East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

SFA 11v11 Event

This is your last chance to book into the Scottish F.A. Coach Education - Player Pathway 11 v 11
Booking is via the SFA Live website, and the event is tonight 9th May 2022 at 6pm see https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/coaching/find-a-course/

SFA / SYFA Player Pathway

All ESSDA games should follow the SFA / SYFA Player Pathway as held on the SYFA website https://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk/index.php/information-downloads/football-games-and-tournaments

Please note Rule #3 on team squad size:
    Soccer 7s - the maximum squad size is 10 players
    Nines 9s - the maximum squad size is 16 players

Where possible, all players should receive equal playing time. 
Please ensure that players get more game time than just the last few minutes, and then only if the team is winning.

ESSDA Season 2022 First Half

Fixtures for Soccer 7s and Nines 9s are out now and available on the Fixtures page.  The season will start next Sunday 2nd March 2022.

As last year, I will only publish fixtures for week 1, 2 and 3 only. This is to allow me to correct any obvious mistakes.
Next weekend, I will publish all the remaining fixtures for weeks 4 to 15.

If I have made a mistake in the scheduling of your clubs games, I will try to correct as soon as I can, but it may not be possible immediately. Please send me an email.

To avoid mistakes, please check that your club has all the correct registered teams by looking at the Registration page. now.

SFA South East Player Pathway Courses

Please book up now for SFA South East Player Pathway Courses

>   Player Pathway - Introduction to Small Sided Games
>   Player Pathway - Transition to 5s
>   Player Pathway - Transition to 7s
>   Player Pathway - Transition to 9s
>   Player Pathway - 11v11

These online courses for SFA South East Region can be booked up now using https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/coaching/find-a-course/

You can see a summary of the Player Pathway here - https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/participation/childrens-youth-football/children-youth-player-pathway/

SYFA Registered Officials

This is a reminder that only registered team officials can be in charge of teams playing in ESSDA.  Anybody coaching, helping or obviously in charge must be registered on SFA Live correctly.

To be a registered Team Official, you must be
>  On SFA Live as a Team official for the team you are with - as a Team Coach, Team Coach Assistant, Team Helper or First Aider.
>   If you help with more than one team, you must be entered against on all relevant teams on SFA Live
>   It is not good enough to be listed on SFA Live as just a Club Official.
>   All Team Officials must be Full members of SYFA and not just Applicants.  This means they must have PVG Scheme Membership with SYFA.
>   It is not good enough to just have a PVG Scheme certificate.  You must have that PVG Scheme membership recorded on SFA Live to be a Full member.

Failure to follow these rules means you are an unregistered official and your team will be reported to SYFA.

ESSDA Leagues for 2022

The closing date for applications has now passed.  The teams I have received are as follow.
Check your registration details on the Registration page.  If there are missing tables or issues, please get in touch as soon as possible.

Year group 2010 age 12  & year group 2011 age 11

All Clubs at year group 2010 age 12 are reminded that the SFA/SYFA Player pathway has them playing 9v9 for 2022 Season First Half.
Clubs are not allowed to play 11v11 fixtures or friendlies until after they have attended the SFA Transition Event in May.

2010 teams playing 11v11 will be deemed to be playing unauthorised games and this might impact your insurance, and you will be reported to SYFA.

Similarly, all clubs at year group 2011 age 11 are reminded that the SFA/SYFA Player pathway has them playing 7v7 for 2022 Season First Half.
Clubs are not allowed to play 9v9 fixtures or friendlies until the 2022 Season Second Half.

2011 teams playing 9v9 will be deemed to be playing unauthorised games and this might impact your insurance, and you will be reported to SYFA.

PVG Night

ESSDA will be holding an online PVG Night on Tuesday 22nd February from 7:00pm to 9:00pm over Zoom.
If you want to start the PVG process, please get in touch to get the Zoom Meeting details. 
Please read the PVG Page to find out the requirements of online PVG meetings.

All officials must be listed on SFA Live to your Club before you attend the PVG session.

Coaches who are not members of the PVG Scheme will not be approved members of SYFA and must not take part in training sessions or matches, even if supervised.

Social Media & Club Websites

The SYFA small sided games rules on the SYFA website (see https://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk) prohibit the publication of results on websites and social media.

      Results
      It is unacceptable for a league and/or club to post results from development matches on to any website or publish in any newsletter or newspaper.

Please ensure nobody connected to your club publishes the results of any of your development football games.
All small sided football games are development football. All ESSDA games are development football.

ESSDA Season 2022

Applications for the ESSDA Season 2022 are now open. Applications for all age groups 2010 - 2015 can be processed online from Application Menu..

All age groups (except age 12s year group 2010) should apply first to join SYFA for the 2022 season using SFA Live

All ESSDA applications must be submitted before 15th February 2022, with games starting the first weekend of March 2022.

After registering with SYFA for 2022, each team must register with ESSDA for the 2022 season.
Existing 2010 age groups do not need to register with SYFA for the 2022 First Half but must still register with ESSDA.

>  2010s will play Nines 9s for half a season.  2010s must not play 11v11 until after the SFA 11v11 event in May.
>  2011s will play Soccer 7s for 2022 First Half and then play Nines 9s for the 2022 Second Half
>  2012s & 2013s will play Soccer 7s for the 2022 season.
>  2014s will play Super 5s for 2022 season
>  2015s will play Football 4s for 2022 season

ESSDA will follow the SFA/SYFA Player Pathway and we have no leeway over the format of football played by different age groups.

No teams can play any football in 2022 until they have registered with SYFA for 2022 season.

ESSDA Friendly Fixtures

Teams wanting to play friendly fixtures must apply to ESSDA for permission.  Please use Permission page.
Permission will not be given unless both clubs are properly registered with SYFA for 2022 season.

See Registration Page for the most recent registration status for all ESSDA Clubs.

On registration page (BRACKETS) means I have not received confirmation from Hampden of membership.
    11111 - Club has confirmed SYFA registration for 2022
    (22222) - Club has applied for SYFA registration for 2022 but it has not yet been confirmed.

No teams can play any football in 2022 until they have registered with SYFA for 2022 season.

Social Media

All Clubs are reminded that SYFA rules prohibit the publishing of any results of development football on social media. This includes Facebook & Twitter.

"Club A won 10-0" "Club B beat Club C" and similar statements are not allowed.
See https://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk/images/Information-Downloads/Football-Games-and-Tournaments/Laws-of-the-Game-Small-Sided-Games-and-Player-Pathway/Player-Pathway-SSG-Rules-2018.pdf

Results : It is unacceptable for a league and/or club to post results from development matches on to any website or publish in any newsletter or newspaper.

Formal Complaints

Anyone who wants to make a formal complaint about any aspect of ESSDA or ESSDA matches must follow the SYFA Complaint Management System. This can be viewed at http://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk/index.php/members-corner/complaints-management-system

Complaints must be made in writing to Hampden using the forms available on SYFA website.

The Complaint Process consists of several steps:

Stage 1) Discussion with the party the complaint is about
Stage 2) Telephone or email enquiry to SYFA
Stage 3)  Lodging a formal complaint with SYFA
Final Stage) Complaint referred to a senior person within SYFA

Feedback on ESSDA Matches can be made using the ESSDA Monitoring Form.

SFA Live - DELAYED
THIS UPDATE HAS BEEN DELAYED SO PLEASE USE SFA LIVE AS NORMAL

From Wednesday 19th January 2022, the Scottish FA are updating the Scottish FA Live/Football Admin online system http://www.scottishfalive.co.uk

As part of this process, if you are a Football Admin System user, you will be required to update your account from the 19th January 2022. This will not affect the current access you have, or the data already stored in your account.

ESSDA & SFA South East Region

Over recent years, ESSDA has expanded out of its traditional catchment area of Edinburgh, West/Mid/East Lothian and Borders.
At the 2021 ESSDA AGM, ESSDA Clubs voted to stop this expansion.

From the new 2022 Season, ESSDA will not admit new clubs from outside SFA South East Region. This will stop the expansion of ESSDA into SFA Central & East (Fife) region.

SYFA GUIDANCE ON HEADING FOOTBALLS

Following Dr Willie Stewart’s recent study into dementia risks in former professional footballers, the SYFA has now updated our guidance accordingly.

We would recommend, with immediate effect, that any drills which involve heading the ball are removed from all training sessions for age groups up to, and including, under 11s (7 v 7 teams).  As far as possible, heading the ball during games at these age groups should also be avoided.

The SYFA would also take this opportunity to remind all of our coaches and officials that if any player, at any age group, is suspected of having a concussion they must immediately cease playing in the game and should not re-join the match. Coaches and officials are also reminded of NHS advice on concussion and head injury, and should seek immediate medical advice if symptoms continue or worsen, or if a player is suspected of having lost consciousness.

For more details, please read the Sport Scotland's Concussion Guidance.

The SYFA is committed to ensuring the safest environment possible for children and young people to play football. Although there is not yet a definitive link between heading the ball and brain injury, it is essential that we take the relevant precautions to best protect our players.

Social Media