26-10-07

DO YOU HAVE FILM FOOTAGE OF PARENTS, COACHES, MANAGERS OR ADULTS BEHAVING BADLY AT YOUR CHILD'S FOOTBALL MATCH OR TRAINING SESSION?

Give Us Back Our Game and Dont X The Line have been approached by an independent television production company currently producing a documentary on children's football and the real life stories of players, coaches, parents, officials and supporters. The Producers are currently compiling footage of video, digital cameras and mobiles to help illustrate the plight of children's football.

The ultra-competitiveness that exists on the touch line of training grounds and match day pitches in junior/youth leagues is now cause for concern.

If you would like to submit any footage or stories no matter how ludicrous to be considered for the programme please contact the producer Ernie Brennan at ernie@capricornproductions.co.uk or log onto www.capricornproductions.co.uk for further information.

17-09-07

We are pleased to report another significant milestone in the short life of Give Us Back Our Game. We have been included in the FA's working party on Mini Soccer. The other people on the working party include County FA's, Leagues, EFSA and the FA The findings of the party will be presented at both the National Game Conference and the Football Development committee at the FA later this year.

We have only been able to get this far because of your tremendous support. We have already had a lot of feedback on mini soccer, and welcome more of your experiences both good and bad.

Thank you for your support!

26/07/07

Three articles have appeared over the last week featuring the campaign. An article in the Times, one in the UEFA magazine and an article in a national newspaper in New Zealand.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article2138937.ece

http://en.uefa.com/magazine/news/kind=128/newsid=555556.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4097826a22680.html

11/07/07

The fun days were a fantastic success and we had some great feedback (please
see the articles page for this and several new articles)

Last week saw two more fun days, one was a joint event run with Watford FC
involving primary schools in St Albans and the other was run by Marble Hill
Play Centre in Twickenham which was fantastic fun with 'milk crates for goal
posts'.

We have added a further workshop to the list. This will be in Surrey during
October.

We have also been asked to speak at a number of clubs, please contact us at
giveusbackourgame@gmail.co.uk if you are interested to do a talk or workshop
at your club.

Child expert and writer Sue Palmer who wrote the hugely successful book
Toxic Childhood, has another book out next month called 'Detoxing Childhood'.

In the book she pays tribute to Give Us Back Our Game for helping to bring
fun and 'play' back into children's football.

13/06/07

We have two workshops organised for July.
Sunday 22nd July at Cirencester Town FC, Gloucestershire
&
Sunday 29th July at Clacton Town FC, Essex

Please email Paul Cooper on giveusbackourgame@gmail.com for more information

04/06/07

Give Us Back Our Game has been immortalised in verse by Crispin Thomas from the wonderful football poets, to the tune of John Lennon’s ‘Give Peace a Chance’

Check it out http://www.footballpoets.org/p.asp?Id=20608

15/05/07

Give Us Back Our Game informs FA Policy!

As a direct result of the sustained efforts of EVERYONE involved in the campaign, the FA have DIRECTLY attributed us with outlining the key challenges facing youth football in their recently published National Game Strategy 2007 – 2012.

According to the FA, the purpose of the National Game Strategy is to ‘produce a strategic framework that sets out the key priorities, expenditure proposals and targets for the National Game over the next six years’.

Goal 3 of the Strategy document is Raising Standards: Creating a Safe and Positive Environment. In this section the FA support the campaign directly, stating:

The recently launched independent campaign – ‘Give Us Back Our Game’ outlines the key challenges facing youth football:

• The change from street football to regulated football has resulted in a game ‘controlled by competitive adults’;
• This can result in an over-focus on results versus fun and development;
• Children are regularly omitted from the game via controlled substitutions;
• Not enough free play where children can solve problems, try new skills and express themselves.

The FA then go on to state:

We will support the Give Us Back Our Game campaign as a means of promoting a positive playing environment by raising awareness and providing an education programme for coaches and parents.

Watch this space.

08-05-07

The campaign grows from strength to strength around the world. Here is just a snap shot of what is happening.

Durham – England
Bert-Jan Heijmans our representative in the North East along with students from Northumberland University set up a pilot 4v4 fun day last month in Durham.
The pilot was supported by Durham FA and Durham City council.
The day was a huge hit for children and parents alike, and the students will publish their findings on the Give Us Back Our Game website shortly to help organisers plan their own fun days.

Derbyshire – England
Last week there were a number of events in the area that is already heavily committed to getting children involved in football.
On Tuesday there was a 4v4 schools festival at Castle Leisure Park, Bolsover supported by GUBOG.
The festival was organised by year 11 BTEC students from Shirebrook Community School.

A couple of miles down the road at Tibshelf school 18, JFO’s (Junior Football Organisers) students from the school have organised after school fun sessions for 80 local children. The GUBOG event entitled ‘Let the Children Play’ was a great success.

At the same time in Derbyshire, Paul Cooper and Bert-Jan Heijmans from GUBOG in tandem with Bolsover & District Sport Partnership were training 80 ‘dinner ladies’ how to facilitate fun football games at lunchtime in 35 primary school playgrounds in the area.

The project called, ‘Back to the Playground’ was featured on BBC Radio Derbyshire. Further stories on this initiative are to appear next week in The Times Education Supplement and BBC TV East Midlands.

Wind Gap, Pennsylvania – USA
The first Give Us Back Our Game event kicked off two weeks ago. The Spring Soccer campaign at Wind Gap Thunder Soccer has been organised by Coleen Lieberman who is passionate about getting kids to play for fun.
Coleen has already had a terrific response from parents, as this message shows.

“I have a daughter in the 5-7 age group and she had the time of her life. She LOVED it. It was the first time she’s ever played and she said she wished everyday was Sunday went it was over!!”

Manila – Philippines
We have not one but two GUBOG 4v4 fun days in Manila planned for June.
One will be held at the British School, while the other is talking place at the Manila Soccer Academy.

Delhi – India
Arup Das of the India Youth Soccer Association is organising an event in the capital. They have put a lot of GUBOG information on their website highlighting the campaign and also the GUBOG articles that appeared in the Telegraph.

Winnipeg – Canada
The Phoenix Soccer Club supported by GUBOG have already started a fun 4v4 project with over a hundred 6, 7 and 8 year olds taking part.
Head coach Malcolm Mitchell said the best comments he has heard so far was…
First Boy: “What’s the score?”
Second Boy: “Who cares, this is fun.”

Newport – Wales
Dave Murphy of the YMCA ‘Dutch Soccer School’ has already done a huge amount for local children’s football. They have children from 4 to 13 enjoying fun football and 4v4s and are looking to run an event on the 16th June for local kids.
The kids love Dave’s 4v4 sessions and I was lucky enough to witness one last year. The amount of children with smiles on their faces could keep you going for years!

Aberdeen – Scotland
The local Brazilian Soccer School that boasts some 1000 children is holding a GUBOG 4v4 fun day in June. It has an excellent reputation for developing local youngsters.

Belfast – Northern Ireland
Tim Wareing, the Academy Director of Lisburn Distillery is organising an event on the fun day weekend in June.
Tim has travelled to different countries to visit various academies and is a big fan of the fun and small sided games approach to developing children.

Chippenham – England
Alex Muse of North Wiltshire County Council and Pete Hussey of Chippenham Town Council are organising a GUBOG event for 300 local children on 16th June at Stanley Park.

They are visiting a number of local schools to promote the event and are also holding fun lunchtime and after school sessions to give the children a taster.

Please keep us in touch with what you are doing to help bring football and fun into children’s lives.

5/04/07

The first Give Us Back Our Game seminar/workshop was a huge success. Over two days at Repton School , delegates included coaches, teachers, administrators and child welfare workers.There was a great deal of discussion on the main issues and also a number of small sided games were demonstrated.

On the Wednesday the delegates ran a 4v4 festival and then a World Cup tournament with mixed teams. The U9s & U10s players were from Manchester United, Forest, Derby County and Sheffield United.

A big thank you to Repton School and Tom Statham of Manchester United for helping to organise the event.

08/03/07

We are delighted to announce the first Give Us Back Our Game 4v4 fun day event on Tuesday 10th April at the Meadowfield Sports Centre, Meadowfield, Durham. This is a pilot for the 4v4 festival day in June which is being run by the County of Durham FA.

We intend to publish information on the findings of the pilot day so that all the clubs, schools and councils organising events in June can use this information to help plan their own day.

We are very grateful to the County of Durham FA, Durham City Council, the dutchuk football school and the students of Northumbria University for making this happen. Bert-Jan Heijmans from the dutchuk football school who is co-ordinating the events in the North East for Give Us Back Our Game said “This is an excellent example of the ‘ethos’ of the campaign, where different organisations come together to let children play football for fun.” Please contact us for more information if you would like to be involved in the day.

07/03/07

Radio One News Beat is visiting Gloucestershire University this Saturday to interview the campaign and a bunch of 9 & 10 year olds who play fun 4v4 games at the Campus every Saturday morning. We will let you know when it’s on air.

26/02/07

We now have information on the 4v4 national fun day. Please email gill_cooper@tiscali.co.uk for more details.

22/02/07

Rick Fenoglio from Give Us Back Our Game™ will be doing a presentation on 4v4 at Watford FC on 22nd February. Clubs taking part include, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham, Fulham, Spurs, Millwall, Charlton & Cardiff City. Also present will be the FA and the Premiership.

19/02/07

Give Us Back Our Game™ have been asked to take part in a debate on what is happening to Britain's children following the publication of the UNICEF report. The debate has been orgainsed by the Alliance for Childhood on 20th March at the Early Learning Centre in Whitechapel London

10/02/07

LAST WEEK WE HAD A MAJOR COMPUTER CRASH AND LOST A LOT OF DATA. IF YOU ARE WAITING FOR INFO ON THE SEMINAR/WORKSHOP OR FUN DAYS PLEASE EMAIL US ON. gill_cooper@tiscali.co.uk

08/02/07

The first Give Us Back Our Game™ seminar/workshop has just been announced. Please email me on gill_cooper@tiscali.co.uk and I will send you details

04/02/07

Give Us Back Our Game™ have been approached by an independent television production company interested in producing a one hour documentary on an aspect of grass roots football that tells the real life stories of players, coaches, parents, officials and supporters in the children's game.

The ultra-competitiveness that exists on the touch line of training grounds and match day pitches in junior/youth leagues is now cause for concern.

Capricorn Productions are looking for absurd stories that help illustrate the current plight of children's football.

If you would like to submit any stories no matter how ludicrous to be considered for the programme please contact the producer Ernie Brennan at ernie@capricornproductions.co.uk

31/01/07

UEFA will be interviewing Rick Fenoglio this week about the campaign for their website and journal.

30/01/07

The campaign has even reached South Africa with an article in the Sunday Tribune

27/01/07

The campaign will be at the grassroots football show (The Ricoh Arena, Coventry FC, Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th June 2007) We look forward to seeing you there! For further information and tickets visit the show's website http://www.grassrootsevents.com

27/01/07

Paul Cooper from the campaign will be interviewed by Simon Mayo on his Radio 5 live show 2.30pm,Thursday 1st February.

26/01/07

A 4v4 street soccer event is being organised for the charity Worthing Scope in Sussex on Saturday 12th May. Paul Cooper from Give Us Back Our Game™ will be there on the Friday night to demonstrate different 4v4 games to local coaches.

For more information on the event please email us on gill_cooper@tiscali.co.uk

25/01/07

The campaign has had incredible media exposure with TV coverage on Sky Sports news, BBC2's Sportsround, 5 articles in the Telegraph and over 25 radio interviews.

05/01/07

We will have a brand new website from the end of February with downloads of 4v4 games, rules, posters and ideas for the national 4v4 fun day.

03/01/07

The Give Us Back Our Game™ campaign is now a member of the National Playing Fields Association. Protecting and improving playing fields in the UK is their core acticvity. http://www.playing-fields.com

22/12/06

The Give Us Back Our Game™ campaign has become a partner in the Alliance for Childhood.
The Alliance serves as a network that facilitates reflection and action by people with corncerns about the care and education of children. It is not a company but a meeting point for people to share ideas and support each other on children's issues.
www.allianceforchildhood.org.uk