Future Stars Football Club - A case study

This is a highly successful football club based in Brixton for children, young people and adults currently running 3 youth teams and one adult team in affiliated 11-aside leagues.  The club has negotiated with the local council to use nearby Ruskin Park facilities as their training ground free of charge. The club successfully fills a void for affordable professional football training aimed at boys and young men from low income BME families. Discipline and behaviour are very important to the coaches.  It offers an extensive coaching programme and has ambitious plans for future development.  

Background 

In 1997, the founder and father of a 8-year old boy Pele Adeyemi responded to the need of creating a local team to play football on a Saturday which was free of charge. So far the children and young people had been unable to afford the membership rates of existing football clubs especially if they wanted to play in a league.  Together with some friends and other parents from the Thorlands and Myatts Fields estates areas of Lambeth, they booked a pitch in the local gardens (Moseton Gardens was their first training facility) and organised the first boys team which played in the South Norwood League.  From the early days, the club attracted good young footballers who went on to play for professional clubs later in their careers.  As interest grew, the parents formed a small committee and sufficient youngsters showed interest to create a second team.  Future Stars Football Club had been started.Pele Adeyemi has been playing as a semi-pro in Nigeria and continued to play football when he first came to England for the Southwark Wanderers and Brixton United.  

Stages of development

 Over the next ten years, the Club has grown and expanded at an increasing rate.  The club’s changed facilities to Ruskin Park football pitches which are again accessed free of charge, and the range of coaching support has increased to match the fast expanding number of teams. The change in training venue reflects the significant growth in the club’s membership.  From a single team in 1997, the club had expanded to four teams in 2009 catering for the 8 to 22 age range (four 11-aside teams and a development team).   Today, the club organises training, coaches and matches every week.  Around 85% of the members live in Lambeth and surrounding areas and over 80% are from a BAME background. The underlying philosophy to provide heavily subsidised football opportunities for young people growing up on local estates has never changed. The coaches are up keeping discipline and positive behaviour by linking it to players appearances during matches.  

Sports activity today

 This is a thriving football club that has reached its current provision through committed volunteers.  The U14s, U13s and U12s are playing in the South Norwood league under the name of South East Elite with the U14s team winning the league this season 2008/09. The development group of 8-11 year olds joins into friendlies and futsal tournaments. The adult team plays in the London Communities Football League organised by the London Playing fields Foundation. The purpose of this league is to help refugee and other excluded groups to provide better access to football coaching and playing opportunities for young people from their communities. Even so the league is played in North London which means a long commute for the team the young people are committed players. The London Communities Football League is free of any charges and fees for the teams due to Football Foundation funding. This is the only way the club can afford for the adult team to participate in an adult league due to otherwise occurring charges like affiliation, referees and pitches.The London Communities Football league also comes with a support package. Every season it offers 2 free places on a FA Level 1 coaching course as well as 2 free places on a refereeing course. This has been invaluable to the clubs strong qualified coaching support.The London Playing Field Foundation also helps the clubs through equipment donations and more importantly a capacity building support delivered by the London Community Sports Network. LCSN delivers workshops as well as one to one support in areas such as Charter Standard, fundraising, applying for grant and managing a club. The London Communities Football League provides a communication and networking opportunity which is invaluable to Future Stars. A committed league secretary sends out regular information about upcoming tournaments, bursary schemes, funding opportunities etc. Whenever possible the teams will be entered in local tournaments of football festivals. Each team has a couple of volunteer coaches to work with the players and develop their skills.  Club coaches are all qualified FA level 1 coaches, hold 1. Aid certificates and are CRB checked. All teams meet at the training ground before matches and are then accompanied by coaches and volunteers to their respective matches. Often the older players help out by driving one of the car pool cars. The chairman arranges for his players to go to Chelsea and Fulham trials on a regular basis to give them the chance to play in one of their centres of excellence. 

Managing and maintaining the club

 Future Stars is a formally constituted voluntary sports organisation.  It is run by an executive committee comprised chiefly of enthusiastic and supportive parents of current team members.  The committee have overall responsibility for the coaching provision, finances and policies and procedures like child protection and equal opportunities.  Each month, representatives of all the football teams come together at a Club Meeting to deal with more operational issues around playing times, equipment, transport and practical problems. Whenever possible the club makes use of free coaching qualifications through the Skillsactive coaching bursary or London Playing Fields Foundation.Equipment is being sourced as in kind contribution through for example local sponsors or the Junior Kit Scheme of the Football Foundation. Therefore the only real expense is the affiliation cost for the South Norwood league which the youth teams are playing in. Coaching and transport is delivered by volunteers whereas the training takes place on a free pitch in the local park. Obviously this means that during the winter months training can only take place at weekends due to park closing times.  

Key factors in the success of the club

 1.    The club has benefited enormously from a small number of key individuals who have almost single-handedly driven the development and success of the club.   

2.    Today, there is a greater team working for the club, with a range of committed volunteers undertaking specific tasks – chairing, finance, coaching, etc.  The present committee point to the fact that they are well organised.   

3.    A particular feature of Future Stars Club’s success is the level of parental involvement in the organisation of the club. Even so a lot of the kids are making their own way to the training ground, a committed number of parents have luckily been found who are willing to help out as coaches, drivers to matches and committee members.  As it turns out some coaches are still volunteering for the club even so their children have long grown up and moved on.  

4.    Finally, although the individual teams are very competitive, and the club is always keen to ensure that its teams perform well, there is a strong desire to promote positive behaviour through discipline and the coaches acting as role models.  

Problems and issues 

The most significant issue faced by the club are its very limited financial resources which to an extent prevent growth and development.  This is reflect in the training ground being in a local park which means the club has no real base as well as the adult team having to cross all of London to play in a free league.  

Key outcomes 

• Successful volunteer-run football club using minimal resources
• Growth from 1 to 5 teams in 10 years
• Catering for all ages from 8 to 22
• Strong qualified coaching support for all teams
• Active involvement by parents in the organisation of the club
• Successfully engaging boys and young men from local estates in regular activities

 Anticipated future developments 

The club is aiming to raise some income over the next 2 years to professionalise its offer. By working in partnership with London Community Sports Network several small funding applications have been submitted.In order to support the more professional approach the club has started to apply for the London FAs Charter Standard quality mark.One of the most pressing issues is to provide a training opportunity during the winter evenings for all teams. This is not possible to dates as the park closes too early during the winter months which means the youths teams train on a Saturday and play their matches a day later on the Sunday with no second training session during the week. However training venues are a large expense. “I am too old to play football myself any more. It is a way for me to still be involved and give something back. I enjoy spending my Saturdays going to matches.”Pele Adeyemi   

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