Football Association vote in favour of youth football changes
By Dan Roan
BBC sports news correspondent The Football Association has voted in favour of making small-sided formats for certain age-groups mandatory.

Proposals including smaller sided games on smaller pitches and smaller goals were voted in by an 87% majority.

In England, some children as young as 10 currently play on full-size pitches.

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“The smaller pitch and number of players allows greater number of touches of the ball and involvement in the game, helping develop greater technical skills at a lower age.
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FA statement
"These changes are a massive step forward for the future of children's football in this country," said national development manager Nick Levett.

"After 138 roadshows nationwide it was fantastic to get the endorsement of the majority of the grassroots football community."

While some youngsters already play small-sided games the new pathway now includes a mandatory 5v5 format of football for under-7s and under-8s and a 9v9 format for under-11 and under-12s to be phased in by season 2014-15.

Before the vote the FA's Head of Elite Development Gareth Southgate made a speech in favour of the proposals which FA insiders say was key.

The changes are designed to emulate the emphasis on technique and skill in countries such as Spain where children are only allowed to play on adult pitches from under-14 level.

"These changes are desperately needed to support the future development of youth football," said Levett.

"We need to ensure children play on pitches appropriate to them, a 10-year-old is not half a 20-year-old!

"We also need an approach to competition that makes the game more competitive for more children."

Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand got involved in the debate on Twitter.

He tweeted: "One thing our kids coaches don't do that foreign coaches do is teach them to pass the ball to a player under pressure...then coach one-two.

"How to protect the ball under pressure..foreign players do that much better than us...one reason why they keep possession better.

"FA coaching courses need a right old shake up in my humble opinion if we are to move forward...some real good bits but some ancient bits too."

What the changes mean
5v5 format for under-7s & 8s

9v9 format for under 11s & 12s
The FA needed 75% of the votes cast for the reforms to be approved.

An FA statement said: "Introducing 5v5 for under-7s and under-8s, with progression to 7v7 and then 9v9, allows the children to play on appropriate size pitches and with appropriate size goals.

"The smaller pitch and number of players allows greater number of touches of the ball and involvement in the game, helping develop greater technical skills at a lower age."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18236981

Very similar parallels indeed to our (Aus football) situation when we first introduced ssg a couple of years ago
It might be a dumb question but Is thier a big difference for the youngsters when they start playing 11 v 11 at under 12 level compared if they start playing a year later? I.e under 13s? Even A lot of countries start playing 11 v 11 even from under 14 or under 15 level too.

I can't really speak from any kind of expert's point of view, but I think the smaller field size enables (or forces) players to be more creative simply because there is less space to move in. Think about it this way, say you are an attacker - If 5 metres is the furthest you can get away from a defender at any point of the game, you are going to need a wider range of skills and capabilities to deal with the situation than if the closest defender could be 10 metres away. It's the same reason why futsal players and all the Brazilians have amazing technique - They grow up playing in small quarters.

For sure playing on a full sized pitch is important when it comes to "real" football, but that is something that can be taught a lot more easily that how to deal with a defender in close quarters. The kids "grow" into the full size of a pitch anyhow, from 13-18, so they aren't really losing out on much if they miss a year, from my opinion.

This English situation is amazing.

When I was recently in England, there was a culture of every person thinking they knew a lot about football, but coaches coaching with no training.

From one coaching book I had, Scotland have supposedly been playing 7v7 up to 12 years of age for over a decade.

Scotland isnt expecting the fruit of its changes for 20 years.

Thank fuck for that; I played on nearly full size pitches with about 9v9 or even 11v11 at nine years old in England.

I don't think Australians quite realise how far ahead their youth system is compared to the one back home.

You'd think it'd be common sense to not do that to nine year old players. Good to see things are-a-changing though.

Sadly we will still get a majority of people involved currently with the game in a coaching capacity up in arms against this, or more likely it just being ignored.

I mentioned in a post somewhere else that we are essentially going to have to wait for this generation (the majority, as you say) of coaches to disappear. As hard as the FFA is working at grassroots levels, only time will change things. Old habits die hard as the saying goes, and as you say GA, more likely just being ignored - It's not as if it can actually be enforced.

The FFV have implemented a good idea, though. I'm not sure how many other state federations have done it, but FFV charge clubs $50 (I think per game, maybe season) for every team that has a manager that doesn't have the proper credentials (Junior Licence, Senior Licence, etc).

Edited by Draupnir: 1/6/2012 11:06:35 AM