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PUBLISHED BY UEFA’S FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT DIVISION N O .4 MAY 2006 Editorial : A Place to Play The Seven Colours of UEFA’s Grassroots Rainbow • • • Grassroots – How do we make them Grow? • • • A Charter for Change • • • Dreaming about Grassroots GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER

GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER - UEFA · A MAXI-PITCH IN THE NETHERLANDS. GIVING ... a presentation by Jim Fleeting high-lighted one of the key areas broached ... TO THE GAME AT GRASSROOTS

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Page 1: GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER - UEFA · A MAXI-PITCH IN THE NETHERLANDS. GIVING ... a presentation by Jim Fleeting high-lighted one of the key areas broached ... TO THE GAME AT GRASSROOTS

PUBLISHED BY UEFA’S FOOTBALL

DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

N O . 4MAY 2006

Editorial :A Place to Play

The Seven Colours of UEFA’s Grassroots

Rainbow• • •

Grassroots –How do we make

them Grow?• • •

A Charter for Change• • •

Dreaming aboutGrassroots

GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER

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I M P R E S S U MEDITORIAL GROUPAndy RoxburghGraham Turner

ADMINISTRATIONFrank LudolphIsla Kälin

PRODUCTIONAndré VieliAtema Communication SA Printed by Cavin SA

COVERPhoto: UEFA

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A MAXI-PITCH

IN THE NETHERLANDS.

GIVING

YOUNGSTERS

THE POSSIBILITY

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A boy handed his father a poor reportcard and then asked him, “Dad, whatdo you think my trouble is? Is it heredi-tary or the environment?” When it comesto grassroots football, there is little wecan do about the hereditary element,but there is a lot we can do to create a dynamic, welcoming environment.

Football, often in partnership with government authorities and commercialagencies, has a duty to provide the conditions which will create interest inthe game and allow young people togrow through football. The UEFA presi-dent, Lennart Johansson, summed upthe need for intensive activity in thisarea when he said, “If the grassrootsare not cultivated, football at all levelswill suffer.” So what are the priorities?

Constructing pitches for playing andtraining has become a major issue. Theever increasing loss of street footballand the general lack of practice areashave necessitated major investment inbuilding projects and playing surfaces.UEFA’s CHF 52 million contributionthrough the HatTrick fund has helpedthe associations to construct hundredsof mini-pitches throughout the continent.These small, artificial pitches (21x13 m)have been erected to encourage freeplay among children, youths and adults.The next phase of development hasalready started, and is focused on maxi-pitches (approx. 40x20m) whichare suitable for organised training and four-a-side, five-a-side or six-a-sideteam play. In the Netherlands, theseareas are called Cruyff courts and arebuilt with the joint efforts of the DutchFA (Mathieu Sprengers, president of the association and the UEFA treasurer,is a driving force in this area), the

Johan Cruyff Foundation, and the localauthorities. Partnership is unquestion-ably the way forward when it comes to facility provision, whether it’s thefunding of full-sized pitches or mini/maxi play areas.

Grassroots development today alsodepends on human resources. Vol-unteers, grassroots leaders, youthcoaches and event organisers are ingreat demand in order to provide thelogistical support the game requires at this level. But recruitment needs to start at the top and it is therefore vitally important that UEFA’s memberassociations employ grassroots man-agers to coordinate and lead grass-roots development on a national level.The countries that are in the vanguardof grassroots work have reaped thebenefit of having full-time specialistsimplement their mass participationschemes.

For the aforementioned facilities andhuman resources to be of value, avariety of grassroots programmes arenecessary. These projects can besocial, sporting, promotional or spe-cialised – a ‘football for all’ philosophyrequires activities which can appeal to the widest possible elements ofsociety. Football for the disabled, the

E D I T O R I A LBY ANDY ROXBURGH,UEFA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

A PLACE TO PLAY

Stars like David Beckham can have an enormous influence on grassroots football.

homeless, the unemployed, ethnicminorities and the disadvantaged arejust some of the groups which canprofit from participating in grassrootsfootball. Social inclusion and integra-tion have been successfully achievedas the result of many grassroots football schemes. The cross-culturesproject, backed by the Danish FA, the Norwegian FA and UEFA, whichstarted in the 1990s in the countriesof the former Yugoslavia, has been an outstanding success in this respect.

The importance of a vibrant grass-roots environment cannot be over-emphasised, neither for football nor for society in general. If there were no schools, no formal education, theworld would be a poorer place. Thesame principle applies to grassrootsfootball – if we don’t create opportuni-ties for people to play sport, and football in particular, then communitylife will suffer. At UEFA, football is our passion, our raison d’être, but wemust accept our social responsibilityfor bringing people together and trying to make their lives better through the football experience. We cannot do much about heredity, but we cancreate a grassroots football environ-ment which lets the game flourish and those who play it blossom.

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That was part of the preamble when Lennart Johansson opened the6th UEFA Grassroots Conference at the House of European Football in Nyon. “A varied conference with aclear purpose and expert speakers hasbeen put together,” the UEFA presi-dent added, “and we hope that thisconference programme and the workshops later this year will furtherstimulate and advance grassrootswork in our member associations.”

All 52 of them were represented at amassive and intensive three-day eventthat reflected the plethora of topics

covered by the grassroots umbrella.Among the participants were the members of UEFA’s Grassroots and Disability Football Panels, guests fromdisability agencies, representatives from the Asian, Central & North Ameri-can and African confederations plus former stars now playing the role ofgrassroots ‘ambassadors’, such as Dariusz Dziekanowski, Serguei Aleinikovand Paulo Sousa.

Apart from a practical session led by Yves Debonnaire of the Swiss FA,conference-room sessions ranged fromfutsal (world and European champion

coach Javier Lozano of Spain) to disability football (Jeff Davies from England), promotional grassroots activities (Piet Hubers of the Nether-lands and Eric Vlieg of adidas Inter-national) and first-hand feedback fromnational associations (Hansruedi Haslerof Switzerland, Thomas Slosarich andKeld Bordinggaard from Denmark, Franco Ferrari from Italy and Jean-PierreMorlans of France) in addition to discussion groups, the fruits of whichare reviewed on later pages.

Without wishing to single anybody out, a presentation by Jim Fleeting high-lighted one of the key areas broached during the conference – the socialvalue and implications of grassrootsfootball. Jim has been at the head ofthe Scottish FA’s grassroots communityscheme since 1992 and was ‘meinhost’ when Edinburgh staged theHomeless World Cup last summer.

Significantly, the event attracted 60,000spectators. But of even greater signifi-cance was the impact on the partici-pants themselves. No fewer than 92%claimed to have found ‘a new motiva-tion for life’. Almost half of them im-proved their housing situation as a directresult of the event. More than one third found regular employment and/or

4

“THE UEFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE IS AWARE OF THE GREAT IMPORTANCE

OF GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL AND HAS THEREFORE CONSTANTLY STEPPED UP ITS COMMITMENT

TO THE GAME AT GRASSROOTS LEVEL. GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL IS THE FOUNDATION.”

THE SEVEN COLOURSOF UEFA’S GRASSROOTS

RAINBOW

LENNART JOHANSSON ADVOCATES

THE IMPORTANCE OF GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL.

A practical demonstration at the Stade Nyonnais ground, opposite UEFA’s head office.

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pursued their education, while anothersignificant number were motivated toaddress their drug dependency.

In sporting terms, 72% continued to play football after the event and no fewer than 16 signed professional or semi-pro contracts in playing orcoaching capacities at clubs.

It was a clear indication that grassrootsfootball has a vital social role to play

5

The project, sponsored by a bank,underlines the fact that local, nationaland multinational business concerns,along with national and local govern-ments and city councils, are more than willing to support grassroots pro-jects of tangible social value. In otherwords, football people, such as nationalassociations or professional clubs, arenot alone in nurturing the grassroots.And, as head of the European footballfamily, UEFA has a part to play – andthe nature of UEFA’s role was discussedand reviewed during the conference in Nyon.

UEFA is currently active in seven areaswithin the grassroots environment. Inbroad terms (some of these areas arementioned in greater detail elsewhere in this issue), these are:

■ The endorsement programme enti-tled the UEFA Grassroots Charter.

■ Support for Special Olympics, disabil-ity football and so on within UEFA’ssocial responsibility programmes.

■ The UEFA Regions’ Cup, providinginternational competition for amateurteams.

■ The continental conferences andcourses provided by the UEFAGrassroots Programme.

■ The grassroots information service, comprising publications, an extranet and the UEFA website.

■ UEFA grassroots promotionalactivities such as the Summer ofGrassroots Football, Young Champions,the Starball Match and other events.

■ The UEFA HatTrick project, which is promoting and funding the provi-sion of mini-pitches and maxi-pitches.

These areas of activity create the sevencolours of UEFA’s grassroots rainbow –and our ‘pot of gold’ is grassroots foot-ball which is available to everyone inEurope who wants to play.

Futsal expert Javier Lozano.

in terms of reducing anti-socialbehaviour patterns such as vandal-ism, drug abuse or the poison-barbed trident of bigotry, sectarian-ism and racism – or even formingpart of rehabilitation programmes at prisons. Jim pointed out that the setting up of a pilot ‘midnightleague’ scheme involving 1,320young players in Scotland had ‘coincided’ with a 40% reduction innight-time calls to the police.

PH

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EFA

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GRASSROOTS:HOW DO WE MAKE

THEM GROW?“YOU WILL NEVER LEARN EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT GARDENING,”

SAYS THE INTRODUCTION TO A BEST-SELLING BOOK, “BUT YOU CAN BECOME AN EXPERT

IF YOU COMBINE THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM BOOKS

WITH A GREAT DEAL OF CAREFUL OBSERVATION AND PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE.”

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Much the same can be said when itcomes to cultivating the grassroots ofEuropean football. There is no preciserecipe for success across a continent so varied in footballing climates and‘growing conditions’. But one of thebeauties of the grassroots conferencein Nyon was that it allowed so many

‘gardeners’ to exchange their carefulobservations and practical experience.

The discussion sessions yielded enoughmaterial to write an ample gardeningmanual and, apart from offering somedetailed practical tips, threw up funda-mental questions about the precise

nature of the grassroots philosophy and the values it represents anddefends. Fascinating talking points wereraised, such as:

Club and country

At grassroots level, there is no obviousreason for conflicts to arise. But thereare areas where good working relation-ships need to be built between clubsand national or regional associations,based on respect for each other’sobjectives. Many top clubs have excel-lent grassroots programmes thatembrace school activities, player visits,soccer camps, tournaments and evenproviding schools with equipment.Understandably, talent detection isoften their prime objective, along with a desire to win and secure the alle-giance of future ‘customers’. Nationalassociations may therefore need todovetail their efforts with club pro-grammes in order to keep the foot-balling base of the pyramid as wide as possible and to address the issue of teenage drop-out rates, especially in the 13-15 bracket, maintaining theobjective of offering football to every-body, irrespective of talent levels. R

ENTZ

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BOBBY CHARLTON CASTS AN EXPERT EYE.

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In many countries, there is also atremendous amount of work to bedone in terms of offering footballingopportunities to girls as well as boys.

Clubs, associations and schools wouldalso benefit from close collaboration in the pursuit of the optimum use ofplaying facilities – including artificialpitches – and in fundraising activities.

Finding enough ‘gardeners’

Encouraging more and more people toenjoy grassroots football entails a needfor more coaches, leaders, refereesand… volunteers. Some national asso-

ciations are struggling to cope withshortages of volunteers and, in somecountries, there is no ‘volunteer cul-ture’ at all. We need to find ways notonly of recruiting enough volunteersto keep grassroots football in goodhealth and of supporting them, butalso of offering incentives and, aboveall, of recognising of the work they do.

Making sure the boots fit

Grassroots football needs to be tailored to meet the needs of itsplayers. This means acquiring moreknowledge about children and howthey develop. In more pragmatic

terms, the right equipment has to be available – even if it is loaned orshared. At the conference there was a suggestion that the 5-7 age groupshould use a size 3 football and the 8-13 category a size 4, with size 5reserved for 14+ players. Another proposal was for national associationsto encourage equipment manufac-turers to offer inexpensive ‘starter kits’for children’s football.

Social issues

The conference served to confirm that grassroots football receives widelyvarying levels of political support,

FOOTBALL NEEDS “GARDENERS”.

UEF

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even though governments are quicklycoming to recognise the social valueattached to the practice of sport ingeneral and football in particular. It is important to forge links not onlywith the ministry of sport but alsowith the government and local agen-cies who deal with education, healthand welfare, crime, drugs, the home-less, anti-social behaviour, rehabilita-tion programmes or refugees – all of whom stand to gain from grass-roots football projects.

For ‘football people’ this is, of course,easier said than done. It means thatnational association staff membersneed to be equipped to forge linksoutside football and it means thatthey also need to carry compellingevidence in their briefcases, such as detailed data, case studies andclear indications of how grassrootsschemes can contribute to differentgovernment priorities and objectives.

The same evidence, it has to be said, is also invaluable when approach-ing potential sponsors. This, in turn,means that the growing commit-ment to grassroots football withinnational associations all over Europe needs to become publicknowledge.

When asked what more can be done to highlight the social value of grassroots football, the main points to emerge were:

■ Maximise dialogue between UEFA,national associations, governmentsand the European Union.

■ Develop detailed action plans,involving all the key partners in the process.

■ Train national association staffmembers to deal with ‘political’relationships.

■ Share best practice among national associations.

■ Gain access to separate grassrootssponsorships.

■ Use major international events or tournaments to raise the politicaland public profiles of grassrootsfootball.

UEFA’s role

It was heartening that the participantsin Nyon fully endorsed some ofUEFA’s initiatives in the grassrootsfield, such as the mini-pitch projectdriven by the HatTrick programme,the conferences and workshops, the use of former stars as ‘grassrootsambassadors’, the UEFA GrassrootsCharter (including the training programmes for grassroots coaches),and events such as the Summer of Grassroots Football.

There was also applause for grass-roots events (the Young Champions,the Starball Match and so on) currently being pegged to the majorevents at the peak of UEFA’s pyramid– the finals of the UEFA ChampionsLeague and the UEFA Cup. There was a call for this to be extended intoTV contracts (compulsory screeningof grassroots spots during coverageof major competitions), children’s TV channels and other promotionalvehicles such as the official UEFAChampions League magazine.

Some of the other debate-provokingsuggestions included funding aimedat allowing associations to appointgrassroots managers; the creation of a template for grassroots festivals;additional assistance with equipmentsuch as footballs, T-shirts, DVDs and educational material; the inclu-sion of grassroots criteria withinUEFA’s licensing system; and maxi-mum support from UEFA in terms of lobbying and campaigningon a pan-European basis.

UEF

A

Enough footballs to go round!

THE GRASSROOTS CONFERENCE IN NYON.

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Pulling the threads together is one of the challenges facing thediverse world of disability football– which was why it was positivethat representatives from variousexternal disabled football agenciesaccepted the invitation to attendthe grassroots conference in Nyon. They, along with the mem-bers of UEFA’s Disability FootballPanel, made a valuable input when it came to reviewing thestate of the game and designingtactics for the future.

Where disciplines, organisations andfunding are so diverse, communicationand inter-relating become crucial issues. This is why, in response to thequestion about what can be done toimprove development programmes, the first point to emerge was better dissemination and exchange of infor-mation. Given that a significant percent-age of disability sport is run by inde-pendent disability organisations with no visible links to the football family,

DISABILITYFOOTBALL

THE GOALS TOAIM FOR

it was a strongly upheld view that closer liaison and coordination betweenfootball associations and the disabilityorganisations is a desirable priority. For this to be achieved, there must be

Marco van Basten encourages a young disabled player.

UEF

A

THE DANISH FA

SIGNS THE GRASSROOTS

CHARTER.

a political will capable of laying solidfoundations for better integration.

The question of funding reveals similardiversity. National football associationsprovide financial support, along withprofessional football clubs and leaguesand, in some cases, individual star players. However, funding can also stemfrom national disability organisations,sponsors, government or EuropeanUnion grants, or even national lotteries.The challenge here is to rationalise theuse of income and channel it efficientlyenough to achieve the maximumimpact on disability football projects.

The sheer diversity of disability footballalso makes it important to pinpoint the areas where assistance can reallyhelp goals to be achieved. At the conference, the feeling was that UEFA can certainly offer help in pan-Euro-pean communication and in knowl-edge-sharing, which led to suggestionsfor greater disability football compo-nents on the uefa.com website and in UEFA publications.

But the last words on the conferencein Nyon could easily be those ofLennart Johansson when he openedit. “I have always tried to be close to the grassroots of the game and I have seen many grassroots leadersat work,” he said. “You and thou-

sands of other grassroots coachesand volunteers in your associationsare not standing in the spotlight. But you are investing your time, yourenergy, your lives for the future of the game. Without you, footballcould not exist. Thank you for that.”

VAN

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OTS

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UEF

AA CHARTER

FOR CHANGEANDRIY SHEVCHENKO, AC MILAN’S GOALSCORING TALISMAN, ONCE TOLD ME THAT

HIS PREVIOUS CLUB, FC DYNAMO KYIV, DISCOVERED HIM PLAYING IN THE STREETS OF KIEV.

HE WAS NINE YEARS OLD AND HE BECAME, IN HIS WORDS, THE ‘CHILD OF DYNAMO’.

THIS TYPE OF FAIRY TALE WILL BECOME A RARITY BECAUSE STREET FOOTBALL IN MANY COUNTRIES

HAS ALMOST DISAPPEARED. EUROPE’S FOOTBALL ASSOCIATIONS ARE

FACED WITH THE TASK OF REPLACING THE ‘NATURAL ENVIRONMENT’ WITH ORGANISED,

STRUCTURED GRASSROOTS PROGRAMMES.

Part of UEFA’s strategy for grassrootsfootball is the development of theGrassroots Charter, an endorsementprogramme which establishes criteriafor the non-elite game. This will beused as a tool to encourage, stimu-late and support the national associ-ations with their fundamental role as grassroots leaders.

Already six pilot associations (Nor-way, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ger-many, England and Scotland) havehad their basic grassroots schemesapproved by UEFA and have signedthe charter agreement. The next stepis to organise regional workshopsduring 2006 with the aim of explain-ing the details of the charter to theassociations, in particular the phi-losophy, requirements and applica-tion process. These regional eventswill also offer an opportunity toshare best practice and new ideason grassroots football. The creationof action plans will be an importantexercise during these HatTrick-funded workshops. The aim is that at least 20 associations should be Andriy Shevchenko (in white, up against Lyon’s Eric Abidal) was a street footballer.

EMP

ICS

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????

????

????

????

?

members of the UEFA GrassrootsCharter by the end of 2007.

But what happens once you havecharter membership? To motivate theassociations to achieve more thanthe basic requirements for entry, we plan to introduce a star systemof recognition. Gaining membershipand satisfying UEFA’s minimum criteria (i.e. having a basic grassrootsstructure, a grassroots philosophy,and organising the required number

of training programmes for playersand coaches) will give an associationone-star status. After overcoming that first hurdle, four additional starscan be acquired, with one star foreach of the following: the number of players participating in the pro-grammes, the number of girls andwomen who play, the number ofsocial programmes, and the numberof promotional activities and events.These stars can be collected in anyorder. The specific criteria for these

categories are at the planning stage,but quality will be assessed in addi-tion to the numbers.

‘Aim for the moon: even if you miss,you’ll land among the stars’ is an old maxim that challenges you to be the best you can. Therefore,specifically for highfliers in grassrootsdevelopment, a sixth – and seventh-star classification will be created. To get the sixth star, an associationwill need to have the previous fivestars, and provide proof of specialinvestments in the grassroots, high-level training programmes for playersand coaches, a well-developed infra-structure, ‘education through football’schemes, and imaginative promo-tional activities. The seventh star willbe open to associations that alreadyhave six stars and have created an advanced, comprehensive pro-gramme, both in terms of quality and quantity.

UEFA’s Executive Committee approvedthe concept of the UEFA GrassrootsCharter in 2004, and the president,Lennart Johansson, along with thecommittee members are fully com-mitted to grassroots development,specifically the UEFA Grassroots Charter and the various UEFA educa-tional and promotional initiatives.Everyone recognises that street football, which fired the imagination of young Andriy Shevchenko, hasalmost disappeared and that it isincumbent on all of us in football(UEFA, member associations, regions,clubs, etc.) to invest our time, effortand creativity into designing excitinggrassroots programmes. The future of the game depends on it.

ANDY ROXBURGH

UEFA Technical Director

UEF

A

UEFA’S GRASSROOTS

WORKING GROUP PROMOTING

THE OFFICIAL T-SHIRT.

UEF

A

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ÖFB

DREAMINGABOUT

GRASSROOTSDURING THE 6TH UEFA GRASSROOTS CONFERENCE,

WE TOOK A MOMENT TO DREAM ABOUT GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR FOOTBALL PEOPLE REFER TO

THEIR DREAMS? A RECENT EXAMPLE CAME FROM ALBERTO

AQUILANI WHO SCORED FOR ROMA AGAINST ARCH RIVALS LAZIO:

“I HAVE BEEN DREAMING OF SCORING IN A DERBY SINCE

THE MOMENT I STARTED PLAYING FOOTBALL AND NOW MY DREAM

HAS COME TRUE,” SAID A SATISFIED ALBERTO. BUT WHAT

IF IT DOESN’T QUITE WORK OUT? STEVE HEIGHWAY, THE ACADEMY

DIRECTOR AT LIVERPOOL FC, ANSWERS THAT WHEN HE DECLARES:

“IF YOU MAKE IT, IT’S A DREAM COME TRUE. IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT,

AT LEAST YOU’VE LIVED PART OF THE DREAM.”

LENNART JOHANSSON

AND LARS-CHRISTER OLSSON

ARE BOTH FERVENT

SUPPORTERS OF GRASSROOTS

FOOTBALL.

While we are in dream mode, whatwould football be like if we lived in anideal world? In an ideal football world,there would be no racism, no hooligan-ism, no corruption, and no discrimina-tion – it would be ‘football for all’ andfootball everywhere. In an ideal footballworld, the style of play would be sim-ple, dynamic, skilful and imaginative.The game would be competitive and,above all, safe. In an ideal footballworld, there would be adequate invest-ment in facilities, education and com-petitions. In an ideal football world,everyone would show respect for thereferee, their opponents, their team-mates, the supporters and the gameitself. In an ideal football world, players

would come first and the needs of the individual would be paramount –the game would be for children, notparents; for players, not coaches. Ofcourse, team work and relationshipswould also be priorities when dealingwith young dreamers. In an ideal football world, the game would servesociety. In an ideal football world, ‘carrying the ball close to the heart’would be a living philosophy.

First there is the dream. But a visionwithout a plan is a pipe dream. Nationalassociation grassroots managers, wholive in the real world, must consider anumber of questions when they designtheir programmes: Do they have politi-

UEF

A

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CARRY THE BALL CLOSE

TO YOUR HEART.

A DREAM

COME TRUE

FOR ALBERTO

AQUILANI.

cal support? Do they have a grassrootsphilosophy and plan? Do they have a grassroots administration? Do theyhave grassroots leaders/coaches? Dothey have adequate grassroots facilitiesand equipment? Do they have a grass-roots structure? Do they have trainingmaterial, promotional ideas and formerprofessionals as grassroots ambassa-dors? In respect of the latter, top players must be encouraged to givesomething back to the game that nurtured them. Finally, does the asso-ciation have grassroots targets? As Per Omdal (honorary president of theNorwegian FA and vice-president of UEFA) says: “In Norway our target is a 10% increase in participationannually – this creates dynamics.”

Football is a vehicle for people’sdreams. The child wants to be likehis/her hero, talented young playerswant to become stars, coaches dreamof winning titles, and the fans cravethe glory which comes from theirteam’s success. All of these aspirationsand the individual’s passion for thegame take root in the grassroots and

those who lead, organise or coach inthis dynamic area of football are trulythe dream-makers. But, in order todeliver exciting grassroots programmes,three wishes must be satisfied: politi-cal/public support for grassroots, anorganisation/structure to implementthe schemes, and technical know-howin the form of enlightened parents and trained coaches. These are wishesthat can come true.

William McIlvanney poignantlydescribed the power of young dreamsin a book called “The Walking Wounded”. The Scottish writer statedthat “A municipal (public) football parkin Scotland is a casually haunted place,ghosted by small, fierce dreamers.” Allstar footballers were once grassrootsplayers. Alberto Aquilani, whose dreamcame true when he scored for Romaagainst Lazio in the local derby, wasone of them. Dreams really can cometrue if, in the words of Walt Disney, ‘we have the courage to pursue them’.

ANDY ROXBURGH

UEFA Technical Director

UEF

A

EMP

ICS

EMP

ICS

Children everywhere dream of being a star player.

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Have ball – ready to play.

Power Play.

Grassroots football can be exhausting.

UEF

A

A LITTLE PICTURE IS WORTH A

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A G E N D A2 0 0 6

■ May 1 – 51st UEFA Regional GrassrootsWorkshop (Oslo, Norway)

■ May 9UEFA/Dutch FA UEFA Cup promotion (Eindhoven, Netherlands)

■ May 12 – 16 (Paris)UEFA Young Champions

■ June – AugustUEFA Summer of Grassroots Football 2006 – promotional campaign

■ July 24 – 282nd UEFA Regional GrassrootsWorkshop (Copenhagen, Denmark)

■ August 7 – 113rd UEFA Regional GrassrootsWorkshop (Kilmarnock, Scotland)

■ August 21 – 25 4th UEFA Regional GrassrootsWorkshop (Marlow, England)

■ October 2 – 65th UEFA Regional GrassrootsWorkshop (Zeist, Netherlands)

■ October 16 – 206th UEFA Regional GrassrootsWorkshop (Hanover, Germany)

2 0 0 7

■ April 2 – 67th UEFA Grassroots Conference(Helsinki, Finland)

Dreaming of stardom.

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A MILLION WORDS

Football for all ages.

Page 16: GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER - UEFA · A MAXI-PITCH IN THE NETHERLANDS. GIVING ... a presentation by Jim Fleeting high-lighted one of the key areas broached ... TO THE GAME AT GRASSROOTS

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