A surgeon walks into an operating theatre and sees a patient mangled from the waist up. What does the surgeon do? There are still signs of life and with time and patience there is still hope. Unlike all those medical professionals who had looked in previously this one makes a bold decision. We are going to have to replace all the major organs and we are going to need the specialist experts in anatomy in place to help. Not administrators or politicians or bankers or journalists but those who actually have the experience to help this patient survive and recover. We must be honest with and very supportive of the family and each other if the patient is to have any hope. it will be challenging and very time consuming but this patient can beat the odds. So let’s get on with it.
And so to English football. English football is mangled from the waist up rather like many other things English. Too much rush and too little calm; a means to an end in preference to an end in itself; tinkering with the symptoms instead of dealing with the cause; listening to highly paid voyeurs when enthusiastic experts are called for…. Now is the time to embrace a plan to give a national sport and the nation an impetus to truly celebrate.
So where to start? Today the head of Ofsted claimed (on the day after the English football team predictably underachieved – coincidence?) that the main reason for our lack of sporting and academic success can be traced to a lack of sporting competition in state schools. Not highly stressed teachers or sardine classrooms or constant undermining of young people; or clueless secretaries of state; or a standards body that is merely a puppet for the ideology of sitting governments; or academies that have no prerequisite demands for playgrounds or playing fields or…. No it all comes down to a child learning that winning and losing is a good thing and a wonderful preparation for the sadistic nature of repeated government policies. Sorry but personally I consider Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments are absolute BOLLOCKS. Another handpicked mouthpiece, offering porous when igneous is demanded, for his cronies at the department of education. This is not where to start!
My rebuilding process is this:
1. Build lots of free standing walls in all schools and give kids footballs and tennis equipment… and at play let them organise themselves. After school with the support of staff and volunteers/parents let them continue.
2. Allow youth clubs/sports centres to show big matches on big screens (heavily subsidised).
3. Offer coaching courses to over 8’s in all local areas across a range of sports.
4. Only 5 asides until year 8/9.
5. Government to decree that a percentage of all television revenues must go in to ticket pricing and local community projects. Every school child must be invited to at least one major sporting event during primary years (heavily subsidised).
6. Ideas for academic and sporting integration to be sought and ,if appropriate, implemented in local areas.
7. Annual skills competions to be offered by all league clubs with season tickets as prizes for winners and parent/guardians…
8. Local sports people from across all sports to be attached to local schools (possibly on rotation). Objective is to visit regularly and work with young people.
9. All local youth teams to have awards for best positions (not just player of the year or improved player of year). E.g best defender; goalkeeper…
10. Local education authorities to work closely with sporting scouts and to have an interactive service allowing coaches, teachers, parents etc… to send videos and invitations….
11. National sports editors to be asked politely to refrain from celebratising sporting participants or invading family privacy. Any transgression should lead to that media outlet being banned from all clubs for a set number of days (depending upon number of transgressions).
12. National team managers to have performance based contracts with set bonuses. Low basic salary.
13. A maximum wage structure to be introduced for all premiership players (including promotional income). If players want to then move abroad, as the income is too low for them, then good luck to them. But if they love the sport and their home they will stay. Generous pension schemes etc could be built in.
14. Any pronouncements from politicians, journalists… who have never played at a high sporting level should simply be ignored.
15. Enjoy the moment and spread the fun.
16+ Over to you…
Are we going to take a radical, new and exciting approach to a long term problem or continue the meaningless moan and watch the patient slip away? That’s another problem but for another time.
Douglas James
