England Duty To Be Made Mandatory At All Age Levels

[White Noise]

FA out to make England duty mandatory at all age levels

Published 10:49 28/01/11


By MirrorFootball



Clubs could be forced to release players for England duty at all age levels under a new plan aimed at ensuring there is no repeat of the country's World Cup humiliation.

The Football Association today unveiled details of their Young Player Development Review, which was commissioned in the wake of England's abject defeat to Germany last summer.

It recommends a mandatory player release for all representative teams and has been approved at board and council level.

Should it be ratified by the Professional Game Board in April, it could see clubs being unable to stop their youngsters being called up for international duty at Under-16 to Under-21 level.


"Naturally, you hope the professional game will ratify it," said FA director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking, who admitted compromises over the scheduling of matches might have to be made for the proposal to be implemented.

Mandatory player release is one of 25 recommendations made by the review, which also focuses on the grassroots game.

Reductions in pitch, goal and team sizes, and ensuring there is more emphasis on skills development than competitive action in the youngest age groups, are among the others.

Brooking said: "Unless they get an understanding of how to find a bit of space, pass it, and just move around and keep the ball, they'll never be able to get halfway to replicating the game they see on TV at present.

"The skill base, you do have to have a certain level and, at the moment, a lot of youngsters haven't got anywhere near that."

The FA have looked closely at how other countries, especially Holland, Spain and Germany, develop their young players.

Brooking said of world and European champions Spain: "Every year, they're right there competing.

"The people who won the European Championship and the World Cup, they won titles at 17s, 19s and 21s, and that's what we want to look back on in five or 10 years' time."

The former England midfielder rubbished suggestions this country's youngsters could not learn to play the same way as the Spanish.

"That is nonsense, we can play like that, and we can produce English players who can pass it as well as anyone," he said.

"If you can get the technical stuff, plus the character of some of the English youngsters, that would be the ultimate."

Brooking believes improving the number and quality of English players will have a knock-on effect for the club game, which he believes will benefit from not having to fork out expensive transfer fees on foreigners.

"There is going to be a need in the next few years for us to develop our own homegrown talent," he said.

"It's in everyone's benefit, I think, to try to work together."

The new coach the FA are set to appoint before the end of next month will play his part in the implementation of the Youth Development Review.

Gareth Southgate has been linked with the role, which will no longer see the new man become a part of Fabio Capello's backroom team.

Brooking said: "There might be a need for a closer working relationship with the clubs, across the teams, and getting more credible people on the ground to help us with this debate of international player release."

Confirming he had spoken to the preferred candidate, who was enthusiastic about the job, he added: "It's something we can't confirm because there are one or two contract things.

"But hopefully, sooner rather than later, we'll agree that.

"I like to think the person will be in pretty quickly to help us in this area."



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/England-New-FA-plan-would-end-clubs-ability-to-refuse-release-young-players-to-age-group-squads-article683897.html#ixzz1CPgxpL1A

[WhiteJC]

Clubs could be forced to release players for England duty at all age levels under a new plan aimed at ensuring there is no repeat of the country's World Cup humiliation.

apart from the dark side making their players available, what clubs could be deemed responsible for Englands "World Cup humiliation"?

[White Noise]

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/NewsAndFeatures/2011/YPD

Young Player Development Review

Friday, 28 January, 2011

Recommendations to improve the game at every level.

The FA today released details of its extensive Young Player Development Review, including proposals for grassroots football and coaching.

Presented to The FA Board and Council, General Secretary Alex Horne and Director of Football Development Sir Trevor Brooking, delivered a total of 25 recommendations to improve the game at every level, from grassroots mini-soccer teams to the Club England set-up.

Included are proposals to change formats and facilities within grassroots youth football, to enhance the professionalisation of coaching within England, and to strengthen international team development.

New format for young footballers

Changes to the programme of youth football delivered in England are core to the proposals and are central to The FA's philosophy that better development of players comes from increased and quality contact time with the ball, in an environment that is tailored to young player development.

Building on The FA's Future Game plans for professional and grassroots level, the proposals are designed to further encourage a new approach to youth development in England consistent with The FA's philosophies.

A new era of coach development

The second major theme centres on coach development and highlights the critical role they play in the progression of young players, in tandem with the increased need for age-appropriate coaching.

The FA's investment in coach education will be coupled with the development of St George's Park, which will be a world-class hub for the delivery of coach education in England.

Backing success at international level

Combining these two elements together, The FA will also focus on building stronger relationships between its representative international teams and professional clubs.

This includes a recommendation for mandatory player release for all England teams, alongside an intention to rationalise the international fixture calendar and a pledge to be pragmatic in the use of players alongside closer working with clubs. This arrangement is an attempt to establish a clear and consistent approach to the issue of player release.

"The recommendations are fundamental in helping us to ensure that we produce more and better English players, and that everything possible is being done to help ensure their transition into successful international teams," said Horne.

"The FA must ensure that the highest quality coaches are available to the game, and that these coaches are trained with the right skills to specifically work with young players at every age across clubs from grassroots to elite level.

"We must ensure that the clubs and our international teams are working together in the interest of the individual player's development, and towards the ultimate success of our England teams.

"I believe that the development of future generations of the highest quality young English players is the central challenge facing English football today. The good news is that the game is willing, and as I have experienced during the consultation, is at its best working together.

"I am confident that with the unanimous support of The FA Board, alongside the hard work of Sir Trevor Brooking and his Development team, they will be delivered."

Brooking added: "Following on from the release of The Future Game document last year these recommendations form the basis for the outlook of our national game for years to come.

"A rigorous consultation with the whole game informed the process, which was followed up with a number of workshops, reviews and technical expertise."

The recommendations are made in response to the request of The FA Board in July 2010. The consultation process with stakeholders will now continue, combined with further Board discussion in the coming months. Recommendations will be phased in over a period of time in line with a suggested implementation plan to be presented to The FA Board in April.

[White Noise]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9379053.stm

Sir Trevor Brooking reveals FA's youth masterplan


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Brooking outlines FA youth policy

By Dan Roan

BBC Sports News Correspondent 


The Football Association has set out its vision for the future of youth development after a review conducted following England's World Cup failure.

Director of football Sir Trevor Brooking and general secretary Alex Horne have made 25 proposals with the aim of producing better young players.

"These recommendations form the basis of our outlook of our national game for years to come," said Brooking.

The proposals have been approved by the FA board and council.

If the plans are ratified in the coming months they will herald a change to formats and facilities within grassroots youth football, making coaching more professional, and strengthen international team development.

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Highlights as England exit the World Cup with a 4-1 defeat to Germany
The ideas are designed to complement the Future Game document that the FA published last year, detailing the governing body's blueprint for the way football should be played.

The FA wants to build stronger relationships between its representative teams and professional clubs.

This includes a recommendation for mandatory release of players by clubs for England teams at all age levels, in an attempt to ensure better chances of success at international tournaments, including next summer's Uefa Under-19 and Under-21 events, and the Fifa Under-20 World Cup.

A row threatened to erupt last year when England looked set to be denied five key players - including John Bostock of Spurs and Aston Villa's Nathan Delfouneso - for the European Under-19 Championship.

The FA now wants to get tougher when it comes to skirmishes between club and country.

In theory, the new rule could allow the FA to demand the release of a player like Jack Wilshere of Arsenal for the Under-21 European Championship in Denmark and the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia, despite anticipated opposition from his manager Arsene Wenger.

Brooking also confirmed that the FA is on the verge of appointing an English coach as "elite development coach" to work across the younger age groups, although he will not be part of England manager Fabio Capello's backroom team as originally intended.

we must improve the way we develop our young players and the way they are coached from the age of five to 16 and beyond

Sir Trevor Brooking
Former England defender and Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate is the favourite to be hired.

"We hope to appoint next week," said Brooking.

The FA is hoping to start a new era in its coaching development programme, which will be based at their new St George's Park training HQ in Burton.

As well as establishing a coaches' academy network and licensing scheme, there will be significant changes to the way youth football is played, with reductions in the size of pitch, goal and teams to encourage better technical development and more ball-contact time.

The age at which youngsters are allowed to play competitive league football will be raised by three years, from Under-9 to Under-12, a proposal that the FA fears will meet resistance from many parents and coaches.

"We have not won anything for 44 years and I am not saying these changes will make us world champions overnight," said Brooking.

"But we must improve the way we develop our young players and the way they are coached from the age of five to 16 and beyond.

"We need to develop more and better English players and hopefully they will eventually break into the first teams of our elite clubs and into the international team."

England have enjoyed some success in Uefa's age-group tournaments, winning the Under-17 title last year and finishing runners-up in the Under-19 and Under-21 tournaments in 2009 but Brooking said emulating world and European champions Spain was also key.

"They [Spain] won the Under-19s in 2006 and 2007, went on to win the European Championship and then the World Cup. We're not that far behind them technically and we know what we're aiming for."

The FA's 25-point plan is intended to work in conjunction with the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan, a radical overhaul of elite youth development that is expected to be voted through in the summer in time for next season.

The plan will see an Under-21 development league replacing reserve team football, a freeing up of the movement of young players and the setting up of an independent standards authority which will monitor and rank the academies of clubs across the country.

"There is now more co-operation between the two organisations over youth development than at any time I've known," said Brooking.

[HatterDon]

This seems hauntingly familiar to me. Which country was it that wouldn't allow its best player to "retire from international football?" Oh yes, I think it was France. After France's quality performance in South Africa, that's just the example I would expect the FA to want to follow. :005: