IMMERSED IN FOOTBALL Free supplement| |April April 2010 2010 Free supplement
Featuring: Grassroots football Women and the beautiful game Becoming a coach French football journalist - Tom Williams Your editor speaks Tales of a referee
CONTENTS Page 2 - Editorial Page 3 - Grassroots football Page 4 - Ref’s World Page 5 - Guide to refereeing Page 6 - Beautiful game Page 7 - Making the headlines Page 8 - Becoming a coach
Hello and welcome to Immersed in Football... This supplement is brought to you in association with FourFourTwo magazine. The main aim of the publication is to explore the areas outside of the professional game, while informing readers of potential career choices in the sport. This supplement makes an effort to broaden the perspective of football, highlighting the game as an activity at grassroots level (see page two) and then as a potential career path into a profession such as sports journalism (see page seven). Included within the magazine will be numerous interviews with key personnel in
the football industry, giving you an insight into the operations of playing or working in football. Contributions range from a football journalist, a referee and a women’s football coach. The advantages and disadvantages are weighed up to give you balanced view on the potential career. If you are a football enthusiast then it’s likely this supplement could be really helpful and informative. I hope you enjoy reading the publication, yours sincerely, Matthew Wood, Editor.
Why is football so beneficial to young people and how can people get involved?
According to PESSYP (PE and
Youth Sports Partnership) young people should be involved in at least five hours of physical activity a week. This recommendation is geared towards increasing the physical health of the nation and reducing the obesity rate in Britain. With schools now encouraged to provide at least two hours of physical activity a week, the need for further activities beyond the school day becomes prevalent. With youth setups now accessible to children as young as seven, there’s no reason not to encourage young people to start playing football. “My inspiration for getting involved was to provide kids of all abilities a place to play football and to keep fit,” says the organiser of the Warrington Junior Football League, Phil Chesworth. Phil believes that all children should try to experience the benefits of football. “I would encour-
age parents to take their children to football and see if they like it or not, if they do it’s well worth getting signed up for a local team or playing with a school side as it’s great for physical well being.” Being involved with a local club side will mean that training sessions and matches will be held regularly. As a result, young people will be adhering to the right amount of physical activity that is recommended by PESSYP for a healthy lifestyle. As somebody who also takes an involvement in coaching youth football, Phil believes there are also social advantages for children if they participate in football. “Playing as part of a team helps give young people a sense of continuity and team spirit. They can also make lots of new friends and enjoy interacting with them,” Schools, clubs and local authorities are increasingly expanding their range of activities for young people to become involved in to help promote physical activity as
early as possible. It is believed that if children can become active in sports or exercise while at school it’s likely they will continue to be active when they eventually leave education. Paula Pearson, who is a schools partnership development officer for Warrington, says: “We try to put on as many activities as possible for the children outside of school time to help keep them from trouble and prevent boredom. We recently organised a street football event which was a success.” As the national game, football is certainly a great way for young people to become physically active. It helps children become part of a team and will lead to a far greater healthier lifestyle if participation is undertaken on a regular basis. The best way to ensure this is by joining a local football team, to find a club where you live be sure to visit http://www.thefa.com/GetIntoFootball/FindAClub
On the face of it, becoming a
football referee may not seem the most attractive job in the world. After all, referees leave themselves vulnerable to tirades of negative criticism and abuse from spectators, mangers, players and in regards to a high profile situation, the national media. With this in mind, why would somebody deliberately want to put themselves under the glowing spotlight for 90 minutes every weekend? “Refereeing is great,” argues Pete Newton, the Chairman of Warrington’s refereeing society. “It gets you fit and you are actively giving something back to the game that you love! You also get to meet new people all the time and learn new things. At a purely basic level, it looks good on your job CV if you are not intending to pursue refereeing as a profession.” The health benefits are of course, obvious, but refereeing can also provide an outlet for those who haven’t quite made the grade as a professional footballer or are simply in love with the game. With the right training and practice it is not impossible to become a top-level referee, providing you are reasonably fit. Pete Newton, who has been refereeing for 17 years, and continues to do so on a regular basis, explains how he started refereeing; “I used to play football as a goalkeeper. I got injured during a match once and the referee told me if I could do any better then take the course, so I did!” Although once qualified, not everything went according to plan for Pete. “When I first qualified as a referee, in my very first game I sent seven players off and cautioned 11 more as I was told on my course to always apply the letter of the law.” Pete adds: “What they failed to explain was the unwritten ‘law’, ‘law18 - common sense’!” The demand for new referees is
on the agenda of many Football Associations up and down the country, as it is believed that around 20 per cent of local matches take place without a qualified official in place. As the Chairman of the Warrington’s refereeing society, Pete acknowledges that the game sorely needs more people to take up and stay in refereeing. “There is always a shortage of referees all over the country, some take the course, do a few games then say it’s not for them,” says Pete. “Others quit because of the threats of violence, some because of work or family commitments. While others cannot match the fitness demands needed as they are not as fit as they once were.” The abuse, without doubt is a turn off for many, even at the highest level referees and their assistants are given the vocal wrath by many of the country’s top earners.“It does annoy me that referees get that sort of treatment from players,” explains Pete. “I would like to think UEFA, FIFA or the FA could take the initiative of how rugby deals with it, i.e. only the captain talks to the referee. People see Wayne Rooney shouting at refs and he gets away with it so some players replicate that thinking they can do the same.” While there are noticeable negatives to the profession, there are also some plus points, not least for those aspiring to become a Premier League referee. Since the inception of full-time referees in 2000, a Premier League official can expect an annual wage of up to £60,000, not bad for 90 minutes every Saturday. The major benefit of course, is being involved with the game you love and interacting with fellow professionals. Knowing you are in charge of 22 players for 90 minutes can be a rewarding experience that can be ultimately fulfilling. However it must be said refereeing is not for the feinthearted, communication and man
management skills are a must in order to deal with the inevitable criticism that will come a referee’s way. Brave enough? Check out our guide on how to get started in refereeing.
REFEREEING: A GUIDE
Note: You need to be at least 14 to apply for a refereeing course. Your first step is to register with your local County Football Association. Enrol in a basic referee’s course which consists of around 10 classroom-based sessions, a written exam and an oral exam. The basic course will be free but there is usually a small charge for joining your local county FA. When you have completed the basic referee’s course you will be eligible to take charge of amateur football matches. At this stage you are a level seven referee, after a year in this position you can qualify to become a level six referee. For this to happen you must attend further classes ran by your county FA and undertake examinations on the laws of the game. If successful you can move up to being a level five referee, for this to happen you need to have completed over 20 matches with a satisfactory average mark. Once a level five referee you are well on the way to becoming a senior match official. In order to move further up the ladder to levels four to one you will need to overcome further tests and officiate a set number of games whereby you must reach a certain standard, all details with be provided by your county FA. The following details the standard of football you can officiate at once you achieved the necessary level. * Level four: Senior amateur leagues and county level * Level three: Semi-professional football * Level two: Blue Square Premier League (Nonleague) and Reserve leagues * Level one: Professional football ranks, up to and including the Premier League
Immersed in Football takes a look at the history of the women’s gam e and where it’s heading
It’s fair to say that women’s football has not quite kicked off in this country. The game is massively overshadowed by its male counterpart and suffers immensely from the sport forever being associated as a form of masculinity that only men should take part in. Perhaps some of the problems lie in the fact that the female form of the game is still relatively new. A national division in England was only formed in 1991, consisting of 24 clubs, compare this to the creation of the men’s Football League in 1888 and the gap is truly astonishing. The major stalling point behind the progress of the women’s game was the ban put in place by the Football Association (FA) in 1921 stating that; “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged.” It was not until 50 years later, in 1971, that this ban was eventually lifted by the FA. The change in rules came as a result of the Women’s Football Association being created in 1969, which campaigned for the sanction to be removed. Before the 1970’s football in Britain was always associated as a men’s game. By this time the game itself had taken off and was ready for the boom of the 80’s and 90’s where BSkyB would inject their millions to transform the men’s game into a global brand. In 1991 when the women’s football league was created (103 years after its male predecessor), it was barely a year later that the men’s Premier League was founded and the popularity of the game went
into overdrive. age to girls in order to encourage Ultimately the women’s game was them to participate.” always playing catch-up to a male At 26 years of age, Kate grew counterpart that had been set in up at a time when football was stone for over a century, meaning always predominately considered the sport was destined to be in the a men’s game, although that didn’t shadow of its older brother. deter her personally. “Because I But that’s not to say that the wom- grew up in a small village full of en’s game can’t work. In America, lads I kind of fell into to playing where the game is predominantly football but since then I’ve always seen as a female sport, the 1999 been involved and been a regular World Cup proved a massive member of women’s teams.” success with sell-out crowds that Kate is asked about how she resulted in a crowd of over 90,000 feels about the women’s game at for the final between the USA and the highest level; does it receive China. enough attention from the media? Domestically speaking, the game “No, nowhere near enough,” reached its peak in 2005 when the she replies. “But that’s because European Championships were somebody needs to take a risk held in England, the host nation’s and pump a lot of money into the first game attracted an attendance game in order for it to become of almost 30,000 and a further more accessible. That said, I do £2.9m watching on television. prefer watching the men’s game, However, attendances for womprobably because the quality is en’s games in general haven’t a lot better although that’s only sparkled and without any forthbecause the women’s game hasn’t coming media publicity or spondeveloped like the men’s.” sor-fuelled cash injection it’s With the longevity of the women’s difficult to see how exactly the game severely lagging behind the women’s game can grow. men’s, Kate believes that in “20 To investigate further, Immersed to 30 years time”, providing the in Football took the opportunity game becomes more accessible to to speak to the coach of the Unigirls, we might see the women’s versity of Chester Women’s team, game truly blossom into the beauKate Paterson. tiful game. “I believe it’s a bit of a vicious circle,” said Kate. “There are not enough girls taking up the game at grassroots level, which leads to a lack of quality at the top end of the pyramid. When I was at school, football was never on the curriculum for girls, I’m Team Spirit: Univerunsure of the situation now sity of Chester Womens but football should definitely Team be introduced at an earlier
“Getting paid to watch football and write about it. It doesn’t get much better than that,” says football journalist Tom Williams. The 26-year-old aspires to write for one of the British national newspapers, but for the moment works across the Channel in Paris for the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the equivalent of the English Press Association. Originally from Wales, Tom describes his journey through journalism as ‘extremely circuitous’ and admits that finding the path into the perfect job is not easy. However, journalism wasn’t originally on the agenda of the Welshman when he progressed to university. “I studied English literature at university, where I did a bit of student radio and a bit of acting but barely any journalism,” explains Tom. “After leaving uni I moved to London and spent a year working as an office temp before I successfully applied to Cardiff University for a place on their Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism. At Cardiff I trained to become a radio and TV journalist and specialised in sport. I graduated from Cardiff in July 2007, moved back to London and, after working freelance for some pretty random websites and radio stations, was offered a full-time job on the Eurosport website.” The road to becoming a well-paid football journalist isn’t straight forwarf, even at 26, Tom admits he’s not quite where he wants to be yet. Job security isn’t guaranteed either with Tom only recently signing his first long-term contract with his current employers. “I left Eurosport in August 2008
IIF profiles football journalist tom williams , tracking the highs and lows of life in the med
and moved to France, where I worked freelance for Radio France International before approaching Agence France-Presse (AFP) and being offered a shortterm contract on their sport desk in November 2008. I’ve been there pretty much ever since, specialising in French football.” Moving abroad was a risk that Tom took in order to further his journalism career, when asked whether he felt it was beneficial to move away from the Britain to find work he replied; “I’d never intended to work abroad, but I did find freelance work easier to come by once I’d moved to France, probably because I already spoke a bit of French.” He adds: “I wouldn’t recommend moving to a foreign country to look for work if you’ve got no ties with the place and don’t speak a word of the language.” Of course the advantage of the job, if you reach a certain standard, is reporting on the highest level of football. With Tom based in France his focus is Ligue 1, the equivalent of the English Premier League. This season has seen the tightest championship battle in years in France, and certainly the most intriguing across Europe, with six teams all realistically vying for the title with just a handful of games remaining. “I tend to focus on French football, so it’s my job to keep abreast of what’s happening in Ligue 1, write a preview for each set of matches and round-up all the action at the weekend. Occasionally I report on matches live, which involves writing a preview, travelling down the day before the
ia
game, reporting on the pre-match press conferences, reporting on the match itself and filing reaction pieces once the game is over.” While watching football for a living could be some people’s idea of a dream job, the hours involved are potentially strenuous and can leave you with little free-time on your hands. Ultimately, football journalism takes a great deal of dedication and the rewards aren’t particularly fruitful. “The hours aren’t great,” admits Tom. “You often have to work in the evenings and at weekends, which can have a catastrophic effect on your social life! The pay’s not spectacular either. It’s a difficult industry to succeed in.” Due to French law, shifts are seven hours long and can become tedious, especially during the day when there is no football being played. “I spend most of my time on the sport desk at AFP’s headquarters in Paris,” says Tom. “I edit stories sent in by our correspondents and freelancers from around the world, translating stories into English.” It’s clear from Tom’s interview that to succeed as a football journalist you must have an unrelenting passion for the game. Otherwise it’s difficult to see why someone would be tempted into a career that involves differing shift patterns and relatively average pay at best. “If you’re passionate and knowledgeable about football, you write well, you’re good with people and you’re prepared to give up your evenings, your weekends and your dreams of owning a big house in the countryside, then go for it!”