Grassroots football in Shropshire is in crisis – with a glut of leading clubs on the brink of extinction.
Two clubs have already folded since the summer, and another two Shropshire cup holders have had to withdraw from this season’s competitions without defending their titles.
Instones United of the Shrewsbury Sunday League have pulled out of the Shropshire Sunday Premier Cup because of a player shortage partly caused by members of their squad not being able to get international clearance as they also play in Wales.
And Dawley Bank, winners of the Junior Cup last May, had been invited to enter the Challenge Cup but have also withdrawn.
“We’re very concerned,” said Shropshire FA spokesman Neil Sambrook.
“It’s obviously a worry when, this early in the season, we’ve already seen Hopesgate United and Craven Arms Town folding and now Dawley Bank having difficulties as well.
“Instones United have been the flagship for their league. They’ve been in the last four finals of the Sunday Premier Cup, so for them to have to pull out is terrible.” Sambrook is calling for an “urgent” look at the situation in a bid to try and halt the decline in 11-a-side game across the county.
“I was speaking to the chairman of Craven Arms and he puts a lot of it down to player commitment,” he said.
“There was a time when people registered to play with a club on a Saturday and that’s what they did.
“I get the impression that many players now sign for a club but only play if they’ve got nothing else to do.
“The bigger picture is that the fabric of society is changing – more people work at weekends.
“The whole 11-a-side game is in decline but small-sided football is expanding rapidly. People play once a week and then their whole weekends are free.
“We’ve got to take a long and urgent look at the situation to see what we can do to halt the decline.”
By Chris Hudson
4 Comments
seems to be very difficult to keep clubs afloat these days… so much money is needed to run a small county league side for one year and if the club has not got enough committed people off the pitch it all comes down to the lads who play to fund the club….
Not so long ago, the Star printed a story attributed to Mr Tomm Farmer of the Sloppy FA who quoted how bouyant the Football Scene was in the County, I for one feel its been in dissaray for many years, Too many old men who are in charge some with over 35+ years of office who are without any ideas to promote football, they conviniently preach chapter & verse from the Rule Book created from the other old men at Soho Square.
It is not just the problem of player availability but also the cost of running a side these days. This is rarely helped by the powers that be, especially the Shropshire County League who hand out fines willy nilly…for example our club was fined £20 for a match report form being recieved by the league a day late. The league committee and the Shropshire FA should remember that these clubs are amateur and participate for sheer enjoyment, money is raised through hard work and player contributions-for it to be taken away in extortionate fines for little errors. Also the cost of actually playing is getting more and more expensive. I play saturday and sunday and it costs me at least £20 a time when you have paid your subs to cover referee fees and kit washing, had a go on the card and bonus ball to raise funds, paid training fees and had afew social pints after the game. The authorities should be doing all they can to help the local game, not stiffle it with hefty fines and fees.
I am not surprised at the decline of adults football - however I think there are many different issues
1- Soccer sevens events are gaining (is it because these are not governed by the FA
2- Grass roots facilites for JNRs is poor and council pitches are even poorer - not bad considerering we are an obesite nation.
3- Too many tick boxes and red tape grass roots coaches do it free of charge the Shropshire FA coaches and development people get paid and they dont venture out of Shrewsbury or Market drayton and for girls their loyaty remains with Shrewsbury twon girls centre of excellence are they pushing schools football or are they promoting football for all nope they are pushing for the better players only.
4- The league are again all volunteers and as pointed out earlier they are normally made up of old people - well I will argue put your hand up at the next league AGM and make a change for the right reason and for the future of the game.
these are just some points - perhaps consider this boxing has many lead bodies / wbc wba etc perhaps we need another lead body as soho square seem to be dictating what we should and should not do