East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

Fixtures page

The fixture page is back up and running - sorry for the delay.

Football 4s, Fun 5s, Soccer 7s

ESSDA is a small sided football association.
SYFA are currently undertaking a pilot with WLSSDA and FSSDA who are playing 9 a side football. ESSDA is NOT part of this pilot and ESSDA teams should not be playing 9 a side football.  ESSDA teams must follow the SFA/SYFA Player Pathway.

11 a side football by ESSDA teams is not permitted, In particular, age group 2006 must not play 11 a side football until after the SFA in service session in May 2018. Any teams playing 11 a side football are not playing authorised football and their games will not be covered by their insurance.  Any reports of 2006 age group teams playing 11 a side football will be forwarded to Hampden. 
These teams can expect to be fined and suspended. 

SYFA First Aid Courses:

SYFA First Aid Courses at Redford Barracks on 7th and 21 October 2017 will start at 9:30am.

ESSDA Second Half

Fixtures are available at the Fixture Arrange Page.
Soccer 7s matches start on Sunday 20th August 2017

The SFA/SYFA Player Pathway can be found at SFA/SYFA Player Pathway

Reminders:

1)  Please check SYFA/SFA Player Pathway. These are the rules we play to.

2)  All players should get equal playing time.
Nobody should sit on the subs' bench all game or just get a few minutes at the end of the game if your team is winning.

3)  Players must be registered with SYFA at http://www.syfaregistrations.co.uk to play ESSDA football.
Players must be registered to the age group they are playing with.
A 2008 child playing in a 2007 team must be registered to the 2007 group.

4)  Goalkeepers must not kick from hand.

Non-recent Child Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football

Following a number of allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse in Scottish football, the Scottish FA have commissioned an Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football.

Anyone wanting to be involved with the Review, please see the attached leaflets

SFA Independent Review (Clubs)

SFA Independent Review (Parents)

ESSDA 2017 Second Half

The ESSDA 2017 Second Half season will from 20th August 2017 to 26th November 2017 (15 weeks).
Fixtures will be published the previous weekend on 13th August 2017

Only new teams need apply for ESSDA 2017 Second Half using the 2017 Application Form.
Existing teams will be rolled forward to the new season as their 2017 membership covers the entire year.

Teams who want to change leagues or change contact details, please get in touch as soon as possible so that I can start to compile fixture lists.

SYFA registration covered the 2017 calendar year. You can check SYFA registration at Registration Page.

Football Festivals

Teams playing in friendlies or festivals are reminded that they should have the necessary permissions in place before the event - see Permission page.

For details of upcoming festivals, see the Festivals page.

•   Kildrum United  Annual Festival of Football in June over 2 weekends (10th, 11th & 17th, 18th). 

PVG Checking

All club officials should be registered on the SYFA system. All club officials must be members of the  PVG Scheme through SYFA.
Any official who has not completed a PVG application is only classified as a provisional member of the club in line with SYFA procedures.  Any provisional member MUST NOT be allowed to have unsupervised access to players.
Please be advised that any breach of this condition will be referred to the SYFA Protection Panel for their action.

ESSDA will try to help with each Club's PVG Checking requirements. Both David Smith and Roger Oglesby are SYFA Additional Signatories and can witness the completion of PVG Applications.  See PVG pages for more information. Please use the Contact Us page if you want to arrange a PVG session and we will try to help.

ESSDA Fixtures

Please complete a match report to describe good performances not just when you feel disappointed.

Postage

Sadly I am still being sent forms with insufficient postage.
A single first class stamp is not sufficient for a large envelope, even a large envelope with a single sheet of paper.
A large envelope needs a large envelope stamp. An extra large (foolscap) envelope requires even more stamps.

With insufficient postage, I need to:

1. Go to the Post Office Sorting Office to pick up the letter
2. Pay the excess postage
   The excess fine is now a fixed charge of £2 or £3

A 1st class letter requires a 60p stamp. A second class letter requires 50p stamp.
A 1st class large letter requires 90p stamp. A second class large letter requires 69p stamp.
A second class letter in a foolscap envelope is classed as a small parcel and requires £2.80 stamp. A large letter stamp is not sufficient for a foolscap letter!

A large letter enclosing many forms and photocopies may require more postage.

Today, I had to pay £3.00 excess postage for the privilege of picking up an SYFA A/F at the post office just to sign and forward to Hampden.

Unlike me, Hampden will not pay excess postage on a letter sent to them, so the letter goes uncollected.  Please ensure you put sufficient stamps on any letter.
Please avoid using extra large (foolscap) envelopes unless you are sending 200 pages of A4 and then ensure you have the correct stamps.

Protection of Vulnerable Groups

All club coaches should be registered officials of your club and recorded with Hampden.
See www.syfaregistrations.co.uk for details.

All coaches should be members of the PVG Scheme registered to SYFA Ltd.

From summer 2015, it will become compulsory for coaches to be properly PVG checked, and coaches who are not properly checked will be suspended, meaning some clubs might find their membership suspended if they do not have the required number of coaches.

Currently there are over 300 ESSDA coaches on the SYFA system who are not recorded as being PVG Scheme members from 44 different ESSDA clubs - in other words nearly every club!  I also suspect that there are coaches who are not properly registered on the SYFA system and therefore not PVG Scheme members either.

Time is running out. Please get your coaches registered and checked now!
A coach who is not a PVG Scheme member should never be left unsupervised with children.

Supplementary and Playing Rules

Rules for Soccer 7s, Super 5s and Football 4s are contained in the SYFA Supplementary and Playing Rules on the SYFA website.

See http://www.scottishyouthfa.co.uk/images/document-downloads/supplementary/Supplementary-Playing-Rules-2015-2016.pdf

 Player Pathway Small Sided Games Rules 2015
 SYFA SFA Player Pathway 4v4
 SYFA SFA Player Pathway 7v7
 SYFA SFA Player Pathway 11v11

Some highlights -

•  Goalkeepers must not kick from hand. This applies to Super 5s and Soccer 7s
•  Age group 9s and 10s use Kick Ins and not Throw Ins. A Kick In is a short side foot pass, not a lump up the field.
•  Super 5s is 5 v 5 including a goalkeeper. Bring substitutes if you want, but just because each team has 2 subs, please don't play 7 v 7

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