Grassroots gains from élite game
Wednesday 10 June 2009
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Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández are role models on and off the pitch (©Getty Images)
Professional football and the grassroots may be regarded as sporting antipodes but, as UEFA's Grassroots Football Newsletter reveals, the closer they get the more the game benefits.
Exemplary
In his editorial column, UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh explains how grassroots coaches can use professional players as examples of off-field conduct as well as paragons of best practice on it. For all the ability of footballers such as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Carles Puyol, their success is underpinned as much by personal qualities as by raw talent.
Reference point
Beyond the virtual reality of football computer games and internet sites, there is a real world of football, Mr Roxburgh writes, in which these top players have been schooled socially and emotionally. Now "they can help by providing a reference point for human qualities which make a difference in the game and in life itself."
Workshop
UEFA sees grassroots football as a vehicle for health, education and integration, and it was this subject that dominated three full days of activities – practical work, presentations and discussions – at the 8th UEFA Grassroots Workshop. The event, held in Hamburg in March, is the source of much of the content for this issue, No9, of the Grassroots Football Newsletter.
Legacy
In his address to the workshop, UEFA vice-president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder said it was "essential for the grassroots to derive momentum from the élite competitions". The article 'Hamburg highlights' picks up on this comment and describes how tournaments such as a men or women's EURO can create a grassroots legacy by appealing to, and directly involving, children and families. The grassroots competitions staged in the week building up to a UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup final are another illustration of this important link between peak and base of the football pyramid.
Children
The publication, produced by UEFA's Football Development Division, also looks at the different stages of a child's footballing education in the report entitled Child's Play. Children's football should be "well-organised fun rather than frivolity". The article focuses on the German Football Association and Norwegian FA models – and the different benchmarks these organisations lay out in the process of a boy or girl's grassroots development. Child's play, the reader discovers, is definitely not 'child's play'.
Disability football
The Scottish and English FAs are spotlighted in a feature on disability football. While some national associations find the social and disability football star in the UEFA Grassroots Charter elusive, other countries have stronger credentials which they are consolidating further. Witness the Scottish FA's Hitting the Target project, an extensive four-year plan set to conclude in 2010. This aims to recruit at least 240 new coaches to act as leaders in disability football.
Senior moment
Nor should a person's advancing years limit their enjoyment of the game. The Grassroots Football Newsletter finds out how the Dutch FA is keeping its fortysomethings alive and kicking with its 45+ project. As former French international Christian Karembeu says: "A footballer is a footballer for life – I don't like it when people refer to me as an ex-footballer."
Community
The article 'The Professional Approach' shows how a top club's engagement with local constituents can extend far beyond talent detection and development to a fuller involvement at grassroots level. Such a community-friendly approach can broaden the fan base and foster long-lasting allegiances. Delegates in Hamburg were also offered advice and assistance so as to better understand the star system by which members of the Grassroots Charter are rated. The report, Stars in their Eyes, acts as perhaps the definitive rough guide.
Click here to read issue No9 of the UEFA Grassroots Football Newsletter.
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