FCG Thread - 1st Meeting With Purslow - Minutes | Page 4 | Vital Football

FCG Thread - 1st Meeting With Purslow - Minutes

Supplementary information:

Pan disability team treated differently to the academy teams

- they have to buy their own fits whereas the academy from kids to ladies get the full kit supplied.

- they also don’t get awards, they have to pay for their own awards and ceremony.

The academy teams are funded through the EPPP (through the Premier League and EFL), so there is significantly more funding for academy football. Having said that, the Foundation receives a grant from the Premier League and BT Sport to cover the costs of running a comprehensive disability football programme. Some of the highlights over the last 12 months on the disability football and answers to the points raised are:

  • 421 people with disabilities taking part in our disability programmes since January 2018
  • 80% of these are new to our programmes, so have not done anything with Aston Villa before – this means we are reaching significantly more people now than previously.
  • This season, playing kit is provided free of charge to the Ability Counts teams – this is the first time they have had a new kit for a number of seasons, but this season they have the new official Luke kit at no cost to the players or parents.
  • Academy players do get their training kit provided as many of them are on contracts.
  • Comparing the Academy to the Ability Counts isn’t comparing like for like. It is more relevant to compare Ability Counts to other Foundation programmes, for example walking football or the football and education programme.
  • Aston Villa girls teams get playing strip (like the ability counts teams), but do pay for their own training kit. They get 20% off the retail price, which is the same as the ability counts teams.
  • This season we have implemented an official discount for Ability Counts players in the shop – previously there has been no formal agreement in place and there has been inconsistencies to the amount of discount applied and who to – this is now consistent across Ability County, Girls, Ladies and Football and Education programmes.
  • For the last two seasons, we have run end of season awards in the Corner Flag suite (2016/17) and in the Directors Lounge (2017/18). Previously these have been held in the Gordon Cowans suite in the Academy building, so they are now being held in the most prestigious rooms in the stadium. There has been a minimal charge for both ability counts and Aston Villa Girls end of season awards, which is a small contribution towards the cost of food, trophies, entertainment, waiting staff etc. The contribution made does not cover all of the costs of putting on the event, so it is heavily subsidised on both counts by the Foundation.
  • The grant we get from the PL and BT Sport massively subsidise the Ability Counts teams and other disability activities. We make a nominal £3 charge to attend training, which has 3-4 members of staff attending, then there are the games programmes that take place every Sunday where centrally we pay for player registration fees, pitch fees, referee fees, as well as staffing costs.
  • Parents do some of their own fundraising activities which supports with things like awards, Christmas parties etc. but the amount of support for the disability teams is now far greater than it has been before – both in terms of personnel and wider support.
  • We now have a parent representative group that meets 3-4 times a year with Guy Rippon, Head of Foundation to discuss any issues that are raised by parents.




*Are there any plans to expand the community football for youngsters? Nick says he works for a school in Redditch which was always a hub for Villa training sessions and soccrer schools but WBA Foundation have swept across all that. Worcester region seems to have very little considering large fan base from Redditch/Bromsgrove etc.



  • A few years ago, the football in the community department did deliver in Redditch and Worcester, that was then the department was funded directly by the football club rather than the Foundation. This was a significant investment by the club and this was reviewed as part of Foundation and Community restructures in 2017.
  • In 2017 the football in the community work came under the Foundation and there was a need to review all processes and procedures, as well as to make the department financially sustainable.
  • There was a focus on ensuring a quality experience on the holiday camps, schools coaching and development centres.
  • Over the last 12 months we feel that we have achieved this with numbers on many holiday courses increasing by up to 100%.
  • We felt that we needed to get it right in Birmingham first and we are now in a position to start looking at expanding our operations again.
  • There is a 10 town plan, which identifies the places with a high prevalence of Aston Villa fans, including Redditch and Bromsgrove.
  • Anything that is delivered in these areas needs to be financially sustainable – i.e. there needs to be enough people paying to attend to cover staffing, travel and facility costs.
  • This is something that we will be reviewing in the next few months as we start to plan for 2019 and beyond.
 
I’ll have to read these more often, very interesting.

Great to see the club looking to branch outside of Brum with the community work, we have a huge fan base in the 2nd city Home Counties and need to hook the next generation before the likes of West Brom and Wolves steal our fair share. Worcester should be in there, not only for the city but also for the surrounding towns - plenty of villa fans around Malvern and Evesham for example.

O2 - Ive recently joined o2 and I struggle to get a network let alone 3 or 4G. I’m seriously tempted to switch back to Vodafone because having barely any signal for two hours is a nightmare in today’s world. I’ve done it before either o2 (giffgaff to be precise) and gone back to Voda.

Disability teams - could we perhaps give fans the option to make a donation to support these clubs when checking out on season ticket sales (or any ticket sales)? I’d quite happily make a £10 donation once per season, multiply that by however many generous fans we have and there’s a very good kitty for the disabled teams.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.