Our Safeguarding Team has put together a guidance document, using data provided by players under the age of 18 across the county, to help clubs make grassroots football’s return safer and more enjoyable.

DOWNLOAD THE GUIDANCE

As grassroots football returns from today, following a lengthy period of 'lockdown' in the UK, it is important that clubs understand the impact that this has had on their players, particularly young people under the age of 18.

During February and March, Hampshire FA encouraged players under the age of 18 to complete our ‘Open Up’ survey to seek the views of youth players on a range of issues including the impact of lockdown on their sporting activity and any concerns or worries they have about returning to football.

In total, over 1’500 young players completed our survey and Hampshire FA would like to extend our thanks to all young people who completed the survey, all parents/guardians who assisted, and all club officials who were kind enough to pass on details of the survey and encourage their players to partake. Without your assistance, we wouldn’t have been able to produce this guidance and ensure that our clubs have the information to make football’s return as safe and enjoyable as possible.

Congratulations to Winsor United Youth; winners of our prize draw for a bag of new Nike match footballs!

The guidance document (download here) is a summary of the data that was collected with key considerations for youth football clubs to make football's return safe and enjoyable for their players.

Our team is continuing to analyse the results of our survey and plan the necessary actions to further improve the safety of grassroots football. Further details will be released in due course.

If you have any questions or queries about this guidance or the impact of grassroots football’s return on our young people, please contact our safeguarding team: Safeguarding@HampshireFA.com