Enhancing Lives Through Football
The FAW’s Grassroots Strategy 2024-30
goals
Strategic Goals
Grow, support & develop the people who deliver community football on & off the pitch.
Grow, support & develop the people who deliver community football on & off the pitch.
Key Objectives
- Increase the number & diversity of people delivering football through enhanced recruitment, training & support.
- Reduce bureaucracy & improve processes to make things easier for those who deliver & organise community football.
- Enhance the rewards & recognition for community football volunteers.
- Provide new engaging resources & support for those delivering football within schools.
- Provide focused support to recruit & develop more coaches who are women & more coaches who are from an ethnically diverse background.
- Increase the number of match officials regularly officiating games across Wales.
- Provide education & support to ensure knowledge that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
Key Success Measures
- Double the number of ‘off pitch’ volunteers.
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Double the number of coaches who are women and/or from an ethnically diverse background.
- 20% increase in the number of grassroots matches officiated by a qualified referee.
Develop inclusive & sustainable football clubs that enhance the lives of their community.
Develop inclusive & sustainable football clubs that enhance the lives of their community.
Key Objectives
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Create a “Community Football Club of the Future” vision that reflects the varied & diverse Welsh landscape.
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Provide support to ensure every football club in Wales has an appropriate & inclusive development plan.
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Align club accreditation & club licensing in support of the new ‘Community Football Club of the Future’ vision.
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Support clubs to play a greater role in improving the health & wellbeing of their community.
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Make club management easier through digital, system & compliance improvements.
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Further enhance the safeguarding culture in every club to ensure a safe & positive football experience for all.
Key Success Measures
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100% of clubs to have a club development plan.
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Community Football Survey – improved administrator satisfaction.
Take positive action to improve behaviour & eliminate abuse & discrimination in football creating safe, welcoming & positive environments.
Take positive action to improve behaviour & eliminate abuse & discrimination in football creating safe, welcoming & positive environments.
Key Objectives
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Improve behaviour of players, parents, coaches, officials & spectators within community football through an FAW dedicated education & behaviour change programme.
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Make it easier to report incidents across community football by improving the process and increasing awareness of how to report instances.
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Increase awareness and consistency of application of current sanctions resulting from incidents of abuse or discrimination.
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Develop a clear communication process to share outcomes of discrimination or abuse cases.
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Provide support programme for victims of abuse & discrimination.
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Maintain & enhance robust safeguarding standards & a child-centred culture across community football in Wales.
Key Success Measures
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Successful launch of behaviour change campaign.
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Number of incidents reported.
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Community Football Survey – behaviour measure.
Work in collaboration with Area Associations to develop modern & flexible leagues that meet the future needs of community football.
Work in collaboration with Area Associations to develop modern & flexible leagues that meet the future needs of community football.
Key Objectives
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Enhance the FAW’s support for Area Associations as agreed within the 2023 Area Association Review.
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Work with Area Associations to improve league rules, regulations & common practice to make it easier to participate in community football across leagues in Wales.
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Develop a ‘League of the Future’ vision that reflects the varied Welsh landscape, identifying minimum standards & best practice.
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Develop improved competitive girls’ leagues across Wales which reflect the significant growth of the game, particularly focussing on transition to league football & U14/U16 girls leagues.
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Provide relevant data, support & guidance to Area Associations & leagues to help reduce the number of adult males leaving league football.
Key Success Measures
- Improved competitive leagues for U14/U16 girls.
Provide new targeted participation opportunities to grow & retain the number of people playing football.
Provide new targeted participation opportunities to grow & retain the number of people playing football.
Key Objectives
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Ensure that all U6s have a safe, fun and engaging early experience of football, relevant to their age.
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Increase the number of girls aged 5-11 experiencing fun & engaging football provision inside & outside of schools.
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Reduce the number of children leaving football inside & outside of school between ages 12-17.
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Provide more informal, flexible opportunities for adults to play football.
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Develop a stronger disability pathway to increase the number of people with a disability playing community football.
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Increase number of participants from ethnically diverse communities playing community football.
Key Success Measures
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50% increase in the number of girls playing aged 5-11 years.
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50% reduction in players aged 12-17 leaving the game.
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Double the number of registered adults playing recreational football formats.
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Growth in participants with a disability playing football.
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Growth in participants from an ethnically diverse community playing football.
Ensure everyone has access to quality, inclusive & sustainable facilities.
Ensure everyone has access to quality, inclusive & sustainable facilities.
Key Objectives
Support the development of local plans that link all clubs, leagues & recreational activities to appropriate facilities & identify priorities for investment.
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Provide support to improve the accessibility to existing facilities for community football clubs, leagues & recreational activities.
Prioritise community club support to help achieve FAW facilities vision:
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Help clubs create plans to develop their own inclusive & community focused home grounds, helping to improve the health & wellbeing of their community.
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Maximise the establishment of community football hubs based at:
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key artificial grass pitches that provide shared spaces for training, matches and targeted activities.
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priority multi-grass pitch parks to provide shared club or league central venues.
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Key Success Measures
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Invest £25M in grassroots football facilities.
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Increase in the quality of grass pitches and changing facilities based on player experiences.
Key Success Measures
2x
the number of ‘off pitch’ volunteers
2x
the number of coaches who are women and/or from an ethnically diverse background
20%
increase in the number of grassroots matches officiated by a qualified referee
100%
of clubs to have a club development plan
50%
increase in the number of girls playing aged 5-11 years
50%
reduction in players aged 12-17 leaving the game
2x
number of registered adults playing recreational football
Enablers
Strategic Enablers
Embed data & insight approaches across community football to improve decision making & measuring impact.
Embed data & insight approaches across community football to improve decision making & measuring impact.
Key Objectives
- Improve & embed the use and accuracy of data & insight to support community football decision making across the FAW.
- Improve our understanding of disability football by capturing disability data as a mandatory data point in COMET.
- Provide training & support to enable more people to understand & use data & insight across Wales.
- Produce a suite of insight reports for Area Associations & the wider game to inform, advise & support decision making.
- Provide data & insight support to clubs, leagues & partners to demonstrate the local impact of community football.
Key Success Measures
- Annual Community Football Survey to gain further insight across range of strategy objectives.
Enhance the FAW’s positive influence through strong partnerships across Wales.
Enhance the FAW’s positive influence through strong partnerships across Wales.
Key Objectives
- Support Area Associations to build new local partnerships which further deliver the national & regional objectives.
- Develop a stronger relationship with relevant external partners to ensure high quality school football experiences for all children.
- Work collaboratively with external partners including FIFA, UEFA, Welsh Government, Sport Wales, Local Authorities & other national organisations to achieve shared strategic objectives.
- Develop new & existing partnerships to enhance accessible participation opportunities across Wales.
- Reach & engage new audiences across Wales through building new & innovative partnerships.
Key Success Measures
- Number of new audiences reached via meaningful partnerships.
Enhance the use of digital products & technology across the FAW, Area Associations & the wider community game.
Enhance the use of digital products & technology across the FAW, Area Associations & the wider community game.
Key Objectives
- Make it easier to organise & deliver community football by identifying market leading digital products & technology to support clubs, leagues & Area Associations.
- Increase adoption & utilisation of the FAW’s game management system (COMET).
- Enhance the impact & alignment of existing FAW platforms.
- Introduce a new digital system to help the community to find & book recreational football opportunities.
- Increase the use of technology to help more people access existing football facilities.
Key Success Measures
- COMET: % adoption & satisfaction levels via Community Football Survey.
- Growth in users on recreational platforms / activities booked.
- Increase in facility utilisation via technology.
Leverage new investment to support growth of community football in Wales.
Leverage new investment to support growth of community football in Wales.
Key Objectives
- Work with commercial partners to increase reach & impact of community programmes/activities across Wales.
- Proactively engage key stakeholders such as UEFA, FIFA, National & local government Sport Wales & other national partners to increase funding available to community football.
- Support Area Associations to secure new local investment which further supports local priorities.
- Support clubs to secure new local funding to help deliver their development plan.
- Demonstrate the value of community investment through improved Social return on investment measurement.
Key Success Measures
- Increase in amount invested into community football.
Increase engagement with the community football family through enhanced communications & marketing.
Increase engagement with the community football family through enhanced communications & marketing.
Key Objectives
- Increase the amount of focus on community football through the FAW’s communications & marketing.
- Providing support & guidance to Area Associations to improve communications & marketing across their regions.
- Increase the amount of positive social media & communications of Area Associations, Leagues & Clubs.
- Develop key marketing toolkits for use by clubs across Wales.
- Ensure the FAW is reaching & engaging more diverse communities to make sure football is for all.
Key Success Measures
- Increase amount of focus on community football.
- Engagement levels via Community Football Survey.
Summary
Strategic Summary