10years of teamwork
TRANSCRIPT
Professor Barrie Houlihan & Dr Steven Bradburymarch 2013
McDonald’s national grassroots football partnerships 2002–2012
Coaching the coaches, valuing the volunteers & growing the game
10 YEARS OF TEAMWORK
ExEcutivE Summary PagE 4
introDuction PagE 8 1.1 Evaluation context
1.2 Methods and sample group
1.3 Structure of the report
tHE wiDEr contExt PagE 9 2.1 The wider social and sport policy context
2.2 The wider grassroots football context
2.2.1 UK FAs and the grassroots game:
strategic and operational overview
I. England
II. Scotland
III. Wales
IV. Northern Ireland
2.2.2 UK FAs and the grassroots game:
progress and key achievements
I. Coach education and development
II. Club and workforce development
III. Children and young people
2.2.3 UK FAs and McDonald’s:
the national grassroots football partnership
mcDonalD’s graSSrootS footBall PartnErSHiP: contriBution to graSSrootS footBall PagE 12
3.1 Coach education and development
3.1.1 Key areas of input and investment
3.1.2 Delivery mechanisms and support
3.1.3 Enabling access and increasing participation
3.1.4 Improving the quality of coaches
and coaching practice
3.1.5 Improving coaching infrastructures,
appeal and sustainability
3.2 Club and workforce development
3.2.1 Key areas of input and investment
3.2.2 Delivery mechanisms and support
3.2.3 Enabling access and increasing participation
3.2.4 Improving the quality of clubs and
the volunteer workforce
3.2.5 Improving club infrastructures, appeal
and sustainability
3.3 Children and young people
3.3.1 Key areas of input and investment
3.3.2 Delivery mechanisms and support
3.3.3 Enabling access and increasing participation
3.3.4 Improving the quality of experiences of
football for children and young people
3.3.5 Improving club and coach infrastructures,
appeal and sustainability
3.4 Supporting the strategic aims and
objectives of UK FAs
iDEntifying tHE PotEntial futurE contriBution of mcDonalD’s to graSSrootS footBall PagE 30
4.1 The wider social sport policy context
4.2 The wider grassroots football context
4.2.1 Coach education and club development
I. Key priorities
II. Key challenges
4.2.2 Club and workforce development
I. Key priorities
II. Key challenges
4.2.3 Children and young people
I. Key priorities
II. Key challenges
final rEcommEnDationS PagE 34 5.1 Coach education and development
5.2 Club and workforce development
5.3 Children’s and youth football
5.4 Supporting the strategic aims
and objectives of UK FAs
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 3
Executive Summary
Ten years ago, we took the decision to invest the majority of our
UK sponsorship funds into football and crucially into the grassroots
of the game.
We wanted to invest back into the communities that we, our
customers and our people are part of: supporting the unsung heroes
who make the game happen, attracting more people to play a part
in the game and developing the coaching skills of tens of thousands.
We clearly couldn’t do that alone. To achieve any positive impact
on grassroots football, we needed the expertise, organisation and
vision of the guardians of the game in England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
The partnerships we established in 2002 with The Football Association,
The Scottish Football Association, The Football Association of Wales
and, in Northern Ireland, with the Irish Football Association were
created with bold ambitions for grassroots football at their heart.
Our collective ambitions included the creation of tens of thousands of
trained coaches, the promotion of higher standards at the grassroots
level and more recognition for the hundreds of thousands of people
who selflessly devote themselves to supporting the people’s game.
Speaking on behalf of the entire McDonald’s business, I can confidently
say that we are immensely proud of what our partnerships with each
of the Football Associations has achieved.
But football they say is about results, and that is the role of this report.
We asked the Institute of Youth Sport to audit our programme to assess
what our Football Association partnerships have achieved over the past
ten years; and, more importantly, in what way improvements and
innovations could be made to achieve more in the future.
The publishing of this report is timely given the recent success of
London 2012 and as we look to the future, I hope businesses,
communities and Government can work together to create a
lasting legacy for sport in the UK.
JILL mcDONaLD
UK Chief Executive, McDonald’s
Foreword
Ten years of Teamwork reporT4
Executive Summary
The wIDer cONTexT
• Since the mid-1990s, there has been a steady rise in the numbers
of people involved in formal and informal volunteering, especially
in sports. The 2000s onwards have been an encouraging period
for youth sport despite the economic crisis that began in 2008
posing severe challenges. Supported by the government strategy
Game Plan, the School Sports Partnership programme increased
the proportion of children taking part in at least two hours of
sport per week from 25% in 2002 to 90% in 2009. It also helped
foster positive links between schools and sports clubs, including
football clubs.
• Professional and amateur grassroots football in the UK is governed
by the four national football associations of England: (The FA),
Scotland (The Scottish FA), Wales (FAW/WFT) and Northern
Ireland (IFA). UK FAs differ markedly in the size and scope of their
financial and operational infrastructures. Since 2002, UK FAs have
each drawn up a series of broadly comparable strategies designed
to enhance grassroots football, featuring a strong emphasis on
raising standards and the development of clubs, coaches, and
young players.
• UK FAs report significant progress in increasing the quantity and
quality of the coaching workforce in grassroots football over the
past ten years. For example, The FA reports around 56,000 Level
1 and 14,730 Level 2 coaches at FA Charter Standard clubs in
England. UK FAs also report a marked increase in clubs achieving
recognised club accreditation status during this period. Whilst most
accredited clubs are situated in England, work of this kind has
recently gathered momentum in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland. UK FAs also report a general rise in participation of
children and young people at accredited clubs. In England there
has been a 19% rise in mini-soccer teams and a 7% rise in youth
teams at accredited clubs since 2008. All UK FAs report a rise in
the number of girls’ teams at accredited clubs.
• McDonald’s has a longstanding relationship with football in the
UK. In 2002, McDonald’s became the UK FAs’ official Community
Partner and has since made a significant financial investment to
support the development of the grassroots game. This investment
is split proportionately across the UK FAs to support work to
improve coach education and development, club and workforce
development, and children’s and youth football.
mcDONaLD’s grassrOOTs
FOOTbaLL ParTNershIP:
rEtroSPEctivE analySiS
(I) cOach eDucaTION aND DeveLOPmeNT• Since 2002, the main focus of the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership has been around coach education and development.
McDonald’s input has been designed to support the work of
UK FAs to redevelop the grassroots coaching infrastructure and
increase the quantity and quality of coaches and coaching practice.
• Between 2002 and 2006, McDonald’s investment has been used
by UK FAs to support delivery of entry level coaching qualifications
by providing free or subsidised places at coach education
courses for teachers and parents at primary schools in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland and coaches at accredited clubs in
England. Since 2006, all UK FAs have used McDonald’s investment
to subsidise access to Level 1, Level 2 and New Youth coaching
awards at accredited clubs. In Wales, the WFT has provided ongoing
mentoring support to coaches as part of a UEFA commended
coach re-validation programme. Overall, this has enabled coaches
to match aspirations with applicability of content across vertical
and horizontal coaching pathways.
tHiS PagE: Young footballers attend a McDonald’s KickStart grant event
nExt PagE: The partnership has had a positive impact on the growth of girls’ football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 5
Executive Summary
• The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has contributed
to increasing the number and diversity of qualified coaches across
the UK. Over the last ten years, the McDonald’s partnership has
supported 25,000 coaches to achieve Level 1, Level 2 and New
Youth Award coaching qualifications, including a significant
number of BME groups and women. The provision of financial
subsidies has helped coaches to circumvent barriers of cost and
increased accessibility to coach education courses. In particular,
it has helped to engage large numbers of coaches with no prior
experience of coaching and has enabled them to ‘open the door’
and take their first steps along the coaching pathway.
• Results have included a series of positive personal and social
benefits for older and younger adults undertaking coaching
qualifications. These include: increased self-esteem, confidence
and communication skills and organisational, planning and
problem solving skills. This is especially the case amongst young
coaches whose participation in the sport as volunteer coaches
and leaders has contributed towards increased social capital and
a stronger sense of active citizenship.
• Improvements have been seen in the technical development of
coaches and support delivery of new innovative coaching practice at
local level. It has also supported efforts towards changing traditional
coaching philosophies from a ‘win at all costs’ mentality, towards an
approach which prioritises fun, inclusivity and the learning needs of
children. This is enhanced through increased opportunities for social
interaction and information sharing between coaches from different
backgrounds and experiences at coaching courses.
• Accredited clubs have been supported in establishing more robust
coaching infrastructures and increasing size and scope of coaching
capacities, with particular regard to coaching children and young
people. Increased quantity, quality and professionalism of grassroots
coaches has heightened the appeal of accredited clubs to children,
young people and parents.
(II) cLub aND wOrKFOrce DeveLOPmeNT• Since 2006, McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has
supported an increasingly expansive strategic and operational focus
of UK FAs to develop clubs and voluntary workforces in accordance
with nationally recognised club accreditation programmes. In doing
so, McDonald’s has worked with UK FAs to develop a range of
financial, educational and resource based support to ‘skill-up’
volunteers and improve club infrastructures. These have included:
CPD workshops, The FA Your Game website, the McDonald’s
KickStart website, the McDonald’s KickStart grants scheme, the
McDonald’s Club Twinning programme, provision of kit and
equipment to accredited clubs, and the annual Community
Awards programme for volunteers in England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland.
• The increasingly expansive programme of support enabled by the
McDonald’s national grassroots football partnership has helped
define the roles and responsibilities of UK FA regional development
teams and quickened the momentum of club and workforce
development in the UK. This has included increasing the capacity
of UK FAs to deliver a greater number and range of CPD courses
and increasing the quantity and quality of volunteers with key skills
and responsibilities for club management, administration, and child
protection and welfare issues. Financial support has increased access
to kit, equipment and resources essential to training sessions and
competition organisation.
• The work of the McDonald’s partnership to develop a series of
regional and national Community Awards events has provided an
important conduit to recognise and reward volunteers in grassroots
football, helping build closer relationships between clubs and local
and national FAs and increased volunteer retention and club
sustainability over time.
• The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has helped clubs to
establish stronger infrastructures and enabled a more professional
approach to service provision at grassroots. Clubs have become
more centrally positioned as community sports hubs with increased
appeal to children, young people and their families.
Ten years of Teamwork reporT6
Executive Summary
(III) chILDreN aND yOuNg PeOPLe
• The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership focuses on increasing
and broadening participation and ensuring quality experiences
of football amongst children and young people, underscored by
assisting accredited clubs to establish child protection and welfare
policies and increase and improve the quality of grassroots
coaching infrastructures.
• Results have seen a rise in the amount, frequency and scope of
football provision targeting children and young people and the
growing numbers taking part in organised football at grassroots
clubs. It has also had a positive impact on broadening the diversity
pool of young participants, in particular the growth in girls’
football. Programmes such as Mums on the Ball – a scheme that
created female only courses designed to get mums into the game
and qualify as coaches – have increased the number of female
coaches acting as positive role models for young female footballers.
• Increased participation has helped engender a series of positive
social and personal benefits for children and young people
involved in playing the game. For younger children, benefits
include increased confidence, communication and inter-personal
skills, whilst older children are reported as exhibiting increased
motivation, improved attitudes and behaviour and a growing
sense of personal responsibility.
• The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has helped UK
FAs and clubs to quicken the pace of the introduction of new
diverse formats such as mini-soccer, futsal and small sided games
and helped increase the number of children playing football.
In England there are presently around 66,000 mini-soccer and
youth teams at FA Charter Standard clubs. Further, the work of
McDonald’s to support the delivery of football festivals at schools
and clubs has provided increased opportunities for children and
parents in fun, family orientated football activities in a safe,
supportive and non-competitive environments.
• Improvements in the technical development and child-friendly
skill sets of coaches has had a positive effect on improving the
quality of experiences of football amongst children and young
people, raising the standards of children’s and youth football in
an inclusive learning environment for young participants.
(Iv) suPPOrTINg The sTraTegIc aIms aND ObJecTIves OF uK Fas • McDonald’s contribution to grassroots football has had a beneficial
impact on the work of UK FAs to meet a series of objectives
within their respective strategies for the development of the
grassroots game. This includes increasing the number and quality of
accredited clubs, raising standards of coaching provision, improving
the technical development of young players, and increasing
participation to include previously under- represented groups, such
as women and girls.
• Public relations input has significantly raised the profile and shone
a positive light on the grassroots game. In particular, the work of
McDonald’s and UK FAs to develop national Community Awards
has meant increased recognition and reward for club coaches and
volunteers involved in delivering and sustaining the grassroots
game at the local level.
mcDONaLD’s grassrOOTs FOOTbaLL ParTNershIP: ProSPEctivE analySiS
(I) The wIDer sOcIaL aND sPOrTINg cONTexT• Many UK households are experiencing a steady decline in
living standards and a reduction in disposable income.Youth
unemployment remains high, especially in regions already
experiencing socio-economic deprivation. Since 2008, there
has been a significant decline in rates of formal and informal
volunteering.
• Since 2010, there has been a substantial reduction in funding for
school sport. This is likely to halt progress in increasing participation
in sport and physical activity amongst children. While the most recent
data from the DCMS Active People survey does show an increase
in participation since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games among those aged 26 or over, there has been no increase
in participation among the 16-25 year olds in the six years since
October 2006.
(II) cOach eDucaTION aND DeveLOPmeNT: McDonald’s contribution has led to improving the technical development of young players
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 7
Executive Summary
PrIOrITIes aND chaLLeNges
• UK FAs continue to express strong commitment towards coach
education and development in the medium term, with emphasis
on increasing quantity and quality of coaches. The new FA Youth
Development Review places further emphasis on the importance of
Youth Awards and child centred coaching practice. The commitment
of UK FAs reflects the aspirations of accredited clubs. Forthcoming
priorities include: increasing the number and diversity of coaches;
developing young coaches; further enhancing the skill-set of existing
coaches; and engaging in wider coach networks to share best
practice in coaching children.
• Challenges to coach education and development include balancing
resource limitations with increasing demands on UK FA regional and
county development teams to deliver a comprehensive service of
coach education, especially at smaller FAs with limited funds and at
larger FAs where rapid expansion of club accreditation programmes
has increased demand for coach education. These challenges
are exacerbated by economic recession and increasingly limited
disposable income of coaches and clubs.
(III) cLub aND wOrKFOrce DeveLOPmeNT: PrIOrITIes aND chaLLeNges• UK FAs continue to express commitment to improving club and
workforce development. In particular UK FAs are keen to assist
more clubs to achieve accreditation and to support clubs to
achieve ‘gold star’ status. Priorities for clubs include: attaining
further accreditation; increasing the number and diversity of
volunteers with emphasis on parents and young people;
improved service provision to children and young people.
• Challenges to club and workforce development include: cost
of CPD workshops and in-service training; decline in adult and
youth volunteering; difficulties in recruitment and retention of new
volunteers; over-reliance on a small number of ‘stalwart’ volunteers.
(Iv) chILDreN aND yOuNg PeOPLe: PrIOrITIes aND chaLLeNges• UK FAs continue to focus on developing children’s and youth
football. The new FA Youth Development Review provides an
ambitious strategy which promises to build on existing good
practice and further embed mini-soccer and small sided games
as central pillars of children’s and youth football. The commitment
of UK FAs and the new Youth Development Review has been
warmly welcomed by grassroots clubs in these areas. Priorities
include: increased focus on youth orientated coaching awards;
delivery of more and better quality child centred football provision.
• Challenges to children’s and youth football include limited
affordability, and the accessibility and quality of training and playing
facilities. This is specially the case with reference to local authority
cut-backs and poor pitch maintenance, lack of access to schools
facilities, and the high cost of hiring private leisure facilities.
Further challenges include the limited operational capacities of
UK FAs, schools and local authorities to implement the practical
considerations of the FA Youth Development Review, in particular
the emphasis on additional material and resource support required
to ‘bring to life’ this process.
(v) FINaL recOmmeNDaTIONs• In Section 5 of this the report, the IYS research team provides a
series of recommendations designed to inform the potential future
of work of McDonald’s and the UK FAs to continue to develop the
grassroots game in the UK. Recommendations are intended to
build on existing good practice, complement future priorities and
circumvent those forthcoming challenges briefly alluded to above
and discussed more fully in the main sections of this report.
Carlos Santos at the Coach of the Year assessment day
Ten years of Teamwork reporT8
Executive SummaryIntroduction
1.1 evaLuaTION cONTexTThis research report has been undertaken by Professor Barrie Houlihan
and Dr Steven Bradbury at the Institute of Youth Sport, School of
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University. The
report evaluates the work of the partnership between McDonald’s and
the Football Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland to develop grassroots football between 2002 and 2012. In
doing so, the report examines the ways in which McDonald’s and the
four UK FAs have worked together to improve three key areas of the
grassroots game: coach education and development, club and workforce
development, and children’s and youth football. The report also offers
some prospective analysis of forthcoming priorities and challenges
which are likely to impact on grassroots football in the next three to five
years. Finally, the report makes some key recommendations designed to
enhance the potential future contribution of McDonald’s to support the
ongoing work of the UK FAs to develop grassroots football in the UK.
1.2 meThODs aND samPLe grOuPThe IYS research team utilised a mixed methods approach to data
collection and analysis. This involved conducting a review of academic
and policy related literature relating to the socio-economic, sport
policy, and football specific environment, and a full analysis of UK FAs’
national strategic documents focusing on the grassroots game. The
team also examined a range of reports and promotional accounts which
illustrated McDonald’s contribution to grassroots football over the
last ten years. The IYS research team also conducted semi-structured
interviews with 40 research participants involved in delivery of the
grassroots game at the national, regional and local level in England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They included: eight national
level senior administrators, thirteen regional and county development
officers, and nineteen key organisers and coaches at grassroots clubs.
Interviews were also undertaken with four senior staff at McDonald’s
and Red Consultancy. This multi-layered approach to conducting
research enabled the IYS research team to build up a holistic picture of
the processes and outcomes of the work of McDonald’s and UK FAs to
develop grassroots football in the UK over the past ten years.
1.3 sTrucTure OF The rePOrTThe findings featured in this report follow a clear format. In Section 2,
the report begins by providing some wider context with respect to the
socio-economic and sport policy context within which work to develop
grassroots football has been ‘played out’. This section also provides
a brief overview of the strategic focus and operational capacities of
the four UK FAs in relation to the grassroots game, and highlights
some recent progress and achievements on this score. It also outlines
the shape and scope of McDonald’s input into the grassroots game
and its relationship with UK FAs to this end. In Section 3, the report
provides a retrospective analysis of the work of McDonald’s and UK FAs
to develop grassroots football, with respect to three key areas of focus:
coach education and development, club and workforce development,
and children and young people. Section 4 offers a prospective analysis
of the key issues which are likely to impact on grassroots football in
the medium term, with particular emphasis on wider socio-economic
and sport policy factors, and key priorities and challenges facing the
grassroots game. Finally, in Section 5, the report provides a series
of key recommendations designed to inform the potential future
contribution of McDonald’s to support the work of UK FAs to
continue to develop the grassroots game across the UK.
The Wider Context
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 9
2.1 The wIDer sOcIaL aND sPOrT POLIcy cONTexTThe years between the mid-1990s and 2012 have generally been an
encouraging period for youth sport initiatives although the economic
crisis that began in 2008 poses severe challenges to the maintenance
of momentum. This will be discussed more fully in Section 4 of this
report. At least up to 2008, many of the social and economic factors
that provide the foundation for successful youth sport initiatives,
such as employment, child poverty and trends in volunteering, were
positive. Unemployment fell steadily from January 1997 (2.18m)
to January 2008 (1.62m) before rising sharply to 2.65m in January
2012 (Office for National Statistics, various years). The proportion of
children living in poverty fell slightly from 34% in 1997 to 29% in
2009 (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2011). Between 2001 and 2009,
those volunteering at least once a month increased slightly from 39%
to 41% with the number volunteering in sport reaching a total of just
over 2m in 2009/10. Disposable income increased steadily from 2000
and continued to increase even when GDP began to decline in 2008.
Within this broadly positive socio-economic context, successive
governments have continued to support sport through specific policy
initiatives and the allocation of resources from the Exchequer as well
as from the National Lottery. One of the main reasons for the increased
government support for sport was the belief that sport could help
the government achieve a range of social objectives, particularly those
associated with social inclusion. In 2002 the government published
its major strategy document, Game Plan, which set the goals of
increasing participation in sport and achieving greater international
sporting success. Central to the strategy was the focus on economically
disadvantaged groups, in particular, young people. Ambitious targets
were set including raising adult participation levels from 30% to 70%
by 2020.
A number of initiatives were introduced to help achieve Game Plan’s
objectives for young people’s participation. Of particular importance
was the introduction of the network of School Sport Partnerships
(SSPs) and Specialist Sports Colleges. Central to the work of Specialist
Sports Colleges (innovative hubs for the development of school sport
and PE) and SSPs was the development of after-school sports activities
and the fostering of links between schools and local sports clubs.
This was seen as a way of creating pathways along which children
could progress and by which children could remain involved in sport
after leaving school. The success of these initiatives was clear, with
the proportion of children participating in at least two hours of sport
per week increasing from 25% in 2002 to 90% in 2010.
The government elected in 2010 maintained, although more
modestly, the prioritisation of youth sport. The policy document
Creating a sporting habit for life, published in January 2012, gives
particular priority to those in the age range 14 to 25 years and is
premised on the assumption that ingraining a life-long commitment
to sports participation requires a long term strategy and involves
generational change in behaviour patterns. The strategy is supported
by £1bn investment over a five year period and identifies national
governing bodies of sport and local sports clubs as essential partners
in delivering the government’s objectives. The strategy is also supported
by the introduction of a hierarchy of inter-school competitions which
will culminate in an annual School Games modelled on the Olympics.
2.2 The wIDer grassrOOTs FOOTbaLL cONTexT
2.2.1 uK Fas and the grassroots game:
strategic and operational overview
I. England
The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body for football in
England. The FA Board is the principal decision making body within the
FA and features equal representation from two distinct sub-boards: the
Professional Game Board (PGB) and the National Game Board (NGB).
The work of the PGB and NGB is driven by the FA Group Strategic
Plan: the FA’s overarching national strategy for the governance and
development of the grassroots, domestic and international game
in England. The work of the NGB is driven by the National Game
Strategy (NGS) 2011–2015. The NGS outlines six key areas of strategic
focus: Growth and Retention, Raising Standards, Better Players,
Running the Game, Workforce, and Facilities. The NGB management
team has overall responsibility for the delivery of the NGS and works
collaboratively with the FA Football Development team and the FA
Learning department to deliver against its strategic aims and objectives.
At an operational level, the implementation of the strategy is
supported by nine FA funded regional development officers and teams
of around ten FA funded football development staff at each of the
52 County Football Associations (CFA) of England. CFA development
staff deliver activities at the local level and work with a range of key
statutory and commercial partners, as well as with volunteers at clubs,
leagues and other football providers.
lEft PagE: Above Image: McDonald’s ambassador Sir Geoff Hurst at Farringdon Football Festival | Bottom image: Women’s football is on the rise in Scotland
tHiS PagE: Llay United FC, Wales
The Wider Context
Ten years of Teamwork reporT10
II. scotland
The Scottish Football Association (The Scottish FA) is the governing
body for football in Scotland. The Scottish FA Board is the principal
decision making body within the Scottish FA and is complemented
by two operational sub-boards: the Professional Board (PB) and the
Non Professional Board (NPB). The work of the PB and NPB is driven
by Scotland United: A 20/20 Vision, the Scottish FA’s overarching
strategy for the governance and development of Scottish football. The
Scottish FA along with the members of the NPG have now created a
Plan for the Non-Professional Game, to be launched in March, which
builds further on the strategic direction of Scotland United a 20/20
Vision. The Scottish FA Football Development management team has
key responsibility for the development of grassroots football across
Scotland and works collaboratively with key partners within the
Scottish FA to deliver against shared strategic aims and objectives.
These partners include: the Scottish Schools, the Amateur, Junior and
Women’s FA, and regional associations. At an operational level, work
to develop the grassroots game is supported by six Scottish FA funded
regional development teams and by football development officers
within each of the 32 Local Authorities across Scotland. These latter
positions are funded jointly by the Scottish FA, Sport Scotland and
Local Authorities. Scottish FA development teams work with a range
of statutory, commercial and football club partners to deliver activities
and events designed to raise standards and grow the grassroots game.
III. Wales
The Football Association Wales (FAW) is the governing body for football
in Wales. The FAW Board is the principal decision making body within
the FAW and is supported by a series of standing committees focusing
on the grassroots, domestic and international game. The FAW Strategic
Plan is the overarching strategy for the governance and development
of Welsh football. Responsibility for the development of the grassroots
game is undertaken by the Welsh Football Trust (WFT). The WFT
was founded in 1996 and is funded by the FAW, Sport Wales, Welsh
Assembly Government and the Welsh Premier League. The WFT has
a four year national strategic plan: Growing the Game and Raising
Standards 2010–2014. The WFT national management team has
overall responsibility for the delivery of the WFT national strategic
plan. At an operational level, the implementation of the strategy
is supported by six teams of around six to eight WFT regional
development officers. These officers work with key statutory and
commercial partners and with clubs and coaches to deliver training
and resource support at the local level.
Iv. Northern Ireland
The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for football
in Northern Ireland. The IFA Board is the principal decision making
body of the organisation and has developed the IFA Strategic Plan:
an overarching strategy for the governance and development of the
grassroots, domestic and international game. The national strategy
outlines intentions to encourage a culture of lifelong participation
in the game and to utilise the power of football to generate a series
of wider social outcomes at the local level. Responsibility for the
implementation of the participation and education elements of the
IFA national strategic plan sits with the IFA Grassroots management
team. At an operational level, the delivery of the strategy is undertaken
by a team of 15 IFA funded regional development officers. Regional
development staff work with key partners at the local level including
schools, clubs and local authorities to promote best practice in football
across a range of settings.
2.2.2 uK Fas and the grassroots game:
progress and key achievements
I. Coach education and development
There has been significant progress in increasing the numbers of
qualified coaches in the UK over the last ten years. For example, the
FA National Strategy 2011–2015 has reported that there are presently
around 56,000 Level 1 coaches and 14,730 Level 2 coaches situated at
FA Charter Standard clubs in England, as well as tens of thousands of
qualified coaches outside of this framework. Similarly, interviewees at
the Scottish FA, WFT and IFA report that around 12,000 coaches were
undertaking equivalent courses across the home nations on an annual
basis. UK FAs also report some success in diversifying the grassroots
coaching workforce to include more women, BME groups and young
people (16–24 years old). In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the
delivery of school based programmes has engaged significant numbers
of primary school teachers and parents in coach education courses.
The significant increase in the number and diversity of coaches in the
UK in recent years is strongly underpinned by increased opportunities
to access coach education courses, for example, in terms of the number
and frequency of coach education courses, the range of venues at
which they are delivered and the increased flexibility of delivery in
order to meet local needs and lifestyle priorities. The provision of
financial subsidies to circumvent cost barriers has also opened up coach
education to a broader cohort of participants than has been the
case in the past. UK FAs have also developed more comprehensive
and structured coaching pathways over time. This has afforded
increased opportunities for coaches to better ‘match-up’ their skills
and aspirations with applicability of content, for example, in terms of
vertical progression (upwards across levels with an emphasis on the
technical development of players) and horizontal progression (sideways
across modules towards key specialisms focusing on children, youth
and disability). The delivery and take-up of these latter courses is likely
to gather pace in forthcoming years and forms a central pillar of the
recently ratified Youth Development Review (YDR) in England.
tHiS PagE: UK FAs report increase in participation in football of girls and women
nExt PagE: McDonald’s ambassador Pat Jennings
The Wider Context
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 11
II. Club and workforce development
There has been significant progress in terms of work to improve club
and workforce development across grassroots football in the UK. This
is evidenced through the increasing number of clubs in the UK which
have achieved nationally recognised club accreditation status. For
example, in England since 2001, more than 6,000 clubs have achieved
FA Charter Standard status, including around 500 which have achieved
the coveted FA Charter Standard Community Club award. In Wales the
same stands true, with mandatory requirements for all youth team
clubs to achieve accreditation as part of the Welsh Football Trust’s
Club Accreditation Scheme. Whilst the focus on club accreditation
began a little later across some of the home nations, there are strong
signs that work of this kind is gathering pace. For example, since 2006
more than 300 clubs in Scotland have achieved Scottish FA Quality Mark
status and the IFA reports a strong momentum towards improved club
development in the grassroots game.
Overall, there are an estimated 400,000 volunteers working to support
the organisation and delivery of grassroots football in the UK. Findings
drawn from UK FA national reviews suggest these figures have remained
fairly stable over time and that the volunteer workforce at grassroots
clubs has become more diverse in recent years. UK FAs also report a
stronger emphasis on the design and delivery of specialised training
and resource support to help professionalise the volunteer workforce
at clubs and formalise club operations within wider club accreditation
frameworks. To this end, there are strong signs that the increasingly
focused work of UK FAs has improved the infrastructure and capacity
of clubs and enabled an improved standard of service provision to
local client groups of young footballers and their families.
III. children and young people
There has been significant progress in terms of work to increase
participation in organised football amongst children and young
people in recent years. For example, the FA National Game Strategy
2011–2015 reports that in 2011 there were 29,932 mini soccer teams
and 36,740 male youth teams at FA Charter Standard clubs in England:
a rise of 19% and 7% respectively over the previous three year period.
Similarly, the Scottish FA, WFT and IFA all indicate a rise in participation
levels at accredited club and a more general shift from ad hoc to more
sustained participation amongst young players over time. UK FAs also
report broadening patterns of participation, with particular respect
to girls and young women. For example, the FA and WFT report a
15% and 27% increase respectively in the number of girls’ teams
at accredited clubs. Despite these promising figures, there remains
a marked drop off rate in levels of participation in organised football
amongst adolescent boys and girls across the UK.
UK FAs report an increased and broadened delivery of children’s and
youth football provision in recent years. For example, the Scottish FA,
WFT and IFA report delivering an increased number of curricular and
extra curricular programmes in primary schools targeting 5–11 year
old boys and girls. Similarly, the FA reports the general growth in links
between schools and FA Charter Standard clubs, primarily through
the School Sports Partnership programme. The FA also report that the
quantity and quality of provision for children and young people has
been greatly enhanced by its longstanding and highly successful coach
education programme. On this latter score, the FA reports that 74%
of all children’s and youth teams at FA Charter Standard Clubs now
have a qualified Level 1 coach: an increase from a 1% standing start
when figures were first collated in 2001. Similarly, all UK FAs report
increased opportunities for children and young people to take part in
more flexible formats of football, such as mini-soccer and small-sided
games. Whilst these activities have been delivered at a range of school
and club based settings, in Northern Ireland, the development of 50
small-sided games development centres has provided a conduit into
football participation for large numbers of boys and girls.
2.2.3 uK Fas and mcDonald’s:
the national grassroots football partnership
McDonald’s involvement in grassroots football first began in 1995
when it became the Official Restaurant of the Premier League, Scottish
Premier League and Irish Football League; then, in 2002, McDonald’s
became the UK FAs’ official Community Partner. McDonald’s soon
appointed former international players Sir Geoff Hurst (England),
Kenny Dalglish (Scotland), Ian Rush (Wales) and Pat Jennings (Northern
Ireland) as McDonald’s UK national ambassadors to help support and
raise the profile of the new national grassroots football partnership.
McDonald’s also appointed former Manchester United youth team
coach Eric Harrison as its Head of Grassroots Coaching. Since this time,
McDonald’s has invested around £50 million (£5 million per annum)
into football in its capacity as the UK FAs’ official Community Partner.
This significant financial investment is split proportionately across each
of the UK FAs and involves a combination of direct funding, which is
used autonomously by UK FAs, and funding which is ring-fenced for
specific activities. McDonald’s also provides additional grant award
funding to support specific initiatives, activities and events, and training
and resource support for grassroots coaches and clubs. The flexibility
of this funding process takes account of the very different structural
and operational capacities of UK FAs and the differing national
contexts in which they function, and has allowed UK FAs to operate
a range of different delivery mechanisms in order to generate a series
of similar strategic and operational outcomes. Broadly speaking, the
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership is designed to support the
work of UK FAs to increase the numbers of qualified coaches, skilled
volunteers and accredited clubs in grassroots football in order to grow
participation and ensure quality experiences of the game amongst
children and young people.
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT12
3.1 cOach eDucaTION aND DeveLOPmeNT
3.1.1 Key areas of input and investment
Since 2002, the main focus of the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership has been on coach education and development in
grassroots football. This key area of focus was initially identified by
McDonald’s and UK FAs as an area of the game which was in relative
decline, as evidenced by the low levels of qualified coaches and the
limited quality of experiences amongst children and young people.
McDonald’s input was intended to support a new strategic push on
the part of UK FAs to redevelop the grassroots coaching infrastructure
and increase the quantity and quality of coaches and coaching practice.
Between 2002 and 2006, McDonald’s investment was primarily utilised
by UK FAs to support work to deliver Level 1 (or national equivalent)
coaching courses. These courses are delivered by UK FA endorsed
coach education tutors and are designed to equip new coaches with
the requisite skills and knowledge to deliver coaching activities to a
broad range of client groups, especially children and young people.
In England, the FA has used this investment to provide subsidised
places on courses for coaches at clubs engaged in the FA Charter
Standard club accreditation process. In Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland, where the development of club accreditation programmes were
still in their relative infancy, funding was initially used to subsidise coach
education courses for teachers and parents delivering curriculum time
and extracurricular football sessions in primary schools.
Since 2006, McDonald’s investment has been utilised by UK FAs
to complement the development of new vertical and horizontal
pathways for coaches, including subsidising access to more advanced
Level 2 courses and new, age appropriate, Youth Awards. In some
cases, investment has also been used by UK FAs to subsidise specialist
goalkeeping and disability coaching courses. In Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland, there has also been a marked shift away from school
based programmes towards supporting coaches at accredited clubs.
McDonald’s investment has also been focused towards engaging under-
represented groups, such as those drawn from socio-economically
deprived locales and women. On this latter score, in 2008, the
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership launched the Mums on
the Ball programme as a means of engaging and inspiring mums
and female spouses to get involved in grassroots football as coaches.
3.1.2 Delivery mechanisms and support
Since 2002, the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has
helped to increase the capacities of UK FAs to deliver coach education
and provide ongoing mentoring and validation for qualified coaches.
This has enabled UK FA development teams to increase the number,
frequency and flexibility of coach education courses. This more layered
approach to the delivery of coach education was cited by interviewees
as a key factor in increasing access to courses and broadening the
diversity of the pool of qualified coaches to include more women
and BME groups. The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has
also helped UK FAs to broaden the scope of coach education courses
to include Level 1, Level 2 and new Youth Awards. This has enabled
coaches to match up aspirations with applicability of content and
realise coaching ambitions across vertical or horizontal pathways, and
has increased the appeal of coach education to this end. For example:
“We’ve now got our new courses which the McDonald’s programme
supports through the FA Youth Awards, which have dramatically
changed in content. They’re excellent courses designed to really
focus the coaches working with grassroots kids.’’
Mick Baikie, National Clubs Services Manager, The FA
“I think, with the help and marketing of the FA Learning Coaching
Pathway, people are more aware that there are alternative routes
into coach education. And certainly with the support of McDonald’s,
we’re seeing a growth in the Youth Award modules. That has been
vital for developing coaches and young players, and making sure the
workforce is aligned to the sort of style and type of coaching that
they’re involved with.” Kelly Ellis, Head of Football Development,
Leicestershire and Rutland FA
lEft: McDonald’s ambassador Sir Geoff Hurst at the Tiptree Mums on the Ball event
aBovE: Tim Durkin-Brown, FA Community Awards Coach of the Year 2011
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 13
The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership was also cited by
interviewees as an important factor in enabling the provision of ongoing
mentoring support designed to enhance the progression of coaches.
For example, in Northern Ireland, IFA development officers have used
McDonald’s funding to provide informal ‘follow-on’ sessions for
recently qualified Level 1 coaches in order to share best practice and
signpost coaches to further training and resource support. In Wales,
the WFT has developed a more formalised process of revalidation
for qualified coaches which has been commended by UEFA. This
programme includes: one-to-one mentoring support, refresher courses
and workshops, and a process of coach education ‘re-sits’ to ensure
consistency of standards and service provision over time. UK FA based
interviewees below reference the processes and positive outcomes
of work of this kind:
“On the coach mentoring side, the support that we’ve given
them makes those people feel valued and that we’re interested
in their development. So that’s been an encouraging thing for
them. Obviously without McDonald’s support that would be a lot
more difficult. So that’s been good for us and helped us with the
work that we’re doing.” Johnny Michael, Grassroots Development
Officer, Regional IFA
“When we’re talking about revalidation courses, the recent
grassroots conferences included three validation workshops back
to back. We delivered six of those in total, one in each area, and
we had around eighty at each conference. That was funded
through McDonald’s and proved to be very successful.”
Jay Probert, Regional Development Coordinator, WFT
3.1.3 enabling access and increasing participation
The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has made a significant
contribution to increasing the number and diversity of qualified
coaches across the UK. Between 2002 and 2006, more than 10,000
coaches have achieved Level 1 coaching qualifications as a result of
McDonald’s investment into the grassroots game. Since 2006, a further
10,000 coaches have benefited from McDonald’s input to achieve a
more diverse range of coaching qualifications, including Level 1, Level
2 and new Youth Awards. These coaches have been drawn from a
diverse range of social and professional backgrounds and have included
significant numbers of women. Interviewees at national FAs comment
further on the numerical growth of qualified coaches and McDonald’s
contribution to these positive outcomes over time:
“I think if you see where we were a little over 10 years ago, 0.6%
of our teams had a qualified coach with them. Now it’s around
75%, and our target is 80% of our teams with a qualified coach.
So in terms of that alone, if there was nothing else, that would
be phenomenal, and McDonald’s has certainly played its part in
that process.” Pete Ackerley, Senior National Game Development
Manager, The FA
“Coach education has been and will remain our priority. Coach
education numbers have increased over the years. There was
a significant jump from 6,000 people to around 9,000 people
annually going through certificate courses within Scottish football.
That was due to the initiation of a regional structure, an increase
in staff and an increase in focus on community clubs, and that’s
been assisted by the input of McDonald’s.” Andy Gould, Head of
Regional Development, The Scottish FA
case sTuDy: hazeL haverON
Hazel Haveron is a community football coach at Ballinamallard
Youth FC in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. Ballinamallard
Youth FC has achieved club accreditation status and presently runs
around 20 teams for children and young people from the ages of
five to 18 years old. Hazel first became involved in Ballinamallard
Youth FC about 12 years ago when she took her young son to
take part in mini-soccer sessions at the club. Hazel soon began
providing wider informal support towards the running of the club
and also helped out with on-field activities as part of mini-soccer
sessions. In 2008, Hazel was approached by the IFA regional
development officer and asked if she would like to undertake
a Level 1 coaching qualification. The award was sponsored by
McDonald’s as part of the Mums on the Ball initiative. Despite
being a little nervous, Hazel soon gained in confidence and
passed the Level 1 coach education course with flying colours.
Since that time, Hazel has continued to coach mini-soccer
sessions and has recently focused on developing girls’ football
at the club. Hazel has also undertaken further volunteer support
workshops and has assumed the position of child protection
and welfare officer at the club.
Going on the McDonald’s course, I’ve learnt to communicate
more, and to organise better. It’s actually working with people and
realising that people grow or improve at football at different ages
and different stages. I was so dubious of it, and I thought long and
hard about it, thinking “Oh God, I don’t know if I can do this.”
But, you know, I have learnt a lot from it, and I hope I have passed
on some of the stuff that I have learnt. There’s coaches coming
in now and they would come and ask my opinion on stuff which
would never have happened. What man would come and ask a
woman for advice on football coaching? But it’s at least once a
week you get one of the coaches asking “well, what do you think
here, what about this”, I’m able to help them and direct them to
the best ways of doing things.”
Hazel Haveron
“
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT14
The growth and diversification of the grassroots coaching workforce
has been supported by the work of the McDonald’s grassroots
football partnership to subsidise coach education courses for coaches
at accredited clubs. In some cases, these subsidies have also been
‘match-funded’ by clubs, local authorities, housing associations and
McDonald’s restaurants involved in Twinning programmes. Interviewees
at all levels of the grassroots game referred positively to the impact
of financial bursaries in enabling access to courses for individuals and
clubs which otherwise would not have had the means to engage in
this process. The linkage between affordability, accessibility and the
increase in qualified coaches is outlined by FA based interviewees
below:
“I think in terms of the bursaries that have been made available
by McDonald’s, in terms of making it affordable, that’s had a
massive impact on increasing the numbers of coaches that can
access courses.” Pete Ackerley, Senior National Game Development
Manager, The FA
“The biggest contribution of the McDonald’s funding has been the
discounted coach education courses that we provide through the
quality mark programme. The feedback has been that more people
are going on because it’s more affordable. It’s definitely breaking
down barriers for those who wanted to go on previously but
couldn’t afford it.”
Kevin Lee, Club Development Manager, East Scottish FA
The provision of financial bursaries for coach education courses were
also felt by interviewees to have been particularly helpful in engaging
coaches from socio-economically deprived backgrounds, women, BME
groups and young people. The interviewees below comment further
in this respect:
“I think McDonald’s has contributed in terms of the diversity of
coaches because we targeted specific areas through those courses
and provide them free. So we’ve now got more of those groups
who have traditionally been under-represented within the coaching
fraternity.” Mick Baikie, National Clubs Services Manager,The FA
“Certainly McDonald’s has provided a number of free spaces on
coaching courses, which when they’ve come up, we’ve snapped
their hands off. What we try and do is regenerate the older youth
players, 17, 18, 19, back through the academy, so that they’re
helping on Saturday morning, particularly with the younger ones.”
Rob Farrar, Club Chairperson, Oadby Owls FC
On this latter score, there was a strong consensus amongst
interviewees with regard to the wider personal and social benefits
accrued through achieving coach education qualifications, in
particular, with reference to increased self-esteem, confidence and
communication skills. The practical delivery of coaching sessions was
also felt to have increased organisational, planning and problem solving
skills and encouraged increased self-sufficiency and independence
amongst coaches. These skills were considered to have significant
transferability to other areas of social life and to have a particular
resonance for the educational development and employability of
young coaches. These findings chime strongly with wider academic
and policy narratives which suggest that youth sports volunteering
can help develop social capital and contribute towards increased
youth citizenship. Two grassroots club organisers comment further:
“We’ve developed a number of our 16, 17, 18 year old coaches
who have got Level 1s, and you know it develops there social skills.
I mean, we’ve got a lad who has just finished now at the academy
because he’s going off to university, but his parents spoke to me
about how it’s developed him as a person and his confidence,
whereas he was quite a shy person, he can now talk straight and
direct.” Rob Farrar, Club Chairperson, Oadby Owls FC.
“They can see that we’ve invested time and money and everything
in them, in our young coaches. We’ve got these young lads turning
up on a Friday night to coach, on a Saturday and a Sunday, and
that’s a big commitment for a 16, 17, 18 year old. I think they’re
so aware now of how hard they’ve got to work in order to stand
out from the crowd. If they’re not getting that investment at home,
if they can get that investment at the club, get somebody else to
believe in them, it does make that difference to them. And you can
see how motivated they become and how it raises their aspirations”
Nicky Morris, Club Chairperson, Newtown White Stars FC
The provision of financial subsidies has also generated the significant
benefit of engaging coaches with no prior experience of more
formalised coaching practices. To this end, the McDonald’s grassroots
football partnership was felt to have played a key role in ‘opening
the door’ into grassroots coaching and helping coaches to ‘step onto
the ladder’ of the coaching pathway. Interviewees also felt that the
completion of Level 1 courses acted as a catalyst for more sustained
coaching contributions over time. For example:
“I would say the key benefits are that they have provided us
with numerous opportunities to bring people either into the
coaching family, particularly with Level 1s, or they’ve helped us
develop coaches further. I think what McDonald’s has done, and
they’ve done it brilliantly in my personal view, is they’ve opened
up opportunities for people to get into football, and that has
helped clubs because it’s a cost they haven’t had to find.”
Steve Smithies, Club Coach, Nantwich Town FC
“I think primarily opening the door to non-coaches, effectively
getting them on that first rung of the ladder in terms of [Level 1]
football leaders. Because a lot of the people that we’re dealing
with are parents, they’ve got involved in football with their children.
The McDonald’s courses help them make the step onto the first
stage of the coaching ladder.”
Andy Pask, Club Development Officer, South Wales FA
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 15
3.1.4 Improving the quality of coaches
and coaching practice
The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has contributed
to the more general improvements in the quality of coaches and
coaching practice in grassroots football across the UK. A number of
interviewees felt that the provision of coach education courses and
additional mentoring programmes had led to a marked improvement
in the technical development of coaches, with particular respect to
increasing knowledge, skill sets and competencies. Further, these
support mechanisms were also felt to have engendered an increased
sense of critical self-reflection amongst coaches and enabled the
delivery of new, innovative, coaching techniques. The interviewees
below reference the role of the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership as a ‘key driver’ in this process:
“I think the coaches become more motivated when they go to
these courses. They come back more focused on what they want
to do and it obviously brings out new ideas for them to take onto
the training grounds. Without that kind of injection of knowledge
and experience, sometimes it can be a bit stale, so going to these
courses certainly gives them a greater knowledge of how deliver
to the kids. So coach education is absolutely critical, you know.”
Stewart McKenzie, Club Coach, Cumbernauld Colts FC
“I’ve been doing some coach development with some of the local
clubs and we’ve had some great feedback from the guys about
how much they’ve got out of somebody coming down with them
for 4 to 6 weeks and giving them new ideas. Giving them lots of
information about things that they can do with their team, and
taking the sessions and showing them different ways of doing
things that they just haven’t thought of, they haven’t seen before.”
Ken Duncan, Grassroots Development Officer, Regional IFA
“I think that they’ve raised the bar and really it’s such a professional
approach. I think that what McDonald’s brings to it is this sort of
badge of quality, I think that the support they give the FA means
that it’s a good professional product.” Roy Waterfield, Chief
Executive Officer, Shropshire FA
case sTuDy: KeITh gIbsON
Keith Gibson was working as a computer programmer at a local
bank in Craigavon in Northern Ireland when he first began to
pursue his dream of becoming a football coach. Keith was helping
out with his son’s local team and at a youth club when he saw
McDonald’s coaching courses advertised in the local newspaper.
Keith soon undertook his Level 1 and Level 2 coaching awards and
his coaching journey began. He began delivering coaching sessions
at local boys clubs and in schools alongside the local council and
IFA regional development officers whilst still working on
‘personalised hours’ at the bank. In 2006, following the
expansion of the IFA grassroots programme, Keith successfully
applied for a position at the IFA and has since been employed
as a full-time regional development officer. Over the last six years,
Keith has delivered coaching sessions in schools and clubs, helped
to develop and mentor new coaches, and assisted clubs to achieve
club accreditation status. He has also successfully achieved his
coaching ‘A’ licence and was nominated as the Northern Ireland
coach of the year.
McDonald’s has been incredibly good to me, I have to say.
They’ve helped with my qualifications through to the A licence,
I was nominated to be the Northern Ireland representative at a
UK awards day, and then within my job as a grassroots officer,
obviously they do fund a lot of our programmes. On a personal
level, I’ve benefited hugely from it, obviously it’s been a complete
career change for me, so that’s been a huge thing, and a change
of lifestyle as well. I took a career break for three years to have a
go at it. I’ve been employed now with the IFA for six years, so the
career break has gone. There’s no going back now!”
Keith gibson
“
lEft PagE: McDonald’s has opened up opportunities for people to get into football
tHiS PagE: McDonald’s event at Johnstown FC, Wales
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT16
case sTuDy: TIm DurKIN-brOwN
Tim Durkin Brown is a community football coach at Eagle Juniors
FC in Warrington in the North West of England. Eagles Juniors FC
has achieved FA Charter Standard Development Club status and
presently runs around 20 teams for children and young people
from the ages of five to 18 years old. Tim first became involved in
Eagle Juniors about 10 years ago when he took his five year old
son along to take part in mini-soccer sessions at the club. Tim soon
began to help out informally with organising sessions and was
asked by the club if he would like to attend a McDonald’s funded
Level 1 coach education course. Tim seized the opportunity and
has never looked back. Over the last ten years Tim has gone on to
attend further McDonald’s funded coach education courses and
workshops and has delivered coaching sessions and run team’s
right across the age ranges of the club. In honour of his expanding
skill set and extensive voluntary coaching efforts, Tim was awarded
the FA/McDonald’s National Grassroots Coach of the Year in
2011. Tim has since attended a coaching master class at Wembley
alongside key figures within the professional game and has
assumed the position of development officer at Eagles Juniors FC
with responsibilities for mentoring and supporting other coaches
at the club.
I’d say that I was an average coach before all this came to
light. I mean, I was just there to train kids of whatever age group
and to develop the kids to the best of my ability. But since I did
the McDonald’s courses and won the national coach of the year
it’s made me a lot more confident. I believe in what I’m actually
coaching and to think that other people believe in what you’re
doing is great. The stage fright’s become less now because you
go to different venues, people are asking you to put a coaching
session on and it just builds from there. So it’s absolutely just
out of this world. I do believe the lads have seen a difference, a
difference of approach to how we’re actually going about things,
and that’s all through the process of winning national coach of
the year. Well, to be perfectly truthful, if it wasn’t for McDonald’s,
I wouldn’t be where I am now and the kids wouldn’t have got
what they’ve got now.”
tim Durkin-Brown
“
A number of interviewees also cited additional benefits of attending
coach education courses in terms of bringing them into contact with
other coaches from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences.
Coaching courses and additional ‘follow-up’ workshops were framed
by interviewees as a site of communal learning, collegiality and mutual
support. This was also felt to have enabled the ‘cascading down’ of
newly acquired skill sets to other coaches within club based settings.
For example:
“I think what they find when they go on a coach education course,
there’s a level of social interaction and support from each other, and
you just build up those relationships. So, more often than not it’s an
opportunity for coaches to come together and share good practice
and it’s a forum for coaches to discuss innovative techniques or the
ways in which they deliver packages on a Wednesday night or a
Saturday morning.”
Jay Probert, Regional Development Coordinator, WFT
“What I did, in my role at the club, I was able to go on these
courses and then I was actually able to arrange some meetings and
get together with the coaches at the club and cascade down the
stuff that I’d picked up, you know, the best practice stuff. So again,
what McDonald’s has enabled us to do there is to get coaches on
courses and then those coaches tend to share the knowledge of the
course with other people.”
Steve Smithies, Club Coach, Nantwich Town FC
FA Community Awards Coach of the Year 2011, Tim Durkin-Brown with Stuart Pearce
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 17
3.1.5 Improving coaching infrastructures,
appeal and sustainability
The work of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership to
increase the quantity and quality of coaches within the grassroots
game is intrinsically linked to wider processes of club and workforce
development and national club accreditation processes. To this end,
work to increase the size and scope of coaching capacities has enabled
clubs to deliver more and better quality coaching sessions to children
and young people. A number of interviewees suggested that progress
on this score was underpinned by the abilities of clubs to recruit
parents of younger children to undertake coaching courses and to
coach specific groups of children as they move upwards through
the age ranges of organised football over time. The interviewees
below comment further on the inter-relationship between coach and
club development and the contribution of McDonald’s to increasing
the sustainability of coaching over time:
“Coach education is tied in with the club development because
a club can’t survive if it doesn’t have coaches. That’s why I think
it’s key to promote good coach education, to try and promote
the philosophy that we want more and better quality coaches.”
Ken Duncan, Grassroots Development Officer, Regional IFA
“The benefits have been that we’ve actually got the coaches
qualified. So from our point of view, the coaches that we’ve put
on the McDonald’s course were the ones who were just starting
out. This will hopefully give us a 10 year succession plan and secure
the future for the club and its kids.”
Grant Perry, Club Chairperson, Bishops Castle FC
There was a strong consensus amongst interviewees that the work
of McDonald’s and UK FAs had also helped to professionalise the
coaching infrastructures at clubs. This was especially the case with
reference to the increased numbers and heightened skill sets of
coaches, the consequent improvements in approach and delivery
of coaching sessions, and the increasingly professionalised outward
appearance of coaches. On this latter score, interviewees alluded
to the positive impact of McDonald’s branded kit and equipment in
heightening the appeal and ‘selling point’ of clubs to children and
their families. For example:
“Having qualified coaches is a way of selling the club to parents
who can be reassured about the quality of experience our coaches
can provide for their children.” Lester Shore, Club Chairperson,
Whitchurch Alport Juniors FC
“The benefit is that the coaches got kitted out and it’s great to see
when you go down to a grassroots football coaching session and
they are kitted out in the McDonald’s gear. It gives the look that
the FA is trying to portray for grassroots football.”
Hannah Simpson, Chief Executive Officer, West Riding FA
“All our coaches have coaching jackets and coaching shirts, and
have obviously got the coaching qualification. It adds to the prestige
of the club. I mean they look the part and they are the part.”
Rob Farrar, Club Chairperson Oadby Owls FC
3.2 cLub aND wOrKFOrce DeveLOPmeNT
3.2.1 Key areas of input and investment
Since 2006, the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has
developed a more expansive focus to support the growing strategic
and operational focus of UK FAs to support clubs to achieve nationally
recognised programmes of club accreditation. To this end, McDonald’s
has assumed a more central position as a key partner in the FA Charter
Standard programme in England, the Quality Mark programme in
Scotland, and national club accreditation programmes in Wales and
Northern Ireland. In doing so, McDonald’s has worked collaboratively
with UK FAs to develop educational and resource support and a
programme of volunteer recognition awards for clubs and volunteers.
In terms of educational support, McDonald’s has worked with UK
FAs to support the delivery of a range of continued professional
development (CPD) workshops to volunteers at clubs. These in-service
training courses are intended to equip volunteers with the requisite
skills, knowledge and understanding to run clubs effectively and
provide a quality service to key client groups of young footballers.
Training of this kind has included a focus on club management and
administration, club finances and sponsorship, and child protection
and welfare issues. Completion of these courses and the allocation
of volunteers to key roles and responsibilities within clubs are
essential to meet the assessment criteria of national club accreditation
programmes. A part of this process, in 2010 McDonald’s supported the
work of the FA Learning department to develop and launch the Your
Game website. The website is designed to act as a key educational
resource in terms of its content and in helping signpost users to access
appropriate courses delivered by County FA development teams across
England. More recently in 2012, McDonald’s developed and launched
a new grassroots football website called KickStart. This website has
a broader UK wide scope than the English based Your Game website,
and is intended to appeal to a wider range of football providers
both within and outside of national club accreditation frameworks.
The website features a range of educational content under three
key headings; Get Informed, Get Inspired, and Get Funding. More
specifically, KickStart is a virtual medium through which users can
identify relevant coach and club accreditation pathways, increase
awareness of McDonald’s initiatives and events, and are signposted
towards funding agencies.
Laura Woodcock coaching young players at a Coach of the Year assessment day
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT18
Since 2006, the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has
developed a series of financial resource support packages for clubs
working through incremental stages of national club accreditation
programmes. Further, in 2009 the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership launched the McDonald’s Twinning programme which
is intended to build productive relationships between restaurant
franchisees and accredited grassroots clubs. Franchisees are encouraged
to provide kit and equipment for teams and organisational support
for tournaments, festivals and other football events targeting children,
young people and their families. The programme is also intended to
provide clubs with business advice and direction on issues such as
finance, sponsorship and managing the workforce. More recently,
in 2012 McDonald’s also launched the McDonald’s KickStart grants
scheme. This gives clubs the opportunity to apply for a range of
essential items such as training courses, pitch hire and equipment.
Starting first in Scotland in 2003 and filtering through all of the home
nations over the last eight years, the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership launched the national grassroots annual Community
Awards programme. This programme is designed to recognise and
reward the efforts of clubs and volunteers working in the grassroots
game. In practice, key stakeholders in the grassroots game in each
country in the UK put forward nominations across a range of key
categories, including: Leagues, Clubs, Volunteers, Coaches, and
Outstanding Services to Football. The selected finalists are recognised
and rewarded at national awards ceremonies and receive awards
from McDonald’s national ambassadors and UK FA representatives.
3.2.2 Delivery mechanisms and support
Since 2006, the more expansive focus of the McDonald’s grassroots
football partnership has significantly enhanced the work of UK FAs
to support club and workforce development. It has enabled UK FA
development teams to increase the number, frequency, flexibility and
venues of CPD courses and in-service training offered to the grassroots
club workforce. Interviewees reported these more expansive and locally
tailored delivery mechanisms had increased the appeal, accessibility and
take-up of courses of this kind. Other educational and resource support
such as the Your Game website and kit and equipment was also felt to
have helped to quicken the pace of club and volunteer development.
FA based interviewees comment further:
“I think the financial element of McDonald’s support first of all
is crucial. It’s important because it’s certainly allowed us as a small
association to improve our resources quicker than we would
normally do, with particular regard to the quality mark scheme.”
Kevin Lee, Club Development Manager, East Scottish FA
“For us, McDonald’s has allowed us to run programmes and not
have to go to schools or clubs and look for them to put their hand
in their pocket, and that’s meant there’s been a lot more ‘buy in’
because you’re not asking them for money.”
Ken Duncan, Grassroots Development Officer, Regional IFA
The contribution of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership
was felt by some interviewees to have played a key role in helping
better define the roles and responsibilities of UK FA development staff
working with clubs and volunteers. This was most notably the case in
Northern Ireland where McDonald’s funding was used to part fund the
wages and help focus the work programmes of regional development
officers. UK FA based interviewees below comment further on the
beneficial impact of engendering productive relationships at the
local level:
“The sponsorship has been invaluable, not only to keep our 15
development officers in employment, but to enable them to go
out and focus part of their work programme on a ‘hands on’ basis
in working with the clubs. So they’ve been out meeting with the
chairman, the secretary, and speaking about how they can put in
place better infrastructures, whereas before it might have been
only the coaches they were in contact with.”
Lee Carroll, Head of Grassroots Football, The IFA
“The McDonald’s funding helped us kick start the quality mark
scheme in the first instance, otherwise we might have been toiling
a little bit. It added a lot of value, you know, for us to go to clubs
in the first instance, we needed to be seen to be giving them
something, whether it was kit and equipment or whether it was
coach education or club development workshops.”
David Drummond, Regional Manager, South East Scottish FA
McDonald’s ambassador Ian Rush with 2012 FAW People’s Award winner, Mary Ball
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 19
3.2.3 enabling access and increasing participation
The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has had a strongly
beneficial impact on increasing the numbers of clubs achieving
nationally recognised club accreditation status. At the present time,
more than 6,000 clubs across the UK have achieved accreditation of
this kind. Interviewees drew clear linkages between the efforts of the
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership and this growing number
of accredited clubs across the home nations. For example, interviewees
referenced the ‘usefulness’ and ‘applicability’ of educational and
resource support such as CPD workshops and the Your Game website
and felt these support mechanisms had helped skill up an increased
number of volunteers. This had in turn enabled clubs to establish
increasingly robust operational infrastructures and delivery capacities.
Two senior staff at national FAs comment further:
“In terms of our recent funding submission to Sport England, I
was able to evidence and clearly prove that they should invest
some funding to support our charter standard club environment,
because when you look at the growth in teams in football clubs,
where there’s a charter standard on it, they grow the numbers of
teams year on year, as opposed to lose teams year on year. That
quality measure is growing participation in our sport.”
Pete Ackerley, Senior National Game Development Manager, The FA
“In the past it was a schools programme. That was fine, but where
it sits now, it’s far more relevant to the work that we’re doing in
conjunction with local authorities. So I think that now, the impact
that we’re getting from this project and these programmes, we
have 323 quality mark clubs and many of those clubs becoming
stronger, more robust clubs with many teams, and the quality mark
programme has really helped that.”
Andy Gould, Head of Regional Development, The Scottish FA
The work of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership
to enable financial subsidies for CPD workshops was felt by
interviewees to have quickened the pace of club and workforce
development at clubs involved in national accreditation
frameworks. These subsidies were often used as leverage by UK
FA development teams to encourage volunteers to engage in key
learning programmes. Similarly, the incentive approach of enabling
access to kit and equipment was felt to be a useful mechanism
for engaging clubs and their voluntary workforce in the club
accreditation process. For example:
“So we run quite a large number of courses anyway, and through
the McDonald’s funding to run them as free and subsidised courses
has been a great benefit. In terms of working with the clubs
to get them the appropriate qualifications to become a charter
standard club, and in other instances rewarding clubs because
they’ve achieved charter standard and are able to access the free
or subsidised courses as a result.”
Mick Baikie, National Clubs Services Manager, The FA
“It’s a benefit of becoming a chartered standard club that you
then have opportunities to put a member of your club workforce
on various courses. So the clubs would benefit by not having to
pay out that set amount of money because most clubs, certainly
chartered standard clubs, will pay as a club rather than ask an
individual to pay to go on courses.” Kelly Ellis, Head of Football
Development, Leicestershire and Rutland FA
East Dunbartonshire Football Festival
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT20
3.2.4 Improving the quality of clubs and the volunteer workforce
The increasingly expansive programme of support provided by the
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has had a significant
impact on improving the quality of clubs and their volunteer workforce,
with particular respect to club management and administration.
In particular, CPD workshops were felt by interviewees to have
empowered volunteers with new skill sets and competencies relevant
to the ‘changing face’ and increasingly professionalised structure
of the grassroots game. To this end, volunteers were felt to have
become much better equipped to assume key organisational roles and
responsibilities within clubs, with particular respect to child protection
and welfare positions. The interviewees below comment further:
“We’ve got a more skilled workforce, we’ve got identified job roles,
we’re building up skill sets that are required to run a club, and run it
properly. We’ve gone from clubs with two or three teams, to small
to medium sized enterprises, a significant turnover, with significant
financial and legal structures and responsibilities.”
Pete Ackerley, Senior National Game Development Manager, The FA
“I think although they’re volunteers they are a much more
professional workforce in the standard they maintain and that’s all
to do with the way the FA and McDonald’s has developed the range
of courses that are out there.”
Hannah Simpson, Chief Executive Officer, West Riding FA
A number of interviewees also reported additional benefits of
attendance at CPD workshops in terms of opportunities to liaise with
and learn from volunteers at other clubs. Course attendance was felt
to act as a catalyst for longer term relationships between volunteers
at different clubs and to have encouraged networks of information
sharing and mutual support. Course attendees were also likely to
implement internal good practice as a result of attending courses
of this kind. For example:
“What we find is, by up-skilling these volunteers, they’re obviously
taking that back into their clubs. To some extent you’re getting
a little bit of a domino effect of people that have had a positive
experience by attending a course, taking it back to their club, and
learning others ways of implementing good practice.” Kelly Ellis,
Head of Football Development, Leicestershire and Rutland FA
The work of the McDonald’s partnership to recognise and reward
volunteers was felt to have had a positive impact in supporting the
work of UK FAs to improve club and workforce development. To this
end, interviewees strongly alluded to the importance of the Community
Awards as a mechanism for recognising and rewarding the efforts of
the ‘unsung heroes’ of grassroots football. This was felt to be especially
important in the case of older ‘life-time’ volunteers, younger volunteers
showing enthusiasm and initiative, and volunteers with specialised skill
sets working with ‘hard to reach’ groups. The Community Awards were
also felt to have positively promoted the social, economic and sporting
value of volunteering and to have helped build closer ‘emotional
relationships’ between volunteers, clubs and national FAs. On this
latter score, interviewees drew clear linkages between the ‘thank-you
effect’ of volunteer recognition and the increased likelihood of the
sustainability of volunteering over time. For example:
“It has really allowed us to shine a light on the grassroots award
programme. It just grows from strength to strength now in the
regions, it’s been a great addition. We can tell more stories,
and the profile of grassroots football is important but is always
challenging to put into the limelight. So McDonald’s has provided
good support on that side of things.”
Andy Gould, Head of Regional Development, The Scottish FA
“I think it’s really important. Most people volunteer because their
own children are in clubs and they start helping out. But there’s
not a lot of recognition and you get taken for granted quite a bit.
You turn up every Saturday, rain, hail or shine, and when everybody
goes away. There’s no parents staying behind and help you clear
up, and sometimes you think “God, why am I doing this?” But
McDonald’s make you feel as if what you’re doing is worthwhile,
and people do appreciate it, and it’s nice to know there is that
support out there.”
Chris Parkin, Club Secretary, Mumbles Rangers FC
McDonald’s Peckham Football Festival
2012 FA Community Young Volunteer of the Year, Taome Caville, with award hosts Ben Shephard and Chris Kamara and England Women’s international Casey Stoney
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 21
3.2.5 Improving club infrastructures, appeal and sustainability
The increasingly programme of educational, resource and
financial support enabled by the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership has had an identifiably positive impact on improving
the infrastructures, appeal and sustainability of clubs. This support
has enabled clubs to establish clear policies and procedures
designed to enhance organisational infrastructures and to provide
a more professional approach to service provision. This has enabled
clubs to increase their operational capacity and ‘reach out’ to a
wider range of key stakeholders within the game, including local
authorities, funding agencies and facility providers. In doing so, many
clubs have experienced a marked organisational and cultural shift
from weekend football providers to assume a more central position in
the popular consciousness as ‘community sports hubs’. The increasing
professionalism of grassroots clubs and their voluntary workforce has
also increased their appeal to children, young people and their families.
This has had a significant impact on increasing participation levels and
the enabling longer term sustainability of clubs. Two senior figures at
national FAs outline below the inter-relationship between the increased
quality and heightened appeal of accredited clubs:
“The chartered standard club, it’s actually starting to build that
minimum quality standard that is recognisable and is becoming
the benchmark. If I was a parent or a grandparent, I’d be saying
where should I take him or her? Is it safe? Is it going to be a right
environment? Is it going to be an enjoyable experience? And the
charter standard provides that badge of assurance.” Peter Ackerley,
Senior National Game Development Manager, The FA
“I’m under no shadow of doubt, if it wasn’t for the quality mark
programme, and in my opinion, the McDonald’s programme, the clubs
wouldn’t be in a position just now to do what they’re doing. You
have clubs now who are community sports hubs that have community
groups involved in it.”
Andy Gould, Head of Regional Development, The Scottish FA
The improved infrastructure, appeal and sustainability of clubs have
also been underpinned in many cases by the work of McDonald’s and
UK FAs to develop the McDonald’s Twinning programme. McDonald’s
report that, since its launch in 2008, more than 750 restaurants and
accredited clubs have ‘signed up’ to the programme and have worked
together on a range of initiatives, activities and events. Whilst the
shape and scope of franchisee support for clubs has varied across
local contexts, a number of interviewees reported developing strong
and productive relationships on this score. This was especially the case
where McDonald’s franchisees had utilised their transferable business
skills and acumen to provide advice, encouragement and direction on
the financial and human resource management of clubs.
case sTuDy: cumberNauLD cOLTs
Cumbernauld Colts FC is based in Cumbernauld in the
central belt of Scotland. The club has around 350 players
and an unbroken pathway of teams for boys aged six
upwards through to the adult game. It also has provision
for girls’ youth teams. There are around 80 volunteers
involved in the clubs, including 70 qualified coaches,
all of whom have done additional first aid courses. The
club has expanded rapidly from just one team in 1999 to
around 30 teams at the present time. Cumbernauld Colts
achieved the Scottish.
FA Quality Mark Standard status in 2007, and in 2008
achieved Quality Mark Community status. The expansion
and development of Cumbernauld Colts has been led by
Stewart McKenzie who was the Scottish FA/McDonald’s
Grassroots Merit Award Winner in 2008. The development
of the club has also been enabled by McDonald’s wider
support for the Scottish FA Quality Mark scheme and
through direct financial subsidies for coach education
courses and the provision of kit and equipment.
McDonald’s has been the catalyst for much of our
development because they sponsor the Scottish FA and the
Quality Mark programme. So McDonald’s and the Scottish
FA have been able to provide us with support, through coach
education, discounts, kit, and we won one of the awards
as well. Quality Mark gives you a framework to ensure that
you’re doing things in a structured and appropriate way,
whether that be in terms of your finances, child protection or
coach education, so you can then deliver a safe environment
for the players within your organisation. It raises your status
within the game, locally and nationally, it gives parents an
assurance that your club’s operating in an appropriate way
and they want to bring their kids to those particular clubs.”
stewart mcKenzie
“
McDonald’s ambassador Kenny Dalglish at Cumbernauld Colts, Scotland
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT22
3.3 chILDreN aND yOuNg PeOPLe
3.3.1 Key areas of input and investment
Since 2002, the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership
has featured a strong emphasis on increasing and broadening
participation and ensuring quality experiences of football amongst
children and young people. This key area of focus was identified as
an area of the grassroots game which needed additional support in
order to ensure the sustainability of football across the UK. To this
end, the work of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership to
improve the infrastructural development and organisational capacities
of clubs and to ‘skill up’ volunteers with appropriate knowledge about
child protection and welfare issues at clubs can be seen as part of this
process. Work of this kind is intended to bring about a cultural change
in the ways in which clubs prioritise engaging and developing children
and young people in and through football.
The work of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership to
develop children’s and youth football has also been directed through
the conduit of coach education and efforts to increase the number
of qualified coaches in the UK. For example, between 2002 and 2006,
McDonald’s investment supported the work of the Scottish FA, WFT
and IFA to help primary school teachers and parents to achieve Level 1
coach education qualifications. UK FA development teams and newly
qualified parent and teacher coaches then delivered quality curriculum
time and extracurricular football sessions to cohorts of 5–11 year olds
in schools. Since 2006, the Scottish FA, WFT and IFA have shifted
emphasis away from school based activities towards a more club
centred approach, mirroring the longstanding work of the FA around
club and coach development. During this latter period, McDonald’s
investment has been used by UK FAs to subsidise Level 1, Level 2 and
new Youth Awards for coaches primarily involved in delivering sessions
to children and young people at accredited clubs. In addition, the
increased number of women coaches engaged through programmes
such as the Mums on the Ball programme has had a positive effect in
encouraging more girls and young women to play the game.
McDonald’s has also provided a range of more direct financial and
resource support for clubs and coaches to help increase opportunities
for quality participation in football amongst children and young
people. For example, McDonald’s has provided ‘start-up’ kit and
training equipment such as balls, bibs and cones to help support
clubs, coaches and their teams. This process of reward for efforts
to engage children at the local level has been supplemented more
recently through the additional support enabled by the McDonald’s
Twinning programme and McDonald’s KickStart grants scheme.
McDonald’s has also worked directly with UK FA development teams
and accredited clubs to deliver a range of branded football festivals
and fun days across the UK. These events have been supported by
McDonald’s restaurant staff and volunteers and have been attended
by McDonald’s national football ambassadors. Events of this kind
have been designed to engage children and their parents in fun
and family orientated football activities in a safe, supportive and
non-competitive environment. Central to these events has been the
delivery of ‘fundamental skills’ training and opportunities to play more
diverse formats of the game, including futsal, mini-soccer and other
small-sided games. These festivals have acted as a ‘taster sessions’
for children (and their families) with little prior experience of playing
the game and have enabled clubs to identify, access and engage new
cohorts of children in structured and sustained football activities.
case sTuDy: mumbLes raNgers Fc
Mumbles Rangers FC is based in Swansea in South Wales and
presently has around 30 teams for children and young people
including mini-soccer teams, small-sided teams and full-size youth
teams catering for boys and girls. The club also has three adult
teams and a veterans’ team. There are more than 100 volunteers
involved in the club, including around 70 qualified coaches,
of which about 10 have achieved their Level 2 (C certificate)
coaching award. The club has recently achieved the Silver Award
of the McDonald’s sponsored Welsh Football Trust national club
accreditation programme. In recent years, the club has formed a
strong relationship with the franchisee at the local McDonald’s
restaurant as part of the McDonald’s Twinning programme. This
has been very beneficial to the club in terms of providing kit and
equipment, organising open days at the clubs, and providing the
club with additional volunteer support from McDonald’s staff.
More specifically, this franchisee has provided significant business
advice, expertise, and direction and this has helped the club to
significantly expand its operational capacity and expand the size
and scope of its football provision to include more children and
local youngsters.
Without a doubt it’s given us direction, and it’s given us
encouragement and it’s raised our profile. That’s enabled us
to introduce better quality management into the club. He’s [the
franchisee] been predominant in the coaching and funding the
coaching. He’s helped us with a particular age group and funded
kit and things like that. Without McDonald’s and the McDonald’s
Twinning programme, we wouldn’t be where we are today,
without a doubt. I think when we started we had 20 or 21 teams
and in the last five years we’ve grown 10 teams. We’re finding
we’re now the club of choice in the area, so it’s brilliant.”
chris Parkin
“
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 23
3.3.2 Delivery mechanisms and support
The McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has made a significant
contribution to increasing opportunities for participation in organised
football amongst children and young people. In the first instance,
McDonald’s input has enabled UK FA development teams to work
closely with clubs to improve their organisational infrastructures and
achieve nationally recognised club accreditation status. Further, the
longstanding support of McDonald’s to increase the quantity and quality
of club coaches has enabled around 25,000 coaches to achieve Level
1, Level 2 and new Youth Awards. This support has enabled clubs to
dramatically increase the extent, frequency and scope of football
provision targeting children and young people. For example, in England,
the FA reported that in 2011 there were 29,932 mini-soccer teams
and 36,740 male youth teams at FA Charter Standard Clubs: an
increase of 19% and 7% respectively over the previous three years.
Similarly, interviewees in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
reported an increased delivery of organised football provision for
children and young people. In these latter cases, work undertaken
between 2002 and 2006 significantly increased opportunities to
play the game in primary school settings. For example, in Wales,
around 1200 ‘after schools’ football clubs were established by
parents and teachers during this period. UK FA based interviewees
comment further on the growth in children’s and youth football
and McDonald’s contribution to this process:
“I think the chance to play the game would not be there to the
extent and at the level it is if not for McDonald’s. The quality of
what we provide is definitely enhanced by the fact that we’ve got
McDonald’s support. I think it forces an organisation to become
more thoughtful on the quality of what they do because you’ve
got other people that will contribute and you know that partnership
approach means that you drive each other on a little bit.”
Kevin Lee, Club Development Manager, East Scottish FA
“As a regional grassroots officer, certainly the support locally and
nationally of McDonald’s has opened up a lot of doors for us to
get into schools that we maybe wouldn’t have got into in the past.
We have schools over here who focus very much on rugby or some
schools who focus very much on GAA. We were able to get into
those schools and give the kids a different programme and the
chance to try football.”
Ken Duncan, Grassroots Development Officer, Regional IFA
There was a strong sense amongst interviewees that the McDonald’s
grassroots football partnership had helped quicken the pace of the
introduction of new, more diverse, football formats for children and
young people, including futsal, mini-soccer, turn up and play, and
small-sided games. Interviewees referenced the positive impact of
qualified coaches, kit and equipment, and support from the McDonald’s
Twinning programme in helping to broaden the range of football
opportunities on offer at clubs. McDonald’s football festivals and
support from national ambassadors were also cited as a positive input
in terms of ‘raising the profile’, ‘shining a light on’ and ‘validating the
efforts’ of the day-to-day work of clubs to this end. For example, the
interviewee below references the impact of McDonald’s investment in
supporting the efforts of the IFA to develop a co-ordinated programme
of small-sided games in Northern Ireland:
“We run the McDonald’s games development centres on Saturday
mornings which is really taking off now. We have approaching 50
venues across the country for small-sided games, which are staffed
and co-ordinated by coaches and volunteers, with three different
types of pitch and different goals for 5, 7 and 9 a side. McDonald’s
sponsorship has enabled us to do that. Without that support we
may have struggled host venues, and then you have children losing
out, so that’s a big growth area for us.”
Lee Carroll, Head of Grassroots Football, The IFA
lEft: McDonald’s ambassadors Ian Rush and Eric Harrison share tips and advice with young players
aBovE: McDonald’s ambassador Kenny Dalglish at the East Dunbartonshire Football Festival
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT24
3.3.3 enabling access and increasing participation
The efforts of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership has
assisted the work of UK FAs to increase and broaden participation
in organised football amongst children and young people, especially
amongst the 5–14 years old age range at accredited clubs. Interviewees
cited McDonald’s support to develop coach education, club and
workforce development, and more diverse formats of the game
as key factors in encouraging rising participation rates amongst
children and young people. There was also a strong sense amongst
interviewees that the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership had
helped to broaden the diversity pool of young participants, especially
in relation to girls’ football. To this end, a number of club based
interviewees reported increased and more focused efforts to establish
a sustainable framework of girls’ football in recent years. In some
cases, interviewees drew a clear linkage between programmes such
as the Mums on the Ball initiative and the growth in the numbers of
girls playing the game. It was felt that women coaches were better
positioned to act as positive role models, provide mentoring support
and understand the playing capacities and emotional needs of young
girls. For example:
“I think female coaches are great role models for the girl’s football,
I mean I’m not a player, but I’ve learnt enough skills through the
McDonald’s courses just to feel confident about showing them what
to do. I think the girls feel happy coming to me, a little bit more
at ease and not so shy. They feel that little bit more confident and
they’re able to ask more questions. I think if there’s more females
involved encouraging them and giving them a bit more confidence,
the girls would stay a lot longer in football.” Cindy Halliday, Club
Coach, Catterick Garrison / local schools
case sTuDy: DINa POwys Fc
Dinas Powys FC is based in the Vale of Glamorgan in South
Wales and presently has around 30 teams for children and young
people between the ages of six and 18 years old, including four
girls’ teams. The club has over 50 qualified Level 1 coaches and
a cluster of coaches with more advanced and specialist coaching
skills and competencies. The club has achieved the Silver Award
of the McDonald’s sponsored Welsh Football Trust national club
accreditation programme and was awarded the WFT/McDonald’s
Community Club of the Year award for the South Wales region
in 2012. The work of committed volunteers and regional
development staff at the WFT to expand the club in recent years
has been supported through the provision of subsidies for coach
education courses and kit and equipment from McDonald’s. This
has enabled the club to broaden its focus and provision to set up
a clear entry point and ongoing pathway for participation amongst
girls, with some considerable success.
‘We’ve been working on increasing girls’ football in the
area. So we worked with the Football Development Officers in
the area, and through the McDonald’s scheme we started a turn
up and play at Barry Sports Centre and then from that then we
entered an Under 12s team into the South Wales girls’ league that
season, which was about 8 seasons ago. That’s developed since,
so that we’ve got Under 10s, 12s, 14s, and 16s at the club now.
So we’ve managed it over a period of years and we’ve got a run
of teams now where we can work the girls through and play senior
women’s football in the village again at the club.
ray Davies, club chairperson
“
tHiS PagE: Redhill School, Mums on the Ball event
nExt PagE: TOP: Matchday action of Johnstown FC BOTTOM: Highworth Town FC receive new kit following McDonald’s grant
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 25
A number of interviewees referenced a series of positive personal
and social benefits for children and young people engendered through
regular structured football participation at clubs. This was especially
the case for younger children involved in child centred formats such
as mini-soccer, small-sided games and football festivals. Interviewees
noted that these safe, supportive and fun football environments
provided a site in which children exhibited notable improvements
in confidence, communication and inter-personal skills. Amongst
older children, interviewees referenced increased motivations and
improved attitudes and behaviour patterns, with particular respect
to ‘an increased understanding of others’, a growing sense of
‘personal responsibility’. Two club based interviewees comment further:
“It’s the confidence in the children, that’s the biggest thing I can
see, and because they’ve got to mingle, they’ve got to integrate,
which doesn’t happen a lot nowadays because they’re all sitting
on computers and iPhones and everything like that, I just think it’s
a great social thing and it does help their social skills.”
Cindy Halliday, Club Coach, Catterick Garrison / local schools
“I think it improves their self-esteem and their confidence.
You know, they’re in an environment where they are all mixing
together, and interacting with one another, so they learn how
to communicate better as well.” Irene Sutherland, Club Coach,
Shawventus FC / local schools
McDonald’s contribution to enabling access and increasing and
broadening participation in the game amongst children and young
people has been underscored by the provision of significant financial,
educational and resource support. This has enabled UK FA regional
and county development teams to support clubs and coaches to
achieve accreditation, increase coaching capacities, and deliver an
increased and broader range of child centred activities than has been
the case in the past. Of particular importance for clubs has been
the provision of ‘start up’ kit and equipment enabled through the
McDonald’s Community Awards, the McDonald’s KickStart grants
scheme, Twinning programme and the wider club accreditation
framework. This has helped clubs to deliver ‘kit out’ teams and
sustain high quality service provision against an increasingly harsh
economic backdrop. Interviewees below outline the practical
benefits of accessing McDonald’s resource support of this kind:
“Obviously we take every opportunity when it comes to reducing
cost, and McDonald’s has helped us no end with that, for sponsoring
courses and equipment. When you get equipment through from
McDonald’s, it’s always good because you’re backfilling at Under 8s
and they’re starting with nothing each time, and it can drain on the
club’s expenses. So it’s really useful to help get those teams up and
running for the first time each year.”
Martin Stanley, Club Coach, Saffron Dynamo FC
“With the influx of funding and equipment from McDonald’s, the
donations and the grants that you apply for, it just takes you on to
a different level. You’ve now got the tools to work with, so every
scenario you’re in you’ve got equipment to deal with it and that’s all
by support through McDonald’s and the FA grassroots programme.”
Tim Durkin-Brown, Club Coach, Eagles Juniors FC
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT26
3.3.4 Improving the quality of experiences of football
for children and young people
The work of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership to develop
the grassroots game has had a strongly beneficial impact on improving
the quality of experiences of football amongst children and young
people. This is especially the case in terms of the positive knock-on
effect of efforts to increase the numbers of qualified coaches working
with younger cohorts and the consequent improved standards of
coaching provision. For example, interviewees felt that support to
‘skill up’ coaches had engendered a positive impact on improving
the technical development of young players and to have ‘raised the
standards’ of children’s and youth football. For example:
“I suppose they go in as a parent probably not even understanding
football really, but just a willing volunteer. But they do come out
understanding things about player development, to get more
touches on the ball, turn them into better players, and to put
on practises and drills that will encourage a more sort of fun and
playful environment so the players are learning through the game.”
Tim Broome, Former Club Development Officer, Central Wales FA
“It’s what they get from the coaches, the quality of coaching that
they’ve received, it rubs off on the youngsters, and you see that
in the way they play. It’s a better experience for the kids after the
coaches have been on the courses.”
Ray Davies, Club Chairperson, Dinas Powys FC
Interviewees also referenced linkages between McDonald’s supported
UK FA coach education courses and changing philosophies and styles
of coaching practice. In particular, they alluded to the positive impact
of the increased understanding, skill sets and competencies of coaches
to deliver sessions and the prioritisation of children’s learning needs.
case sTuDy: IreNe suTherLaND
Irene Sutherland is long standing football fan who is also a
Primary School Teacher in Glasgow in Scotland. Irene has been
involved in the grassroots game for around 15 years, supporting
the involvement of her son and his friends in playing the game.
Following the implementation of the Scottish FA / McDonald’s
schools football programme, Irene has undertaken her Level 1
and Level 2 coaching qualifications. Since this time, Irene has
delivered curriculum time and extra-curricular activities for boys
and girls at the school and has developed a local youth team
called Shawventus, which has recently merged with another local
club. In 2006, Irene was selected as the winner of the Scottish
FA Grassroots best Primary School Teacher Award as reward for
her remarkable efforts. Irene continues to coach on weekdays
at schools and as part of a school based Saturday morning
mini-soccer programme and provides advice and support to local
young people undertaking coaching qualifications for the first time.
I just think the McDonald’s courses really motivate you.
It makes you feel “Oh, I can do this”. It makes you think about
football from the children’s point of view and it’s about letting the
children enjoy football, and that’s been my philosophy all these
years. If the children aren’t enjoying it, then the coach isn’t doing
something right. When the kids enjoy it, the keep coming back,
they stay with it for longer, and they develop more, as players,
and as youngsters as well.”
Irene sutherland
“
tHiS PagE: Scottish FA Community Award winner Irene Sutherland with McDonald’s ambassador Kenny Dalglish
nExt PagE: Mothers of Premier League footballers back the Mums on the Ball campaign
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 27
These newly trained coaches were felt to be much more likely than
‘old style coaches’ to create a fun, positive, learning environment
for children and young players. Importantly, interviewees identified
the heightened appeal of these more inclusive approaches to children
and young people and the impact on increasing the sustainability
of participation over time. For example:
“They feel more confident, happier, going along to training sessions
that they’re enjoying more, and they can see the benefit. They do
recognise, and I even recognise myself, that I feel so much more
confident having been on these courses, knowing what I’m looking
to do and why I’m doing it, the kids just respond to it, it’s fantastic
really.” Derek Hallas, Club Coach, Lepton Highlanders FC
“By influencing your coach in positive ways, in terms of how they
deliver their coaching, how they work with kids, technically, and
how they interact on a social level, in terms of attitude, behaviour,
discipline, etc, I think if you can go into a club environment and
influence coaches on all those levels there are major benefits
then for the kids who are playing the sport. I think they’re all
key elements in trying to provide and promote a better playing
environment for the future.”
David Drummond, Regional Manager, South East Scottish FA
“If you want to keep having an influx of children coming to your
club, the better your coaches are, the better chance you’ve got of
keeping the club running really. The fact is, there’s certain clubs
in the area that try and just go for winning at all cost, and I know
they’re losing players left, right and centre, because the children
don’t want to be in that environment. So, if you got the right kind
of coaches, with the right mentality, and the right skills, then that’s
going to grow your club, and make it more sustainable.”
Mike Cutler, grassroots volunteer
3.3.5 Improving club and coach infrastructures,
appeal and sustainability
The work of the McDonald’s grassroots football partnership to
develop coaches, volunteers and clubs has had a significant impact on
increasing and broadening participation in football amongst children and
young people. The increasing professionalisation of club infrastructures
and growth in qualified coaches has enabled accredited clubs to extend
their provision to include more teams across greater age ranges. This
has enabled children and young people to progress along a clearer
pathway from children’s mini-soccer and small-sided games to
full-sided youth teams and onto the adult game. For example:
“We’ve got children’s teams and youth teams, girls teams and boys
teams, youth teams and adult teams coming together as one. So
we’re creating bigger, stronger clubs, which allows that pathway
from children’s to the youth to the adult game, which creates more
volunteers within the club, and more people with specific skills to
develop, to allow the game to grow.”
Kevin Lee, Club Development Manager, East Scottish FA
case sTuDy: cINDy haLLIDay
Cindy Halliday has significant experience of coaching children and
young people across a range of settings. Over the last 12 years,
Cindy has set up and run football sessions for the children of
military personnel at army camps in England and Germany. These
sessions have engaged children and young people aged between
five and 14 years old in regular footballing activities which they
might otherwise miss out on as a result of the transient nature of
army lifestyles. In 2008, Cindy undertook a Mums on the Ball
Level 1 coaching course and in 2009 won the FA/McDonald’s
Community Coach of the Year award. Cindy was invited to
Wembley to attend the FA / McDonald’s Community Shield event
where she was the only female to receive an award that year. More
recently, Cindy has relocated to Scotland where she remains active
as a coach, delivering after schools football sessions in schools to
Under 9s and Under 11s boys’ and girls’ teams.
I think the McDonald’s courses are brilliant because so far
any courses I’ve been on, any little one day events, the people that
deliver them have always been really helpful and given you lots of
ideas, especially in terms of coaching youngsters. It motivates you
to do more coaching and keep getting more and more children
involved, and you really do see them develop, and stay in the
game.”
cindy halliday
“
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT28
Interviewees also reported positively on the impact of the work of
McDonald’s and UK FAs to help increase the appeal of clubs amongst
children, young people and their parents. This was underpinned by
efforts to encourage attitudinal and behavioural change amongst
coaches and other volunteers at clubs and had engendered a more child
centred ethos and outlook as a result. This was felt by interviewees
to have encouraged increased sustainability of participation in the
game amongst children and young people. These findings suggest a
positive symbiotic relationship between club and coach development
and the improved quantitative and qualitative experiences of children
and young people in the grassroots game. Interviewees at national FAs
comment further on these positive impacts:
“So through the coach education, not only are you improving the
quality of the coaching, but indirectly this will encourage more
children to come to the clubs, or keep getting involved, because
if they’ve got a good coach working there, and they know how to
work with children, it’s going to keep the children and their parents
engaged in football.”
Les Howie, Head of Grassroots Coaching, The FA
“The support that it gives clubs through accreditation and through
coach education support is crucial for us to further develop the
individuals, which, in turn, provides a better environment for these
young players to step into. And if there’s a better environment then
the hope would be that they would be retained within it and would
increase the number of players and young people taking part in the
game.”
David Drummond, Regional Manager, South East Scottish FA
“The feedback from the clubs is definitely that the numbers are
rising, and I strongly feel that’s because they’re getting organised.
They’ve now got child protection policies in place, they’re a safe club,
it’s a nicer environment because of the coaches. The McDonald’s
money has done a lot more than just improve the coaches, that
McDonald’s money and the programme that’s been set up has
allowed the clubs to grow. So there are umpteen cases where
through the quality mark, through the McDonald’s programme, the
club have grown and improved the environment for children.”
Andy Gould, Head of Regional Development, The Scottish FA
3.4 suPPOrTINg The sTraTegIc aIms aND ObJecTIves OF uK Fas
The overall contribution of the McDonald’s grassroots football
partnership has had a significant beneficial impact on the work of UK
FAs to meet a series of key aims and objectives embedded within their
respective strategies for the development of the grassroots game. For
example, work to increase the quantity and quality of the coaching
workforce has helped UK FAs to ‘raise the standards’ of coaching
provision, with particular respect to children and young people.
Further, the provision of financial subsidies and the delivery of targeted
initiatives such as the Mums on the Ball programme has enabled UK
FAs to ‘widen access’ and ‘broaden the diversity pool’ of qualified
coaches, with particular regard to BME groups, women and young
people. Similarly, McDonald’s support for work to increase the quantity
and quality of accredited clubs and volunteers has also helped UK
FAs to meet a series of key strategic aims and objectives concerned
with ‘raising standards’, ‘running the game effectively’ and ‘voluntary
workforce development’. In the latter case, the McDonald’s Community
Awards have had significant impact in assisting UK FAs to prioritise and
raise the profile of volunteer reward and recognition within national
associations. The financial, educational and resource support provided
by McDonald’s to enable coaches and clubs to increase participation
and ensure quality experiences for children and young people strongly
fits with the strategic focus of UK FAs to ‘raise standards’, ‘grow the
game’ and encourage the ‘greater retention of players over the
life-course’. UK FA based interviewees below outline further the
beneficial relationship between McDonald’s investment and the aims
and objectives of UK FAs to develop and sustain the grassroots game:
“The McDonald’s sponsorship has been fantastic for us. I’ve got to
say definitely in the last 3 or 4 years we’ve been far more focused
on the areas that we need to. So right the way from the local
grassroots element, right the way up to the national stage, I think
the sponsorship fits more now than it ever has.”
Andy Gould, Head of Regional Development, The Scottish FA
“I think in terms of McDonald’s contribution to the grassroots
game, I think primarily supporting the national strategy of growing
the game and raising standards. But then drilling down to the
regional level, assisting with on the ground delivery and meeting
our regional planned objectives. So, for example, things like coach
education programme, the accreditation scheme and the mini
football programme.’’
Andy Pask, Club Development Officer, South Wales FA
“I just can’t emphasise how much McDonald’s has helped. If
nothing else, money has brought everybody together. Nationally
and regionally it’s brought the associations together with the
clubs to share resources, to increase participation, to provide that
pathway and so on. I think McDonald’s has been a major driver
for that to happen.”
Kevin Lee, Club Development Manager, East Scottish FA
tHiS PagE: McDonald’s ambassador Sir Geoff Hurst at Maltby Juniors, England
nExt PagE: Cumbernauld Colts welcome McDonald’s ambassador Kenny Dalglish to the club
McDonald’s grassroots football partnership: contribution to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 29
McDonald’s contribution to helping UK FAs to meet key strategic
aims and objectives has been significantly assisted by the work of
McDonald’s to increase the profile of the grassroots game in the
wider popular consciousness. To this end, McDonald’s has utilised the
‘power of the brand’ to generate widespread publicity which shines
a positive light on the grassroots game and the unsung efforts of its
‘hidden army’ of volunteers. This has been especially useful given the
relatively small media and communications departments at UK FAs and
their general responsibilities towards – and prioritisation of – more high
profile aspects of the professional and international game. UK FA based
interviewees comment further on the positive impact of McDonald’s
patronage of the grassroots game:
“It certainly gives an opportunity to get wider publicity and promotion
for our programme, through their range of ambassadors and their PR
marketing teams, it certainly does increase the profile of what we do.”
Mick Baikie, National Clubs Services Manager, The FA
“I think the profile is a big factor, shining a light on the grassroots
game. The kind of profile that McDonald’s can put in the game is
something that we definitely did not have the ability to do with the
staff and the kind of structure and capacity we have here.”
Andy Gould, Head of Regional Development, The Scottish FA
“Where we’re limited to the PR that we could do from here, they’re
able to tap into different sort of media markets as well, which has been
good to help promote the game and promote any of the initiatives
we’ve been running.” Lee Carroll, Head of Grassroots Football, The IFA
Similarly, for some interviewees, the McDonald’s high profile brand
was also felt to have increased the professionalism, kudos and appeal
of UK FA coach education and club accreditation programmes. This
was felt to have helped engage clubs, coaches and volunteers in
learning and support programmes and to have quickened the pace
of club and coach development to this end. The interviewees below
articulate further the ‘associative benefits’ of the relationship between
McDonald’s and UK FAs:
“It gives a lot more kudos to the quality mark accreditation by the fact
it’s endorsed by McDonald’s. Because essentially, we receive that money
from McDonald’s for us to go and support clubs and support coach
education. So it’s just bringing that brand and finances to the table,
which allows us to go and essentially do our job.”
David Drummond, Regional Manager, South East Scottish FA
”With McDonald’s you’re obviously getting a brand, a well-known
recognised brand. So I think it’s important to identify that it’s attached
to coach education, because it will automatically raise the profile of
whatever coach education course or in-service training that we’re
offering, purely and simply by having that brand awareness associated
with it.” Kelly Ellis, Head of Football Development, Leicestershire and
Rutland FA
“It’s put a name and a brand to the programme. They can see that
obviously a company such as McDonald’s is willing to invest in coach
education, and the IFA are supporting it, so obviously it’s something
that they want to be involved in.” Johnny Michael, Grassroots
Development Officer, Regional IFA
Identifying the potential future contribution of McDonald’s to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT30
4.1 The wIDer sOcIaL aND sPOrT POLIcy cONTexTThe current economic context and the medium term economic
prospects are poor. Whilst the economy has been able to create new
jobs over the last three years, many have been part-time. When this
trend is coupled with the squeeze on wages and salaries and higher
than anticipated inflation, the overall impact is to reduce disposable
income. British households have already suffered the steepest fall in
living standards since the 1920s with real income shrinking by 0.2%
in 2010 and by a further 1.4% in 2011. Given that there is a long
established relationship between participation in sport and income,
the decline in disposable income will remain a concern over the
medium term. An additional concern relates to the uneven regional
distribution of youth unemployment. Cities hit hardest by rises in
unemployment are also the places with the highest proportions
of young claimants and tend to be cities located in the North East
of England, South Wales, Lanarkshire and Northern Ireland. The
unemployed, despite having time on their hands, are less likely to
participate or volunteer in sport than those in employment.
In relation to major sport-related policy initiatives, the most
significant is the government’s commitment to promoting the
concept of a ‘Big Society’ in which community voluntary organisations
would fulfil many of the responsibilities currently undertaken by the
state. In many respects, sport is an ideal sector to benefit from this
policy as sport is already the second most popular form of volunteering,
and there is in the UK a network of more than 140,000 sport clubs.
However, volunteering has declined as the economic recession has
deepened. Regular formal volunteering has declined from 27% of
the adult population in 2007–08 to 25% in 2009–10, whilst regular
informal volunteering has declined from 35% to 29% over the same
period. In addition, there is longitudinal data which demonstrate that
voluntary organisations do not emerge to fill gaps in state provision,
but rather emerge to complement and extend state provision. However,
the attention focused on the role of the volunteers – the Games Makers
– at the Olympic Games has had a positive impact on raising the profile
of volunteering and inspiring an increase in willingness to volunteer.
A further area of concern is the medium to long term impact of the
reduction in funding for school sport and School Sport Partnerships
(SSPs). The government has stopped the collection of data designed
to measure the participation of young people in sport so it is difficult
to present firm data, but a recent survey of local authorities by the
Labour Party reported a 60% decline since 2009–10 in staff time
devoted to the organisation of competitive sport. Even if this figure
is an exaggeration, it is clear that the advances made through the
SSP programme are under significant pressure.
To counter-balance, to some extent at least, these more pessimistic
trends, it is possible that the successful London 2012 Olympic
and Paralympic Games will generate benefits for youth sport at
a community level. It has long been argued that the Games will
stimulate enthusiasm among the young to get involved in sport.
However, the lack of any robust evidence of a causal relationship
between mega-sports events and sustained involvement in sport
makes these claims speculative. Nevertheless, it is possible that the
public debate about provision of sporting opportunities stimulated
by the Olympic and Paralympics Games may be successful in putting
pressure on the government to divert additional public and lottery
resources to the level of community and school sport. In summary,
the socio-economic context of community sport and especially youth
sport is likely to become significantly more challenging over the
medium term. Current government policy is supportive of youth sport
initiatives, but whether the voluntary sector has the capacity to fill the
gaps left by the reduction in public support is open to debate.
tHiS PagE: Ex-Wales International John Hartson oversees a girls’ match and a training session at Johnstown FC
nExt PagE: McDonald’s ambassador Sir Geoff Hurst talks tactics with young players from Chelmsford City FC
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 31
Identifying the potential future contribution of McDonald’s to grassroots football
4.2 The wIDer grassrOOTs FOOTbaLL cONTexT
4.2.1 coach education and development
I. Key priorities
The national strategies of UK FAs feature a strong commitment to
support coach education and development in the forthcoming years.
This commitment is underpinned by plans to continue to support
regional and county development teams to deliver coach education
courses and provide more substantial processes of mentoring support
for coaches. Work of this kind is intended to increase the numbers
and diversity of coaches across the UK. For example, in England, the
FA has set a target that 80% of all youth teams will have a qualified
coach by 2015. In Wales, the WFT has made a strong commitment to
further develop its successful coaching revalidation programme and
to continue to provide high quality mentoring support for grassroots
coaches. Further, all UK FAs are keen to increase the number and
diversity of coaches undertaking Youth Awards. In England, work to
increase the numbers of coaches with specialised youth coaching skills
is expected to assist in delivering the Youth Development Review (YDR)
which will be formally implemented during the 2013/2014 season.
The provision of ongoing support for coach education and
development reflects the growing aspirations of accredited clubs at
the local level. Club based interviewees reported strong intentions
to increase the numbers and ‘diversity pool’ of coaches at club in
the forthcoming years, with particular respect to more women and
young people undertaking Level 1 coaching qualifications. In the latter
case, some interviewees in England cited potential linkages between
developing youth coaches and the FA Football Futures programme
which focuses on developing young leaders in football. A number of
clubs also reported intentions to further ‘skill up’ existing coaches,
with particular respect to undertaking Youth Awards and Level 2
qualifications. In many cases, club coaches were keen to position
themselves more centrally within wider coaching networks and to
embrace new technologies to help become better coaches. The
growth in more formalised ‘licensed coaching clubs’ at some UK FAs
fits neatly with these intentions. Overall, the forthcoming priorities of
clubs were underpinned by key motivations to improve the quantity
and quality of coaching provision, increase the appeal of clubs to
children, young people and their families, and to ensure a degree of
sustainability of delivery and participation over time.
II. Key challenges
Analysis of wider impacts and interviewees’ narratives draws attention
to some forthcoming challenges to realising the ambitions of UK FAs
and clubs around coach education and development. They include:
• The limitations and increasing demands of UK FA regional and
county development teams to deliver a comprehensive service of
coach education provision and ongoing support. This is especially
the case at smaller UK FAs with limited funds and at larger UK FAs
where the rapid expansion of club accreditation programmes has
increased demand for coach education.
• The cost of Level 1 and Level 2 coach education courses and
new Youth Awards and consequent limited accessibility to
coaching qualifications. This is the case across the UK, given the
widespread impact of economic recession and lowering of living
standards and disposable income. However, it remains especially
the case for coaches and clubs situated in areas experiencing
disproportionate levels of unemployment and socio-economic
deprivation.
Identifying the potential future contribution of McDonald’s to grassroots football
Ten years of Teamwork reporT32
4.2.2 club and workforce development
I. Key priorities
The national strategies of UK FAs feature a strong commitment
to support club and workforce development in the forthcoming
years. This commitment is underpinned by the prior success of the
work of UK FAs to establish a clear incremental mechanism for club
accreditation and its ongoing relevance as a model of good practice.
All UK FAs will continue to work towards increasing the number of
clubs achieving accreditation, with particular emphasis on assisting
better clubs to achieve ‘gold star’ status. For example, in England,
the FA has set a target of 650 clubs achieving coveted FA Charter
Standard Community Club status by 2015. Work of this kind will
be supported by a more intensive focus on improving the quantity,
quality and consistency of support provided to ‘skill up’ volunteers
and formalise volunteer roles and responsibilities within club
accreditation frameworks.
The provision of more and better support for club and workforce
development reflects the ambitions of many clubs at the grassroots
level, especially those which have already achieved and experienced
the associative benefits of basic level accreditation. Club interviewees
strongly emphasised the importance of volunteers to this process and
referenced renewed efforts to increase the number and diversity of
volunteers at clubs. This was especially the case in terms of targeting
parents of younger children and older youth players at clubs. On this
latter score, some club interviewees were keen to engage in partnerships
with local education authorities, youth work programmes, and
national FA initiatives to help formalise, accredit and increase the
appeal of youth volunteering. Clubs also reported intentions towards
further ‘skilling up’ existing ‘stalwart’ volunteers to help re-energise
club operations, embed appropriate policies and procedures, and
increase the quality of service provision to children and young people.
Overall, forthcoming priorities to improve club infrastructures and
the quantity and quality of the volunteer workforce were driven by
national club accreditation frameworks and intended to increase the
quality of provision and appeal of clubs to children, young people
and their families.
II. Key challenges
Analysis of wider impacts and interviewees’ narratives draws attention
to some forthcoming challenges to realising the ambitions of UK FAs
and clubs around club and workforce development. They include:
• The cost of CPD courses and in-service training programmes
and consequent limited accessibility to formalised processes of
volunteer development. This was the case across the UK, given
the widespread impact of economic recession and lowering of living
standards and disposable income. However, it remains especially
the case for clubs and volunteers situated in locales experiencing
disproportionate levels of unemployment and socio-economic
deprivation.
• The general decline in rates of adult volunteering across the UK,
and increasing difficulties in recruiting and retaining new volunteers
to undertake formal and informal volunteering at clubs. This was
the result of a number of factors, including, most prominently,
economic, family and lifestyles pressures. These issues have a
particular resonance in terms of attracting youth volunteers whose
own sporting activities, educational and employment demands
limit their volunteering to ‘short bursts’ rather than sustained
volunteering over time.
• The over-reliance of clubs on a relatively small but extremely
committed number of often older ‘stalwart’ volunteers. The
present over-burdening of workload responsibilities and
pressures on volunteers of this kind is likely to bring about
‘burn out’ and limit the longer term sustainability of their
voluntary contribution at clubs.
tHiS PagE: 2011 Coach of the Year assessment day with England Under 21 boss Stuart Pearce and McDonald’s ambassador Eric Harrison
nExt PagE: LEFT: Brickfield Rangers FC RIGHT: McDonald’s ambassador Eric Harrison and England assistant manager Gary Neville coaching at St George’s Park
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 33
Identifying the potential future contribution of McDonald’s to grassroots football
4.2.3 children and young people
I. Key priorities
The national strategies of UK FAs feature a strong commitment
to support the development of children’s and youth football.
This commitment is underpinned by plans to increase the numbers
of accredited clubs and coaching capacities at clubs to expand
team based provision for children and young people. The national
strategies of UK FAs also make explicit their intentions to support
work to deliver a broader range of opportunities for children and
young people in terms of the introduction of new, more diverse, child
friendly formats of the game. For example, in England, the National
Game Strategy 2011–2015 features target milestones of 2,000 more
mini-soccer teams at accredited clubs by 2015: a rise of around
6% on present levels. Similarly, in Northern Ireland, the continued
expansion of the small-sided games programme is a central pillar of
the plans of the IFA to increase children’s participation in the game.
Forthcoming efforts to increase and broaden the delivery and take-up
of opportunities to play football amongst children and young people
are expected to complement - and be enhanced by – the new FA
Youth Development Review (YDR). Whilst the YDR has been devised
and developed in England, it is likely to have ramifications across the
UK. To this end, the YDR is an ambitious and far reaching strategy
which promises to build on existing good practice in order to reshape
the methods for the development of children and young players in the
grassroots and elite game. Most notably, the YDR features a strong
emphasis on extending the small-sided games format to incorporate
7-a-side and 9-a-side formats for older children. The YDR also proposes
shortening the duration of league based competitions into three mini-
seasons, and reducing pitch and goals sizes. This radical overhaul of
youth football will be formally implemented in the grassroots game
in England during the 2013/2014 season.
The proposed implementation of the YDR and its key constituent
elements has been warmly welcomed at the local level of grassroots
clubs. These proposals fit neatly with the shifting emphasis of clubs
towards more child-friendly and inclusive football provision and
are expected to increase the appeal and sustainability of football
participation amongst children, young people and their families.
Further, the stated intentions of UK FAs to support club and coach
development chime strongly with the ambitions and aspirations of
clubs to sustain and expand their operations and provide quality service
provision to client groups of young footballers. In particular, a number
of clubs were keen that the implementation of the YDR would provide
additional credence and validation for existing practices and encourage
new innovative techniques of delivering children’s and youth football.
II. Key challenges
Analysis of wider impacts and interviewees narratives draws attention
to some forthcoming challenges to realising the ambitions of UK FAs
and clubs around children’s and youth football. They include:
• The lack of affordability and accessibility of training and playing
facilities and the negative impact on limiting the participation of
children and young people. This is the case across the UK in terms
of the impact of budget cuts to local authority leisure services and
schools sports provision, in terms of reduced staff, shortening
opening hours and the lack of pitch marking. The high costs of
private sector leisure facility hire and the lack of reduced rates during
times of ‘latent capacity’ also places significant financial demands on
clubs.
• The lack of quality of training and playing facilities and the negative
impact on the participation of children and young people. This is
the case across the UK in terms of local authority leisure services
and schools sports cut-backs with regard to facility and pitch
maintenance. This is especially marked in the North of the UK
where the lack of artificial turf pitches coupled with longer periods
of inclement weather impact strongly on limiting opportunities
for regular sustained participation in organised football amongst
children and young people.
• The limited capacity of UK FAs, clubs, schools and local authorities
to implement the practical considerations of the Youth Development
Review, with particular relevance to purchasing kit, equipment,
goals, and remarking pitches. The implementation of these
wholesale changes to the organisation and delivery of children’s
football will require significant additional material and human
resource support, during a period of extended economic recession,
consequent cut-backs, and a general decline in volunteering.
Ten years of Teamwork reporT34
Executive Summary
The findings in Section 3 of this report have illustrated the impact of
McDonald’s contribution to developing grassroots football over the last
ten years at the local and regional level, in partnership with The FA, The
Scottish FA, The FAW and the Irish FA. The findings in Section 4 of the
report have also highlighted a series of social and sporting priorities
and challenges which are likely to impact on the grassroots game in the
forthcoming years. In this final section, the report suggests there is still
potential for further improvement and opportunities for development
across a number of key areas of the grassroots game, including:
INcreasINg aND susTaININg ParTIcIPaTION amONgsT chILDreN aND yOuNg PeOPLe
supporting accredited clubs: opportunities to further support
accredited clubs where there is a strong emphasis on developing
children’s and youth football. Support of this kind will help ensure clubs
survival against the wider backdrop of economic downturn, a reduction
in disposable income, and a general decline in volunteering support.
girls’ football: opportunities to further support accredited clubs where
there is a strong emphasis on developing girls’ football. Developments
in this area might also include focusing resources towards female
coach education, with a particular emphasis on older girls and younger
women. This will help to create positive young female role models
with coaching competencies and a strong understanding of the social
and lifestyle pressures which limit participation in the game across the
transition from childhood into young womanhood.
small-sided games: opportunities to further support accredited clubs
where there is a strong emphasis on the delivery of small-sided games,
mini-soccer and other child friendly football formats. This will help
accredited clubs to implement new youth development strategies of
UK FAs and to engage more children in playing football at clubs.
cOach eDucaTION aND DeveLOPmeNT
coach education: opportunities to further support coach education
to increase the quantity and quality of coaches in grassroots football,
with particular emphasis on the delivery and up-take of Level 1 (or
national equivalent) coaching qualifications and new youth awards.
Further development in this area would enable the ‘door to be opened’
to participants with no prior formal experience of coaching and help
‘skill up’ existing coaches.
coach education in deprived areas: opportunities to support
coaches at clubs situated in the 10% most deprived ward areas in
the UK. This is likely to enable coach and club development in areas
of socio-economic deprivation and engender strong sporting and
social impacts.
coach education for under-represented groups: opportunities
to support coaches from under-represented groups such as young
people, BME groups and women, with scope to include a focus on
the growing number of youth and community projects delivering
football as part of wider efforts to engage marginalised groups in
sport and education. Support of this kind is likely to yield strong
social impacts in encouraging citizenship and increasing community
empowerment, integration and cohesion.
coach education technologies: opportunities to embrace new
technologies and new innovative virtual media designed to support
coach education. These might include interactive web based media
or mobile phone applications designed to provide coaches with instant
ideas and techniques to enhance coaching practice ‘in the field’.
Final recommendations
tHiS PagE: Grassroots award winner Sheila York with her young players
nExt PagE: East Durham and Houghall College Football Festival
Ten years of Teamwork reporT 35
Executive Summary
Professor barrie houlihan
Institute of youth sport
Loughborough university
Loughborough
Le11 3Tu
Tel: 01509 226364
Dr steven bradbury
senior research associate
Institute of youth sport
Loughborough university
Loughborough
Le11 3Tu
Tel: 01509 226316
The contact details of the authors
of this report are as follows:
Final recommendations
cLub aND wOrKFOrce DeveLOPmeNT
voluntary workforce: opportunities for further work with clubs
and their voluntary workforce to enable them to achieve nationally
recognised club accreditation status. A key area of positive development
would be the delivery and up-take CPD courses which focus on child
protection and welfare issues to help ensure the well-being of children
and young people at grassroots clubs.
community involvement: opportunities to further develop the
McDonald’s Twinning programme, with particular emphasis on
encouraging local business to get involved in grassroots football
within their local community. Moving forward, a stronger emphasis
on promoting and utilising the significant business and marketing
expertise of franchisees to help improve the organisational infrastructure
and sustainability of grassroots clubs would be beneficial.
club and volunteer recognition: opportunities to further develop
the national McDonald’s Community Awards programme. Schemes
such as this would contribute to the potential enhancement of volunteer
recruitment, retention and recognition within grassroots clubs and help
build positive relationships at the local and regional level.
more information on Loughborough university
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It was awarded the coveted sunday Times university of the year 2008 – 09 title, and is consistently ranked in the top twenty of uK universities in national newspaper league tables. In the 2011 National student survey, Loughborough was voted one of the top universities in the uK, and has topped the Times higher education league for the best student experience in england every year since the poll’s inception in 2006. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, the university has been awarded six Queen’s anniversary Prizes.
It is a member of the 1994 group of 11 leading research-intensive universities. The group was established in 1994 to promote excellence in university research and teaching. each member undertakes diverse and high-quality research, while ensuring excellent levels of teaching and student experience
The Institute of youth sport (Iys) is a leading sports research centre located within the school of sport, exercise and health sciences at Loughborough university. The school is the only academic department in the uK to have been awarded the top ranking of ‘international excellence’ for sports research in every national assessment of research quality. widely renowned for its contribution to sport, health and wellbeing research, teaching and development, and for its close collaboration with sports agencies, policy makers and professionals, the school provides a stimulating and vibrant research environment. The Iys’s research spans a wide remit, from mass participation to elite sport, from local projects to complex national initiatives and international developments, and addresses all aspects of taking part in, managing and delivering sport, physical activity and health outcomes for young people.
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