LSFA Report 2014-15 Page 2
A copy of this report can be downloaded as a word document;
LSFA REPORT 2014-15
Continued from Page 1
A summary of the highlights of Season 2014-2015:
- The National Finals for our Under 16 Girls and Under 14 Girls at Sixfields, the home of Northampton Town F.C.
- The Northern Counties’ Final for our Under 16 Girls at Padiham F.C.
- The Northern Counties’ Final for our Under 16 Boys at Eden Lane.
- The great commitment and expertise of our five county management teams, already highlighted in the report.
- The many superb performances given by our five county teams who provided such pleasure and enjoyment to all spectators throughout the season.
- The tremendous support given to our girls’ teams by Peter Seed.
- The assistance and expertise offered by Rebecca Brereton, Emily Giles, Zara Harrison, and Hannah Venn, the physiotherapists for our girls’ teams and by Luke Smith, the physiotherapist for our boys’ teams. Emily, Zara, Hannah and Luke provide invaluable support for our management teams.
- Continued high levels of entry in our county cup competitions.
- The increased number of districts competing at primary level.
10. Continued good liaison with most of our professional clubs.
11. The great support of Squires Gate Football Club and Wren Rovers Football Club. We thank the two Chairmen, Stuart Hopwood at Squires Gate and Dave Brewell at Wren Rovers, for allowing us to use their grounds for county matches and cup finals and for all their help at the matches. We are also extremely grateful to the two groundsmen, Brian Addison at Squires Gate F.C. and Roy Frost at Wren Rovers F.C. for their work and help throughout the season as well as all other helpers at the two clubs.
12. The tremendous work of Andy Clitheroe as Course Director of our coaching course for the Under 16 Boys held at QEGS in August.
13. The tremendous work of Neil Black as Course Director of our coaching day for the Under 14 Boys held at QEGS in August.
14. The support given to LSFA by Joel Callister, Andrew Whitaker and Mike Nadal at the Lancashire Football Association. Joel, Andrew and Mike have given us tremendous assistance with the completion of the Annual County Plan required by the FA and by ESFA. We are also grateful to Lancashire Football Association for allowing us to hold our meetings at the County Ground.
15. The support of parents, relatives and friends for our County Teams is excellent and exceptional. They support the team in all kinds of weather and willingly pay the admission fee for home games without complaint. The support of the players’ families for the two National Finals was invaluable and we thank all the families for all their help, advice and support.
16. The work of Darren Alcock in his role of organising all the national competitions including the National Finals. We thank Darren and his colleagues for the excellent
organisation of the competitions and the finals.
17. The LSFA Handbook printed for us by Burnley College and all the handbook advertisers.
18. The excellent ESFA Under 16 Girls’ Trophy win by the girls of St.Bede’s High School, Blackburn
19. The achievement of Ribblesdale High School in reaching the final of the ESFA Under 15 Open Schools Cup.
20. The participation of Lancashire Under 14 girls in the inaugural South Yorkshire Festival.
21. The victory by Fisher More High School, Colne in the Under 14 Girls’ County Cup Final, the first time a school from Pendle has won a County Cup !
On the negative side:
- The refusal by certain professional clubs to release boys to play for their county team thus contravening FA Rule C, paragraph 4, which states that priority at all times must be given to school or school organisation’s activities whilst a pupil is receiving fulltime education.
- The poor communication from Greater Manchester CSFA which meant that our Under 16 boys had to play two games in two days.
- The lack of communication between colleges/schools and LSFA at Under 18 level.
- The lack of commitment of boys at Under 18 level to play for the county.
- The unwillingness of West Yorkshire Under 18 Boys to come over to play Lancashire within the limit date at the end of the season and the fact that this game was not played at all.
- The low number of entries at Under 15 and Under 14 district level with only 6 districts taking part in each competition.
- The failure of some schools to play games within the limit dates, especially at the start of the season.
- The continuing lack of communication by some schools.
- The lack of awareness by some schools and districts of certain competition rules.
10. Problems caused by the ‘social media’.
Acknowledgements.
The final section of this report is to thank the many individuals, clubs, companies and associations who have helped Lancashire Schools’ F.A. deliver its programme during season 2014-2015. The perennial hope is that no-one has been omitted:
- Roy Blacktop for all his work and advice as Chairman of Lancashire Schools’ F.A.
- Mike Duffy for his expertise and advice in dealing with difficult situations as Senior Advisor of Lancashire Schools’ F.A.
- The English Schools’ F.A.: Darren Alcock, Dave Ebberson, Sue Gifford, Lorna Blakeman, Dawn Howard, Sarah Kearney, Ed Mitchell and Andy Weston for their help and guidance throughout the season.
- The Northern Counties Schools’ F.A., especially Peter Tracey and Chris Newman
- Accrington and Rossendale College for all their support, especially with the Under 16 and Under 14 Girls’ County Teams.
- County Secretaries in the Northern Counties’ Association and across the country for their assistance in organising games often under difficult circumstances.
- The Lancashire FA and its officers, particularly Joel Callister and Mike Nadal
- Dave Hesketh of Preston Referees’ Society for appointing match officials to most of our county matches and cup finals. The match officials: Ellie Ditchfield, Norman Edmondson, Dave Hesketh, Courtney Hughes, Peter Ingham, Natalie Jacques, Kamran Jaffa, Keith Martin, Ed O’Donnell, Jordan Parkinson, Josh Rigby, Mike Rigby, Phil Rigby, Kevin Roberts, Daniel Sanderson, Stephanie Shaw, Greg Simms, Fiona Shone, Shaun Taylor, Dave Wareing.
- Burnley F.C., Euxton Villa F.C., Padiham F.C., Skelmersdale United F.C., Squires Gate F.C., Wren Rovers F.C. for allowing us to use their grounds for county matches and county cup finals.
10. Blackpool F.C., Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bury F.C., and Preston North End F.C. for providing opponents for early season friendly matches.
11. Montgomery High School, Blackpool, for the use of their Sports’ Hall for the Under 12 Girls’ Five a Side Competition.
12. Officials at the Blackburn Power League for allowing us to use their centre for the Under 12 Boys’ Five a Side Competition.
13. Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Blackburn, the Head Teacher, sports and ground staff for the use of such excellent facilities for the LSFA Summer Coaching Course, ESFA and LSFA trials.
14. Mark Hilton and Bishop Rawstorne High School, Croston for the use of their 3G pitch.
15. St Bede’s High School, Blackburn, especially Chris Bentley and John Turner, for organising the use of the 3G for our Under 12 seven a side Finals, the Under 11 Luther Mercer Cup Final and the Under 16 Girls’ County Cup Final.
16. The JMO Sports’ Park, Skelmersdale, especially Charlie Haynes, for use of the 3G pitch.
17. Staff at the Shovels’ Pub, Squires Gate, for providing refreshments after county matches.
18. Burnley College for printing the LSFA Handbook.
19. Craven Stationery, Skipton for printing our County Match Programmes.
20. Kipax Photography for taking photos at our county games and cup finals.
21. Edge Hill University for provision of physiotherapists at County games.
22. Teachers at all levels, primary to tertiary, school team to district and county representative sides in their various roles as coaches, managers, administrators.
23. Head Teachers and Principals in our schools and colleges for their support in the release of players and staff for matches.
24. The AOTTs who are now helping schools’ football in various capacities
25. Parents, families and supporters of players at all levels for their friendship and support in a long but highly successful season.