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Chairman Chat JANUARY
30/12/2021
Firstly, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Years as we embark on a brand new year and close a great 2021 for the football club. Yes, beacuse of the pandemic, its been hard for all involved, the start/stopping of the 20-21 season, putting safety provisions in place and the not knowing, but I hope now we can look forward to no more stoppages and continue to create some great memories for the children.
Upon writing this, I thought what I could show you as we enter 2022 and say goodbye to the last 12 months. I thought it would be nice to let you see just a small part of something I do behind the scenes, yearly, with the exception of last year because of Covid-19. In 2018, I initially structured in our 'Strategy of Football Development 2017-2022', that gave us a framework to work towards and review annually, breaking down parts of our club into segments to show the demographics of POBYFC as a whole.
What I have attached is the part around the most important part of our club, the players. Ideally, this should of been posted sooner but what I have added into this small insight is where we currently are this season, so it has more relevance to the situation now rather that just upto July 31st 2021.
1. Our Players
1.1 Players By Postcode
1.2 Players At Secondary School
1.3 Players At Primary School
1.4 Ethnic, Diversity & Inclusion Breakdown
• Girls playing at Port
• BAME playing at Port
1.5 Past, Current & Projected Teams
1.2 Players At Secondary School
1.3 Players At Primary School
1.4 Ethnic, Diversity & Inclusion Breakdown
• Girls playing at Port
• BAME playing at Port
1.5 Past, Current & Projected Teams
1.1 Players By Postcode
The number of players playing for POBYFC in the 2020-21 season grew by a total of 17%, from 230 to 273. This again highlighted that the majority of our members are attending from the three postcodes within our catchment area of BS11, BS10 and BS9.
Despite the 2020-21 season being cut short because of Covid-19, we have seen a big increase of young players joining the football club in the first 6 months of this season. Numbers have rose to 360 players, up 32% on last season and a staggering 52% over the last three seasons combined.
1.2 Players At Secondary School
There were a total of 108 U12-U16 players attending a total of 12 different schools in and around the Bristol area during the 2020-21 season.
- 29% attended Oasis Brightstowe
- 21% attended St Katherines
- 17% attended Blaise High
The three schools above are within 4 miles of the our ground and made up 67% of total players within this age range.
Further to this, an additional 23 players from our U18 were in further education.
1.3 Number of Players In Primary Education
The number of different schools our younger players were attending, from our Soccer Tots through to what was our U11s last season, stood at 24. The three main schools where players were attending (Nova 25, Shirehampton 20 and Avonmouth 12) are all within 2 miles of our ground.
1.4 Ethnic, Diversity & Inclusion Breakdown
It is really important to know who we are collectively within our football club but also recognise that our players are not all the same.
- Firstly, they are children and we need them to feel part of our football family, ensuring they feel safe and enjoy the experience of a sport they love.
- Secondly, if a child feels or sees a difference it is important that this is understood and celebrated, either individually or as a group, giving everyone a chance to succeed.
Girls Playing Football At Port
There has been a slow uptake to young girls getting involved with the club as you can see from the table below, but there has been an increased interest and girl players joining with our newly formed teams at U6, U7 and U8 age groups over the first 6 months of the 2021-22 season.
There has been a slow uptake to young girls getting involved with the club as you can see from the table below, but there has been an increased interest and girl players joining with our newly formed teams at U6, U7 and U8 age groups over the first 6 months of the 2021-22 season.
If we are to be serious in getting more girls playing football at Port of Bristol, then we will need to set up a girls only team, as this is one area we have fallen behind in our development strategy and something we want to ensure is rolled out in the 2022-23 season.
BAME Playing At Port
For the 2020-21 season, there was a total of 28 players (10.26%) playing football at POBYFC who classed themselves as being from within the BAME communities. This was higher than the population within our catchment area that currently stands at 6.8% but below the 16% of Bristol as a whole.
It is a good indicator that we are an inclusive football family, with more players than ever joining from a range of background, beliefs and genders.
1.5 Past, Current & Projected Numbers
There is still a lot of interest in joining our football club both as new players starting their journey and from those currently at other teams.
The Covid-19 pandemic hindered the club setting up our annual Soccer Tot sessions and plans are in motion to get this up and running around Easter this season. For the first time we saw growth at U6 which meant we then had to form another team for this age group, that started in November 2021.
Looking even further forward into next season we envisage a minimum of 22 teams and breaking through 400 players playing for Port of Bristol Youth Football Club.
It has been an amazing journey so far and it is incredible when you think it started out with just 14 U10s, 6 years ago.
Have a great time tonight, Chris