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Brighton Bhuna Boy
So does mine play county U18s, first game since the New Year last Sunday and won 2-0 at Selsey
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My son's Under 9s match has just been called off...
- Thread starter Pavilionaire
- Start date
So does mine play county U18s, first game since the New Year last Sunday and won 2-0 at Selsey
Lenny Rider
Well-known member
- Sep 15, 2010
- 6,015
If the government put a suitably sized 3G facility in every primary/middle and senior school in the country, which could also be used at weekends by outside clubs, how much money would be saved in the future on a decrease in teen crime and vandalism?
All the time kids are playing sport, at any level, almost all of the are developing into well rounded young adults.
All the time kids are playing sport, at any level, almost all of the are developing into well rounded young adults.
Rookie
Greetings
- Feb 8, 2005
- 12,324
some of the facilities for the countrys most popular sport are an embarrassment especially when the top league is worth so much money. The premier league clearly don't care, governments for a number of years haven't given a thought to youth/grass routes sport so how can the situation change?
dejavuatbtn
Well-known member
The reason for this was that we played in Leagues to provide football. All the leagues played 11 a side at that time. Thankfully the rules have now changed significantly to have tiered small sided games with appropriate sized goals and balls for the younger age groups. There are also more regulations about youngsters playing in certain weather and pitch conditions.
Yes, the availability and affordability of 3g pitches is key to ensure that kids get decent playing time and the right conditions to improve.
Don't forget, that is an average. So, if my sums are correct, if you ten players and one player on £250k a week the other nine are earning £50k between them! There will be some big headline earnings for some of the big clubs but probably a lot of clubs will be paying less than the average to most of their squad.
With due respect, you could do a bit of research. The FA introduced changes some time ago and they are progressing through the age groups. U11s for example aren't allowed to play more than an hour of football in any one day. They, and years below them play on smaller pitches with smaller goals in 7 a side. There are things like the retreat rule to allow players to develop a passing game. There is increasing emphasis on playing Futsal which helps develop ball skills.
There have been a lot of changes but people still trot out the old clichés about kids playing 11 a side etc.
Out of interest, why do you pick the Netherlands? They haven't won a world cup and last won the Euros in 1988. Their record in the Champions League isn't too great of recent years either, Ajax last winning it in 1995 and beaten finalists the following year. No finalists since then. France, Germany, Italy and Spain have all done a lot better in recent years.
glasfryn
cleaning up cat sick
get used to it I travelled miles with my son to matches only for it to be called off by a ref who turned up late and this was 30 years ago ..............things do not change much do they.
the Netherlands .....yes my son also played a tounament over there, fantastic pitches great training facilities and they played in the group above them and won a huge cup bigger than them, against Germans, French and Dutch.
sometimes playing in adversity makes them better players and more eager, and afer playing in Liverpool against boys of the same age were roundly thrashed
the Netherlands .....yes my son also played a tounament over there, fantastic pitches great training facilities and they played in the group above them and won a huge cup bigger than them, against Germans, French and Dutch.
sometimes playing in adversity makes them better players and more eager, and afer playing in Liverpool against boys of the same age were roundly thrashed
Megazone
On his last warning
Trophy wise, Holland are one of the biggest under-achievers in football. Footballing wise, they are one of the best producers of talent in the world. Considering England has a very similar population density to holland, it makes sense to make comparisons.
When was the last time we produced a Bergkamp or a Van Persie?
Glenn Hoddle?
I watched a few games at u15 level this season and some of the pitches hadn't even had the grass cut. In places on the wings the ball was actually not visible as it passed through the uncut field.......absolute joke lol.
I'm afraid grass roots football in this country is being left to fend for itself, or so it would appear.
I'm afraid grass roots football in this country is being left to fend for itself, or so it would appear.
Murray 17
Well-known member
- Jul 6, 2003
- 2,163
The only way the PL will ever listen to the supporters is if we hit them in their pockets - if there was a mass boycott of Sky and people refused to pay them £500 a year (or whatever it is), they would soon listen. However, this will never happen as there are a lot of people around with a lot of disposable income, and the gravy train just keeps rolling.
Most of the local schools in the Hastings area do now have 3g but they could not cope with the amount of football played. I'm chairman of Sedlescombe Sport Association and our club alone couldn't fulfill are regular home fixtures on one pitch if we played back to back on a Saturday and Sunday. I also believe, given the amount of money at the top end it's a bit much asking the government and schools etc to be providing the pitches. Yes they generate money but the payback just isn't there.
This does lead me on to another thing there is absolutely no joined up thinking between schools and the FA. The FA have restructured minor league football and about time. The correct size goals and pitches for each age group. You turn up at a school's 3g and they never, never have the correct size goals. Why do these schools insist on having full size goals? All the children are u16. Madness. Added to which football in schools is awful, hardly if any of the PE teachers are FA coaches, my son aged 13 even plays with the wrong sized ball. I have told him not to join the school team.
Then there's the problem with 3G. Yes it's a good surface but it still isn't anything like grass and I don't believe it fully helps kids to just play on it. They tend to under hit the ball on grass if they have spent too long on plastic. It may be good to hone skills but it doesn't make up for a good grass pitch. How it's now being allowed in the lower leagues again amazes me.
This brings me on to the grass pitches, we at Sedlescombe pay for our own maintenance, somewhere in the region of £10 000 raised by ourselves and our pitches are some of the best around but still not great. This is where the FA have got it wrong they should, I believe, be building football centres around the country. Paying for the maintenance of the pitches and providing first class pitches. These should be open to all local clubs to use. They should also be giving out grants to local clubs to improve pitches.
Finally regarding local councils they should encourage building on all these crap greenfield sites supposedly for recreation. We all know them, the ones with huge slopes with rusty goal post dotted around. In turn the developers should be made to build set standard recreation grounds with specific criteria for various sports. Purpose built centres are the way to go not a bit of grass field.
Coming back to the lack of football in the winter months there is a strong case for having two short seasons, one late summer (when the kids go back to school) through to end of October and then a second one March to end of June. This does give, one, the pitches a chance to recover, and more importantly, two, the kids will be playing in hopefully better conditions weather wise.
But my point was why pick Netherlands as an example rather than some of the other European countries I mentioned. We all know that the dutch have produced some great players but so have the others. You mention two players over the last 20 years! As an aside, with regard to RVP, do Man Utd see him as more important than Rooney?
Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,267
- Thread starter
- #32
Yes, but what has changed in that 30 years is that TV companies are willing to pay £5 billion for the rights to show England's top division, this money going straight to the clubs themselves, this in turn going to the players and agents.
Lenny Rider makes a good point about the social cost of NOT having better sports facilities. It seems that the unique opportunity afforded by the 2012 Olympics has been squandered. There's great facilities at elite level but I don't see any signs of an improvement at public level. It is no wonder those that seeking to get fit are taking to their bikes.
I'm now off to have a kickabout with my son at the local rec, which I expect to be a mudheap. If I should twist my ankle and need NHS assistance that will be a further cost to the state!
SweatyMexican
Well-known member
- Mar 31, 2013
- 4,155
'Mighty Manchester United had just been humbled by lowly Leicester City, battered 5-3. “This is the only league in the world where that happens,” he said'
Raleigh Chopper
New member
Playing 11 a side at an early age on frozen muddy pitches did me no harm all those years ago as i went on to be a fantastic footballer what did for me was fags, booze and slags once I got to 17, otherwise i think i might have been a legend. So its not all the PL's fault
mune ni kamome
Well-known member
Premier League said this week "We are not a charity". I really hope it all goes tits up one day.
glasfryn
cleaning up cat sick
I don't disagree with you
also the selling off of school fields does not help
and please don't start me on the training in the schools, my son was predominatly right handed and right footed, I spend no end of time teaching him to kick with his left foot and use his left hand to a lesser degree.
the teachers then started to teach this out of him without much success, my training helped him play for many teams as he was a great untility player and went on to play up to now (41).
I always played at left back and am as right footed as a right footed person
throbinson
Well-known member
I run a U9s team and through January and February we play Futsal it keeps the kids playing when the weather is bad
Seasidesage
New member
Trouble is though is that they are right. We don't expect supermarkets to give out cheap food to the poor or garages to provide cheap petrol to good causes so why should privately owned football clubs? In actual fact they do quite a lot in the community but they are not obliged.
What we should be demanding is that Governments both national and local provide services and facilities that we want instead of wasting vast sums on things that we don't, like say nuclear weapons or bailing out other failing private companies like banks. It should be mind numbingly bloody obvious that providing great sporting facilities to people is likely to make them more healthy and therefore less likely to use other expensive services such as the NHS...
It is wrong to blame the PL for the ills of grass roots football, this is the fault of successive governments and politics in general...
The Birdman
New member
And the Dutch have plenty of flat all weather pitches and another problem these facilities need Floodlights and nobody wants to be near them.
Money is rather spent on hardly used cycle lanes, unnecessary traffic projects and minority interests,especially in this part of the world! In a society where obesity is rising and social skills are becoming disjointed,you would think sustainable,affordable sports facilities would be a viable,encouraged idea. The youth football facilities in this area are shocking.Some of the pitches my sons have played at a decent level on, are a joke!