What is your Post-Covid Plan for Grassroots Football? Planning during a Crisis

Don’t waste a Crisis : What is your Post - Covid Plan for Grassroots Football ?

I appreciate in the overall scheme of things the return of Grassroots Football is not the most important issue facing the world today, but for millions of players and their families it was  a key part of their lives. 

Grassroots Football will return at some stage and for your Association, Club, League, School or Business - why will be your ‘ Post - Covid Plan for Grassroots Football ? Are you planning for this now ?

Can provide an example of planning during a crisis ? - During the Lockdown one of the books I read was ‘ Football Worlds’ by Sir Stanley Rous ( as pictured ) who was a former PE teacher ( trained at St Luke’s College in Exeter ) amateur player, International referee , Secretary of the English FA from 1934 to 1962 and President of FIFA from 1961 until 1974 

Critically was his role at the FA during the Second World War when from 1939 until 1947 there were no FA committee meetings and only irregular meetings of the FA Executive Committee. Thus in effect at this time Rous ran the FA by himself !! 

His book details that in 1943 he drafted a document entitled ‘ Post-War Memorandum which was really the FA’s first Development Plan in which he detailed proposals for the development of the game once the war concluded. He had consulted widely and his plan was accepted and implemented after the war. These proposals included the following: 

• The Establishment of the FA Coaching Scheme and the appointment of a Director of Coaching ( to be Walter Winterbottom) 
• The creation of educational courses not only for coaches but for referees, medics, and administrators 
• The provision of grants and loans for clubs to assist them run youth teams 
• The creation of the FA Youth Cup for players under 18 years of age to encourage professional clubs to start Youth Teams ( Wolves and Manchester United were leaders in this area for many years after the war ) 
• The creation of a FA County Youth Cup for amateur players to encourage County FA’s to promote Youth Football 
• The creation of an England Under 23 Teams 
• The need for England - and the other UK countries - to re-join FIFA ( they rejoined in 1950) 
• The need for International Competitions for clubs ( the Football League initially opposed English clubs in the European Cup but eventually relented in 1957 to allow Manchester United to enter : Rous was a key driver in forming in 1955 the Inter Cities Fairs cup - later the UEFA Cup )
• The need for International Youth Competitions for players under 18 : Rous initiated this tournament for European Associations in 1948 - Rous organised this at Biggin Hill RAF Camp 
• The need for the English FA to host major tournaments ( he led the proposal for England to host the 1966 World Cup and the European Cup Final at Wembley in 1963 ) 

So one can only imagine Rous in his office in Lancaster Gate in London in 1943 - dodging air attacks - without the cycle of endless FA Committee meetings but committed to planning for the development of the game once hostilities had ended : he was not allowing such a crisis to go to waste in providing an opportunity to reshape football

So what are your Post Covid Plans - specifically for Grassroots Football?

During June & July I had become concerned about the return of Grassroots Football when and if the effects of the pandemic began to decrease 

I therefore devised an online survey and sent it to colleagues I know who work in Grassroots Football in North America, Europe and Asia 

The survey was centred on what trends they thought would be prevalent in a Post Covid World for Grassroots Football.

 Please find here the Final Report of this Survey together with an accompanying paper I have drafted on the issue of ‘ Relative Age Effect ‘ and Post Covid Participation. 

I do think therefore that there is a legitimate value in examining the trends which people like you -  with considerable experience in this area - forecast for Grassroots Football in a Post Covid world

Inevitably a major event such as a pandemic will change the landscape of  Pre - Covid Grassroots Football which I have tried to categorise  here. 

This may change and opportunities will nevertheless present themselves. With regard to the Post Covid Plan , I would be very interested to hear about in innovative ways that you have found to restart and recover Grassroots football for your Association and how this landscape will be affected

Please post them in the comments section of this article or the blog here https://sportspath.typepad.com/sports-path-e-learning-bl/post-covid-grassroots-football-youth-soccer-.html

Many thanks

Best Wishes

Robin

 PS For those of you are interested - Sir Stanley Rous’s political acumen deserted him in the 1970’s when he supported the apartheid South African FA not to be expelled from FIFA.. They were expelled and Rous lost the Presidency to Joao Havelange in 1974