Im 25 and coach under 13's junior football for a team called Wigan Junior Latics. We have had so many games called off this season due to the state of pitches its unbelivable. Games have gone on when really they shouldnt have due to the health an safety issues about the pitches. Yesterday we played a cup match in possibly the worst pitch i have seen. I think money needs to be spread about into grassroots football to make sure pitches get the best looking after they can. How can players improve and develop naturally when the conditions of the pitch are so bad? btw we lost are cup game. Nevermind! : )
Posted 12:14 7th April 2008
Robin Brown says...
im an manager and assitant manager of two sunday teams, the no giving no funding to any of these teams to help. they dont inprove facilites. sir trav brokking keeps going on how their is not enough young english talant coming througt, this is rubbish. i see loads of young kids that have the potential to make it but they wont ever get the chance. sir trev brooking should get up on a sunday morning go do to his local park and watch some of the young footballers and then say their aint the talent their. he talks rubbish.
Posted 12:11 7th April 2008
Paul W says...
Let's face it we don't need all these stories to make us realise that the state of amatuer pitches around the country are disgraceful. If the FA or anyone else in this country wants good young talent then this problem needs to be sorted now.
The pitches I play on in Sunday league are a joke, and we are lucky to get a pitch with nets that stay up and that don't have puddles over every inch of the grass.
Posted 12:08 7th April 2008
Oli Hoppe says...
I don't think we should be so amazed by the standard of Holland's facilities, I think we should simply look at them as being standard and that Britain as a whole is miles below standard. The council football pitches are a bog after just a few matches and there's no chance of playing well on them. I gave up playing football two years ago to play RugbyU and in general the facilities are far better. I think local parks/schools should have more quality areas to play sport, whether it's football or basketball etc. There should be a lot of them, floodlit, and free to use whenever you want. I'm 15, the reason so many kids my age are drinking and the rest of it is because there is nothing to do in the night, end of. I think that's the biggest factor and will be untill something is done about it.
Posted 11:59 7th April 2008
Alan Paris says...
I have started up a team this year and are appaulled at the facilites at most clubs, as i wash the kit, so no one forgets it and it remains the same colour, I give it out on the day unfortunately We find ourselves changing in the carpark because very few clubs have changing facilities.
I am interested in the West London club shown on Sky TV which has been left in ruins, as I would like my own pitch and facilities in the future.
Posted 11:55 7th April 2008
Soccer Dad says...
I have 2 boys both playing at academy level, over the many years of involvement I have seen many young boys released from different clubs .Many of these lads (who are very talented) feel very rejected and as a consequence completely give up football .We in this country need to keep these players playing football. The Fa should devise a way of making sure this does not happen
Posted 11:49 7th April 2008
Elliott Killen says...
Over where i am in the south east of england, the pitches and facilities are awful. There are no changing rooms, no floodlights, the goalnet is held up by sticks, twigs, rocks - whatever we can find, there are over a dozen molehills on the pitch, the grass is long and overgrown, there's glass and drink cans/bottles on the pitch, you cant's see the centre spot as it's covered by mud and dog foul, there are no corner flags, you have to bring your own footballs and equipment, shall i go on?
No wonder the english footballer is a dying breed.
The bottom line is the FA need to take grassroots more seriously and invest more money into developing facilties.
Posted 11:46 7th April 2008
Daniel Harper says...
Some pitches at grass roots level are fine but too many are "dangerous". some pitches i play on we have to clear the pitch of rubbish such as glass, syringes and shopping trollies
Posted 11:43 7th April 2008
Kyle Wright says...
My name is Kyle Wright and i am 17 years old and i play for South Nottingham College.
In Nottingham the amount of good quality facilities are very hard to find and our College team has to travell 30 minutes across the City just to get a decent facility for home games. However we do train at the Nottingham Forest Academy which shows that more clubs could help and get local clubs involved like Forest do.
Posted 11:43 7th April 2008
Graeme Ashcroft says...
im 21 and play sunday league, our season has just finished and our home pitch is in a field of about 10 and ours is the only decent one out the lot luckily, however the rest are abysmal. waterlogged if there is slight rain and we count our blessings if there is grass.
as for changing rooms, there is 10 pitches so should be 20 rooms logically for all teams, but there is 6!!! my team have given up hoping to get one and now change at our cars its a joke.
this was the same when i was a kid and there should be something done about it if you want to improve the standard of young talent.
Posted 11:37 7th April 2008
David Wilkie says...
Hi, I am from Scotland and the problem is the same up here. The pitches and changing facilities are a joke. When I was younger the team I played for went to Holland to take part in a tournament. When we arrived over there we could not believe the standard of pitches and facilities. The pitches were like bowling greens and the changing facilities and equipment that was made avaliable to us was fantastic. Holland doesnt have that much diffrent weather from us and they manage to keep the pitches good. We should defo be looking at Holland for the model here.
Posted 09:46 7th April 2008
Joseph Guy says...
I am 12 years old and I play for two teams one a sunday morning team and the Saturday district side and when I play for the district on a Saturday the pitchs are 100% better and they have spot less changing rooms aswell. On a sunday I play for a regular side and we play on a primary school pitch which as a good playing surface but there are no changing room so all your bags are just dumped at the side of the pitch.
Posted 09:43 7th April 2008
Murray Sirel says...
I play in scotland where the at least half of the pitches that my team and I play on are slanty and not well maintained, most of my home games this season have been cancelled because of the dodgy pitches we need the sfa to step in and put money towards football! When I get changed with my team there sometimes is not even a changing room. And the SFA are not even putting nearly the amout the FA and premiership put towards grassroots and what they give still is not enough! Also the pitches that I play on near my house we cant stay late because there is not flood lights so we are missing out on a lot of football.
Posted 08:46 7th April 2008
Lane Hamilton says...
Just to add my bit,
Over 75% of kids in Australia including girls play some form of sport during the week at school and in organised clubs on weekends. Presently there is an upsurge in football (soccer) participation due to the success of Australia in the last world cup, as well as the exposure of the quantity of live games available to be viewed on pay tv. The FFA have now decieded to incorporate a concept called "Small Sided Games (SSG)" meanin from U6 to U13's there will be no goalkeepers and a player can only score four goals! There can only be 4 players on the field for the U6's. The plan ist to develop players out field abilities at an early age!... well he comes the best bit, the FFA sent a delegation around the world and found kids around the world played heaps of street football....yet have come up with a bright idea to removing the keeper from the SSG. Mind you when I grew up in the UK I don't remember playing street football WITHOUT a keeper! The downs side to the FFA's idea is it is only aiming to create ELITE players from an early age and freezing out the ones who want to participate but won't make the grade. At the end of the day I must say no matter how much coaching you give a player, it comes down to NATIONAL PRIDE. As I sit here in Australia writing this, there is one thing that stands out the most and that is no matter what competition Australia enters, the entire nation really gets behind them more so when they play ENGLAND for they love nothing more than to beat ENGLAND! When the news comes on TV we only hear about Viduka scoring for Newcastle or Kewell scoring for Liverpool or Schwarzer saving Boro! Correct me if I'm wrong but there must be more English in Australia and New Zealand than in England! There's the problem....
Posted 01:10 7th April 2008
Chris Mcgowan says...
Well personally. i think the basic level of facilities in this country is a joke...
We have no free to use facilities dedicated for football, and the ones near me are rather extortionate as far as cost goes...
I'm 17, and a when myself and a load of local lads go down to the leisure facilities, we find them charging around ¿26-¿30 per pitch per hour.
Now I know this does not seem a large amount to many people, but considering our age, this is not always ideal. The pitches are often empty, and personally...why not put them to good use and allow up and coming players the oppertunity to use them and play in a secure environment.
Posted 01:07 7th April 2008
Adrian Norman says...
Within Ipswich, we lost 5 private sports facilities over 3 years ago to Ipswich Town FC and their academy building programme. We have been left with park pitches and sports centres that cannot cope with the ammount of games being played on them. Some changing facilities don't even offer running water or toilet options, let alone showers and a warm, lightened changing room. Surely this is a public order/hygnine offence to the local council. We don't encourage competitive sport anymore within our schools, so how do we lose the aggression out of our teenagers or teach them to accept defeat in a sportsmanship way?
I have been playing football and running adult teams for over 20 years and I haven't even reached 40 yet.... we need to bring back the grassroots play hard but for funand sports like attitude and the facilities that I experienced even 10 years ago. Even back to my school days in the early 80's where we had an inter school league for Football, Rugby, Cricket and Hockey to name but a few sports....We are quite simply living in a laxy computer generated world!!!!
We can all change this if WE really want to.
Posted 20:14 6th April 2008
Alan Trainer says...
Hi, the fact is that kids now have got nowhere to play football, if they play in there street they get shouted at by other people living in the street that they are making to much noise, if they go to a local park there are signs up saying no ball games, and there arent enough clubs in areas for kids to go to after school, and also the fact that kids would rather be sat in the house playing on the computer and playstations etc than go out and play football, tennis etc. also if you look around places now all you see is land being bought up by big companies and building houses and supermarkets, until the government bring in rules for kids to do more sport at schools rather than computer work or woodwork or some other meaningless teaching then kids will never enjoy sport like the way that kids used to a long time ago.
Comments (77)
David Cronshaw says...
Im 25 and coach under 13's junior football for a team called Wigan Junior Latics. We have had so many games called off this season due to the state of pitches its unbelivable. Games have gone on when really they shouldnt have due to the health an safety issues about the pitches. Yesterday we played a cup match in possibly the worst pitch i have seen. I think money needs to be spread about into grassroots football to make sure pitches get the best looking after they can. How can players improve and develop naturally when the conditions of the pitch are so bad? btw we lost are cup game. Nevermind! : )
Posted 12:14 7th April 2008
Robin Brown says...
im an manager and assitant manager of two sunday teams, the no giving no funding to any of these teams to help. they dont inprove facilites. sir trav brokking keeps going on how their is not enough young english talant coming througt, this is rubbish. i see loads of young kids that have the potential to make it but they wont ever get the chance. sir trev brooking should get up on a sunday morning go do to his local park and watch some of the young footballers and then say their aint the talent their. he talks rubbish.
Posted 12:11 7th April 2008
Paul W says...
Let's face it we don't need all these stories to make us realise that the state of amatuer pitches around the country are disgraceful. If the FA or anyone else in this country wants good young talent then this problem needs to be sorted now. The pitches I play on in Sunday league are a joke, and we are lucky to get a pitch with nets that stay up and that don't have puddles over every inch of the grass.
Posted 12:08 7th April 2008
Oli Hoppe says...
I don't think we should be so amazed by the standard of Holland's facilities, I think we should simply look at them as being standard and that Britain as a whole is miles below standard. The council football pitches are a bog after just a few matches and there's no chance of playing well on them. I gave up playing football two years ago to play RugbyU and in general the facilities are far better. I think local parks/schools should have more quality areas to play sport, whether it's football or basketball etc. There should be a lot of them, floodlit, and free to use whenever you want. I'm 15, the reason so many kids my age are drinking and the rest of it is because there is nothing to do in the night, end of. I think that's the biggest factor and will be untill something is done about it.
Posted 11:59 7th April 2008
Alan Paris says...
I have started up a team this year and are appaulled at the facilites at most clubs, as i wash the kit, so no one forgets it and it remains the same colour, I give it out on the day unfortunately We find ourselves changing in the carpark because very few clubs have changing facilities. I am interested in the West London club shown on Sky TV which has been left in ruins, as I would like my own pitch and facilities in the future.
Posted 11:55 7th April 2008
Soccer Dad says...
I have 2 boys both playing at academy level, over the many years of involvement I have seen many young boys released from different clubs .Many of these lads (who are very talented) feel very rejected and as a consequence completely give up football .We in this country need to keep these players playing football. The Fa should devise a way of making sure this does not happen
Posted 11:49 7th April 2008
Elliott Killen says...
Over where i am in the south east of england, the pitches and facilities are awful. There are no changing rooms, no floodlights, the goalnet is held up by sticks, twigs, rocks - whatever we can find, there are over a dozen molehills on the pitch, the grass is long and overgrown, there's glass and drink cans/bottles on the pitch, you cant's see the centre spot as it's covered by mud and dog foul, there are no corner flags, you have to bring your own footballs and equipment, shall i go on? No wonder the english footballer is a dying breed. The bottom line is the FA need to take grassroots more seriously and invest more money into developing facilties.
Posted 11:46 7th April 2008
Daniel Harper says...
Some pitches at grass roots level are fine but too many are "dangerous". some pitches i play on we have to clear the pitch of rubbish such as glass, syringes and shopping trollies
Posted 11:43 7th April 2008
Kyle Wright says...
My name is Kyle Wright and i am 17 years old and i play for South Nottingham College. In Nottingham the amount of good quality facilities are very hard to find and our College team has to travell 30 minutes across the City just to get a decent facility for home games. However we do train at the Nottingham Forest Academy which shows that more clubs could help and get local clubs involved like Forest do.
Posted 11:43 7th April 2008
Graeme Ashcroft says...
im 21 and play sunday league, our season has just finished and our home pitch is in a field of about 10 and ours is the only decent one out the lot luckily, however the rest are abysmal. waterlogged if there is slight rain and we count our blessings if there is grass. as for changing rooms, there is 10 pitches so should be 20 rooms logically for all teams, but there is 6!!! my team have given up hoping to get one and now change at our cars its a joke. this was the same when i was a kid and there should be something done about it if you want to improve the standard of young talent.
Posted 11:37 7th April 2008
David Wilkie says...
Hi, I am from Scotland and the problem is the same up here. The pitches and changing facilities are a joke. When I was younger the team I played for went to Holland to take part in a tournament. When we arrived over there we could not believe the standard of pitches and facilities. The pitches were like bowling greens and the changing facilities and equipment that was made avaliable to us was fantastic. Holland doesnt have that much diffrent weather from us and they manage to keep the pitches good. We should defo be looking at Holland for the model here.
Posted 09:46 7th April 2008
Joseph Guy says...
I am 12 years old and I play for two teams one a sunday morning team and the Saturday district side and when I play for the district on a Saturday the pitchs are 100% better and they have spot less changing rooms aswell. On a sunday I play for a regular side and we play on a primary school pitch which as a good playing surface but there are no changing room so all your bags are just dumped at the side of the pitch.
Posted 09:43 7th April 2008
Murray Sirel says...
I play in scotland where the at least half of the pitches that my team and I play on are slanty and not well maintained, most of my home games this season have been cancelled because of the dodgy pitches we need the sfa to step in and put money towards football! When I get changed with my team there sometimes is not even a changing room. And the SFA are not even putting nearly the amout the FA and premiership put towards grassroots and what they give still is not enough! Also the pitches that I play on near my house we cant stay late because there is not flood lights so we are missing out on a lot of football.
Posted 08:46 7th April 2008
Lane Hamilton says...
Just to add my bit, Over 75% of kids in Australia including girls play some form of sport during the week at school and in organised clubs on weekends. Presently there is an upsurge in football (soccer) participation due to the success of Australia in the last world cup, as well as the exposure of the quantity of live games available to be viewed on pay tv. The FFA have now decieded to incorporate a concept called "Small Sided Games (SSG)" meanin from U6 to U13's there will be no goalkeepers and a player can only score four goals! There can only be 4 players on the field for the U6's. The plan ist to develop players out field abilities at an early age!... well he comes the best bit, the FFA sent a delegation around the world and found kids around the world played heaps of street football....yet have come up with a bright idea to removing the keeper from the SSG. Mind you when I grew up in the UK I don't remember playing street football WITHOUT a keeper! The downs side to the FFA's idea is it is only aiming to create ELITE players from an early age and freezing out the ones who want to participate but won't make the grade. At the end of the day I must say no matter how much coaching you give a player, it comes down to NATIONAL PRIDE. As I sit here in Australia writing this, there is one thing that stands out the most and that is no matter what competition Australia enters, the entire nation really gets behind them more so when they play ENGLAND for they love nothing more than to beat ENGLAND! When the news comes on TV we only hear about Viduka scoring for Newcastle or Kewell scoring for Liverpool or Schwarzer saving Boro! Correct me if I'm wrong but there must be more English in Australia and New Zealand than in England! There's the problem....
Posted 01:10 7th April 2008
Chris Mcgowan says...
Well personally. i think the basic level of facilities in this country is a joke... We have no free to use facilities dedicated for football, and the ones near me are rather extortionate as far as cost goes... I'm 17, and a when myself and a load of local lads go down to the leisure facilities, we find them charging around ¿26-¿30 per pitch per hour. Now I know this does not seem a large amount to many people, but considering our age, this is not always ideal. The pitches are often empty, and personally...why not put them to good use and allow up and coming players the oppertunity to use them and play in a secure environment.
Posted 01:07 7th April 2008
Adrian Norman says...
Within Ipswich, we lost 5 private sports facilities over 3 years ago to Ipswich Town FC and their academy building programme. We have been left with park pitches and sports centres that cannot cope with the ammount of games being played on them. Some changing facilities don't even offer running water or toilet options, let alone showers and a warm, lightened changing room. Surely this is a public order/hygnine offence to the local council. We don't encourage competitive sport anymore within our schools, so how do we lose the aggression out of our teenagers or teach them to accept defeat in a sportsmanship way? I have been playing football and running adult teams for over 20 years and I haven't even reached 40 yet.... we need to bring back the grassroots play hard but for funand sports like attitude and the facilities that I experienced even 10 years ago. Even back to my school days in the early 80's where we had an inter school league for Football, Rugby, Cricket and Hockey to name but a few sports....We are quite simply living in a laxy computer generated world!!!! We can all change this if WE really want to.
Posted 20:14 6th April 2008
Alan Trainer says...
Hi, the fact is that kids now have got nowhere to play football, if they play in there street they get shouted at by other people living in the street that they are making to much noise, if they go to a local park there are signs up saying no ball games, and there arent enough clubs in areas for kids to go to after school, and also the fact that kids would rather be sat in the house playing on the computer and playstations etc than go out and play football, tennis etc. also if you look around places now all you see is land being bought up by big companies and building houses and supermarkets, until the government bring in rules for kids to do more sport at schools rather than computer work or woodwork or some other meaningless teaching then kids will never enjoy sport like the way that kids used to a long time ago.
Posted 18:38 6th April 2008