United legend Robson unveils new home for Wythenshawe Amateurs FC
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Former Man United and England captain Bryan Robson OBE recently unveiled Wythenshawe Amateurs FC’s new home ground – funded with a £382,317 grant from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund, and a £50,000 grant from the Premier League’s Football Stadia Improvement Fund.
Bryan said: “Most professional players do come up through grassroots sport, but that is not the only reason for the continued investment into the lower levels of the game. Football is such a unifying sport, bringing people together, but it also provides opportunities that ultimately improve lives.”
He was joined by local MP Mike Kane and Club President John Walker, who has been associated with the club for 70 years having played as a 13-year-old. John added: “I never thought we would have our own ground during my lifetime, so the opening of this great new clubhouse is fantastic.”
To see all the images from the event, head across to our Flickr page.
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Two new football pitches were recently unveiled at St Joseph the Worker RC and Moorfield Community primary schools in Irlam, Manchester. The all-weather playing surfaces were generously donated, free of charge, by a company responsible for laying pitches for this summer's World Cup in Russia: SIS Pitches.
To watch our video from the day, check out the link above!
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Nominations have opened for The FA and McDonald’s Grassroots Football Awards 2018. The awards recognise how grassroots leagues, clubs, volunteers and community projects play their part in making the nation’s favourite game happen week in and week out across the country.
Greg Clarke, FA Chairman, said: “By providing youngsters with the opportunity to play the nation’s favourite game in a fun and safe environment these volunteers allow the next generation of footballing superstars to develop their skills. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without their hard work and dedication, football in this country wouldn’t be the same.”
The award categories for this year are:
- Coach of the Year
- Community Project of the Year
- Charter Standard Club of the Year
- Charter Standard League of the Year
- Grounds Team of the Year
- Match Official of the Year
- Supporter of the Year
- The Respect Award
- Volunteer of the Year
- Young Volunteer of the Year
- The Bobby Moore Award
- Football Mum of the Year
Nominations capture The FA’s ‘For All’ ethos and will be judged upon The FA’s values of Progressive, Respectful, Inclusive, Determined and Excellent, or PRIDE for short.
Nominations for the McDonald’s Grassroots Football Awards are now open. To make a nomination go to www.thefa.com/mcdonaldsgrassrootsawards.
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Arsenal Women FC's Under-12 youth team recently picked up another trophy as they retained the Watford Friendly League Spring Cup for the second successive season. Having been allowed to play in boys' competitions following an FA rule change in 2016, the girls have continued their progress in only their second season of competition with grassroots boys' teams.
The team's campaign included a closely fought thriller against Omonia Green FC, which saw the girls progress to the final with a 2-1 win after extra time. Once in the final, which was played at the Football Foundation-funded all-weather football site at Harvesters FC, the girls put in a stunning performance to run-out 3-1 winners against Enfield Rangers FC. For Laila Harbert, the result proved how much the team has progressed:
“It’s amazing! We've had a great season, and winning the cup rounds it off. I can remember how difficult we found the games when we started playing against the boys last season, so to now be lifting a trophy makes me so proud of what we have been able to achieve.”
We would like to congratulate the girls on their terrific achievement. Read the full story of the girls out the feature that we ran on them in our ONSIDE 39 Magazine.
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The League Managers Association recently held their Annual Awards, in recognition of some of the best managerial achievements from the past season. Football Foundation Ambassadors Gareth Southgate and Chris Powell were both among the individuals who presented awards on the evening.
Manchester City FC's Pep Guardiola took home the headline prize of the Sir Alex Ferguson Trophy for the LMA Manager of the Year. To see the full list of winners, head over to the LMA website.
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He played every minute of every game for Leicester City FC this season and scooped the Foxes’ Player of the Year award. He is off Russia this summer as part of England’s World Cup squad. We caught up with Harry back at his old school, St. Mary’s High School in Chesterfield, where he was promoting the Soccer Aid Playground Challenge with his two brothers and sister.
Q: What is the Soccer Aid Playground Challenge, Harry?
A: The Soccer Aid Playground Challenge sees pupils kick, bounce, or carry a football around a course they’ve designed in their playground. Pupils pay a pound, or two, to take part with proceeds going to Soccer Aid for Unicef. I had a go with my brothers and sister, back at my old school, and it was great fun!
Q: Sounds great! When is the challenge happening?
A: Friday 8th June. On this day, thousands of children in playgrounds across the UK will take part, with all money raised matched by the UK government. It's easy to do and for a great cause, so sign-up for the Soccer Aid Playground Challenge at unicef.uk/playground. Over the last 10 years, the £24 million raised by Soccer Aid has enabled Unicef to help more children than any other humanitarian organisation.
Q: What are your memories of your time in grassroots football?
A: They are all very fond memories! The grassroots game is where you learn to love football in its purest form. You develop your skills and find out what positions best suit you. All those hours spent practicing and playing matches were invaluable and certainly helped to get me where I am today.
Q: Through the Football Foundation, the Premier League, FA and Government have developed new football pitches and changing rooms all over the country. How encouraging is it to see money from the top of the game invested in the grassroots?
A: It’s incredibly encouraging – credit to each of those organisations for investing into the base of the football pyramid. We all start out in the grassroots game, so it’s important that there are opportunities for everyone to play football. Not everyone who kicks a ball around when they are young is necessarily lucky enough to turn professional but that’s even more reason to have lots of facilities on offer, so that people can play for the love of it.
Q: What are some of the life skills young people can develop from playing football?
A: So many: teamwork, organisation and communication all spring to mind. When you’re younger you might not appreciate just how many so-called softer skills you are picking up but I promise you they are vitally important for later life.
Q: What do you consider your stand-out career moment to date?
A: It’s difficult to choose one really because I have been lucky to have a few so far. My debuts at Sheffield United, Hull and Leicester are all good memories but there is nothing like playing for your country, so my England debut is particularly special. Being called up for the World Cup is also absolutely amazing and I want to do everyone proud in Russia. Also, in the season gone I managed to score the winning goal against Manchester United at home, which was an incredible feeling!
Q: We heard that your siblings are quite sporty too, is that true?
A: That is true – we’re very competitive too! We’ll often have little games of two-touch and it is serious stuff, none of us like to lose! My brothers, Joe and Lawrence, are very good footballers. Lawrence plays at the back for Chesterfield and Joe recently signed for Gainsborough Trinity – we’re all centre-backs and so was Daisy, my sister, when she played for Handsworth!
Q: What are your aspirations heading into the summer and on into next season?
A: My aspiration is always to keep on improving and to find ways of getting better – pushing myself to improve. I played every minute of every Leicester game this season, so I want to keep that sort of consistency up. I’ll stay fit and healthy keep listening to my manager’s instructions because if I do that the team has the best chance of winning.
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With The FA Cup being played at Wembley Stadium tomorrow evening, we thought that we would create our very own FA Cup-winning team, featuring players who have opened some of our facilities.
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Name: Joe Hart
Position: Goalkeeper
FA Cup Titles: 1 (Manchester City FC – 2011)
Foundation facilities opened: AFC Urmston
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Name: Gary Neville
Position: Right back
FA Cup Titles: 3 (Manchester United FC – 1996, 1999 & 2004)
Foundation facilities opened: Scholes Bank Playing Fields
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Name: Faye White
Position: Centre forward
FA Cup Titles: 9 (Arsenal Women FC – 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2011)
Foundation facilities opened: Coloma Girls' School
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Name: Emmerson Boyce
Position: Centre back
FA Cup Titles: 1 (Wigan Athletic FC – 2013)
Foundation facilities opened: Winstanley Warriors JFC
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Name: Scott Minto
Position: Left back
FA Cup Titles: 1 (Chelsea FC – 1997)
Foundation facilities opened: Danson Sports FC
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Name: Paul Scholes
Position: Centre midfield
FA Cup Titles: 3 (Manchester United FC – 1996, 1999 & 2004)
Foundation facilities opened: Crompton House C of E School
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Name: Lawrie Sanchez
Position: Centre midfield
FA Cup Titles: 1 (AFC Wimbledon – 1988)
Foundation facilities opened: Amersham & Wycombe College
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Name: Rachel Yankey
Position: Centre forward
FA Cup Titles: 9 (Arsenal Women FC – 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 & 2014)
Foundation facilities visited: Gibbons Recreational Ground, Bedfordshire FA
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Name: Ian Rush
Position: Centre forwad
FA Cup Titles: 3 (Liverpool FC – 1986, 1989 & 1992)
Foundation facilities opened: Hereford Academy
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CTC Kingshurt Academy were able to overhaul their existing changing pavilion thanks to a grant of £492,000 from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund. The project, which also saw the school install an all-weather football pitch on-site, enabled the school to renovate their pavilion so that it now comprises changing facilities for four teams, as well as two officials’ rooms, a multi-function room and accessible spectator toilets. The refurbished pavilion and new playing surface have formed a stunning sports hub for the local community to enjoy their football on, and a participation increase of 512% is expected over the next five years.
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Here are a selection of roles being advertised within the world of football:
Marketing Officer Intern – Football Foundation
Academy Doctor – Stevenage FC
Head of Performance Catering – Huddersfield Town FC
Commercial and Marketing Manager – Coventry City FC
Senior Events Executive – New Balance
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In another month of brilliant goals, Real Madrid star Gareth Bale recently proved his class as he lit up El Clasico with this brilliant effort. A wand of a left foot!
Image: Marca
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Next takes us to the Australian A League, where Newcastle Jets FC youngster Riley McGree recently scored this outrageous scorpion kick against Melbourne City FC. One of the best goals you will see in a long, long time.
Image: talkSPORT
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By contrast, CA Boca Juniors star Abila made the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently, after he somehow managed to miss this chance with the goal at his mercy. Surely it was easier to score?!
Image: Azulyoro
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These images are all licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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