Sunday Daily Mail

19th July 2009

Amazed to see a picture of Rio Ferdinand, complete with new futsal shoes, playing on an outside futsal court with the 'twin towers' of Kaula Lumper (Malaysia) in the background.

Problems need addressing, injuries and holidays meant Grimsby had 7 v 11 on the bench, a great disadvantage at National League level.  Player energy levels expanded are huge.  Footballs players play 45 minutes with the ball in play for an average 30 mins; futsal players play 20 mins with the clock stopped every time the ball is out of play, average 28 mins.  Football players walk about, futsal players burst a gut, an even bench is essential.

Not for the first time Grimsby was level at half time to out gunned in the second due to a lack of fresh legs on the bench.  Tired players at any level make mistakes.

That said Hornigold, Payne, Wilkinson, Parry, Brooks opened with the best offensive futsal play ever played by Grimsby, I have every confidence this team can score goals against any opposition, the problem is the opposite end of the field.  No individual is to blame, it's a collective problem.  Weight wise we are a light team, a disadvantage in 1on 1 situations when bigger opponents are ‘rolling' are last man near goal.

We had numerous chances to retrieve the game but we failed to capitalise when close to goal, positions are opponents are adapt at.

Defensive improvement is the key to winning consistently, Mathew Payne is the league's top scorer with 13 from 9 starts, Danny Hornigold 4^th with 10 from 9; even John Frary is in there with 5 from 5.

Special mention has been to be given to the skill and work rate of the team's youngest players Sam Brooks and Josh Parry, one ball Josh pulled out of the air to volley in the same movement deserved better than to hit a post.

The mantra for the next game has to be ‘defence, defence, and defence.'

Next season Grimsby will need a home venue to play their futsal from, if you are aware of any suitable venues please let me know (07980 286663)

Gavin has been selected to referee at the 'Play Off' finals for the FA Umbro National Futsal League.  This is a 3 team tournament between the winners of the FA leagues North, South & Midlands; the winners, as well as being National Champions the winners will represent England in the UEFA Cup. 

Saturday 24th October and Sunday 25th October.

FA NATIONAL FUTSAL LEAGUE PLAY OFF FINALS AT THE FUTSAL CENTRE, SWINDON, WILTSHIRE

http://statementimages.co.uk/photographers/jamesdodd/futsal/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8140514.stm

                        FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MEETING;

                                             OCTOBER 27^TH 2008,

                                  AT CUIDAD DEL REAL MADRID;

Present;          David Ward- Independent Agent, representing The Sheffield and 

                      Hallamshire County FA.

                      Javier Lozona- Technical Director, Real Madrid and UEFA.

                      Catalina Del Perez - Real Madrid PA and Interpreter.

Purpose of meeting;

To determine the role the game of Futsal has in the development of young footballers around Europe and how this can be developed in England.

To discuss interaction between professional clubs and grassroots football in Spain;

GENERAL SUMARY;

In answer to the main question; Does the game of Futsal have a part to play in the technical development of young players around Europe? The resounding answer was yes, without doubt.

Javier stated that most of the top foreign players within the Premiership had begun their career playing the game of Futsal. As in South America, Futsal has become an important part of football development at an early age around Europe.

The attributes of Futsal teach the fundamental basics of the technical game at all levels. From the age of 5/6 years old Futsal will be the main game regarding an individual's development.

Of course there is a time when the 2 codes of football interact and the 11 a side game eventually becomes priority, but by this time technical ability of the

highest standard has already been installed into the individuals game.

Javier also stated that we should not forget that Futsal is also a mainstream professional sport in itself in Spain, so not all players wish to peruse the 11 a side game. This situation opens up more opportunities for players wanting to achieve a professional status in football.

The game of Futsal, played at the tempo regularly played in the top Spanish leagues is a spectacle worth seeing, especially for the football connoisseur.

Its something he feels people should experience in order to see exactly why Futsal develops technical ability.

When asked what are the main attributes of Futsal that enhance technical ability, attributes that can obviously be carried through to the 11 a side game?

Javier stated; movement of the ball, the player, team players around you. Obviously the use of the heavier ball does aid the development of these skills.

But the main attribute was the games thought process. The ability to be think quicker generally. There are training techniques within the game of Futsal designed to improve an individuals thought process, these will become apparent as our own Football Development programme progresses.

Javier has highlighted these techniques himself in a number of reports released to UEFA.

                                                     PAGE 2

These are the main reason the game of Futsal takes priority in Europe at grass roots level regarding children in the age groups stated.

Obviously as they grow the 11 a side game becomes more prominent regarding clubs such as Madrid.  

The switch to the 11 a side game has to be made around the 12 year old mark, should the individual decide to peruse this code of the game.

As Javier also stated, the introduction of Futsal at an early age installs the fundamental basis of the game in general, such as technique and balance.

Something that, as noted by a Acadamy director I recently spoke to, a lot of young English players do not pocess even when being accepted into the Acadamy.

It is important that these elements are introduced at grass roots level.

This is where interaction with local schools becomes an important part of Real Madrid's development regime, something that has virtually become non existence in England.

School and grass roots Football is closely monitored. All the local school teams take part in a competition where the winner will enter a league which includes top professional youth sides in the immediate area.

This ensures that all players interested in the game generally within these schools will be striving to achieve, generating the interest that is required to bring through the system a larger percentage of gifted individuals who are then accepted into the Acadamy.

Spain has a high success rate regarding international football in most age groups, success that owes a lot to the system Spain has in place.

Javier also stated that development at Real Madrid focuses on attacking football, another attribute of Futsal.

A quicker thought and movement process which has an emphasis on attacking fullbacks has always been a major part of the clubs coaching regime.

Real Madrid did until recently have a Futsal team; this is something they wish to reintroduce, although Madrid is home to two of the world best Futsal clubs already.

In relation to this Javier stated its Real Madrid's intention in the next few years to build a Futsal arena within their Academy complex, such is their believe Futsal is a major requirement in the development of young players.

The club will be able to monitor and help develop young players within the Academy environment. The arena will be open for use to schools, and local teams, ensuring no one slips through the net as such. Coaches within the Academies development regime have plenty of Futsal experience.

In reply to the Question of how should we approach introducing Futsal to the main School or grass root curriculum in England, should we decide to promote the game?

Back to basics was the general summary; our programme needs to concentrate on the 5 to 12 year old age groups, as it's a new strategy and a total change to the way players have developed before.

                                                  PAGE 3

First we have to expel the myth that the game of Futsal is in someway a threat to the mainstream game. This will be open to discussion for future reference.

As my programme has highlighted, International coaches need to be introduced into the English system to help coach the game of Futsal.

We have to come to terms with the fact our Futsal/small sided games coaches are not experienced enough to coach the game if we are going to extract the main benefits.

As proposed a number of selected FA Coaches will be taught in block sessions over a number of years by an experienced European coach who has coached a number of different age groups.

Javier agrees there is not a quick fix solution, but there is a need to ensure the basics of the game are first installed into schools and grass roots football. This is

Required to develop technical ability on a par with Spain, Portugal, and Italy etc.

At the moment Futsal in England is the 11 a side game just played on a smaller pitch, a summary I had to agree with after watching and comparing the game in said countries.

I summarised our own project proposals and Javier agreed the programme put forward was an acceptable format to progress the development of the game in England.

He stressed that in Real Madrid's and Spain's view it was important for the English FA to peruse such proposals, as it has been recognised that English players seem to lack that technical development.

The continuous improvement of the game in general is based on each country constantly looking for methods to improve there own development regimes. But we could see no reason why countries can't help each other in certain aspects if it will help the game grow generally. We agreed it would be good to see an English international side challenging the worlds best as well as a club side challenging for European honours in the game of Futsal.

I personally stated that I would like to see English players making up the backbone of the Premiership, equipped with the technical ability displayed by our European counterparts who are so prominent in the Premiership at the moment; this in turn will benefit our national team's development and status.

Summarising;

The main factors above for the introduction of Futsal to the grass roots curriculum are as you can see self explanatory. What is not so obvious is how quickly we seem to be falling behind regarding technical ability generally, as well as isolating grass roots football in a number of instances.

As Javier stated teams around Europe are catching up with us regarding strength and stamina, which has always been one of the main attributes of the English game.

They are forging ahead regarding technical ability though. The mix of players acquired by the Premiership teams will dominate Europe, unfortunately only a small percentage of those teams are made up of English players.

                                                    PAGE 4

We in England seem to be still struggling with the concept of Futsal being introduced and promoted to enhance technical development. While the likes of Madrid are commencing a programme which includes building Futsal arenas, emphasising how important to them the game of Futsal is to technical development in Europe.

More planned visits around Europe will show that a lot of countries and representing clubs will be following in the footsteps of Real Madrid.

As reputations grow, Russia are rumoured to become the next major power in the football world. It is no coincidence that Futsal has developed two fold over the passed two or three years, with more money being made available to develop the game and its interaction with the 11 a side code.

My Project and a recent FA brochure titled Your Game, Your Say, Your Goal, have highlighted many issues within the English game, so taking these into consideration, we have decided its time to move forward and try a new approach with a proven track record.

Accepting advice and help from abroad may I foresee be an issue to certain quarters, but the need to develop and move forward far out weighs any of those concerns.

Javier Lozano has agreed to me, inviting to Real Madrid's Academy any FA representative that wishes to speak about the role of Futsal in the 11 a side game, and even experience the coaching regime in action within the Academy.

I am hoping it's an invitation that can't be refused.

This report was compiled by David Ward, Football Development.

Young's have traditionally not played well on Kent Street due to its size but this game was the exception. Kent Street took an early lead with some good play, Young's equalised shortly after which sparked a good spell adding two more to the tally. Kent Street responded well pegging the score back level to 3-3. Young's then added a fourth, which saw something that is very rare in Futsal Kent Street levelled straight from the kick off with a beautiful finish into the top corner. Young's then did one better going ahead from their own kick off with Jon-jo finding the bottom corner. So in the space of about 3 minutes we saw 3 goals. With the score at 5-4 to Young's, Kent Street then upped the tempo adding two more to take the lead 6-5. Young's also responded well and equalised with some good passing. At the score 6-6 it looked like both teams had run out of steam but yet again Kent Street raised their game and took the lead with about 5 minutes of the game remaining. Young's somehow found some energy and found an equaliser in the games dying moments to take the tie to penalties.

As always penos are always a gamble, Young's duly dispatched all theirs with Kent Street having one saved by keeper Dale Spalding and hitting the crossbar on another. Congratulation goes to Young's for a very hard fought victory and commiserations to a very adept Kent Street side. Worth mentioning, is the superb performance from Young's player Jon-Jo scoring 5 of Young's 7 goals.   RP