County FAs have been called upon to increase their representation of youth football, following last weekend’s FA Youth Leagues Conference.
Given that the youth game takes up almost half of all affiliated football played in this country, many of the leagues represented at the event at St George’s Park believe they are often under-represented at county level.
That was just one of the matters which The FA were questioned about at the Conference, which saw over 60 different leagues from across the country represented in workshops and sessions over two days.
Youth league reps in one of the FAYLC workshops
And many of the reps went away with positive feedback, and new ideas for their own leagues, from the Conference.
"It’s been very interesting and the topics that have been on the agenda are very to date and what needed to be spoke about," revealed Lesley Allon of the Bolton and Bury District League, which contains 564 teams between U7s to U18 level.
"The people who have delivered have been exceptional and the people we have met here from the other leagues, it’s been an experience listening to them.
"That’s always a good thing as you pick things up and hear how differently people do things. We all have the same purpose, but some people do it in different ways."
But Allon admits the common frustration for many of the leagues is the lack of representation at decision-making level in their County FAs.
"There are similar issues for us all, but to varying degrees," she explained.
"For example, what has come out about youth representation at County FA level - there are some Counties with no youth representation, but there are others who have five or six represented.
"That’s something which needs to be addressed and we are quite rightly very frustrated with the situation as it is."
The FA’s National Leagues Development Manager Andrew Hailwood, who was the Conference’s host and organiser, was certainly keen to take on board all of the feedback offered by the leagues.
"People have been very honest, and there are some things which we need to address," he admitted.
"There seems to be different quality in different areas of the country and we need to work with our Counties to improve that and work, support and improve the service with leagues.
"But there’s good practice that you hear of, which we would have been unaware of if we hadn’t seen everyone here together.
"If we’re hearing it for the first time then so are the other leagues."
