With the new season fully underway, three County FAs invited local footballers to help launch The FA's Respect programme throughout the Cheshire, Middlesex and Northamptonshire areas.
These County FAs were three of seven Counties selected to take part in The FA's ten week Respect pilot earlier this year, which aims to improve standards of behaviour across the Professional and grassroots game, reducing the drop-out of Referees, the number of abandoned matches and reintroducing the fun into childrens football.
In total, 20 adult and youth leagues across the country were involved in the pilot, which proved an overwhelming success and The FA officially launched the Respect programme at The Community Shield on 10 August.
During the pilot, these Counties were invited to introduce some of the following measures in leagues in the area:
- Allowing only the captain to speak to the referee;
- Erecting barriers along the touchlines to keep spectators back, and;
- Codes of conduct with related sanctions for everyone involved in the participating clubs.
The programme was rolled out in Chorlton (Cheshire), Harrow (Middlesex) and Peterborough (Northamptonshire) throughout September and Cheshire FA Chairman, Dave Edmunds is proud to have been involved:
"We were delighted to take part in the pilot for the Respect programme earlier this year and it's been really well received by clubs and leagues in the area," he said. "The challenge now is to get more leagues signed up and involved."
Northamptonshire FA Chairman, Bob Cotter reiterated the programme's importance:
"[The Respect programme] is critical in helping us all work together to change the negative attitudes and unacceptable behaviour which threaten the future of football in Northamptonshire. This is a long-term commitment but, if we all play our part, together we can really make a difference."
Every league in the country has received a personal letter from The FA inviting them to sign-up to Respect and pledge to tackle unacceptable behaviour in football. On signing up, each club in co-operative leagues will be provided with a Respect tool kit consisting of guidance notes, codes of conduct, a captain's armband containing the Respect logo and advice on obtaining spectator barriers at a special rate.
The Respect programme is a direct response to the key issues identified in the professional and grassroots game. The FA's 'Your Game, Your Say' survey highlighted the fact that abusive behaviour from players results in over 7,000 referees quitting football each year, alongside parental pressure being the main reasons that young players leave the game at an early age.
For further information on the Respect programme, please click here.
