What do we really think about this?

[Dave Deacon]

Taken from the CCFA website

New Flexible Football League Coming to Cornwall

• 27 SEPTEMBER 2017

We re very pleased to be able to offer a new playing opportunity for people across Cornwall, now in a more flexible format to suit ever changing lifestyles.

 

In recent years sport has seen a changing climate with a range of sports shortening and speeding up games to keep people active whilst balancing personal, social and work life. Due to a growth in the number of high quality artificial pitches this has meant as an organisation we are now looking to offer the same opportunities to people that may not want to play traditional Saturday afternoon football!

 

What's the difference between traditional & Flexible Football?

• Mid week matches
• Artificial or good quality grass pitches
• Played under floodlights at a central venue
• Repeat substitutions
• Shorter game times- 70 minute games
• Games every other week
• Administration kept to a minimum

What's available in Cornwall?

MONDAYS

Par Running Track

Pitch Type: good quality grass pitch

Game Duration: 70 Mins

Contact: Phil.cardew@cornwallfa.com / 01208 269010

 

TUESDAYS

Callywith College, Bodmin

Pitch Type: Brand new 3G Pitch

Game Duration: 70 Mins

Contact: Phil.cardew@cornwallfa.com / 01208 269010

 

WEDNESDAYS

Penwith College, Penzance

Pitch Type: Good quality 3G pitch

Game Duration: 70 Mins

Contact: Dave Bartlam- davidrbartlam@googlemail.com / 07561848433

 

All of the venues above are a 14 week/ 7 game league starting in October and completing in early May

The average cost will be £3per player per game which includes everything (pitch hire, referee etc)

[baldy]

I think it is excellent value but can't see where the interest will come from. Best of luck tho.

[ex-chairman]

What a pity CCFA do not make a proper effort to promote grassroots football before this gimmick.

[stevieb]

1 hour ago, ex-chairman said:

What a pity CCFA do not make a proper effort to promote grassroots football before this gimmick.

Any idea that can attract people back into football is good , lots work weekends now so midweek games will help , might also get players back who have fell out of love with the game , thumbs up from me , we are very good at moaning about the CCFA  but they are trying something different  , good idea hope it gets well supported .

[Dave Deacon]

But the the advert is suggesting its partly to give opportunities to “people that may not want to play traditional Saturday afternoon football!” Why don’t they?

Lots of clubs are having problems getting sufficient to midweek training sessions already, this could make that problem even worse!

Is this midweek idea more for people that aren’t good enough to get in a Saturday team? Does the “Senior/Junior” factor kick in at all?

I’ve been assured this week by someone still in the game that local Saturday football isn’t dying, but is this new idea not going to be a another reason for pulling out of a Saturday game, or am I just being a dinosaur and worrying unnecessarily!

[ex-chairman]

Good points Dave. I'm concerned by the lack of assistance given to those Clubs bringing on the numerous youngsters keen to get started in the game.

[Dave Bartlam]

Hi Dave,

I just thought I’d put a little bit more Information on the thread from my point of view as an organiser of the West Flexi Football League.

I would not say that local Saturday football is dying but participation is definitely in decline.

At this moment, the Trelawny League has 1984 players registered. At the close of the 16/17 season, we had 2564 players registered. Of the 1984 registrations this season, 239 are brand new players to the league. There is definitely a decline in participation. I have a spreadsheet etc that I’ve been compiling which shows are age groups, drop off points etc but I’m deployed with work so don’t have it to hand.

This League is aimed at combatting these drop off points, which is mainly with the players transitioning from youth football into the open aged game. There is also a big drop off at around 25-30, personally I believe this to be due to Work and family commitments. So, we are trying to recruit teams with youth in order to make the transition smoother to aid them into open aged football, we are trying to recruit players who spend 80 mins or so a week on the bench for their respective teams (because most of these will ultimately stop playing), it’s also aimed to get those that can’t play on Saturdays or those that have previously left the game and want to get back into it.

I believe that this league can help us increase participation in the Saturday game. But at the moment, we have a problem. We only have four teams confirmed, we need 8; so the league is being delayed on a weekly basis until we can fill these gaps. The hardest part for me has been the advertising of it - we can only reach certain people by advertising on the forum and our Trelawny Facebook page - we need to extend our advertising cover above and beyond those that follow these social media sites, that’s the hard part. 

Stevieb is spot on, many people criticise the CFA for not doing enough to get people playing the game, yet when they do try something they also get Criticised. What else can they do? Genuinely, if anyone has any other ideas please feed them through to us because we are trying to do what we can to entice people into the game. Unfortunately, it was never going to be easy.

Dave, with regards to your questions, the eligibility criteria for the Flexi-League is actually pretty strict. We have had quite a few teams declare interest in entering a side but we have had to decline them because their proposed players are Saturday regulars; one team that expressed interest in joining have been extremely successful (trophy winners) over the past few seasons. We are being careful who we allow to enter because this is not going to become training sessions for established clubs, or another league trophy for the teams to add to their cabinets. It’s about getting people who are not currently involved in the game to participate in it... and most of all, enjoy it. 

If you visit the Full Time website and search for “Flexi”, you will see a number of these leagues that are actually up and running at the moment... some have more than 8 teams involved and have become popular in a short period of time.

As with anything, it will take time for the success of these leagues to become evident. 

 

For anyone that has any questions regarding the league, or you would like some more information (maybe you’re thinking about entering a side), please get in touch via my mobile (on original post) or via our multi-user email address, TrelawnyFlexiLeague@outlook.com. Here you can speak to the Flexi League Committee - Rob Noventa (Secretary), Andrew ‘Scooby’ Plenty (Chairman) or myself, Dave Bartlam (Fixtures, Reg Sec, results etc). 

[Dave Deacon]

Is it the same strict criteria for all three proposed leagues?

35 minutes ago, B_D said:

the eligibility criteria for the Flexi-League is actually pretty strict. We have had quite a few teams declare interest in entering a side but we have had to decline them because their proposed players are Saturday regulars; one team that expressed interest in joining have been extremely successful (trophy winners) over the past few seasons. We are being careful who we allow to enter because this is not going to become training sessions for established clubs, or another league trophy for the teams to add to their cabinets. It’s about getting people who are not currently involved in the game to participate in it... and most of all, enjoy it. 

 

[Dave Bartlam]

I am not too sure as I’ve not spoken to anyone about the other leagues. We are giving a standardised set of rules by the FA and these are the set rules which we can obviously add too. With those current FA rules you could have a superstar team join; we are using a bit of discretion when it comes to who we have in, hence why we are still short of teams. We have to ensure that the balance of the teams is correct and that we are attracting the players that we want to attract (as listed above), these were the terms we put forward to the FA when we were approached to take this on. As a committee, the three of us are passionate about getting more people into the game.