As millions of people across England are preparing for the return of grassroots football for the 2024-25 season, episode two of the third series of ‘Football & Me’ takes a specific look at the grassroots game.
Hosted at St. George’s Park by sport presenters Sam Hurst and Dan Bardell, we had four guests from across grassroots football to chat about some of the key issues facing the game and also the positivity and inspiration when looking to the future.
The show comes on the back of the recent launch of our new grassroots code, Respect The Standard, which has been designed to unite everyone across grassroots football by driving positive standards of behaviour we can all get behind.
Joining us at the national football centre was Paul Kirton, founder and managing director of Team Grassroots, which was set up to represent and help people involved in grassroots football across the country.
Grassroots referee Feiruz Abdullahi told her own story, after arriving in England from Kenya at the age of ten and being introduced to football by a friend before embarking on a journey into officiating which saw her named as grassroots referee of the year in 2023-24.
Adam Flint, vice chair from Cotgrave FC in Nottingham, was also present to talk about the ambitions of growing their club with new facilities and how to find the funding to do that.
And Ben Rosser, CEO of the Pythian Club in Nottingham, explained how football is bringing communities together in inner cities, as they work with disadvantaged youngsters to help lead them down the right path.
Football and Me is back for its third series this season, covering a wide range of EDI topics, with LGBTQ+ and Black history to feature in the coming episodes.
The series initially highlighted positive stories from Asian participants across the game, with the aim of inspiring people within Asian communities to play a bigger part in English football on and off the pitch.
And it proved to be a very successful campaign, featuring players, coaches and match officials of Asian heritage discussing their inspirational journeys to date.
