East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

Permission to play in any Festival or Friendly

Clubs are reminded that SYFA permission is required to play in any festival or friendly.

Club are further reminded that all children's development football must be trophy free.

Any event organiser who tells you that permission is not required is advising you to break SYFA rules, Please check with SYFA about every event before you agree to take part. Playing unauthorised football can see you being charged and possibly fined up to £500 by SYFA.

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.

LEVEL 1 COACHING COURSES

SYFA are delighted to share the SFA’s Q2 (April–June) Level 1 Coaching Brochure:

•  https://scottishyouthfa.co.uk/.../03/Q2-Level-1-Brochure.pdf
•  Bookings are now LIVE on COMET, so head over to secure your place: http://scottishfacomet.co.uk/mycomet/
•  Please note: These courses are organised and delivered by the Scottish Football Association and sit outwith SYFA’s jurisdiction

#SFACoachDevelopment #coacheducation #Level1

ESSDA Fixtures

ESSDA fixtures will be published tomorrow evening (Sunday 22nd February).
As I have done in previous years, I will only publish fixtures for weeks 1, 2 & 3.  Every year, I get a message from some club saying "oops...I forgot to say this team folded". By publishing only three weeks of fixtures, this makes it easier for me to correct these errors.  THIS DOES NOT MEAN TEAMS GET TO SWAP DIVISION AFTER 3 WEEKS". I have done all 15 weeks of fixtures I do not intend to re-schedule them all.

Later next week, I will publish the remaining fixtures for weeks 4-16, but with no game for Easter weekend.

Again, for fixtures more three weeks in the future, I will only publish whether you are playing home or away - this allows you to plan and book pitches. Your opponents will be released as the fixtures draw near.

PLEASE NOTE:   Teams which are not SYFA registered will be flagged as ***NO GAME***. This is based on a list supplied by SYFA. If you are flagged ***NO GAME*** you must not play as you are not insured.

If your club gets themselves registered next week, I will update the fixture page, but it might take me a couple of days.

As usual, I apologise to teams who are scheduled to play SPARE team. This is because there was an odd number of teams. Everybody gets a turn to sit out, and somebody has to be first.  Likewise, if you are scheduled to play a ***NO GAME*** team, check out the SPARE teams to see if you can get a game.

You can check your status on SFA Comet using the "MyComet" function:-

• Your age group SYFA ID must be at status CONFIRMED
• You must have enough registered players for all your teams
• You must have at three officials
• The adult to child ratio must be at least 1:10

Players & Coaches/Officials are registered if their status is CONFIRMED & ACTIVE

Player Approaches & Training with a Second Team

The rules about approaches from other clubs and training with a second club, are all governed by the SYFA Supplementary & Playing Rules (S&PR). The S&PRs can be found on the Scottish FA Support website https://support.scottishfa.co.uk/portal/kb?btn=61&id=263

Please note Rule 44:

44 If a player wishes to train with another SYFA member they must have the written permission of the SYFA member for which the player is registered. A copy of the permission must be presented to the club that the player wishes to train with and be produced if requested. It will be an offence for a team to allow a player registered with another team to train with them without such written permission. A registered player cannot play as a trialist for any other SYFA member team.

And also note Rule 45:

45 A – Player Approaches
If a team wishes to approach a player registered with another team they must put their request in writing to the Team Manager of the club the player is currently registered before contacting the player or parent. The team that holds the registration must inform the player and their parents/ carers within seven days to see if they wish to take the enquiry further. If they do not comply with this timescale, the approaching team may contact the parent/ carer directly.
The following is not permitted:
i) Approaches to players or parents/ carer first (unless outwith seven-day timescale)

ii) Approaches to clubs/ teams and players/ parents/ carers simultaneously.

iii) Approaches by proxy.

iv) Verbal approaches

Teams suspected of going against these rules will be reported to SYFA.

SFA Comet

Please make sure that your SFA Comet catalogue for every age group contains at least the minimum number of officials:-

•    A Team Manager
•    At least one SFA 1.2 qualified children's coach
•    At least one qualified first aider

It is not sufficient for the coach to hold a first aid qualification to count as the first aider. If someone is acting in multiple capacities, they must be added to the team catalogue with multiple roles. eg Team Coach & First Aider or Team Manager & Team Coach etc.

If your team does not meet the minimum criteria, nobody in the catalogue will be approved and moved to ACTIVE REGISTERED.

The SYFA are extremely busy checking everyone's qualifications, so there is a big backlog. By doing everything to get your team approved first time, you are helping everyone.

Team lines at 9 aside

We have received feedback from some teams that they are having issues printing the Comet team lines. We have made the decision to allow teams to use a manual version if they have issues with the comet version.  Please use this template ESSDA 9 aside Team Lines

Please remember that team lines at 9 asides are an ESSDA requirement and must be produced for all matches. This is to ensure all players are correctly registered and are required to support referees in the event of any disciplinary issues. Referee's may refuse to facilitate a fixture if team lines are not presented.

Please only hand a copy to the Referee, there is no requirement to give a copy to the opposition team.

SFA Player Journey

All matches should follow the SFA Player Journey. The revised 2025 Player Journey can be found on the SFA website https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/participation/childrens-youth-football/player-journey/

Insurance.

Teams playing friendlies and/or festivals without permission are not insured. Playing while not insured is a serious child protection issue.

Only players listed in your team catalogue as ACTIVE on SFA Comet are insured to play.
eg  In a 2017s match, only players listed in the 2017s catalogue as ACTIVE are insured. 
Any players born in 2018 who are playing in the 2017s match must be listed in the 2017s catalogue as ACTIVE.

This means that clubs are not insured to play a team of 2018s in a 2017s match.

The above rules apply to every ESSDA year group.  eg 2014s playing in a 2013s match must be catalogued to the 2014s squad.

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. or directly to Darren as the Disciplinary Secretary using Contact Us page

Scouts at ESSDA matches

Please see below communication from the SFA Children’s Wellbeing Department:-

We have received reports that an individual(s) may be approaching clubs impersonating as a scout. We are currently looking into this; however, we would like to take this opportunity to remind clubs of best practice:

•  Scouts must not have direct and unsupervised contact with children or young people.
•  Clubs/associations must take steps to ensure that the identities of their Scouts are published, for example on a website, to ensure that identities can be verified at all times
•  Clubs/associations must issue an ID card to all Scouts, which contains their name, photograph and role as a Scout for the club. The ID card should only be valid for one season and must be renewed on an annual basis.
•  Scouts must not attend club training and/or skill development sessions unless they have prior agreement with the relevant club representative.
•  Scouts must contact the club at least 72 hours in advance of the game to request attendance and provide information of the game they wish to attend.
•  Scouts must not approach parents, carers or others known to the child or young person personally, in connection with their child’s involvement in football without firstly doing the following: -
  • The express permission of the Head of Recruitment or equivalent club/association official who has responsibility for player recruitment within the scout’s club or association; and –
  • The express permission from the club where the child or young person is already playing.

If you, or any of your staff/volunteers are approached by a scout please ensure that you:

•  See a valid ID card and check it has been issued within the past year
•  Verify their identity, contact details and interest in the player(s) with the club they are representing to ensure they are genuine.

If you doubt the authenticity of anyone acting as a scout, or the above details do not check out you should report the matter to the police. We would also ask that you inform the Scottish FA Wellbeing and Protection team on Childrenswellbeing@scottishfa.co.uk
Can you please ensure that you share this with your heads of academies, coaching staff, and anyone else you feel is appropriate at your club.
In addition, we would also ask that you take time to highlight to children and young people, parents and carers:

•  The correct procedures for Scouts
•  What children and young people and parents and carers should do if they are approached directly by a Scout
•  A reminder of the Child Wellbeing and Protection Officer contact details

Update from ESSDA Disciplinary Secretary

Please read the full update from Darren McGinnis (ESSDA Disciplinary Secretary) on the Referee Page.
Referees for ESSDA 9v9 games are optional, but where clubs opt to use a referee, please follow the new process agreed between ESSDA and Edinburgh & District Referees.

See the the Referee Page for

• 9v9 update - In 2024 First Half we had unprecedented volume of disciplinary incidents at 9v9 games. This has to stop!!
• Booking a Referee - details on how to book a referee, dates and timelines https://www.edinburghanddistrictreferees.co.uk/appointments/ agreed by ESSDA and Edinburgh Referees.
• Team Lines - 9v9 games with a referee. Both teams must give Team Lines to the referee. See how  to produce team-lines using the new SFA Comet system
• Red cards - read about new disciplinary process for players and officials who receive a red card from an SFA Referee

All 2013 year group teams playing 9v9s in 2024 Second Half must familiarise themselves with the process above and detailed on Referee Page

ESSDA News Archive

To see old ESSDA news, go to the ESSDA News Archive Page