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 24th to May 8th 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.
Comments
Post a Comment