GUIDANCE RESOURCE 1
INTRO TO THIS RESOURCE Recent years has seen a large growth in participation and enthusiasm for playing futsal in England at all age groups. Awareness of this small sided format of the game has increased rapidly, but the challenge for The FA and other football partners is to ensure that local opportunities to play futsal are created and offered to meet this growing demand. The FA Just Play programme provides an opportunity for delivering local, recreational levels of futsal activity to provide many people with their first taste of the sport, and helping to potentially reengage adult participants who may no longer play other formats of football. This guidance resource helps to provide Just Play centres with information as to how futsal could support your Just Play delivery, either in your current sessions or in any new centres that you are looking to establish. This resource includes best practice and key learnings that come directly from a number of existing FA Just Play Futsal sessions that are operating across the country. Whilst The FA are keen to grow futsal participation and see Just Play as a good opportunity of doing this, it is important that Just Play centres consider who your target audience is and listen to their views on the format of football that they wish to play in your sessions. Ultimately the FA Just Play initiative is focussed on encouraging as many adults to play football as possible, regardless of the format. What is Futsal? Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced small sided football game that is widely played across the world. Many of the top world class footballers played futsal in their youth and credit it with supporting their footballing development. Players of the calibre of Pele, Zico, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Lionel Messi to name but a few of the South American legends all played and enjoyed futsal. But futsal has not just helped produce South American football stars, on the European stage Cristiano Ronaldo, Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas amongst many others have played futsal to develop their skills. While futsal can play an important role in the technical development of talented players, futsal is also enjoyed by many millions of players across the world as a fun, recreational format of the game. Futsal is a five-a-side game, normally played on a flat indoor pitch with hockey sized goals and a size 4 ball with a reduced bounce. It is played to touchlines and all players are free to enter the penalty area and play the ball over head-height. Games are 20 minutes per half, played to a stopping clock (similar to basketball) with time-outs permitted. 2
THE FA JUST PLAY FUTSAL DELIVERY MODEL In essence FA Just Play Futsal sessions should be delivered in the same style and manner as a normal FA Just Play session, the futsal element might just be a different way of attracting new participants, varying your existing sessions to help retain interest, or appealing to a different target group. These sessions are still focused on offering turn-up and play activity at minimal costs to attract adult participants back into playing some format of football. When planning your FA Just Play Futsal centre consider where the local exit routes might be for those participants that wish to get back into regular organised football. There may not necessarily be a futsal exit route for these players currently, but the Just Play Futsal sessions could help to forge and develop these local playing opportunities, and so as the organiser it is important to have considered this. Many of the current FA Just Play Futsal sessions have quickly found that their participants want to continue playing futsal in a more competitive league environment, and the Just Play centre has either created or been the launch pad for establishing a local futsal league that runs on a regular basis. The players initially might have had little interest in playing in an organised futsal league, but due to their experiences playing futsal through Just Play, it has led them and their friends to choosing to play futsal on a regular basis in a league environment. The FA Futsal Fives league programme has proved an effective futsal league delivery model in providing local sustainable playing exit routes for participants from the FA Just Play Futsal sessions. Subsequently, FA Just Play organisers who are considering introducing futsal into their sessions should in the long-term consider linking this together with a local FA Futsal Fives league. Players that came through an FA Just Play Futsal session have gone on to form teams that play on a weekly basis in an FA Futsal Fives league, that have then competed against FA National Futsal League clubs in the FA Futsal Cup at the elite end of the game. An FA Futsal Fives league can be male or female, and typically requires between 6 to 8 teams to make it sustainable. You may not have enough players from your FA Just Play Futsal session to form enough teams to fill the league, and so consider either linking with other FA Just Play Futsal sessions in the local area or promoting the league locally for additional teams to sign-up. The experience from existing FA Just Play Futsal centres that have provided a transition between their sessions and an FA Futsal Fives league emphasises the importance of proximity. Ideally the league should run at the same venue to the Just Play session or nearby. Stage 1 Stage 2 Establish FA Just Play Futsal session Discuss with players exit routes into more formal participation Stage 3 Establish FA Futsal Five league (ideally at same venue or locally ) Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Stage 7 Signpost Just Play Futsal participants into league (help establish teams) Advertise FA Futsal Fives league to the local community for additional teams (need 6-8 teams) Monitor the league to ensure satisfaction remains high - particularly with former Just Play participants Continue the FA Just Play Futsal session to attract & recruit new players To find out more about the FA Futsal Fives visit this website: http://englandfutsal.com/fa-futsal-fives/ and to register to run a league contact Stephen.Brown@TheFA.com 3
KEY LEARNINGS & LESSONS IN ESTABLISHING AN FA JUST PLAY FUTSAL SESSION There were some key lesson s and success factors that helped existing FA Just Play Futsal centres deliver strong outcomes. Many of these elements are not necessarily solely relevant for futsal Just Play sessions, but help to underpin any effective FA Just Play delivery. 1. Work with a range of relevant local partners to help deliver and promote the activity. You need to have a clear target market for the sessions and partners who can help you gain access to that target market. Stuart Smith, Northamptonshire FA (Northampton Just Play Futsal centre) 2. Consider who your target audience is (particularly bearing in mind your local demography) and tailor your communication methods to best reach them. Who else might also be best placed to reach your audience? Before establishing a new Just Play Futsal centre I would consider the venue and location. The facility should be in an area where there is a target market. Joanne Bull, Cambridgeshire FA (Cambridge Just Play Futsal centre) 3. Introduce the Laws of Futsal slowly; get the participants playing initially and gradually drip-feed the various Laws and rules of the game over-time. Participants turn up because they want to play, not to listen to someone trying to teach them something. If you let them play and slowly add teaching points over time then this seems to work. Dan Stanley, University of Huddersfield (University of Huddersfield Just Play Futsal centre) 4. Make sure that the Just Play coordinator running the session is familiar, knowledgeable and enthusiastic with futsal. You need a futsal person delivering the session to introduce the game and ensure its futsal that is being delivered. The coordinator attended the FA Coaching Futsal: Beginners Guide course which helped with his understanding and passing it onto the players. Stuart Smith, Northamptonshire FA (Northampton Just Play Futsal centre) 5. Speak to the players to discuss where they would like the activity to lead on to (e.g. team, league, competition etc). Once you ve agreed, then factor this into your planning and keep the players up-to-date so that they have something to work towards. I think if we hadn t created the league and provided a competitive opportunity, the Just Play sessions may have started to go quiet. The competitive opportunity has definitely kept the players interested and given them something to focus on. Lauren Mellor, Derbyshire FA (Derby Just Play Futsal centre) Make sure that you offer the relevant competitive environment as and when the player would so wish to participate in a competitive environment. Simon Wears, Berks & Bucks FA (Reading Just Play Futsal centre) 4
The final recommendation is: To be as flexible as possible keep costs low, make sessions flexible and non-prescriptive, listen to what the players would like. Lauren Mellor, Derbyshire FA (Derby Just Play Futsal centre) 5
BEST PRACTICE UNIVERSITY & COLLEGE JUST PLAY FUTSAL SESSIONS Detailed below are some examples of current FA Just Play Futsal centres across the country that have been delivering to different audiences and tailoring their offer to meet the participants needs. We look at some university based examples, some women s sessions and more general examples. University of Huddersfield The University decided to establish a Futsal based FA Just Play centre because they only had indoor sporting facilities and the university had a large cohort of international students who played futsal back at home. The sports development team at the university worked with the Student Union, the International Office and the Marketing department at the university, along with the West Riding County FA to promote the sessions. They ran Fresher s events and taster sessions, but also used the University Football Activators to run and promote the sessions; students were more likely to listen to their peers rather than professional staff. They started with the basic rules and let the participants play before slowly adding new teaching points and laws of the game. As they progressed over time into a more formal league they played to the full futsal Laws of the Game. In the first year of delivery the sessions attracted 153 players, and they got to the stage where they had to turn players away because they were too full. They remedied this by running a second Just Play Futsal session and introducing a futsal league with 10 teams and 80 players. The players loved the concept of futsal because it is less physical and more focused on the technical aspects of the game. But whilst it allows for more technical play it conversely has been more accessible to all abilities because the ball is easier to control which has meant players have grown in confidence over a short period of time. Most of our casual bookings (staff and students) for football are now playing futsal rather than 5-a-side. Daniel Stanley, University of Huddersfield 6
Reading University Berks & Bucks FA worked closely with the Reading University sports department, the Student Union and a local adult futsal club to develop an FA Just Play Futsal centre at the university. The university targeted students that had not been involved in their 11-a-side football programmes, in particular BME groups. They used a range of marketing materials, from posters to social media and digital advertising of the sessions. The local futsal club supplied a good quality coach who was able to create a balance between social and structured sessions which helped to engage and retain participants in the game. But the biggest challenge was accessing facilities, and so many of the sessions were delivered outside on a hard-court. This was turned to an advantage as the coach introduced music to the sessions, which meant that the activity became far more visible to other people passing-by who were primarily students. Over 38 students have been involved in this Just Play centre, and a strong link has been developed with the local FA Futsal Fives league which has seen a number of teams make the transition from Just Play into more formal futsal activity. Simon Wears, Berks & Bucks FA 7
BEST PRACTICE WOMEN S JUST PLAY FUTSAL SESSIONS Corby Ladies FC Over recent seasons a number of women have dropped out of weekend 11-a-side football in the local area due to the amount of time commitment required to play at the weekends. The County FA decided that a Just Play Futsal session might help to re-engage some of these participants, and by working with Corby Ladies FC, Kettering Futsal Club and the County Sports Partnership they worked together to try and tackle this issue. The CSP approved an eight week Sportivate funding bid that paid for a coach from the futsal club to deliver the initial FA Just Play activity. All parties promoted the sessions primarily through social media which managed to reach a large section of the target audience, the football club s contacts were very useful for achieving this. Very few of the players had played futsal before and so all participants were learning the game at the same time, which helped with the delivery of the sessions. Attendance numbers have fluctuated, and did drop after a couple of weeks, but ongoing social media promotion has been effective in ensuring that participation has grown. On average 14 players attend each session. The players enjoy the relaxed format and it suits their busy lifestyles. Along with the low-cost ( 2 per session), the women enjoy the rolling subs (due to a lack of fitness), lots of touches of the ball and particularly being indoors during the winter. Stuart Smith, Northamptonshire FA 8
Derby Women s Derbyshire County FA decided to establish an FA Just Play Futsal session as the foundations and starting point for establishing a female futsal league in the area. The County FA worked with local female clubs from around the local area, sixth form schools and colleges and Derby County FC (Community Trust) to promote these sessions through their networks. The coordinator attended an FA Coaching Futsal: Beginners Guide course to better understand the game and to deliver an initial taster session to the participants. As the players played the game, the coordinator gradually introduced the laws of the game and encouraged the women to feel confident in asking questions if they did not understand. After three months of Just Play delivery they established a league which operates once a month. The challenge now is to ensure that the participants continue to attend the Just Play sessions, as some of the players just focus their commitment on attending the once a month competition. But the addition of the competition on the whole has been a big positive and has helped to retain interest in the sessions. Over 24 women attended the FA Just Play Futsal sessions on a regular basis, with six teams being created for their monthly league. The location of the sessions was an important factor for its success, but the coordinators ability to adapt to the vastly different abilities and competencies of the participants to include everyone was important. Lauren Mellor, Derbyshire FA 9
BEST PRACTICE GENERAL PUBLIC JUST PLAY FUTSAL SESSIONS Northampton Northamptonshire County FA started the FA Just Play Futsal sessions as the first step for establishing an FA Futsal Fives league in the area. The County FA worked closely with the University of Northampton (in particular the University Football Activator) and the Kettering Futsal Club who play in the FA National Futsal League. The County FA and the University Football Activator promoted the sessions through their social media networks, and word of mouth helped spread the awareness of the sessions further. The coordinator of the sessions attended the FA Coaching Futsal: Beginners Guide course which helped his understanding of the game, and in particular explaining it to the participants. There were also a couple of futsal players that attended the sessions each week who helped to explain and guide new players through the rules of the game. The session has had over 80 different players attend, with a weekly average of 15 players. There is an even split in the participants between university students and the general public. An FA Futsal Fives league has been established, with four of the six teams coming from the Just Play session. The session has also been used to train new referees to help support the league. Stuart Smith, Northamptonshire FA 10
Cambridge Cambridgeshire County FA received a number of enquiries from people wanting to find a futsal team or league to play in, but the County FA had nowhere to signpost them to. They therefore decided to launch an FA Just Play Futsal centre as the basis of creating a league in the long-term. They targeted students around Cambridge, particularly international students and established a strong relationship with the English Language Schools in the area who promoted the sessions through their networks. When the sessions started, the rules were introduced gradually to allow the participant s time to pick it up. Identifying facilities with futsal goals that are available in the evenings was an initial challenge that gradually has been overcome, and the sessions now have excellent attendance. The County FA has further developed the Just Play centre by delivering tournaments that then acted as the transition to establishing an FA Futsal Fives league. This Just Play centre has also created two affiliated futsal clubs who have aspirations of joining the FA National Futsal League. Joanne Bull, Cambridgeshire FA 11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION There is additional information that could help you learn more about futsal and assist you in establishing an FA Just Play Futsal centre: Websites www.thefa.com/my-football/player/5-a-side-and-futsal www.englandfutsal.com Guidance Resources Getting Started http://englandfutsal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fa-futsal-getting-started-guidance-resource.pdf The Benefits of Futsal http://englandfutsal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fa-futsal-benefits-guidance-resource.pdf Futsal Facility Guide http://englandfutsal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/fa-futsal-facilities-guidance-resource.pdf 12