Free supplement | April 2010Free supplement | April 2010

IMMERSED IN FOOTBALL

Featuring:Grassroots football

Women and the

beautiful gameBecoming a coach

French football journalist - Tom

WilliamsYour editor speaks

Tales of a referee

Hello and welcome to Immersed in Football...the football industry, giving you an insight into the operations of playing or working in football. Contributions range from a football journalist, a referee and a women’s football coach. The advantages and disadvantages are weighed up to give you balanced view on the potential career. If you are a football enthusiast then it’s likely this supplement could be really help-ful and informative. I hope you enjoy reading the publication, yours sincerely,

Matthew Wood, Editor.

This supplement is brought to you in as-sociation with FourFourTwo magazine. The main aim of the publication is to ex-plore the areas outside of the professional game, while informing readers of poten-tial career choices in the sport. This supplement makes an effort to broad-en the perspective of football, highlighting the game as an activity at grassroots level (see page two) and then as a potential career path into a profession such as sports journal-ism (see page seven).Included within the magazine will be nu-merous interviews with key personnel in

CONTENTS

Page 2 - Editorial

Page 3 - Grassroots football

Page 4 - Ref’s World

Page 5 - Guide to refereeing

Page 6 - Beautiful game

Page 7 - Making the headlines

Page 8 - Becoming a coach

According to PESSYP (PE and Youth Sports Partnership) young people should be involved in at least five hours of physical activ-ity a week.This recommendation is geared towards increasing the physical health of the nation and reducing the obesity rate in Britain. With schools now encouraged to pro-vide at least two hours of physical activity a week, the need for fur-ther activities beyond the school day becomes prevalent.With youth setups now accessible to children as young as seven, there’s no reason not to encour-age young people to start playing football.“My inspiration for getting in-volved was to provide kids of all abilities a place to play football and to keep fit,” says the organiser of the Warrington Junior Football League, Phil Chesworth.Phil believes that all children should try to experience the ben-efits of football. “I would encour-

age parents to take their children to football and see if they like it or not, if they do it’s well worth get-ting signed up for a local team or playing with a school side as it’s great for physical well being.”Being involved with a local club side will mean that training ses-sions and matches will be held regularly. As a result, young people will be adhering to the right amount of physical activity that is recommended by PESSYP for a healthy lifestyle.As somebody who also takes an involvement in coaching youth football, Phil believes there are also social advantages for chil-dren if they participate in football. “Playing as part of a team helps give young people a sense of con-tinuity and team spirit. They can also make lots of new friends and enjoy interacting with them,”Schools, clubs and local authori-ties are increasingly expanding their range of activities for young people to become involved in to help promote physical activity as

early as possible. It is believed that if children can become ac-tive in sports or exercise while at school it’s likely they will contin-ue to be active when they eventu-ally leave education.Paula Pearson, who is a schools partnership development officer for Warrington, says: “We try to put on as many activities as possible for the children outside of school time to help keep them from trouble and prevent bore-dom. We recently organised a street football event which was a success.”As the national game, football is certainly a great way for young people to become physically active. It helps children become part of a team and will lead to a far greater healthier lifestyle if participation is undertaken on a regular basis.The best way to ensure this is by joining a local football team, to find a club where you live be sure to visit http://www.thefa.com/Get-IntoFootball/FindAClub

Why is football so beneficial to young people and how can people get involved?

On the face of it, becoming a football referee may not seem the most attractive job in the world. After all, referees leave themselves vulnerable to tirades of negative criticism and abuse from spectators, mangers, players and in regards to a high profile situation, the national media. With this in mind, why would somebody deliberately want to put themselves under the glowing spotlight for 90 minutes every weekend? “Refereeing is great,” argues Pete Newton, the Chairman of Warrington’s refereeing society. “It gets you fit and you are actively giving something back to the game that you love! You also get to meet new people all the time and learn new things. At a purely basic level, it looks good on your job CV if you are not intending to pursue refereeing as a profession.” The health benefits are of course, obvious, but refereeing can also provide an outlet for those who haven’t quite made the grade as a professional footballer or are simply in love with the game. With the right training and practice it is not impossible to become a top-level referee, providing you are reasonably fit. Pete Newton, who has been refereeing for 17 years, and continues to do so on a regular basis, explains how he started refereeing; “I used to play football as a goalkeeper. I got injured during a match once and the referee told me if I could do any better then take the course, so I did!” Although once qualified, not everything went according to plan for Pete. “When I first qualified as a referee, in my very first game I sent seven players off and cautioned 11 more as I was told on my course to always apply the letter of the law.” Pete adds: “What they failed to explain was the unwritten ‘law’, ‘law18 - common sense’!” The demand for new referees is

on the agenda of many Football Associations up and down the country, as it is believed that around 20 per cent of local matches take place without a qualified official in place. As the Chairman of the Warrington’s refereeing society, Pete acknowledges that the game sorely needs more people to take up and stay in refereeing. “There is always a shortage of referees all over the country, some take the course, do a few games then say it’s not for them,” says Pete. “Others quit because of the threats of violence, some because of work or family commitments. While others cannot match the fitness demands needed as they are not as fit as they once were.” The abuse, without doubt is a turn off for many, even at the highest level referees and their assistants are given the vocal wrath by many of the country’s top earners.“It does annoy me that referees get that sort of treatment from players,” explains Pete. “I would like to think UEFA, FIFA or the FA could take the initiative of how rugby deals with it, i.e. only the captain talks to the referee. People see Wayne Rooney shouting at refs and he gets away with it so some players replicate that thinking they can do the same.” While there are noticeable negatives to the profession, there are also some plus points, not least for those aspiring to become a Premier League referee. Since the inception of full-time referees in 2000, a Premier League official can expect an annual wage of up to £60,000, not bad for 90 minutes every Saturday. The major benefit of course, is being involved with the game you love and interacting with fellow professionals. Knowing you are in charge of 22 players for 90 minutes can be a rewarding experience that can be ultimately fulfilling. However it must be said refereeing is not for the feint-hearted, communication and man

management skills are a must in order to deal with the inevitable criticism that will come a referee’s way. Brave enough? Check out our guide on how to get started in refereeing.

REFEREEING: A GUIDENote: You need to be at least 14 to apply for a refereeing course.Your first step is to register with your local County Football Associa-tion.Enrol in a basic referee’s course which consists of around 10 class-room-based sessions, a written exam and an oral exam. The basic course will be free but there is usu-ally a small charge for joining your local county FA.When you have completed the basic referee’s course you will be eligible to take charge of amateur football matches. At this stage you are a level seven referee, after a year in this position you can qualify to become a level six referee.For this to happen you must attend further classes ran by your county FA and undertake examinations on the laws of the game. If successful you can move up to being a level five referee, for this to happen you need to have completed over 20 matches with a satisfactory average mark.Once a level five referee you are well on the way to becoming a se-nior match official. In order to move further up the ladder to levels four to one you will need to overcome further tests and officiate a set number of games whereby you must reach a certain standard, all details with be provided by your county FA. The following details the standard of football you can officiate at once you achieved the necessary level.* Level four: Senior amateur leagues and county level* Level three:Semi-professional football* Level two:Blue Square Premier League (Non-league) and Reserve leagues* Level one:Professional football ranks, up to and including the Premier League

Immersed in Football takes a look at the history of the women’s game and where it’s heading

It’s fair to say that women’s football has not quite kicked off in this country.The game is massively overshad-owed by its male counterpart and suffers immensely from the sport forever being associated as a form of masculinity that only men should take part in.Perhaps some of the problems lie in the fact that the female form of the game is still relatively new. A national division in England was only formed in 1991, consisting of 24 clubs, compare this to the creation of the men’s Football League in 1888 and the gap is truly astonishing.The major stalling point behind the progress of the women’s game was the ban put in place by the Football Association (FA) in 1921 stating that; “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged.”It was not until 50 years later, in 1971, that this ban was eventu-ally lifted by the FA. The change in rules came as a result of the Women’s Football Association being created in 1969, which campaigned for the sanction to be removed.Before the 1970’s football in Britain was always associated as a men’s game. By this time the game itself had taken off and was ready for the boom of the 80’s and 90’s where BSkyB would inject their millions to transform the men’s game into a global brand.In 1991 when the women’s foot-ball league was created (103 years after its male predecessor), it was barely a year later that the men’s Premier League was founded and the popularity of the game went

into overdrive.Ultimately the women’s game was always playing catch-up to a male counterpart that had been set in stone for over a century, meaning the sport was destined to be in the shadow of its older brother.But that’s not to say that the wom-en’s game can’t work. In America, where the game is predominantly seen as a female sport, the 1999 World Cup proved a massive success with sell-out crowds that resulted in a crowd of over 90,000 for the final between the USA and China.Domestically speaking, the game reached its peak in 2005 when the European Championships were held in England, the host nation’s first game attracted an attendance of almost 30,000 and a further £2.9m watching on television. However, attendances for wom-en’s games in general haven’t sparkled and without any forth-coming media publicity or spon-sor-fuelled cash injection it’s difficult to see how exactly the women’s game can grow.To investigate further, Immersed in Football took the opportunity to speak to the coach of the Uni-versity of Chester Women’s team, Kate Paterson.“I believe it’s a bit of a vicious circle,” said Kate. “There arenot enough girls taking up the game at grassroots level, which leads to a lack of quality at the top end of the pyramid. When I was at school, football was never on the curriculum for girls, I’munsure of the situation nowbut football should definitely be introduced at an earlier

age to girls in order to encourage them to participate.”At 26 years of age, Kate grew up at a time when football was always predominately considered a men’s game, although that didn’t deter her personally. “Because I grew up in a small village full of lads I kind of fell into to playing football but since then I’ve always been involved and been a regular member of women’s teams.”Kate is asked about how she feels about the women’s game at the highest level; does it receive enough attention from the media?“No, nowhere near enough,” she replies. “But that’s because somebody needs to take a risk and pump a lot of money into the game in order for it to become more accessible. That said, I do prefer watching the men’s game, probably because the quality is a lot better although that’s only because the women’s game hasn’t developed like the men’s.”With the longevity of the women’s game severely lagging behind the men’s, Kate believes that in “20 to 30 years time”, providing the game becomes more accessible to girls, we might see the women’s game truly blossom into the beau-tiful game.

Team Spirit: Univer-sity of Chester Womens Team

The 26-year-old aspires to write for one of the British national newspapers, but for the moment works across the Channel in Paris for the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the equivalent of the Eng-lish Press Association.Originally from Wales, Tom describes his journey through journalism as ‘extremely circu-itous’ and admits that finding the path into the perfect job is not easy. However, journalism wasn’t originally on the agenda of the Welshman when he progressed to university. “I studied English literature at university, where I did a bit of student radio and a bit of acting but barely any journalism,” explains Tom. “After leaving uni I moved to London and spent a year working as an office temp before I success-fully applied to Cardiff University for a place on their Postgraduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism.At Cardiff I trained to become a radio and TV journalist and spe-cialised in sport. I graduated from Cardiff in July 2007, moved back to London and, after working freelance for some pretty random websites and radio stations, was offered a full-time job on the Eu-rosport website.”The road to becoming a well-paid football journalist isn’t straight forwarf, even at 26, Tom admits he’s not quite where he wants to be yet. Job security isn’t guaran-teed either with Tom only recently signing his first long-term contract with his current employers.“I left Eurosport in August 2008

and moved to France, where I worked freelance for Radio France International before ap-proaching Agence France-Presse (AFP) and being offered a short-term contract on their sport desk in November 2008. I’ve been there pretty much ever since, spe-cialising in French football.”Moving abroad was a risk that Tom took in order to further his journalism career, when asked whether he felt it was beneficial to move away from the Britain to find work he replied; “I’d never intended to work abroad, but I did find freelance work easier to come by once I’d moved to France, probably because I already spoke a bit of French.”He adds: “I wouldn’t recommend moving to a foreign country to look for work if you’ve got no ties with the place and don’t speak a word of the language.”Of course the advantage of the job, if you reach a certain stan-dard, is reporting on the highest level of football.With Tom based in France his focus is Ligue 1, the equivalent of the English Premier League. This season has seen the tight-est championship battle in years in France, and certainly the most intriguing across Europe, with six teams all realistically vying for the title with just a handful of games remaining.“I tend to focus on French foot-ball, so it’s my job to keep abreast of what’s happening in Ligue 1, write a preview for each set of matches and round-up all the action at the weekend. Occasion-ally I report on matches live, which involves writing a preview, travelling down the day before the

game, reporting on the pre-match press conferences, reporting on the match itself and filing reaction pieces once the game is over.”While watching football for a liv-ing could be some people’s idea of a dream job, the hours involved are potentially strenuous and can leave you with little free-time on your hands. Ultimately, football journalism takes a great deal of dedication and the rewards aren’t particularly fruitful.“The hours aren’t great,” admits Tom. “You often have to work in the evenings and at weekends, which can have a catastrophic ef-fect on your social life! The pay’s not spectacular either. It’s a dif-ficult industry to succeed in.”Due to French law, shifts are seven hours long and can become tedious, especially during the day when there is no football being played. “I spend most of my time on the sport desk at AFP’s head-quarters in Paris,” says Tom. “I edit stories sent in by our cor-respondents and freelancers from around the world, translating stories into English.”It’s clear from Tom’s interview that to succeed as a football journalist you must have an unrelenting passion for the game. Otherwise it’s difficult to see why someone would be tempted into a career that involves differing shift patterns and relatively average pay at best.“If you’re passionate and knowl-edgeable about football, you write well, you’re good with people and you’re prepared to give up your evenings, your weekends and your dreams of owning a big house in the countryside, then go for it!”

“Getting paid to watch football and write about it. It doesn’t get much better than that,” says football journalist Tom Williams.

IIF profiles football journalist tom williams, tracking the highs and lows of life in the media