Its now common knowledge that the FA are considering the sale of Wembley, an offer of £600m for the national stadium is believed to be on the table from Fulham owner Shahid Khan.
Opinion seems to be split 50/50 about the sale and arguments will be debated all around England, however what is refreshing is the FA have finally came out and told the truth, the truth we have known and the entire grassroots community have known for decades, the facilities at Grassroots level are inadequate with the FA themselves citing two thirds of pitches are not adequate for use.
Take that in for a second, the aim of the FA as per their website is as follows;
“The Football Association’s Management Team, working together with The FA Board, Council and staff, aims to deliver an effective and professional organisation for the greater good of English football.”
The FA also oversaw the introduction of the Premier League and the enormous sums of money that it has generated without the promised funds finding its way into the Grassroots game, the FA have stood by and watched the super agents suck huge amounts of money from the game.
We believe the FA have failed Grassroots Football and now more than ever a the FA need to listen to the Grassroots community and be represented by members of the grassroots community.
The Key Facts
There are 21,000 grassroots clubs, 50 county FAs, 25,000 schools and 330 local authorities which are catered for by the FA and, along with the finding that only one in three grassroots pitches are of adequate quality, the FA’s written evidence also highlights:
- 150,000 matches were called off last season due to poor facilities
- One in six matches are called off due to poor pitch quality
- 33 of 50 county FAs are without their own 3G pitch
- Cancelled matches account for the equivalent of 5,000,000 playing opportunities lost this year because of poor facilities
- There are half the number of 3G pitches in England than there are in Germany
What do you think?
