Football Association Needs to Prepare for Post Pandemic World

The Coronavirus has created a political tsunami across football at every level of the game. From the failed European Super League to the curtailed 2020/21 season, questions have been asked about the Football Associations approach to governing our national game. The Government once again finds itself knocking on the FA’s door with its fan-led review into football governance, but further questions remain unanswered further down the pyramid, with the management of the National League and the restructuring of Steps 4 to 6, a subject that continues to provoke debate.

Ian Nockolds, the former presenter of the Somer Valley FM Sport Show, is a market research professional and undertook his own research study to better understand a variety of issues the Non-League football family is currently facing. The online survey ran from April 24^th to May 8^th and was promoted heavily through social media to a non-league football audience. In total 406 individuals responded, largely from the South West of England and predominantly male (92%). However, the responses were more representative of the different interests within the game, with 10% of respondents identifying as Players, 32% as Supporters, 12% as Managers, 13% as Match Officials, 11% as Club Officials and 12% as Club Volunteers, amongst others.

Engaging the football family for research purposes is not easy, as the Football Association themselves have found in the past. However, the total number of responses received by this survey should provide some confidence that the results are at least indicative of opinion in the wider game.

The Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the footballing calendar appears to have had some impact on interest in the Non-League game. 8% of respondents indicated they were less interested in Non-League football than they were at the start of the pandemic, compared with 28% who indicated they were more interested. Analysis by respondent type shows that 15% of players and the same proportion of those identifying themselves as volunteers, indicated that they are less interested in the game. When asked if they’d considered leaving Non-League football altogether, 13% of players indicated that they had thought about it.

Given the overall number of respondents to this survey, these figures can only be seen as broadly suggestive. However, the FA have long held concerns about player retention, particularly amongst males and these findings imply that Covid could make a bad situation worse. Putting the scale of this threat into context, research conducted by Sport England[1] indicated that the number of adults playing football twice in a 28 day period, between the period November 2019 to 2020 had decreased by 1.4% from the previous 12 months. The Active Lives study refers to this as a “significant decrease”, meaning the potential loss of anything up to 13% of players would be catastrophic.

Equally troubling is the 58% of respondents who expressed their concern about the long term future of the Non-League football club they follow. This concern was greatest amongst Club volunteers, with over two thirds (67%) expressing this opinion. However, this concern was widespread amongst nearly all other respondent groups, with a majority (over 50%) expressing this view, except for Managers at 47%.

Finally, there is the question of whether the 2021/22 season will be affected by Covid-19 and despite the current unlocking of the economy and the success of the vaccination programme, 57% of respondents felt that this would be the case. Methodologically, there is a challenge in taking this finding at face value as it is not clear how respondents have interpreted how the season might be “affected”, be it continued social distancing in grounds or another suspension of fixtures. What is clear is that a minimum of 50% across all respondent groups fear a Covid will affect next season in some way, rising to 64% of players.

Given the concerns expressed about next season, it’s even more important for the FA to address the questions that remain over how future interruptions will be managed. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that the FA should define in the rules how a season that cannot be completed on the pitch should be concluded, with 94% of respondents agreeing with this statement and 58% strongly agreeing.

Furthermore, 70% of respondents agreed that all stakeholders, including fans, players and volunteers should have been included in the FA's consultation on concluding the 2020/21 season. This sentiment was most strongly felt amongst Supporters at 79%, falling to 51% of Club Officials, who were involved in the FA’s unprecedented consultation process. When asked whether the FA is delivering effective leadership in governing our National game, only 13% of respondents agreed that this was the case.

There was better news for the FA's restructuring of the National League System, with 58% of respondents expressing the view that this should go ahead. Managers were most in favour at 70%, although support amongst Club Volunteers was less comprehensive, falling to 48%.

Looking ahead to the priorities the FA should be addressing as Non-League football emerges from the pandemic, the most important priority was the safeguarding of younger players, with 72% of respondents rating this as very important. The next most strongly supported priority was recruiting volunteers, rated as very important by 64% of respondents.

The survey highlighted that improving existing facilities is more important than producing more pitches, with 61% of respondents rating this as very important, compared with 50% rating the production of more pitches in the same way.

Equality of opportunity to play also rated as a greater priority than player retention, with 51% of all respondents rating this as very important, compared with 39% of respondents rating the retention of both male and female players in the same way. Along with equality of opportunity to play, developing coaches and financial advice and support were the other priorities rated as very important by over 50% of respondents.

Covid will have a legacy in the Non-League game and the FA needs to have a strategy to manage the potential loss of players, spectators, volunteers and coaches that might happen as a result of the pandemic. Whilst the FA has long wrestled with the challenge of retaining players and volunteers, Covid will at best speed this process up and at worse, become a new factor in people leaving the game. Understanding why people might stop playing and watching football as a result of the pandemic should become a priority for the FA’s engagement work with the football family and must be undertaken as quickly as possible.

The proportion of people expressing a concern about the long-term future of the Non-League football club they follow (58%) is significant and even if that number has been inflated in this study, the scale of this concern certainly needs to be better understood by the FA. The FA should undertake a review of the health of the Non-League game to recognise the threats to the long-term future of Clubs. This consultation should include all stakeholders in the game, including fans, players and volunteers and should form the blueprint for future consultation exercises that consider key strategic issues, such as the curtailment of a season or the restructuring of the pyramid.

Given that a majority in the game fear Covid will affect the 21/22 season, the FA must define in the rules how a season that cannot be completed on the pitch should be concluded. This may be challenging, as ultimately the FA is in the hands of the Government when it comes to managing restrictions, but this presents an opportunity for the FA to push back on the fan-led review, highlighting areas of communication and concession that it could benefit from in terms of administering our national game.

The FA should be commended for the priorities it has raised for the grassroots game, which this research suggests enjoy widespread support. Player retention is clearly important, but not as important as improving the equality of opportunity for everyone to be able to play the game. These issues and the recruitment of volunteers are critical challenges for the game, along with the importance of safeguarding young players.

Paying lip service to these issues is no longer acceptable and the FA needs to make clear strategic plans on how it intends to address these priorities and what it needs from both Government and the football family to do this. Kicking the can back to the County FA’s is simply not good enough and Government should take an active interest in how the FA propose to strategically develop the game, particularly if football is ever to find itself needing financial support from the taxpayer in the future.

The fact that only 13% of respondents to this survey indicated that the FA is delivering effective leadership of our National game, is not the reason the Government are undertaking a fan-led review of football governance, but it does provide an indication of the scale of the challenge the FA faces in selling its vision of football at every level of the pyramid. Only through engaging with the football family and ensuring the FA’s priorities are aligned with those on the frontline of the game, can the governing body begin to improve the way it is perceived by those it serves.