East of Scotland Soccer Development Association

SFA Comet Registrations

All teams must have a valid SYFA registration, showing on SFA Comet. Any team without a valid SFA Comet record will have their ESSDA fixtures marked as ***NO GAME*** until they are properly registered.
To be properly registered on SFA Comet -

• The status must be CONFIRMED, meaning the SYFA registration has been paid
• All players must be at status ACTIVE, and there must be sufficient players to play your fixtures - eg 3 teams of 7v7 means 21 players
• The maximum number of registered underage players is FIVE
• The Team Manager must be at status ACTIVE
• There must be at least one ACTIVE team coach with SFA 1.2 qualification
• There must be at least one ACTIVE qualified first aider

SFA Update

The Let Them Play Toolkit is now available on the SFA website via this link - Player Journey | Football Development | Scottish FA

The Scottish Grassroots WhatsApp Channel is now live - https://x.com/ScottishFA/status/1953101758307418308   Sign up now!

Missing Teams

Unfortunately, a number of teams have resigned from ESSDA since I published the fixtures last week - before any games have been played.
I have hurriedly made a few changes  to the leagues, particularly to the 2014 Maradona Division - where 6 teams have resigned, causing chaos in my schedule. I have made a temp fix for the next couple of weeks, but I may have to make more extensive changes to this league.

I must also apologise to Tranent 2014 & 2015 teams. I mixed up a request to move the 2014 team and I moved the 2015 team instead. I am currently trying to correct my error, but it might take a couple of weeks to minimise the impact on other teams.

I will be working on the revised fixtures and will publish as soon as I can next week. Sorry for any inconvenience.

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/

  SFA Comet Support Line

The SYFA operate a dedicated SFA Comet Support Line - Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm:  0141 620 4592
(excluding bank holidays)

ESSDA Communications & SPOND

To ensure that your club is included in the new communication, we would like at least one person from each year group at every club to sign up to SPOND, our chosen communication application. You can add SPOND on your smart phone or desktop by visiting https://www.spond.com/ or by downloading from your APP Store.

To register you need to go to https://club.spond.com/landing/signup/eastofscotlandso/form/085633693F3347728510C693D81BD3DE and select your year group from the drop down list as you go through the registration form. To register with multiple year groups, register for one group and add a comment at the end of the form in the comments box, and you will be added to the other groups.

SFA Comet

Only teams who are properly registered on SFA Comet are eligible to play ESSDA fixtures. To be properly registered, you must be
at status CONFIRMED in the competition, and you must have a non zero number of coaches and players (the numbers in circles on the Comet screen).

Club 35 above is properly registered with 27 ACTIVE players and 7 ACTIVE coaches
Club 36 has not paid their SYFA fees, so their status is still APPROVED, so is NOT REGISTERED
Club 43 has no registered players AND no registered officials/coaches, so is NOT REGISTERED even though their status is CONFIRMED, and MUST NOT PLAY until both numbers are non zero.

The SYFA now operate an SFA Comet Help Line - Monday-Thursday 9am-4pm at 0141 620 4592

Unregistered clubs/teams will be listed here, and these teams must not play until they are registered as they are not insured.

Match Protocol  - Change of Match Protocol

The SYFA have decided to immediately introduce an after-match policy of NO team line up handshakes.

At present teams are lining up at the end of a match, both players and officials, to shake hands but much to our concern this practice has led to an increasing number of unacceptable reported incidents.

So, in future the end of match line up practice must CEASE

Individuals may shake hands if they so wish.

Teams may also line up at the start of the game facing the home team supporters and cross over shaking hands, all fully observed by the match referee, League officials and watching spectators

International Clearance

Players born outside Scotland and over 10 years old, may require International Clearance to be registered on SFA Comet.
Please see the International Clearance section on the SYFA page for details of the International Clearance process.

SYFA Registrations

Clubs must be properly SYFA registered (as defined below) before they play any games. This mean cancelling fixtures unless both teams are registered correctly.
This applies to all year groups 2013 - 2018.

There are still 250 coaches at a status of ENTERED and 250 at a status of REJECTED.
If your coach is at status REJECTED, please check the error message on SFA Comet to find what corrective action is required.:-

to get the error message like

All officials, first aiders and players must be at status ACTIVE to take part in a match.

SYFA Registrations

Teams will not be given permission to play football until they are properly SYFA registered for season 2025 and showing as such on SFA Comet.
To be properly registered, each year group catalogue must have:

•   The SYFA registration fee and insurance premium must be paid
•   A registered Team Manager at a status of ACTIVE
•   A registered Coach with an SFA 1.2 qualification for each team at a status of ACTIVE
•   A qualified First Aider for each team at a status of ACTIVE
•   Enough players to fulfil all their fixtures, all at status ACTIVE eg with 3 teams at 7v7, you must have at least 21 players, probably more.

There are 200 SYFA registrations on SFA Comet aligned to ESSDA. Currently only 22 of these satisfy the above criteria!
Only six clubs at 2013s are properly registered and currently there no properly registered 2018s. Check your status at the registration page or on SFA Comet.

Please check your SFA Comet record and get registered now, otherwise you will miss the start of the season. Clubs not registered are not insured to play.

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.

ESSDA Communications & SPOND

At the 2024 AGM, it was agreed that we try a new form of communication between ESSDA and our member clubs. The chosen application is SPOND, which is already in use by many ESSDA Clubs. You can add SPOND on your smart phone or desktop by visiting https://www.spond.com/ or by downloading from your APP Store.

To ensure that your club is included in the new communication, we would like at least one person from each year group at every club to sign up.

(**CORRECTED LINK**)
To register you need to go to https://club.spond.com/landing/signup/eastofscotlandso/form/085633693F3347728510C693D81BD3DE and select your year group from the drop down list as you go through the registration form. To register with multiple year groups, register for one group and add a comment at the end of the form in the comments box, and you will be added to the other groups.

Permission to play Friendlies & Festivals

ESSDA permission is required for any indoor or outdoor friendly fixture. Without permission your game is unauthorised and uninsured.

The SYFA Supplementary & Playing Rules detail a winter shutdown of all outdoor small sided football between the second weekend in December to the second weekend in January inclusive.  To play any outdoor fixtures on or after 7th December 2025 until 12th January 2025 will require explicit SYFA permission from Hampden.
Indoor fixtures during this period and all other outdoor fixtures require permission as usual. Please see permission menu.

SYFA at Hampden have decided that the shutdown will operate as "No matches, friendly matches included, shall be played between the 16th of December 2024 and 13th of January 2025 without the consent of the SYFA. Clubs will be permitted to play friendly matches indoor or participate in Futsal Festivals during this period."
If you wish to play a friendly fixture on the weekend of 7th/8th December 2024, please submit your request to SYFA at Hampden, where they will approve.

Playing any match without a permit may invalidate your insurance. Playing without insurance is a serious child protection issue.

These are national SYFA rules, not merely local ESSDA rules.

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

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 News Archive

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