Category: World Football

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World Football

Socrates Dies

Former Brazil captain Socrates died on Sunday aged 57 from an intestinal infection.

Socrates — who in 1982 captained what is widely regarded as the best Brazil side never to have won the World Cup — was taken to the hospital late Friday after suffering food poisoning.

He was hospitalised twice in August and September this year with bleeding in his digestive tract, and recognised after these incidents that he had problems with alcohol, especially during his playing days. A smoker and heavy drinker even in his playing days but renowned as probably the best play-maker of his generation who played for Brazil at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

BIG SKINNY

Born on February 19, 1954 in Belem, a northern city on the banks of the Amazon river. One of the most elegant midfield generals in soccer history, Socrates, began his career in Botafogo. He was never a teenage star and didn’t make his debut in the Brazilian national team until he was 25. He was blessed with wonderful skills, vision and seemed to have so many options when he was on the ball. He was able to play the ball wherever and whenever he wanted. His heel-kicks became famous world wide.

He joined Sao Paulo club Corinthians in 1978 and stayed for six years.

Bearded, thin and popularly known as ‘Magrao’, or the Big Skinny One, Socrates was part of a golden Brazilian generation that included midfielder Zico, Junior, Falcao and Eder.

The brilliant Brazil side of 1982 was regarded as one of the best never to win the World Cup title after they were upset by eventual champions Italy in the second group phase of the tournament in Spain.

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The Golden Heel

An astute passer and reader of the game, he earned his nickname of ‘The Golden Heel‘ with a uniquely nonchalant playing style, using the backheel to telling effect and scoring memorable goals with both feet.

His languid penalty-taking style, eschewing the traditional run-up to merely step up to the ball and lift it into the net, backfired at the 1986 World Cup where Brazil lost to France in the quarter-finals on penalties after one of his lazy efforts was saved.

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Brazil, Corinthians & Polictics

Socrates was included in FIFA’s list of the best 125 living soccer players in the world, a list compiled by countryman Pele. Socrates played 63 matches with the national team, scoring 25 goals. At Corinthians, during a time of military government, he was a leading figure in the Democracia Corinthiana movement where everything was decided by a vote of directors, technical staff and players.

The team would send messages to the country’s government by taking to the field with banners demanding ‘Direct elections now’ or “I want to vote for President’.

Italy

Socrates had a short and unhappy playing spell in Italy with Fiorentina and, shivering from the cold in a bizarre postscript to his career, Socrates was not an ordinary athlete, infact he didn’t look at himself as an athlete. He smoked a pack of sigarettes every day, and that was one of the reasons to why he never settled in Italy when he arrived there in 1984. The lifestyle didn’t suit him and he went back to Brazil a year later..

  • Latterly, he gave seminars about leadership and human relations while also practising as a doctor and working on a fiction book about the 2014 World Cup due to be held in Brazil.
  • Socrates also played for Flamengo winning a Rio state championship before ending his career in 1990 playing for Santos.
  • Socrates briefly coached and played for Garforth Town in England in 2004.
  • Socrates is survived by his wife and six children.

His younger brother Rai, also a midfielder and a Sao Paulo favourite who spent several seasons at Paris St Germain in the late 1990s, was a member of the Brazil squad that won the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

(Writing by Rex Gowar in Buenos Aires, editing by TCD)

Brazil 1982 – The Art of Football

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Development World Football

Martin Jol explains why England must back youth

Martin Jol gives an in-depth insight into his tactical philosophy at Fulham, and explains why England must put more faith in youngsters. Interview with The Dugout

How does the playing culture differ between England, Netherlands and Germany?

I think you need to divide it between certain periods, because I played in England, Germany and Holland, and I have managed in all three countries as well. As a player it was different because it was probably 30 years ago.

Holland

As far as management is concerned, the culture is different in Holland because there your style is the most important thing. In Holland you could never play a real 4-4-2, because that is a direct style and in Holland they like to play the ball from the back. If you kicked the ball from the keeper they would criticise you, so you always have to play football.

For a small country like Holland that’s a very good thing. We’ve only got 15 or 16 million people, so if we didn’t make ourselves different we would probably be more like Luxembourg or Belgium, you know, a smaller country in football terms.

So for us it’s important that we make a difference, and we produce different players, in the style of Rafael van deer Vaart, Wesley Sneijder or Robin van Persie. We will always have players like Arjen Robben, who you don’t see in Germany or England.

So the playing style is the most important thing. Of course, if the players are good, they will go abroad when they are still young, but that is our fate, that is what will happen. The Dutch League is not the strongest because all of our top players play abroad – but Holland was top of the world rankings until two weeks ago. That was not because of the players in Holland, but those who were brought up in Holland and went to play abroad.

Play Football

But they have all been brought up in the same style; playing angles, playing in pockets, trying to play football and that will always pull you through. It’s not maybe the same as it was 30 years ago when we said ‘if you score two, we’ll score three’. It’s more organised now, but the focus is always on your style, and if your style is good you will always win games.

In Germany they did it in a different way; their organisation and discipline were always the most important things. They were probably the only team who could win the World Cup in a 5-3-2, with five at the back like Arsenal did with Tony Adams at the time about 25 years ago. When opposition fans talked about ‘Boring, boring Arsenal’ it was because they played with five at the back and the Germans did that too.

Over the last 10 years, German football has changed and it is focusing on the academies more. You will see that all the teams in Germany are stronger because they give youngsters a chance.

German & Dutch Way

All the youth teams, Under-17, Under-19, Under-21 – they all play in a good style, it shines through because you see a lot of youngsters in Germany now. They try to play their football now and the evidence lies in the fact that at the last World Cup they played in a Dutch way.

At that World Cup tournament in South Africa, Holland played in a German way, with two central midfielders in a sitting role; with a six and a four block. Six defenders and four players going forward. That is not Dutch because we always used to play in a five-five system which is what the Germans did at the recent World Cup, they had five attacking and five defending.

For example, they had Sami Khedira in midfield who played more offensively and Bastian Schweinsteiger who sat. The Dutch played with Nigel De Jong and Mark van Bommel who both sat in midfield.

Holland reached the World Cup final in a German way – but everyone was moaning because the most important thing is the style. The main man is Johan Cruyff and he was always criticising the coach during the tournament, saying ‘you can’t play like this’. The coach proved he could win by being organised and disciplined, but this was not Dutch, people weren’t proud of the team. They would rather lose in a Dutch style than win in a German style. For the coach, it was more important to get to the World Cup final, and I appreciate that.

Why doesn’t Holland ever win things?

In England people always ask me: “Why doesn’t Holland ever win things?” And I say: “What are you on about? We’ve got 15 million people, and we’re always in the semi-finals! Don’t you think that’s enough? Isn’t it a big achievement?” Everybody in the world appreciates our style but the only criticism is that we don’t win things. But of course we won Euro ’88, and we have had European Cups with Ajax and Feyenoord.

Now we talk about England – do you see a lot of youngsters (coming through) like in Holland and Germany? No. They don’t get the chance because teams will buy players from abroad. In Germany they made a decision to try to develop players with academies – the English clubs were probably the first ones with academies, but they (the young players) never really get a chance. There are still some clubs with very good academies where they give the players a chance. But there are not enough. There is so much money at stake that everybody is under pressure for immediate results so they are often reluctant to play youngsters.

Your experience of different countries has given you a very rounded perspective – could British coaches develop their skills by going overseas?

You might have one or two in Holland or France, but in general foreign countries don’t take British coaches because they believe in their own identity.

There are some coaches in Britain now, like Brendan Rodgers at Swansea, who is trying to play in a 4-3-3. That may be because Rodgers was at Chelsea with Jose Mourinho who played a 4-3-3, and perhaps he thought: “Hmm, that’s not bad.” Mourinho wanted results of course, but he still played in a 4-3-3 with great players, as he did at Porto.

In Spain you would probably think in distances. I’m in midfield, he’s on the wing, and there can’t be more than 20 metres between us. If the distances are too big, like in a 4-4-2 where there can be 40 metres between my midfielders and my wingers, there is never an angle.

Steve McClaren is a good example of an English coach who went abroad recently and succeeded. He went to Holland, played 4-3-3, adapted well and won the Dutch league. It was a very good learning experience for him. When he wasMiddlesbrough manager he sometimes played 4-5-1, and he had confirmation when he went to Holland.

You can’t always play the formation that you want. I started here at Fulham with Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora, and Moussa Dembele wasn’t here, so I couldn’t play a 4-3-3. I had to play the first eight weeks in a 4-4-2. Now you can start seeing us play good football. Why? Because I’ve got Moussa Dembele and Clint Dempsey. They were not here the first eight weeks.

“It’s about your players, but it’s also about a philosophy. It would be good for British coaches to go abroad”.

Fulham’s season started in June with Europa League qualifiers – how did you adapt your pre-season preparations?

We approached it as a normal preparation. In terms of training and intensity, I always do either a four-week plan or a six-week plan. But I had so many games in a week – three games in seven days – that I had to change it to a four-week plan with a lot of neutral weeks between.

If you are playing three games, you can’t load players before or after a game, especially if you have to play an official game. You can’t change your whole team in the second half of an official game, because there are only three subs allowed. So that was a little bit of a problem.

We played almost our best team with 14 or 15 players. Normally you would have more like 20 players, but we couldn’t do that because we simply didn’t have the players. We offloaded 10 players in the pre-season – players like Greening, Gera, Gudjohnsen, Salcido, Dikgacoi, Stockdale, Pantsil – it was not easy because you need them all and we were left with only 14 or 15 players.

The intensity of the pre-season was the same. We started on the 23rd of June, and our first game was five days later, can you imagine? In a ‘normal’ pre-season you will play after five days, that’s not a problem, but you will be able to use more players.

After the 1st of September, I had new players. Patjim Kasami came in, Dempsey played, Moussa came back. We had Bryan Ruiz come in. Then I could change the style and we played better football and created chances.

Now we are playing with a lower ’10’ instead of a second striker and the difference is showing. The only thing now is we have to score goals. Bobby Zamora was our only goal scorer and he was not available. So against West Brom we played with the young boy Orlando Sa, and that is not easy because he did not play for Porto over the last couple of months.

So it was a difficult start, but I had to lower the average age of the squad because it was the oldest squad in the Premier League. We did it with Marcel Gecov, Patjim Kasami, Sa and Matthew Briggs, who is now a regular in the 18-man squad.

It was an amazing achievement to reach the Europa League final two years ago – what are your ambitions for the club?

My ambition is to follow the same Dutch principle. If you play your best football, starting from the back, the results will come naturally. If you don’t, you go back to the defensive, compact way – it’s good, because it’s the style Fulham used – but to go forward you need to score goals. The focus for me is on the performance and style – if you get that right, then you will achieve your objectives.

On Saturday we could have won easily; we could have beaten Chelsea; against Man City we came from two down to make it 2-2 and could have nicked it at the end. If you play good football, your opponent will be under pressure, and they will be the ones who have to shift to a 4-5-1, and that was good to see against Man City.

How will the introduction of Financial Fair Play affect Fulham – will it help to create a more level playing field?

If you talk about Financial Fair Play you could go on and on and on. Everybody takes Barcelona as an example, everybody. But they are 450 million euros in debt!

It’s not the fairest set-up, but what I would like to see is the 6+5 rule, which will have the same effect. Play six players from abroad, and five English players. Then you will see the English national team benefit.

Of course you have got exceptions like Rooney and Wilshere who started young, but these are big, big players. Generally, will you see 19 or 20-year-old players in the England team? No. But if you see the Under-21s now with Sturridge, Henderson, Jones… they have all come through the ranks. I think the English are probably on the right path, but you will see if you get the 6+5 rule, it could be good and fair.

For example, I have got a player now in my reserves, Kerim Frei. He is 17 and has played eight games for us. Now I feel he would never have played for us if we hadn’t given him the chance or if he was not good enough. But it was a necessity to play him because there was no Clint Dempsey and I needed someone to play on the left. That’s the Dutch way – if your left winger is not there, you play the second one, and if he’s not there you play your third. Kerim Frei has played a few games for us and he was one of our best players against Chelsea. If you have a 6+5 rule there will be more space for young players and it will start to pay off because it is not all about money.

But that is probably too Dutch! It is not reality…

Do you prefer a traditional British manager’s role or a Continental-style system with a coach and a sporting director?

It is a long time since they said to the manager: “This is your budget, do what you like.”

I think at every club in England the manager is working with a chief executive or a managing director who is taking care of the finances. I don’t even think Sir Alex Ferguson is doing the financial side. But that is not the same as having somebody else who is responsible for choosing which players to buy. Sir Alex Ferguson chooses which players to buy, even if other people deal with the financial aspects.

I think it is a good structure to have a sporting director, but only if the manager is ultimately responsible for selecting the players. If the manager tells you not to get a player, don’t get him. There are some clubs abroad where the sporting director is getting players in and the manager has to work with them; he is held responsible even though he maybe didn’t want the players. That is wrong.

At Fulham I’ve got Alistair Mackintosh, who will always ask me: “Is he good?” So I’ve got my scouting system, and there will never be a player coming in without my permission. But the price and the wages of course have to be right, and they are doing the negotiations and I think that is right. So if they are too expensive, they won’t come.

It can be a very good combination if you work together well. I worked well with Frank Arnesen at Spurs; we got along well, he never did anything behind my back. If I said: “I like this player,” he would never say: “No, he is too expensive.” He would find out first, then tell me. In a bad structure, the sporting director can tell you a player is too expensive or doesn’t want to come without checking it out. In that case, you have got a big problem.

Martin Jol was speaking to Yahoo!’s ‘The Dugout’ through its partnership with the League Managers Association

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World Football

Over 18’s only

With the Women World Cup on at the moment it would be rude not to comment on it. After Saturday game in Augsbourg with 1-0 victory over the North Koreans Swedish Player Josephine Oqvist swapped her jersey with a German fan.

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World Football

Divided by the Regions Final in Braga

“Six wins out of six since qualifying” have given Dito hope as Braga head into the final, where they meet a Leinster & Munster side “under no pressure” according to Gerry Smith Irish Manager.

Ten years after experiencing UEFA Regions’ Cup final disappointment, hosts Braga hope to go one better when they meet a Leinster & Munster side heading into the Barcelos fixture “under no pressure”.

Braga

Braga lost the 2001 showpiece 4-2 on penalties to Czech outfit Central Moravia, but, unlike on that occasion, they come into the final with a 100% record in this edition of Europe’s premier amateur competition. Dito, capped 17 times by Portugal at senior level, knows how big an occasion it will be for his Braga players when the week-long tournament concludes in the Cidade de Barcelos from 19.30CET on Tuesday.

“We are here after collecting six wins out of six since qualifying,” he said. “We have scored 17 goals in the process, so we will approach the match with a lot of confidence.Although it is a unique opportunity for them, my players are very calm and relaxed. History is just around the corner for them and they know that.”

Irish Hopes

Gerry Smith, whose Leinster & Munster side progressed from Group B with two wins and a draw, is happy to assume the role of underdog. “We’re going to enjoy it,” he said. “It’s a one-off and, as Dito said, there will probably be two different styles on display: continental and British, which we’re trying to deviate from.

“We’re a very hard-working side and we’re in this final under no pressure − the pressure is on the home team, that’s a fact. They’re here and all the expectation is on them to win the competition.”

A Portuguese champion in 1987 with Lisbon giants SL Benfica, Dito has won silverware at the highest level − for his counterpart, reaching the final is a rich reward for over a decade’s service at the helm of the Republic of Ireland’s amateur side. “I was never privileged to play for my country, Dito has, but it’s absolutely fantastic for a small nation like ours,” said Smith.

“If you had said this to me a week ago when we arrived I’d have taken both hands off you. We’re looking forward to it, these experiences don’t come around too often, and for a team to get to any European final is an amazing achievement. I had to pinch myself this morning when I woke up, realising that we’re going to compete in the final with a great football nation and an excellent coach.”

For Dito the job is only half done, but for Braga to become Portugal’s first winners of the competition they must breach a Leinster & Munster defence which has conceded just one goal in six matches in the 2010/11 competition.

“Our first goal was to qualify for the final,” added Dito. “All the information we gathered before the tournament pointed to the fact the Irish team were one of the main favourites to be in the final and for once statistics were right. They are here because they deserve it.”

The Coach Diary wishes both nations a great game. I’m always split in half when my 2 countries play!

Article By Wayne Harrison UEFA.COM

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Irish Grassroots Football World Football

The Little Team of Stars

Could you ever imagine coaching a team that never wins a game or never evens scores a goal and usually is on the end of a 10-0 thrashing. Could you imagine what the drive home in the car would be like for some of these players.

Quote “The tiny stars of Margatania FC are not giants on the pitch nor off. They’re an under-7 squad who will freely admit that goals aren’t their thing. But you don’t see any of the tantrums or soccer spats that mar the professional game in these true sportsmen. They may be young, their only goal of the year may have come in their last game of the season, but they truly love the game.

The ‘Little Team’ featured in this short film remind us of all that is truly great in sport: Teamwork – Positive attitude and Respect”.

The team was formed when two schools from the Catalan city of Vilanova i la Geltrú not to far from Barcelona pooled their resources:

“As congratulations from around the world were posted to the team’s website on their Vimeo appearance, they finally scored a goal — making it 271 conceded – 1 scored for the season. The blog post (below) is abridged and translated from Catalan:

“Last game of the season, and things changed a lot since the first game. All of us have learned the meaning of teamwork, and are increasingly learning the value of what we each do in different positions; helping each other and appreciating the work of our keeper who dares to stand between the sticks. Although everyone was happy with the results of this season, the team deserved that goal.

It looked increasingly clear [in the last game] that the goal could come at any time. Those charged with getting it were Gerard and Emma, ​​but we needed to make a pass before shooting on goal. I called, I told them it was time and gooooooooooool!

At last, we have finally got this long-awaited goal [through] Emma.

Now we can finish the season happy, giving joy to the parents who have been at every game and helped the team to keep their heads up — and joy to the players of Margatània.

Thank you children!”

A beautiful video of children enjoying themselves and really does put into context that soccer is just a game and enjoyed by all no matter what level they play at, WIN or LOSE the kids always have FUN!

-End

I always like to hear your opinions and views. If you feel you have something to say, please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com If, you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend. As always, thanks for reading.

I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

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Irish Grassroots Football World Football

English FA plans will help the kids REACH the crossbar

‘When the adults come to take the nets down, they use a step ladder,’ he said. ‘How am I expected to save shots in a goal that big?’

2013

Question like these will be a thing of the past come 2013, (wow, that’s ages away…do it now) well in the UK anyhow. That is when changes to grass roots football will be implemented by the Football Association, fundamentally changing the development of young players and altering everything about the way the game is played: from the goal, the pitch sizes to the team numbers and even league formats and age calculations. So for that young boys questions of a tiny goalkeeper standing alone in acres of sodden pitch, protecting an area designed to test men twice his size and unable to stop any ball that goes over his fingers – will be a thing of the past.  Kids will play in games and pitches appropriate to their age and size.

Gareth Southgate

The Football Association’s head of elite development, spoke recently and said “this will be taken this around the UK to convince sceptics during a consultation process which ends in September. It will then be put before the annual meetings of county associations next May, with the next 14 months used to prepare before its permanent introduction at the start of the 2013-14 season”. Although the the FA hope many leagues will pre-empt this date by changing their formats this year.

The Changes

  • u7s & 8s play 5v5
  • u9s, u10s play 7v7
  • u11s, u12s and u13s play 9v9
  • u14s play 11v11 on smaller pitches

Bringing England in line with Spain, Portugal, Holland and Germany and within a year of France and Italy, we in Ireland could do we adopting what our neighbours are doing for the good of the kids and their development. I mentioned before how Scotland and Wales had already taken a leap and made drastic changes to their GR game. As per usual we are last to implement change and no point in 1 league in Dublin and some outside the doing it. This needs to be brought in across Ireland and if teams can’t field players for 9v9s or 11v11 then they continue with the 7v7 for longer. Everything that can be done must be done to make games fair and age appropriate. Making sure that these changes are all about the kids that PLAY and NOT the ADULTS.

(Size of the ball needs to be changes also)

Southgate expressed how “More goals, touches and improved skill should be the result of all these changes. In the UK Goals and pitches will be of appropriate size, and markings will be displayed inside existing pitches in different colours (great idea), following the design of an indoor sports hall in which various games co-exist”.

‘People have seen the way that the likes of Barcelona have played this year and they’re asking: ‘Why can’t our kids play that way? ”We want them to play that way. We feel that what we are proposing will give them the environment to develop those skills.

‘We have down the years produced some technically gifted players but we want to increase that pool of talent so that if our best one or two players get injured, there is a bigger talent pool to come in.’

The research involved in the project showed that children who are slow to physically mature are also being forced out of the game before they have a chance to have a crack at professional level.

‘It benefits the physically stronger players but there’s a real danger that we lose the smaller, more technically gifted ones.

Southgate thinks the idea of introducing smaller teams and smaller pitches will help to encourage a player the size of Lionel Messi come through the English system, rather than be bullied out of it. ‘In 11-a-side matches there are fewer touches for players,’ the former Middlesbrough manager said.

‘If we go to that format too young then it becomes much more of an athletic-based game. We have huge pitches that kids can’t get around. ‘It benefits the physically stronger players but there’s a real danger that we lose the smaller, more technically gifted ones. ‘There is a high drop-out of players in that nature.’

Similar to what the NDSL have proposed

There will be no leagues in professional academies until the under-18 age group, but grass roots clubs will be allowed to publish tables from under-12. Before that, clubs will play friendlies between league members, with November, and perhaps February and May set aside as competition months organised in various forms.

“There could be a knock-out competition within the league, or two leagues that pair the top six clubs against each other, then the bottom six against each other,”said English National Development Manager Nick Levett.

Quote “We are not looking to make football non-competitive, the league will still keep a record of the results to gauge the strengths of teams, but there is nothing less competitive than being stuck in a league that is too good for you or too weak.

‘This way, teams are constantly assessed and can be paired against opponents of appropriate strength. A team who would have no chance of winning might suddenly win a competition, a team who have been winning easily will be tested.

‘Not having official tables doesn’t mean you don’t have competition. There is a league in the North West that spends £20,000 a year on trophies and medals. One club spent £6,000 on end-of-season prizes.’ The point is, kids think differently about football. Adults value medals and let a bad result spoil the weekend; children like the game and quickly get over an adverse result unless pressured to think differently.

Levett

said “there were 44 groups of children aged eight to 12 interviewed by the FA and the results were intriguing. They tend to know their year of birth rather than the more complex branding of under-nine or under-10. So, from 2013, club football will run in years, as in hockey. Your kid will play for Ramshackle Rovers 2000 or 2001, the oldest boy born January 1 and the youngest December 31. (I’m thinking, why wait do it now!)

(This will come into affect this year for us) In fact most of these ideas are not to similar to what Tony Gains and the NDSL are implementing this coming season.

The goalkeeper, Robert, (the boy behind that great quote) who was the catalyst for so much of this debate, had one year trying to defend the same size goal as Petr Cech and quit. He plays only school football now.

The challenge of convincing the English associations rests with Levett, who needs 75 per cent approval by next May.

Quote ‘I’m not saying don’t play 11 against 11 on a full-size pitch,’ he said. ‘I’m just saying, if you wish to, please show us the evidence that this is for the best: because we can’t find any”.

SFAI AGM

With the SFAI AGM meeting on this Saturday in Sligo, it will be interesting to see what comes of it and what great ideas the MEN not kids that manage kids football come up with this year. (Unfortunately I can’t make it down as I’m helping to run a charity event for Dyspraxia Ireland)

This post will be going straight to Mr Michael O’Brien, Chairman of the SFAI and The South Dublin Football League. inbox. It would please me even more if he Subscribed to my site.

Click on the link to see who else is on the SFAI Council http://www.sfai.ie/sfai_council.htm what I’d love to know is how many of these members are Grassroots Coaches, FAI Coaches, Teachers, Child Psychologists, Youth Development Officers, Parents of children who left the game because it wasn’t fun anymore, what about someone that actually speaks on behalf of the kids that PLAY, after all this is why we organise this game in the first place!

Conclusion

Personally I would like to see the FAI stepping in at this stage and revamping the entire structure of grassroots soccer in Ireland. The time is now!!! Many coaches, parents, managers have been wanting changes for many years and we are just that little to slow to react.

There is a reason why continental kids are technically streets ahead of Irish and English kids. An Irish kid receives the ball and looks up to pass it, an Iberian kid receives a ball and looks up to dribble past you!

“To get something done a committee should consist of three men, two of whom are absent“.

Research: Martin Samuel, Nick Levett,  Gareth Southgate.


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Coach Talk World Football

Footblogball: Interview with Hibernian Youth coach – Colin Jack

Colin Jack is a Youth coach at Hibernian FC and Mark from Footblogball spoke to him this week in Sweden at a Coerver coaching camp in Stockholm and he started by asking him…

Q.The Scottish FA  teamed up with the Scottish Youth Football Association to launch a new National Player Pathway from March 2011. Within your role at  Hibernians  how do you take part in this initiative?

A. The player pathway is purely for recreational players, whereas at Hibernian we deal with professional youth players. However, in my opinion the national player pathway is something of benefit to the grassroots game in Scotland. This provides the basis for where Hibernian and other pro clubs pick there players and by giving kids a structured environment to play organised football is great.

Obviously this needs to be matched by the kids playing as much football away from these games/tournaments as possible. But the key thing remains at the young age of getting kids to fall in love with the game of football. This is absolutely key, so no pressure need to be applied to the kids, just pure enjoyment.

Q.It is claimed that it is the first time in Scotland, all children playing club football will play a format of the game that relates best to their age.We at Footblogball read a little more into this statement as a sort of acceptance of the death of “street football” or any form of spontaneous football. What are your feelings on this?

A. There is two areas of youth football in Scotland 1; recreational or boys club football for amateur young players, with a range of playing abilities and 2; Pro-youth where the best players are recruited by the clubs and play fixtures every weekend. I think the fact that there are two separate bodies the SFA and the SYFA is a cause for concern as there is a clash of interests and also for the organisation of the game within regional areas. I think there needs to be one sole body in which all football decisions are taking with regards to recreational and professional play. These decisions could be taken with debate involving the organisers from each area/region.

I think what the Scottish FA mean by this is that every club team will play an organised game at the weekend. Rather than before when kids from different areas would play different rules and games. Some areas play 7 aside at 8 and some 8 or 9 aside. So I think its important everybody follows a pathway which is best for all.

In this respect I think the Scottish FA have managed to do this. A loose framework for organised club football. However, I do think they also need to address the purely recreational side of the game, whatever your standard. In Scotland it has become near impossible to play street football, however, there is many artificial areas available to kids to play football. Key I think is to get kids to love the game, encouraged to play and perhaps even have a coach or organiser at each venue to make sure the kids are playing in a safe environment. This could be just purely in an overseeing capacity where no coaching takes place.
So, organised club football at the weekend in the recreational sector and organised football throughout the week where kids can turn up and play for no cost and no coaching. The key is just to get kids playing football at any time of the day. They then go to there clubs for coaching.

Q. The only adult involvement in football when I was between the ages of 6 and 10 was being called in by my parents for dinner. All this of course has changed where adult expectations such as competative drive means kids hardly have time to fall in love with football, to play for fun and  develop their skills and creativity in a stress free environment. Has the Scottish Youth Football Association or you in your role as a coach at Hibernians done anything to address this situation? How do you personally feel about this?

A. What is absolutely clear here, is that in order for kids to get any better at football they must fall in love with the game and become mini-football experts, in terms of ball skills but also understanding the game and the professionalism which should go hand in hand with the game. This also helps create friendships and a more respectful community around the game.
The Scottish FA have introduced ‘street football’ and other programs designed to look at kids playing football for no fee in areas, but this is down to funding again and some can’t be continued due to the lack of money. This is something I think the Scottish FA need to address. I cannot speak for all off Scotland but I do no feel the Scottish FA does enough along with clubs to play enough football. In my opinion, and as previously stated, getting kids to the local park just to play football is key. Play with friends and stop playing the computer is key.

Q. Recently you were in Stockholm at a Coerver coaching camp for kids. How did this come about? What age groups were you working with? Did you notice any differences between the Swedish kids and the Kids from Scotland with regard to how they play the game, expectations even at a such a young age

A. I had the opportunity to come across to Stockholm with Coerver as I work with Coerver in Scotland on a part time basis. I have been abroad before with Coerver to both Norway and Portugal and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Stockholm. I find Coerver a useful tool in teaching kids the basic skills and I believe when applied properly can be of great benefit to players. However, this is needed to be mixed and matched with other training and the coaches own ideas on the game to produce quality training. Coerver on its on is merely a technique acquisition session not a skill and game related session.

The kids in Stockholm were fantastic, the behaviour and culture was obviously much more different to Scotland. Kids in Stockholm can obviously speak English relatively fluyently and this helped me enourmously but also helped the kids. With learning another language the kids had a more rounded and appreciative nature, this is perhaps to do with the awareness of other cultures.

In Scotland I feel kids can only speak English and do not have an awareness of outside cultures, perhaps due to georgraphy, but it is something that I think is key. The Swedish kids were much more appreciative and there behaviour was exemplary compared to kids in Scotland. I do not know the social situation in Sweden but perhaps this is something to do with it as kids in Scotland can tend to come from a range of social backgrounds.
The kids in Stockholm football wise were very much more tuned into what was needed, when practice time came the kids were solely focused on this. Coerver involves lots of repetitive drills and the kids, despite being of varying age, seemed to enjoy this aspect.

Further more, when asking the kids to do the techniques in match situations they were very keen to replicate this and understand the context of when a technique would be used which then turns into a skill. The kids were also extremely fit and agile and all enjoyed healthy lunches, something that is not replicated in Scotland. This all contributed to the more ‘football is a profession’ atmosphere compared to that of Scotland where there is still a certain culture that attaches itself to the game.

One point I think is absolutely key and I would like to reemphasize this, is that kids need to play football. This does not mean coaching after coaching  but just solely football. Small sided games and games created on the spur of the moment need to return and I think everybody can do something to help this.

Colin Jack: In his own words.

  • I’m 23 and currently studying History and Politics at Stirling University  in Scotland.
  • I currently work part time at Hibernian where I take the under 17 team and assistant coach at the under 19 team, this season we won the east of Scotland shield and got to the semi final of the Scottish cup.
  • Despite being only 23 I have worked at Hamilton Academical FC academy where I took the under 11s and under 12s, I also worked for Heart of Midlothian Academy doing there technical sessions for the under 9s, 10s and 11s.
  • I have also worked for Coerver Scotland for over 5 years where I coach all standards of players, I have worked with them in Portugal, Sweden and Norway.I work and continue to work with the Scottish football association, for nearly 4 years now, in community projects and school of football scheme.
  • I am currently sitting my advanced children license in which I have 3 months to go. I have passed my youth award and children  award in coaching and hold the south of Scotland coach of the year for 2007.
  • I also play semi-pro football in Scotland but currently am injured for the last year. Before though I played at various semi and pro teams but never excelling to take me to a higher level
  • My aims include coaching in a full time capacity at a professional club and achieving my UEFA A badge. I also want to work abroad and hopefully in time become a first team coach at a professional club.

Interview by Footblogball

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