Petition to CHANGE Grassroots Football

Petition to remove the competitive element within grassroots football and play non-competitive league structure until the age of 12-13, and not to begin playing full-11-a-side teams until the age of 14. After a group of coaches on Twitter (#coachingfamily) had a lengthy debate we all agreed that this was the most beneficial way to improve grassroots football in this country. By removing the competitive element at a young age, you are removing the pressure piled onto young footballers by their parents, coaches and themselves. This pressure, at a young age can be hugely detrimental to the child’s psychological state and to their ability and desire to play football. At a later stage in the child’s life, some pressure may be seen as beneficial as we often need to be able to deal with pressured situations in life as well as in football, but this is not the case at a young age. We propose that all leagues in the country bring a halt to keeping tabs on league tables, and winning and losing at this level, and focus solely on the provision of footballing opportunities (through the non-competitive league and fixtures) and focus on the development of the child as an individual player. We propose that the introduction of a competitive league structure be introduced at the age of 12-13 (perhaps the U13s age group). Our second proposition is the introduction of 11-a-side football on a big pitch be introduced at the age of 14 (U15s age group). As opposed to it’s current introduction at U11s level. Currently our youngsters face a massive jump at a young age into the depths of 11-a-side on full sized pitches, and this is before they’re even close to being fully developed. Reduction in the size of the pitches and the size of the teams playing will increase each and every participant’s time on the ball and in turn speed up their development with far more contact time. We propose that we run: • 5-a-side till U9 level • 7-a-side till U11 level • 9-a-side til U14 level • 11-a-side from U15 level onwards as the new structure for grassroots football in England. This is for the good of next generation of footballers, and for the future of English football. Please sign the petition and let’s see if we can make a difference.