LSFA Report 2015-16 Page 2
A copy of this report can be downloaded as a word document;
LSFA REPORT 2015-16
Page 2
ESFA Winners and Finalists from Lancashire!
St.Bede’s High School, Blackburn
LSFA would like to congratulate St. Bede’s High School, Blackburn on again winning the ESFA Under 16 Girls’ Trophy from an initial entry of 257 schools by beating the Kings’ School from Winchester a very exciting final at the Manchester City Academy Stadium. After leading 3-0 at half-time St.Bede’s found themselves trailing 3-4 but scored a last minute equaliser and went on to win 5-3 on penalties!
Accrington and Rossendale College
LSFA would like to congratulate Accrington and Rossendale College on winning the ESFA Girls’ Under 18 Colleges’ Trophy from an initial entry of 50 colleges by beating a very strong Solihull College team 1-0 at Burton Albion. The ACCROSS team contained many girls who had represented Lancashire at Under 16 and Under 14 level and the winning goal was an excellent goal scored by former Lancashire player Alicia Johnson.
Moorland School.
Lancashire Schools’ Football Association would like to congratulate Moorland School, Clitheroe on reaching the final of the ESFA Boys Under 12 PlayStation 9 a side Schools’ Cup from an initial entry of 703 schools. Moorland made a brave and determined effort but lost the final 1-3 to Whitgift School from Croyden at Reading F.C.
Clitheroe Royal Grammar School
Lancashire Schools’ Football Association would like to congratulate Clitheroe Royal Grammar School on reaching the final of the ESFA Boys’ Under 13 PlayStation Small Schools’ Trophy from an initial entry of 169 schools. CRGS lost narrowly 2-3 to the Causeway School from Sussex in the final played at Reading F.C.
The LSFA County Cup Finals and District Finals.
The county cup finals were played at a variety of ground around the county. The Under 16 County Cup Final was played at Euxton Villa F.C. and the Under 15 County Cup Final was played at Skelmersdale United F.C. The Under 12 seven a side Finals (boys and girls) were again played at St.Bede’s High School Blackburn. The Under 12 five a side Finals were played at Montgomery High School (girls) and the Blackburn Power League (boys). The Under 11 District Finals were played at Accrington and Rossendale College and the Under 11 Schools’ Finals were played at the JMO, Skelmersdale. There were many excellent cup finals and we are very grateful to all clubs, schools and colleges for allowing us to stage our finals at excellent venues.
We are extremely grateful to Lancashire Football Association and its Chief Executive Officer Roger De Nobrega for allowing us to use the County Ground for the Lancashire and Wrennall Cup Finals.
Discipline.
LSFA has opted in to the ESFA centrally managed discipline season. All discipline reports in Lancashire should now be sent to ESFA and dealt with accordingly by them. It is essential that all schools and districts continue to be aware of this new procedure for the coming season. At count level there were very few problems of discipline with a few yellow cards being awarded to county players in various matches although one boy received a red card at Under 16 level.
Finance and the Future of LSFA, ESFA, etc.
LSFA are very grateful to the grants from ESFA and NCSFA which help to cover the cost of travel to away games and also pay for grounds, officials and refreshments for our home games. We manage to stage schools’ cup finals with only a small loss and we thank the vast majority of parents and other supporters for willingly paying to watch the teams perform.
However, the scene is changing! ESFA are changing the way in which they award grants both to counties and to districts and are also introducing Administration Grants. Lancashire has applied for an Administration Grant but it is not clear if a grant will be awarded or not or how much the grant would be.
The Secretary of Lancashire Schools’ F.A. has also been instructed by ESFA to contact all secondary and primary schools in the county to see how many teams they provide. ESFA will then award a grant to LSFA depending on the replies from the schools in each district. The schools were asked to send in replies by Monday 6 June 2016. At the time of writing this report 21 secondary schools out of 100 secondary schools (21%) have replied and 17 individual primary schools out of approximately 500 primary schools in Lancashire have replied. No replies have been received as yet from the 58 primary schools in Blackburn. SGOs have sent in replies from Burnley (31 primary schools), Preston (63 primary schools) and Blackpool (33 primary schools). The Blackpool primary schools were not on the ESFA list of primary schools in Lancashire. The number of schools does not include the 5 secondary and 34 primary schools on the Isle of Man from whom no reply has been received
ESFA have recently postponed their AGM scheduled for Saturday 25 June because of the lack of people intending to be present at the AGM.
A summary of the highlights of Season 2015-2016:
- The fourth consecutive ESFA Trophy victory by our Under 14 Girls, this time at St.Andrews, the home of Birmingham City F.C. together with their 100% record by the girls at the NCSFA Under 14 Girls’ Festival.
- The fifth consecutive NCSFA victory by our Under 16 Girls at Padiham F.C.
- The Blackpool Cup win by our Under 15 Boys, the first time we have entered the Blackpool Cup.
- The achievements of both our Under 16 Boys and Under 18 Boys. Both teams reached their respective semi-finals of both the ESFA Trophy and the Northern Counties’ Competition.
- The great commitment and expertise of our six county management teams, already highlighted in the report.
- Continued high levels of entry in our county cup competitions and the increased number of districts competing at primary level.
- Continued good liaison with most of our professional clubs.
- The tremendous work of Andy Clitheroe as Course Director of our coaching course for the Under 16 Boys held at QEGS in July and Neil Black as Course Director of our coaching day for the Under 14 Boys held at QEGS in August
- The excellent ESFA Trophy victories by St.Bede’s High School, Blackburn and Accrington and Rossendale College.
10. The visit to Lancashire by Carrollwood School, Florida, USA. The boys of the school were excellent ambassadors for their school, their state and their country.
The Lowlights of Season 2015-2016:
- It was disappointing to note that West Yorkshire CSFA were unable to field any county teams during the season.
- It was disappointing that Greater Manchester CSFA were unable to field any girls’ teams during the season.
- The wet weather limited the number of actual home county games to one! Fifteen county games were played on the 3G pitches at the JMO Sports Park in Skelmersdale.
- At the start of season 2014-2015 Lancashire Schools’ Football Association paid Squires Gate Football Club £1500 by cheque for the use of their ground for 12 games. By the end of Season 2015-2016 LSFA has used the ground for a total of eleven county games and cup finals. Squires Gate F.C. is refusing to allow us to use their ground for a 12th. game or to refund £125 to LSFA effectively relieving the association of £125.
- The cancellation of the ESFA AGM at relatively short notice without waiting for feedback from counties.
- The burden placed on County Secretaries throughout the country by ESFA in instructing them to collect data from all secondary, special and primary schools in their counties in order to be eligible for the annual grant from ESFA, a virtually impossible task.
- It was disappointing that the LSFA Chairman was unable to present any of the trophies at the Lancashire County Cup Finals during the season.
- The lack of help from the LSFA Council at County Matches and County Cup Finals was also disappointing with only Roy Blacktop, our Senior Council Member, and Neil Black, our Under 14 and Under 15 Manager, on hand to help the Secretary with the presentation of the trophies.
- The lack of communication by some schools and the lack of awareness by some schools and districts of certain competition rules.
10. The problems caused by the inadvertent selection of an ineligible player by Merseyside.
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 2015-2016. The perennial hope is that no-one has been omitted:
- Roy Blacktop for all his work and advice as Senior Council Member of LSFA
- Mike Duffy for his expertise and advice as Senior Advisor of LSFA.
- Peter Seed for his invaluable assistance as the Chairman of Girls’ Football.
- 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 Roger De Nobrega, Joel Callister, Mike Nadal and Andrew Whitaker.
- Our physiotherapists Luke Smith and Zara Harrison for their invaluable support given to the LSFA Management TGeams.
10. Dave Hesketh of Preston Referees’ Society and Jez Simpson of Lancaster Referees’ Society for appointing match officials to our county matches and cup finals.
11. Brinscall Village J.F.C.,, Chorley F.C., Darwen F.C., Padiham F.C., Skelmersdale United F.C., Squires Gate F.C. and Wren Rovers F.C. for allowing us to use their grounds for county matches and county cup finals.
12. Bamber Bridge F.C., Blackpool F.C., Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bury F.C. Fleetwood Town F.C. and Preston North End F.C. for providing opponents for friendly matches.
13. Officials at the Blackburn Power League for allowing us to use their centre for the Under 12 Boys’ Five a Side Competition.
14. 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.
15. Mark Hilton and Bishop Rawstorne High School, Croston for the use of their 3G pitch.
16. 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.
17. The JMO Sports’ Park, Skelmersdale, especially Charlie Haynes, for use of the 3G pitches during the wet winter of 2015-2016.
18. Staff at the Shovels’ Pub, Squires Gate, for providing refreshments after county matches.
19. Burnley College for printing the LSFA Handbook.
20. Craven Stationery, Skipton for printing our County Match Programmes.
21. Kipax Photography for taking photos at our county games and cup finals.
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.