Grassroots Football - UK History
The UK is notoriously known for being a footballing nation, with passionate supporters travelling in droves to support their teams across the nation.
It has become a lucrative industry, with huge money figures being quoted for wages, television deals and transfer fees.
Something that has gone under the radar as a result, is where it all started. But has it gone under the radar to an extent that it is dissipating?
The debate on grassroots football has always been a hot topic of debate in England, with funding commitments being made, for example in 2014 when Greg Dyke promised an extra £240 million to go towards it from the FA. The debate often rises at highly emotive times for football supporters in England, such as when the national team suffer.
This was seen for example after England were unable to qualify for Euro 2008, with large demands from discontented supporters to improve the state of grassroots football in the country, with players being produced not good enough to compete with the worlds best.
England will always be known as the nation that invented football, and therefore having a positive footballing infrastructure is vital if the country wants to be viewed positively around the world for its football. Having a positive infrastructure is always going to start at grassroots level.
With cuts being made to local councils, local fields are being sold at an alarming rate, and the cost of them being hired for grassroots football events, has gone up by 300% in some cases according to the BBC.
The state of the pitches being used is also an issue that grassroots football in the country faces, with the 2015 FA grassroots survey finding that the quality and availability of pitches is the biggest factor in how often people in England play football.
The FA has looked to counter act the trends with investment into new grassroots football start ups, whether they are new clubs, training sessions or coaching courses, through a Grow the Game scheme, that was created in 2010. The initiative sees money being invested into these new start ups in order to increase participation in grassroots football in England.