Meet Kenny Saunders, founder of the Save Grassroots Football campaign. This worthy cause is sweeping across football in Britain as it aims to change the landscape of the game for players, coaches, officials and parents.
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| Abject amenities threaten amateur football across the UK |
Grassroots football is in real danger; squeezed by near intolerable financial pressures, local authorities are no longer able to support the grassroots game. With dilapidated facilities, abject amenities and poor pitches being cited as reasons for both declining participation and a disincentive to attract new players, many of those on the front line are convinced that if nothing is done to address the threat, the gradual extinction of urban grassroots football is more than a mere possibility.
The issues are numerous, the concerns irrefutable and the consequences for the national sport would doubtlessly be far reaching. It is a bizarre state of affairs then, that in this global footballing day and age of millionaire superstar players, billionaire club owners and multi billion pound Premier League broadcasting rights deals, the very lifeblood that feeds the professional game could be on the verge of being severed.
In 2010, Sport England, the organisation responsible for funding grassroots sports, published its Active People Survey. The study presented a worrying 3 year trend of declining participation in football with a decrease of more than 143,000 regular active players. Worryingly, the survey pointed to a ‘significant decrease’ in participation in football in the 16-19 age group.
It is a trend more than familiar to Woolton FC junior football club Kenny Saunders, senior coach at the club which boasts 55 teams as well as 135 5-6 year olds. Size, however, is no benchmark for great facilities; according to Saunders, “We haven’t even got a toilet.” The Liverpool-born youth coach has set in motion a campaign to challenge football's governing bodies to face up to, and deal with, the real issues they are facing.
“Government cuts mean that local authorities are no longer able to fund grassroots football. Fees for basic facilities are climbing to the point where ordinary people are being priced out of our national sport.”
For Saunders, it doesn’t end with government cuts, “The Football Foundation, FA and Premier League are all out of date with what is happening in grassroots football and lack of funding since 1999.” It’s a worringly accurate statement. The Premier League currently invest only 1% of their revenue in grassroots football – a figure which they claimed would rise to 5% in 1999. Fourteen years on and nothing.
The Save Grassroots Football campaign has the support of Bolton North East MP David Crausby who has set up an e-petition calling on the Premier League to increase its financial assistance to grassroots football. In the last year the Premier League has contributed £12m to the Football Foundation from an income of a mammoth £1.26bn. Of the £12m contribution, £6m is actually diverted to an agreed stadium investment fund for non-league clubs. Taking the latest Premier League television rights deal into account, that huge annual income figure is set to increase by £1.25bn. With global rights, this figure could rise to as much as £5bn over the next three years. Campaigners are requesting the multi-billion pound body raise its funding contribution of annual earnings from 1% to 7.5%.
Crausby, who in 2012 backed an early day motion in parliament which called for a 50% windfall tax on Premier League broadcasting deals, with the proceeds going to the Football Foundation, said: “Owners, players and agents are making billions of pounds out of these huge TV deals, but without proper funding for decent facilities we can’t develop the players of the future or encourage more children to get involved with our favourite sport. The Premier League has had plenty of opportunities to act in the interest of the sport, but we continue to see the money hoarded at the top. I think it is time to look at new solutions.”
The Bolton North East MP’s e-petition has received the backing of Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, Steve Rotheram, and Luciana Berger, Labour & Co-operative MP for Liverpool Wavertree. A HM Government e-petition needs to secure 100,000 signatures in order for a Parliamentary Debate to be triggered.
With interest in the cause boosted by social media, the Save Grassroots Football campaign’s rapidly growing support coincides with this week's launch of the English Football Association’s ‘national facilities strategy.’ The FA is guaranteeing £150m over three years to improve dilapidated urban football facilities including enhancement of 3,000 grass pitches, a pledge to lay 100 new artificial pitches and the renovation of 150 more. The strategy also prioritises new build and improvement of changing facilities and toilets, small grant programmes for smaller clubs and the possibility of larger grassroots clubs becoming the owners of the pitch they currently play on.
Some may question whether the Premier League as a body and its member clubs actually need to invest in grassroots football. Aside from their responsibility as the most powerful organization in domestic football, Saunders says, “The Premier League clubs need grassroots football because that is where the future Gerrard’s and Rooney’s come from.” Very true. If the English game is to compete against the very best in Europe, the facilities for coaches and players will need to improve.
The concern for the Save Grassroots Football campaign is the FA’s strategy will not be funded by new money, but instead be a re-routing of the Football Foundations £50m annual budget. Funded by the FA, the Premier League and Sport England, this allowance is highly unlikely to be increased. Kenny Saunders is unimpressed by the FA’s announcement.
“It's a disgrace what the FA have announced, we need so much more investment from them and the Premier League. Facilities are horrendous, worse than they were when I was playing as a boy 40 years ago.”
"We've had to call off matches in 11 of the last 13 weekends and we don't have any toilets. We're going to cut off the lifeblood of the game, our young players, if we're not careful."
Saunders has already resorted to extreme measures to bring the issue to the wider public. “In November last year Sefton Borough Council were increasing pitch fees in mini soccer from £150 to £600 and 11-a-side pitches from £550 to £1600. I organized, from the Liverpool area, a boycott of the week ending 1st/2nd December. We had 9000 kids not playing which it is something I did not want to do but I felt that I had to for their cause. We had a demonstration on the 2nd which was well attended by children, parents, Sky Sports, BBC, Granada etc. with maximum publicity. A week later the council ripped the consultation document up, first time in 100 years, and the fees in Sefton remained the same.”
It was an extreme measure but it ended up with a long term solution. The hardest thing for many coaches is the challenge in facing such a predicament. The army of youth coaches in the UK execute their job for one reason; to improve the standard of the game and to positively impact on children’s lives. To stop them from playing is about as extreme a measure as any coach could ever resort to. In the world’s wealthiest football nation it’s beggars belief that in 2013 this is still an option many coaches are having to consider.
For Kenny Saunders and the countless volunteers like him up and down the country, it is at grassroots and amateur level where football matters and matters most. It is a tradition to be proud of, nurtured and cherished. Football brings people and communities together; it always has and always should. It is a cause worth fighting for and undoubtedly the Save Grassroots Football campaign is determined and ready to battle for the future of the beautiful game.
Perhaps it’s appropriate to give the final word to Saunders, “My fears are if we don’t do something, grassroots football will finish in a matter of years. However with this campaign and e-petition we, the people of grassroots football up and down the country, can have a massive say to what goes on in the future.”
Don’t be the one who only talks. Do something and join the volunteers, children, parents, referees and coaches who make grassroots football the beating heart of our national game.
Support the Save Grassroots Football campaign by signing the petition:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/46134
Follow the campaign on Twitter: @savegrassroots
