It is with great pride that I present Northumberland FA’s Grassroots Football Strategy 2024-2028. As a group we have achieved so much during the last three years of our current strategic cycle. This strategy now aims to develop many of these guiding principles and projects that have been established since 2021.

Over the next four years, we will focus on the following five key areas of strategic importance. These priorities will be present in all our work whilst simultaneously defining what the Northumberland FA exists for:

• Safeguarding: Deliver a positive environment and tackle poor behaviour.
• Football Development: Improve playing choices and experiences.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Deliver equal opportunities for women and girls to participate. Support those experiencing poor mental and physical health. Support those in low socio-economic areas. Take action to increase participation from ethnically marginalised communities.
• People, Community and Sustainability: Value participants and prioritise their well-being. Help unlock the power of football in our communities and action a sustainable game.
• Service Excellence: Connect and serve participants.

Our key areas of work will continue to focus across 5 key pillars, providing structure to the key areas of the grassroots game that we lead:

• Coaching: Provide opportunities for all grassroots coaches to engage in a high-quality Coach Development programme.
• Facilities: Build more and improve existing facilities.
• Playing Opportunities: Create a thriving club and league network to improve playing choice and opportunities.
• Refereeing: Value and grow this vital resource for football.
• Volunteering: Develop the current and next generation of volunteers who underpin our game.

It is our plan to concentrate our resources across these five pillars to ensure maximum impact for the betterment of grassroots football from Berwick to Whitley Bay, Wallsend, and Hexham.

Although our areas of work remain consistent – the direction of our work has been directly influenced by the invaluable feedback you provided either through The FA’s ‘A Conversation with the Game’ or our local ‘Shape Our Game’ events – thank you for caring so much to have a view.

To further ensure impact, we have weaved the priorities of The FA into our aims, objectives, and projects to guarantee collective progression up to 2028.

Northumberland FA has identified five further enablers which allow us to perform better within our areas of work, they are:

• Commercial Development: Grow our commercial revenue to allow us to invest more in grassroots football.
• Governance of the business: Maintain and cascade appropriate governance.
• Governance of the game: Enforce the rules and regulations of The FA to allow a safe and fair environment to exist.
• St Peter’s Sports Hub: Create a first-class sports hub to service grassroots sport and the local community.
• Workforce Development: Facilitate a high performing team to service the grassroots game.

We all know the impact that the football has on our area, the direct social and economic impact has now been captured by The FA in a report titled, ‘The Social and Economic Value of Grassroots Football in England.’

This report outlines the annual £192m contribution that grassroots football makes to our local economy; this is made up of:

• £87m in wages/salaries provided through the game.
• £68m of economic value through participant consumption
• £22m in health savings for the NHS through regular participation
• £15m in social value through crime savings and educational contribution

Northumberland FA Chief Executive, Andrew Cook said, ‘The grassroots game is in a great place across Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, and Northumberland and this is reflected nationally. But there is always more we can do.’

‘We are therefore delighted to launch our new four-year strategy that will concentrate our work on the key areas that you told us we should focus our time and resources on. By aligning these areas of work with The FA nationally we have a unique opportunity to further improve the grassroots game up to 2028, to create a legacy for the game we love.’

THE FA STRATEGY 2024-2028