Cumberland FA

Club Support Session

If you missed the session, catch up here!

On Monday 15 June, we welcomed almost 50 volunteers from across Cumberland FA grassroots football teams for an online information / question and answer session on the latest FA guidance.

Download and View the Presentation

Please note, these have been updated and differ slightly to those viewed on Monday evening. These are to reflect some of changes since Monday. 

For anyone who was unable to attend, we will be making the recording of the session available to view in due course.   

However please note that in light of the below some of the information shared on the presentation on Monday evening will now be out of date and is therefore superseded by the advice below. 

As part of the meeting CEO Ben Snowdon agreed to feedback to The FA regarding some concerns and also some specific questions that had been raised during and after the session itself. 

Ratios

The main body of concern was the ratios that had been changed on the 12th June (from originally posted on the 1st June).  

The FA provided some updated guidance to County FA’s regarding this matter. 

Their advice is as follows: 

Coaches must work on a ratio of one coach to groups of no more than five children in each group (1:5) and there must be a minimum of two FA-DBS-checked adults present at any one time.  

For the avoidance of doubt this means: 

•  if there is only one group, there must be two FA DBS checked adults / coaches, therefore the ratio is 2:4 coaches to children; or  
•  if there are two or more groups of 5 children, coaches can work on the ratio of 1:5 coaches to children. 
 
This certainly makes it a lot easier for clubs, who wish to return, to deliver sessions by taking away the need for multiple people with DBS (as originally proposed) for each group of 6.  However the Ratio for a single group has obviously been reduced.  

Parents at Youth Sessions (with U18s) 

There was also a slightly conflicting message within guidance around whether Parents had to stay with children under the age of 18 at sessions. 

The FA's feedback was that ‘Parents have been advised to be in attendance (You can watch from your car, or a safe distance away from the group and everyone else)’

As you can see this is advice and the Clubs decision would be dependent upon a number of factors that Clubs would consider as part of your risk assessment (e.g. age, venue, space etc.) 

DBS 

Updated DBS guidance will be released to clubs and Club Welfare Officers very soon.  However it is likely that applications will be allowed to commence again (but again with strict guidelines and restrictions). 

Guidance Documents 

Further advice and The FA Guidance documents

The template and generic guidance around completing risk assessment
 
The St Johns Ambulance guidance for 1st aiders

And Finally 

Remember all of the above guidance is based upon and directed by the Government. 

We understand that this is not a simple nor straightforward one to make as volunteers. 

However given the key differences that each club face the decision to return to small group training, there is no ‘one size fits all’ with this, and so it is a decision for each club committee to take in consultation with players, coaches, parents etc. 

Ben Snowdon CEO comments: “We would love to say that the return to training is straight forward and as per usual.  However like all facets of life, at this time, it is not and to allow for participation in training to occur we must include planning around some key considerations and the implementation of additional processes around extra hygiene and social distancing measures. 

Similar to a trip to the supermarket the experience of attending football training, at this early stage, will be different.  However if we get this right the restrictions will continue to be lifted and this experience will slowly return to more like our normal experiences.” 


As always if Cumberland Clubs have any further questions then please do not hesitate to contact us on info@CumberlandFA.com or 01900 511800

Visit our Planning to Play stage for further information and guidance on Cumberland FA’s strategy to restart football when it is safe to do so. 

Planning To Play