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This section includes coaching articles, tips, help and support for junior grassroots football coaches
This article outlines the the relevant conditions for the different age group formats, such as ball size, pitch size, goal size, match length and whether the match is ‘competitive’ or not. In England, Age groups run as per the school year, so a player born on 1st September would be the oldest in your team. The English FA fairly recently introduced new formats for different age groups in an attempt to match the age and size of the players more sensibly to the size of the goals and pitches they’re playing on…
DBS Checks, First Aid and Safeguarding are essential and paramount to all grassroots clubs and coaches to ensure compliance with FA guidelines and policies.
Every grassroots team has to be compliant with the FA by having all adults involved with children being DBS checked (by the FA) and having at least one first aider present when training or playing matches.
In most cases, everything that you need as a grassroots coach to run your team will be provided by your club – including football Kit, Training Equipment, Goals and Balls.
Your team will need to have the right number of matching kits – shirts, shorts and socks). In a lot of cases, this is funded through some form of local sponsorship. Whether its a parent or relative of one of the players, or just a local business seeking more exposure, clubs and coaches should always keep their ears on the ground for any sponsoring opportunities.
In order to play matches against other clubs, you’ll need to register your grassroots team and players with an affiliated grassroots football league.
For most grassroots clubs, every player on your team needs to be a member of the club to be allowed to take part in training sessions and matches. A membership fee covers all training costs and match fees during the season (September – May), a kit for each child and league registration fees.
