Employ conceptual frameworks found in the literature for your data presentation and discuss your findings against perceived best practice The market niche of the Football Association is that it is the governing body of association football in England. Thus it has no direct competition at a domestic level within the sport. The FA’s aim is to “govern and develop the game with integrity”. (http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/TheOrganisation/)
It is responsible for enforcing and developing the rules of the game, both independently at domestic level and in conjunction with UEFA and FIFA directives. It is responsible for organising 11 competitions, including the FA Cup, promoting development of coaching and the sport as a whole, from grass roots to elite level, for auditing facilities and also for the 16 National Teams, (the senior team, 6 youth teams, 3 women’s teams, 5 disabled teams and the National Game XI).
The FA operates in a dynamic environment in so far as the movement of clubs (promotion and relegation), players and coaches (between clubs) is fairly fluid. There is also the financial situation which over the past 20 years in particular has been volatile to say the least. The landscape has changed significantly over recent years, perhaps most notably at youth level. With the recent introduction of football academies at many professional clubs, young players with the ability and determination to succeed at the highest level have been able to be educated to a standard that had not been seen in this country before, both on the pitch and in the classroom. Whereas not so long ago young YTS apprentices spent their time cleaning boots and the like, today’s young pros get a balanced diet of tactical, technical and physical training alongside national curriculum subjects.
There have also been changes in the social environment surrounding youth football; perhaps most notably in terms of child protection. As little as 4 years ago I was engaged as a volunteer to manage an under 10’s boys football team. I had no FA qualifications, no previous experience, and was asked no questions regarding child protection or best practice. These newly-introduced programme on child protection, part of the FA initiative known as GOAL was introduced in September 2001 and through its successful implementation, covering every level of the game from the Academies to Sunday League, has put England at the forefront of world football in this area. 260 tutors have been trained to provide the one-day course, which has now been undertaken by more than 56,000 adults involved in football.
The overall aim of GOAL Child Protection is outlined at http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/GOALChildProtection/: “It’s about allowing children to enjoy the game without abuse of any kind. That means bullying, physical, emotional or sexual abuse and neglect.” The structure of the FA can, as Mintzberg (1979, 1983) suggests, be defined as “the total of the ways in which labour is divided into distinct tasks.” The Six basic parts of the organisation come under the following headings: Strategic Apex (This is the top, decision making part of the organisation.)