The Irish Football Association recently launched its strategy for Youth Football ‘Let Them Play’. This strategy looks to develop Youth Football in Northern Ireland over the next 10 years encouraging participation, Football for All and also putting in place the best pathways for developing our young players.
As part of this strategy we are looking to expand our team to help us deliver on our promises to young footballers. We want every child in Northern Ireland to dream of pulling on the green shirt.
Through this initiative the Irish FA will work with a range of partners to empower boys and girls to develop a lifelong love for the game, not only creating talented players who can one day play for Northern Ireland but helping to nurture positive citizens who can contribute to society.
Northern Ireland Manager Michael O’Neill, who launched the strategy at an event in Stormont Pavilion, said: “This is the first time the Irish FA has developed a comprehensive Youth Football Strategy and we look forward to sharing our new plans with the world.
“It is an exciting time for football in Northern Ireland and Let Them Play, which covers the period from 2015 to 2025, will enable us to work with all our partners in youth football to ensure we deliver the best for all our young people.”
Irish FA Chief Executive Patrick Nelson told the audience: “Creating positive pathways for young people to fall in love with the game of football and stay involved in the game is a key priority for the Irish FA. “The building blocks of this new strategy are every bit as important as the building of the new National Football Stadium. This strategy allows us to have a clear focus on how the youth game will develop, with clear targets for us and our partners to meet over the next 10 years.”
Recruitment and Retention Officer
Around 50,000 young people already play the game in Northern Ireland, but one of the key objectives of Let Them Play is to increase youth football participation rates to 75,000 by 2020 and 100,000 by 2025. The Recruitment and Retention Officer will work to prevent drop out in the teenage years and look at new ways to get young people playing the game.
The Sports Minister, Carál Ní Chuilín, applauded the Irish FA on the publication of the strategy. The Minister felt it provided a clear route map for the delivery of youth participation in football over the next decade.
Ms Ní Chuilín said: “I welcome the publication of this strategy document by the Irish Football Association and particularly applaud their ambitious target of doubling participation levels from the present 50,000 to 100,000 by 2025. “It is an innovative strategy which places young people at the forefront of football development and it is particularly pleasing to see within it clear targets for the development of girls’ football and football for people with disabilities. The message is clear that football is for everyone and every young person who wants to play the game should have the opportunity to do so and in a safe and friendly environment.”
Primary School Coaches
The strategy also aims to increase the percentage of schools where football is played to 90% by 2020 and increase participation by 100% by 2025. As part of this we will be recruiting additional coaches to work in our Primary Schools programme.
Youth Development Co-Ordinators
Other objectives are to embed a culture of club and volunteer development throughout youth football by 2020 and to create new Irish FA youth football coach education pathways as well as new player development pathways. Youth development programmes within men’s and women’s clubs will also be bolstered by the appointment of Youth Development Coordinators’ to aid development on and off the pitch.
Regional Referee Development Officers
In 2016 the Irish FA will launch their referee strategy – Every Referee a Better Referee. As part of this recruitment, retention and development at local grassroots level is a key priority for the association and all of its stakeholders, we are looking for a number of regional development officers who will co-ordinate Regional Centres of Excellence for Junior and Intermediate Referees, organise Beginners programmes and ensure that retention of referees is at a high level.
Employability and Skills Resources Officer
The IFA strategies aims to revamp Youth Coach Education and give coaches the skills to develop our young players. The Employability and Skills Resources Officer will help create and design educational syllabuses, coaching courses and player friendly resources both online and paper based to for this process.