now, their Foundation‑funded all weather pitch copes well with wintry weather and allows the football season to flow without any external disruptions.
    
Indeed, facilities such as these are aimed at energising those involved, such as the staff and pupils at the school and the local community, creating an increased enthusiasm for sports and engaging more in the game. With an average increase of 25.8 per cent in multi-sport participation at sites funded by the Foundation, and an 11 per cent average increase in football participation, it is clear that this model is working.
    
The Mountbatten School in Romsey, Hampshire, have similarly reaped the benefits of new facilities, having received a £312,294 grant from the Premier League and the FA Facilities Fund to install a new 3G AGP.

The state-of-the-art pitch is to be used by the school to deliver PE sessions and extra-curricular activity, all year round. This therefore helps to develop pupils’ personal and social development through regular physical activity. This progress was previously stunted due to the poor state of their old real grass playing fields which suffered persistent waterlogging that left them in an unplayable condition for many months of the year.
    
Offering students a competitive football opportunity, irrespective of their ability, was seen as a main focus for the school, whose partner clubs had previously been forced to roam elsewhere to find a playable pitch to train and play on. Thanks to the new 3G AGP, the clubs have now returned to Romsey and players and pupils will now be able to reach their full potential whilst the talented individuals can be guided to the appropriate club and coaching settings.
    
The facility was opened by former Southampton star, Matt Le Tissier, who was himself a famous success story of Southampton’s renowned youth system. He, more than most then, can appreciate the importance of having a safe and welcoming environment to regularly practice and play the game, and with almost 25 million hours of sporting activity taking place each year at Football Foundation-funded sites, these facilities are obviously giving many local people a regular and enjoyable location to play.

The value of coaching
However, whilst the activity may be enjoyable for youngsters, it may mean little if the quality of the activity were not up to scratch and this is where the value of coaching emerges. A full‑size, floodlit playing surface at Eccles College in Manchester, developed with a £179,276 grant from the Foundation, and opened by Manchester United legend Paul Scholes, has so far enabled more than 500 students to achieve coaching qualifications from a FA Level 1 and upwards, in partnership with both the Manchester FA and Bolton Wanderers FC.
    
Now, as well as allowing the Manchester United Foundation to deliver BTEC Levels 2 and 3 in Sports Coaching and more general educational programmes, the college has widened the coaching opportunity out to students, even if they do not study sports. Qualifications such as these help to boost students’ future employment opportunities, as well as enhancing their chances of gaining places at university, further highlighting the impact facilities can have on the future prospects of so many youngsters, even outside of sport.
    
Last year alone 23,558 coaching qualifications were gained on sites such as the one on Eccles Campus thanks to the 4,078 courses held on their grounds. As has been felt across the country, these 3G pitches provide schools with an ideal setting to allow students on site and partner organisations such as clubs to offer the wider community invaluable opportunities to gain crucial qualifications, life skills, and lessons on how to work well in a team environment.
    
Strong partnerships
Often, this environment is severely lacking, and schools suffer as a result. Bridgemary School in Gosport found the transition from tattered grass pitches with poor drainage to a quality all-weather 3G AGP to be hugely valuable, after receiving a £355,397 grant from the Foundation towards the project.

Gosport as a local authority area had no AGPs before the Football Foundation’s investment, and the two pitches that were available were both out-dated sand‑dressed facilities which were not always accessible for local clubs and football provision. The area therefore could not cope with the huge weekend demand for suitable pitches from local leagues and clubs to fulfil fixtures, so the all-weather floodlit facility was welcomed by not just the school but the local area as a whole.
    
Bridgemary, like many other schools in their position, have formed strong partnerships with a number of local football clubs in order to maximise the usage of the pitch and allow a wider section of the community to benefit from the surface. Enhancing regular physical activity opportunities for the community and also having the ability to provide a site which can strengthen the PE curriculum and extracurricular provision, contributes to a healthier community and an increase in the school’s PE GCSE results.
    
Indeed, it is results which motivate the largest sports charity in the country, and it is the effective, efficient and enthusiastic model for investment into the grassroots game that delivers them. The creation of high-quality, sustainable facilities in safe environments has been gradually building the foundations for a solid and promising future for our national game over the past 15 years, and with schools and students only set to continue to benefit, many may look to the future with optimism as long as this support for the grassroots continues.

Further information
www.footballfoundation.org.uk