11v11 Under 13 / Under 14 PDF
Over the past number of months I have met with many people from the football community around Ireland and have received very positive feedback on the recommendations the FAI has put forward to change the way we develop our young football players.
There is certainly a huge appetite for change right across the country.
A Technical Advisory Group was established in 2014 which brought together experienced football people to review all aspects of how the underage game is played here in Ireland and how we can make the changes required to increase standards across the country.
We set out to develop an overall philosophy that is based on a player-focused model. This requires us to adapt the game to meet the needs of children and not change children to meet the requirements of the game.
If young children enjoy their earliest experiences of football then they are much more likely to improve and to remain in the game. Young children’s reasons for playing football and their expectations and values are quite different from those of adults.
The Advisory Group brought forward ten recommendations on how the game could be improved with a greater focus on player development.
These recommendations were presented to the FAI Board in October 2014 and adopted as FAI policy.
Phase 1 of the Plan (implementation of Recommendations 1 and 2) will commence in September 2015 with the remaining recommendations being implemented over the following two seasons.
A great deal of work has gone into putting new, uniform, playing formats in place which will see improvements at all levels of the game.
A comparison was done between the game formats in operation across a number of other countries and the various different playing formats being used around Ireland.
To be successful in our objectives we need the whole football community to work together to create uniformity in what young players experience when playing our game no matter where they are in the country.
We acknowledge the good work that has been done by coaches here for many years but we are now seeking to build on those efforts so that every player can benefit, which will lead to an improvement in playing standards.
This document will help coaches, clubs, administrators, parents and others involved in the development of our young players to understand how the game will change at the different levels and how our young players will reap the benefits of our actions.
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