Friday , March 29 2024

Asia’s Grassroots advocates share best practices in special online session!

Grassroots practitioners in Asia joined the latest AFC Grassroots Special Online Session 2022 titled ‘The Priorities’ which was an avenue for Member Associations (MAs) to share and discuss best practices.

Attended by over 110 participants from 44 MAs, the session opened by sharing the objectives and mission of grassroots football in Asia.

Participants were then briefed on the latest AFC Grassroots Charter key goals to increase MA memberships and expand the number of Gold members as well as to establish a system to collate data.

Representatives from the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Tajikistan Football Federation (TFF), Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Football Australia (FA), Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Palestine Football Association (PFA) then took the floor to present their grassroots initiatives.

AIFF talked about their Golden Baby Leagues programme that focused on children aged six to 12 to give them the experience of playing in a competition format at an early age while TFF presented their street football league, an initiative to prevent children from the negative street influence while encouraging mass children involvement in football.

Deepak Nayak, the AIFF Golden Baby Leagues Manager, said: “Before this league started, we didn’t have long-term grassroots programmes in the country. We had festivals and short-term activities so we wanted to reach as many children as possible via a long-term project and that’s how the Golden Baby Leagues started.”

The Liga Suparimau (FAM Suparimau League) was then shared by FAM, an initiative that was launched in January 2022 to provide youths with opportunities to play in a competition format. Since its launch, the league has welcomed over 5,000 players and 300 teams in the first season.

Meanwhile, the FA introduced their Female Football Week in Australia that celebrates and promotes growth and the inclusion of women’s football. This was followed by the CFA’s presentation on their ‘Football for All Challenge’, an online challenge where participants are encouraged to upload short football videos on social media.

Li Jiuquan, an AFC Grassroots Panel member and CFA Grassroots Manager, said: “We needed to think of ways to keep people active during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to create this initiative with our partner Douyin. Since the launch, we have 5,400 video entries and 390 million page views. This year we plan to do this campaign physically because it has grown as a major brand for grassroots football in the country.”

The PFA also talked about their grassroots initiatives and the establishment of grassroots centres that are divided into six categories: private and club academies, school football, summer camps, special needs football, grassroots tournaments and PFA centres.

Ihsan Abdallah, also an AFC Grassroots Panel member and PFA’s Technical Director Assistant further elaborated on their grassroots activities as well as future programmes that will reach even more people in Palestine.

Robin Russell, the AFC Grassroots and Youth Football Development Consultant, presented on the benefits of creating regular grassroots competitions and leagues as the session closed with an open forum for participants to discuss and share their grassroots initiatives in their respective MAs.

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