Football in the Community
Club based Football in the Community initiatives are now well established at virtually all professional Football Clubs in England and Wales and even some non-league Clubs now boast healthy Schemes which make excellent contributions to local communities.
Football in the Community was first established as part of The Footballers’ Further Education & Vocational Training Society Limited (FFE & VTS) which is currently supported at Board level by representatives of The Professional Footballers' Association, The Football Association, The FA Premier League and The Football League.
A successful pilot scheme in 1986 in the North West of England (involving Projects based at Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers, Bury, Manchester United, Oldham Athletic and Preston North End) led to a rapid expansion with FFE & VTS support at Clubs based in Yorkshire, the North East and the Midlands before the end of the 1980’s.
In 1990 additional funding from The Football Trust allowed FFE & VTS to develop and support the initiative to all 92 professional Clubs.
The ultimate intention was to develop links so that Clubs forged a meaningful relationship within the local community. Now, of course, there are terrific examples of the many positive effects that greater involvement of Football Clubs in the local community have been able to stimulate.
In many cases this work - which now includes work embracing health, education and social inclusion issues (in addition to purely coaching work) is led by former professional footballers. Some of the more well-known former players presently involved include David Busst (at Coventry City), Brian Hall, (at Liverpool), Alex Williams MBE (at Manchester City) and Tony Currie (at Sheffield United), all of whom now work at Clubs for whom they once memorably played. Others include Tommy Hutchison, a PFA Special Merit Award winner, who is now working at Bristol City and Roger Morgan, whose work has seen the significant growth of West Ham United’s community commitment in recent years.
The involvement of former players has helped to stimulate support from current players whose support over many years has been more than significant. Indeed, there are now awards for players who make significant contributions to community life. For example, The Premier League fairly recently awarded the 10 Seasons Award for Contribution to the Community to Lucas Radebe (formerly of Leeds United). This award honours the player who has done most to use his position as a professional footballer to make a difference to people’s lives.
Football in the Community continues to operate with the full support of The Football Association, The FA Premier League, The Football League and The Professional Footballers' Association. Their ongoing support and backing facilitates the continuation of the broader development of Club based Community Schemes.
Meet the Team
 Roger Reade Chief Community Officer |
 Dennis Leman Deputy Chief Community Officer |
 Richard Finney Training Director |
 Richard Krzywicki Regional Director |
 John Relish Regional Director |
 Dave Palmer Regional Director |
Angeline Mather - Funding Director
Kay McKechnie - Personal Secretary to Chief Administrator
Lynn Leonard - Payroll/Finance Administrator
Ian Niven - Payroll Administrator
Stephanie Lunn - Administration Assistant
For more information contact: Football in the Community Tel: (0161) 236 0583 |
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