FA

Despite being far and away the UK’s most popular sport, football has an image problem in this country. Season ticket prices in the Premier League and Championship are making it impossible for ardent fans to see their team in action. TV money continues to flood in at an unprecedented rate, and the game’s biggest stars are richer than ever. But...

The plight of grassroots football in the UK has now transcended the sport. This desperate situation is now common knowledge, yet we are still having exactly the same conversations — more than a decade after the issue first hit national headlines. While the problems facing the game at youth and amateur levels are never really far from the back pages...

When Bolton Wanderers’ Fabrice Muamba collapsed during a televised Premier League football match, the issue of potentially fatal heart conditions among young footballers made the headlines. Muamba was one of the lucky ones, as medical teams from both Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur managed to revive him on the pitch. More than 80 professional and semi-professional players have died while...

Grassroots referees in England have suffered a torrid time in recent years. Rising levels of verbal and physical abuse have led to thousands of FA referees leaving the game for good. And despite the relaunch of the Respect campaign, England’s match officials came perilously close to a nationwide strike last year. A major advertising campaign and a new, zero-tolerance approach...

The Football Association is at a crossroads in its illustrious history. Facing threats of forced modernisation by the government, the game’s governing body in England knows it needs to be more representative of the game it promotes. Finally, it seems that the constant threats from MPs are finally having a positive effect, as the FA has just announced plans to...

The potential link between repeatedly heading footballs and brain injury has been discussed many times over the years. However, the BBC documentary Alan Shearer: Dementia, Football and Me seems to have taken the discussion to the next level. Following intense campaigning from key figures in both football and the medical profession, a study into the connection between heading and brain...

A number of County FA’s observed a Silent Sidelines weekend this month in an attempt to improve the behaviour of coaches and spectators at grassroots youth football matches. Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire’s FAs both held a “Respect Weekend” that involved strict guidelines on what coaches and spectators could do during matches — and by all accounts the initiative was a complete...

Earlier this year a non-binding vote of no confidence in the House of Commons sent a clear message to the Football Association: reform, or we’ll do it for you. While this wasn’t the first time the game’s governing body has come to blows with the UK government, the unprecedented step of threatening legislation will have reverberated down the corridors of...

The level of abuse being aimed at football officials up and down the country has been growing for some time. While the FA’s Respect campaign has succeeded in tackling the issue up to a point, there still remains a major problem. Our referees at the grassroots level are pretty much on their own every Saturday and Sunday morning. Without the...

The FA is constantly being lambasted for its management of grassroots football in England, but to be fair, it is finally taking the problem seriously. Every year since 2010, the “Grow the Game” initiative has provided funds to local youth teams up and down the country. Any FA-affiliated club can apply for a grant of up to £1,500 for each...