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Those of you involved in Grassroots Football - Your views on this







Return of the Rev

Return of the Rev

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2008
21,045
Flitting between the county league and mates rates
Billy in Bristol said:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jan/26/grassroots-football-protest

What are facilities like in Brighton? Do you have any opinions on this protest?
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Took both teams i coached to hassocks to train,poor availability of in this city of ours,hire of a full 3g pitch was around £70 to £100 per hour making putting a 90 minute game almost impossible,cost do differ and have found cheaper 3g pitches last summer.Paying refs and travel expenses can be quite a hit.Would love more cash diverted into grass roots rather than getting sucked abroad and into agents pockets.As much for the health of future generations.
 


J

J2 DOG

Active member
Feb 28, 2009
600
Hove
The FA are banging on all the time about development etc,and volunteers giving up their spare time to help develop youngsters! The facilities for young kids is poor compared to a lot of our European neighbours. A lot of piches in the Hove area for mini soccer or the new 9v9 format are either overused and/or on the side of a hill somewhere! Affordable,subsidised 3G pitches are needed.indoor and outdoor. It seems in this country, we would rather throw money at for instance, pointless road changes like the old shoreham road velodrome!!
 


S

Seasidesage

New member
May 19, 2009
4,467
Brighton, United Kingdom
Facilities are a disgrace and so are the FA both nationally and locally. Far too interested in self promotion than grass roots football. The Govt and local councils pretend to encourage local sport and put little or no money into it.

The whole thing is a total disgrace...
 


BN9 BHA

BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,555
Newhaven
It's a shame there isn't more 3G pitches in the area, I can see kids losing interest in playing football soon.
I have 2 sons that play, and I have seen my youngest son get up early get ready for a match and I have taken him to the game and it's called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
Last season two of the Away teams let us all turn up then call off the match, not fair on 8 year olds.
There has been a winter break for my youngest sons age group since the end of November( I think) I know it was ages ago, they are supposed to start back this Sunday, but it's been called off already.
 




BN9 BHA

BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,555
Newhaven
J2 DOG said:
The FA are banging on all the time about development etc,and volunteers giving up their spare time to help develop youngsters! The facilities for young kids is poor compared to a lot of our European neighbours. A lot of piches in the Hove area for mini soccer or the new 9v9 format are either overused and/or on the side of a hill somewhere! Affordable,subsidised 3G pitches are needed.indoor and outdoor. It seems in this country, we would rather throw money at for instance, pointless road changes like the old shoreham road velodrome!!
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Agree 100%.
Parents still have to pay subs for their kids even when the games are called off.
 


Beach Hut

Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,970
Living In a Box
Facilities are shit, pitches unplayable.

Minis team have managed only 11 games this season and 7 in the league.

Last Sunday trained at Ford indoor pitch but we all had to pay.

Junior in the states, awesome facilities and on a Soccer Scholarship yet grass root facilities only just starting, USA will be a force to reckon with give it 10 years in World football.
 








Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,797
Hove
bn9 bha said:
It's a shame there isn't more 3G pitches in the area, I can see kids losing interest in playing football soon.
I have 2 sons that play, and I have seen my youngest son get up early get ready for a match and I have taken him to the game and it's called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
Last season two of the Away teams let us all turn up then call off the match, not fair on 8 year olds.
There has been a winter break for my youngest sons age group since the end of November( I think) I know it was ages ago, they are supposed to start back this Sunday, but it's been called off already.
Click to expand...

I manage an U8 team, and I feel for the boys and girls that play on some shocking surfaces. All our coaching courses are about touch and passing and skills, and yet we have to play on pitches that aren't cut for weeks, are never rolled, and rarely have any diverts filled which slowly turn into craters. We have to pay for our own goals, erect them before a game and often set out the pitch with cones if the markings haven't been done.

That said, Pele learnt to play in bare feet with a load of rags tied together for a ball, so perhaps we can't make too many excuses...
 


Barrel of Fun

Barrel of Fun

Abort, retry, fail
Aug 22, 2005
52,833
Sūþsēaxe: The Land of the South Saxons
Bold Seagull said:
I manage an U8 team, and I feel for the boys and girls that play on some shocking surfaces. All our coaching courses are about touch and passing and skills, and yet we have to play on pitches that aren't cut for weeks, are never rolled, and rarely have any diverts filled which slowly turn into craters. We have to pay for our own goals, erect them before a game and often set out the pitch with cones if the markings haven't been done.

That said, Pele learnt to play in bare feet with a load of rags tied together for a ball, so perhaps we can't make too many excuses...
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How many Peles were there and how many people play football?

I reckon Pele was almost spot on in that an African nation would win the World Cup, but he didn't factor in that kids would still be playing with plastic bags tied up in to a ball in the third millennium.
 
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Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,797
Hove
Barrel of Fun said:
How many Pele's were there and how many people play football?

I reckon Pele was almost spot on in that an African nation would win the World Cup, but he didn't factor in that kids would still be playing with plastic bags tied up in to a ball in the third millennium.
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Quite.
 


BN9 BHA

BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,555
Newhaven
Bold Seagull said:
I manage an U8 team, and I feel for the boys and girls that play on some shocking surfaces. All our coaching courses are about touch and passing and skills, and yet we have to play on pitches that aren't cut for weeks, are never rolled, and rarely have any diverts filled which slowly turn into craters. We have to pay for our own goals, erect them before a game and often set out the pitch with cones if the markings haven't been done.

That said, Pele learnt to play in bare feet with a load of rags tied together for a ball, so perhaps we can't make too many excuses...
Click to expand...

I think most kids of that age would play in the rain/mud with any type of ball, but can't.
 


The Wizard

The Wizard

Well-known member
Jul 2, 2009
18,383
I play Sunday league and to be honest, you can see why the young talent coming through grass roots in this country is so limited, the facilities are shocking at most places, we play our home games at Waterhall & the building there doesn't look like it's been changed at all since the 60's, as do most of the facilities across Brighton & Hove, the games are constantly off due to bad weather, can't afford as a club to pay to train in winter as, as has been said, the astro turf and 3G pitches charge unbelievable amounts.

If the FA want this country to move forward football wise they need to invest heavily at grass roots level, better coaches for young players, better facilities so people can actually play football & more all weather surfaces.

The unbelievable thing is, we get charged £10 by the league for every yellow that we receive at Sunday league level + many other bizzare fees & costs and they fine clubs extortionate amounts for minor misdemeanours yet nothing seems to be invested at the level that needs it most.
 




B

big nuts

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2011
4,866
Hove
We have to invest and create more 3g pitches in this area, as mentioned already it's £100 per hour for the whole pitch at Waterhall. The reason they charge it is that every hour or every night of the week they have custom as do all the other 3g pitches in Brighton and Hove. Demand is far outweighing supply and clubs are being charged excessive fees.

With the recent barrage of rain since New Year pitches are close to unplayable, and we will need a good week of dry weather minimum before we can recommence our league fixtures.

If there were another twelve or so 3g pitches leagues could arrange fixtures for teams to alternate between 3g and grass so we wouldn't go months on end without a fixture. 3g pitches would also encourage teams to pass the ball, as the temptation is to hit it long and play for territory when pitches are so poor.
 


G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,339
Uffern
As I posted a couple of weeks ago, I've been looking for a team for my son to play for and it's proving pretty tricky. Most teams seemed to be over-subscribed and the ones that aren't are on the other side of town.

Reading the Guardian article and the comments on here, you can see why it's hard. A shortage of pitches leads to a shortage of teams leads to a shortage of opportunity. I can see football in 20 years time being a sport solely for the wealthy unless something drastic happens
 


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