Email I received today. It answers the questions of those asking about the FA National Junior Finals held in past years at Sheffield.
The correspondent will keep me updated as plans develope.
Hi Kevin,
Just to let you know the broader picture I am working
with other like minded individuals to create a database of youth futsal clubs
to facilitate contact between clubs for the exchange of ideas, and
formal/informal competition on a regular basis.
The object is to help clubs that don't have formal
leagues to gain more experience through the opportunity to play other teams
from across the country. Of course, even where teams play regularly in a local
league there is nothing like playing high quality teams from out-of-town to
keep players enthusiastic and improving their game.
An immediate focus over the next few weeks is arranging a
National Finals competition for u10's and u12's. The date set for this is
Sunday 18th July in Shrewsbury. We are doing this because the FA have
restricted the National Youth Fustal Festival at Sheffield to school teams only
at these age groups. Although u14's and u16's still have a route to the
Sheffield Nationals this year it seems possible that the competition may
ultimately evolve into a schools only competition in the future.
For this reason we are working to give club teams the
opportunity for a National Finals of their own to reward them for the effort
and enthusiasm they have shown. In my experience clubs that play regularly are
more likely to be of higher quality than school teams that typically spend so
little time on Futsal. It is ironic that it is the clubs that now find
themselves excluded from the Sheffield Nationals at u10 and u12. This may, in
part, be due to the fact that the National Youth Futsal Festival is funded by
the English Schools FA.
Clearly it is fantastic that everything possible is done
to increase participation in Futsal in our schools - it is a shame though if
similar support cannot be given to clubs.
We have told the FA we are organising our own club finals
this year and they are happy for us to proceed. In fact we look to work in
partnership with the FA and will seek a meeting shortly to tie up the details.
Hopefully we will receive official endorsement.
Once we have a good idea as to how many futsal clubs are
in existence at
u8 - u16 we will formally ask for contact details in
order that we can establish a database to encourage contact and competition
between clubs.
We will also devise a qualifying competition to identify
the 8 finalists at each age group for the Club National Final on Sunday 18th
July for u10's and u12 clubs. Depending on numbers we may need to organise a
number of Regional Finals. Obviously u14's and u16's still have the opportunity
of progressing to the FA Youth Futsal Festival Final at Sheffield this year, so
we will not be creating a separate finals for them this time around.
I will be in touch again shortly once we have formalised
the necessary mechanisms and protocols for handling club contact details. At
that point I will ask you to provide information about your teams in order that
you can access the data from other clubs.
This will be a not-for-profits organisation - run by
clubs for clubs to promote better futsal.
News 
