Local Football Facility Plan Jersey

Jersey is a self governing British crown dependency located in the English Channel, just off the French Normandy coast.

The latest recorded population on the island (2019 Mid-Year Estimate) is 106,800 (source: opendata.gov.je) with the majority (41.67%) in the age structure between 25-54 years. Approximately, 40% of the population resides in the Island's capital, St Helier.

Local authority

The Jersey Common Strategic Policy (2018 to 2022) sets out high-level ambitions for Jersey and contains five strategic priorities upon which ministers will focus for the next four years. These are to:

• Put children first
• Improve islanders' wellbeing and mental and physical health
• Reduce income inequality and improve the standard of living
• Create a sustainable, vibrant economy
• Protect and value the environment

To support the island's population live healthier, active, longer lives, the Government, in partnership with Jersey Sport, is committed to ensuring that high quality sports facilities provide a range of inclusive programmes.

There is no playing pitch strategy in place for the States of Jersey.

County football association

Jersey is covered by the Jersey County FA. It provides governance for, and development support to, all aspects of local football including coaches, referees, volunteers, clubs and leagues; supporting football for all.

Football Foundation

The Regional Engagement Manager and Regional Technical Project Manager at the Football Foundation work collaboratively with the County FA to provide pre-application support to priority projects for potential investment.

Professional community club organisations (CCOs)

These offer a variety of programmes and services to support local communities (sporting and non-sporting). There is no active CCO in Jersey.

Local leisure operator

The Island's state owned sport and leisure facilities are run by the States of Jersey.

Local consultation

This has taken place with a broad and diverse set of community groups in Jersey. Six individuals (representing six local organisations) were spoken to. The agencies consulted include:

• Jersey Sport
• A number of football clubs

(See Appendix B for full list of consultees)

Clubs

There are over 91,000 community football teams in England, spread over an expansive network of clubs and leagues. Jersey has a total of 204 teams, which is comparable to local areas of a similar size.

The FA is investing to support clubs both on and off the pitch which includes an aim to have a qualified FA coach with every youth team by 2020/21. In addition, it will support 1,000 clubs to create full player pathways from youth to adult teams and develop 150 community football hubs with male and female pathways, disability and recreational playing opportunities.

Over the last ten years there has been a significant national increase in the number of large multi-team football clubs. In Jersey, nine clubs run more than ten registered teams. These (based upon 2019-20 affiliation data) are:

• JTC Wanderers - 23 teams
• Grouville – 21 teams
• St Pauls – 21 teams
• St Peter – 18 teams
• St Ouen – 17 teams
• St Lawrence – 17 teams
• St Clement – 16 teams
• Trinity – 15 teams
• GS United – 10 teams

Leagues

Two leagues operates in the Jersey FA. They offer competitive opportunities for many different players, including women and girls, youth and adults. There is no specific league opportunity for disability football in Jersey. The two leagues are:

• JFA Combination Challenge League– 200 teams– home and away / central venue
• JFA Fort Regent 5-a-side – 24 teams – central venue.

Disability football

There are 9.4 million people in England with a long-standing limiting disability, illness or condition which equates to 18% of the population – almost one in five. Football playing opportunities should be flexible, inclusive and accessible for everyone, whatever their level of ability. This could entail inclusion in mainstream activity or teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability.

In Jersey there are four football teams / sessions specifically for people with a disability. It is a priority of the County FA to grow this provision. For talented players the FA runs regional centres and England national squads.

Women and girls

The FA has big ambitions for the female game and aims to double levels of participation by 2020. To achieve this requires a combined effort across four pathways: education, recreation, competition and talent.

Education environments have a huge impact on the first experience of football for young girls. This pathway can offer many opportunities for females of all ages to develop and grow a lifelong interest in football.

FA Wildcats girls football centres provide the first step on the recreational pathway, the programme provides girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football in a fun and engaging environment. Jersey FA has four FA Wildcats girls football centres and the priority is to grow this activity.

Jersey has eight affiliated female teams. The County FA’s priority is to support existing clubs to grow and encourage more clubs to develop playing opportunities for females. The local women’s league is the JFA Combination Channel Islands League and matches are played on a home and away basis.

For talented players, the most local FA Regional Talent Club (RTC) is located in England, and players from Jersey have to travel to further enhance their development.

Small sided football

Many different types of small-sided football are played in England, from teams and leagues to recreational and informal. It is an established and important part of the modern game.

Small-sided teams and leagues are organised and competitive activities; typically with players registered to clubs and affiliated to leagues and their county FAs. Examples include futsal and local small-sided leagues running at venues such as sports halls, 3G FTPs or small-sided 3G centres. Key providers on the Island include:

• JFA Fort Regent 5-a-side League- Fort Regent
• Soccer 6s - Haute Vallee School

Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced, small sided team game that is widely played across the world. Typically it is played on an indoor surface with hockey-sized goals and a size 4 football with reduced ball bounce. It is the FA’s aim to ensure that futsal is available across the country.

There are currently no affiliated futsal teams in Jersey. It is a priority for the County FA to grow Futsal for all players.

Recreational football

Recreational football is played where facilities are typically booked and there might be someone to help organise. Examples include FA Just Play sessions, walking football and casual pitch hire for small-sided match play.

There are currently three FA Just Play centres in Jersey. Walking football sessions are delivered by a range of community organisations including the Jersey FA. Walking football and Just Play are County FA priorities for further growth and development.

Informal football

Informal football is played in local parks and green spaces – it is free, open access and often played spontaneously (normal clothing is worn). Common examples include a kick-about at a local park or on a multi-use games area (MUGA).

Currently, informal football in Jersey FA is played island-wide. Fort Regent, Springfield and Haute Vallee are reportedly key well-used site locations.

The key strengths of local football in Jersey include the high participation rates amongst adult and junior male football. It is recommend that this is sustained and encouraged to grow further. However, provision gaps do exist including girls and women’s, a disability league and Futsal. It is therefore recommended that the future football development priorities for Jersey are to:

1. Continue to support male football growth on the island.
2. Develop the game of futsal, supported via indoor sport facility development.
3. Continue to grow the female game, and increase the number of female teams.
4. Create a competitive league for disability football.

The facilities required to assist this are now set out in the Assets and opportunities section.

Projects that progress to a funding application via the Football Foundation will produce a detailed ‘site development plan’ specifying all football development activity, usage and key partner engagement.

This section reviews existing football facility assets in Jersey. It identifies current issues and presents opportunities for improvements, including a list of priority projects for potential investment. Local assets and opportunities have been reviewed in line with four investment priorities:

• 3G FTPs
• Improved grass pitches
• Changing room pavilions / clubhouses
• Small sided facilities

To ensure a consistent and high quality approach, each local area has been reviewed applying a standard approach, supplemented by input from consultation with local partners and stakeholder organisations.

While investments are reviewed individually, it is understood that they can be inter-reliant; account is, thus, taken of these potential connections.

3G FTPs are a high quality and indispensable part of modern football facilities; their impact cannot be underestimated. In recent years the industry has seen major innovations and improvements to artificial surfaces (and sports lighting). This has created playing surfaces that replicate a good standard natural turf pitch whilst significantly increasing levels of use (x20). All FTPs must have sports lighting to achieve this.

The high quality, consistent playing surface is the ideal environment to play the game and for young people to learn. With regular maintenance programmes, FTPs can be heavily used all year round with no decline in quality. They almost completely negate annoying fixture cancellations during winter months, helping football to be a key part of a regular physical activity habit.

High capacity levels offer a great opportunity to embrace all formats and engage all participants. A full-sized 3G caters for an average of 1,200 participants per week and is suitable for various location types. That means being fully inclusive to all sections of the community, with a particular focus on under-represented groups such as women and girls, people with a disability, BAME communities and people from lower socio-economic groups.

The way 3G FTPs are used is rapidly changing; current line-marking systems allow for match play across all formats of football (5v5, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11). This enables significant levels of match-play to be transferred from grass to 3G.

There is one full-sized (11 v 11) 3G FTP in Jersey located at Springfield Stadium (the home of Jersey FA). This accommodates a substantial level of community and affiliated football training and match-play and is the designated home venue for the Jersey Bulls. There is also one small-sided facility at Haute Vallee School (9v9 equivalent to 0.75 of a 3G FTP) which is used for the 6v6 league.

There is no current PPS and, therefore, demand for full sized 3G FTPs has been calculated using the FA training ratio model 1:38. On the basis that there are 204 teams in Jersey, there is a requirement for five full sized 3G FTPs. There are currently 1.75 full sized 3G pitch equivalents and thus there is a shortfall of 3.25.

To address this, and informed by local club consultation, it is considered that three full size 3G FTPs required at the following locations to meet training and match play needs:

• Les Quennevais Leisure Centre (one full-sized 3G FTP)
• Le Rocquier School (one full-sized 3G FTP)
• St John’s Recreational Centre - to provide for the north of the Island (9v9 or full size 3G FTP)

The Government of Jersey has recently commissioned a sports facility feasibility study to review the Island's stock and future investment requirements. The Government is investigating options to develop an Island Stadium designed to meet the needs of rugby union and football with an aim to facilitate a sustainable approach to both the Jersey Reds and Jersey Bulls operations.

The current proposal being considered is to develop a new hybrid pitch conforming to FIFA/World Rugby regulations at a new Island Stadium site to be shared by Jersey Reds and Jersey Bulls. This would be located close to the Airport to the south of the current Jersey Wanderers site, on existing training pitches.

If these plans go ahead then the study suggests that Springfield Stadium would be converted from a full size 3G FTP into two 5v5 3G FTPs. Currently the stadium is home to Jersey FA and the home venue for Jersey Bulls. The stadium is undergoing minor modifications to ensure that it meets current FA Ground Grading requirements.

It should be noted that the Football Foundation has previously invested into funding the Springfield Stadium and therefore the Foundation and Jersey FA would need to agree that any change to this pitch did not impact upon current users. Springfield Stadium is located in St Helier where demand for community and affiliated football training and match-play is in high demand.

If, in the future an Island Stadium was to be developed and it was decided by all stakeholders (including Jersey FA) that the Springfield Stadium could be reduced in size, then this would lead to a shortfall in 3G FTP provision in St Helier that would need to be met. Grainville School might be considered a suitable option and is listed if this was to progress.

Four priority projects for potential investment are identified. These are proposed on the basis that they will create a good geographic spread and cater for both affiliated and recreational football demand on the Island.

Playing fields are one of the most important resources for sport in England. All football players should have the opportunity to play on good quality grass pitches. However, FA data shows that 63% of pitches in England are poor / low quality and one in six games is cancelled. As such, poor pitch quality is consistently cited as the number one issue for players.

The priority is, therefore, to sustainably improve grass pitch quality across all main pitch owners (local authorities, education establishments and clubs). However, the level of maintenance required to obtain good quality standards is regularly affected by restricted budgets and limited knowledge/ training. Compaction and grass coverage are two key causes of poor quality pitches. Both are commonly treated via a maintenance driven solution (and do not necessarily require costly drainage schemes).

Playing fields are also a valuable resources for informal play and open-access sites are encouraged but, for many, problems such as dog fouling and vandalism mean that they need to be protected with mitigation measures such as fencing.

The key challenge is to create a sustainable approach to provide good quality football pitches for the long term. Most local authorities (78%) intend to increase pitch hire fees in the future. However, the majority of players (63%) believe facilities are already expensive and some (16%) believe prices are prohibitive. A sustainable solution should, therefore, carefully balance pitch quality and affordability.

While the education sector (37%) and local authorities (32%) are still the principal asset owners of grass pitches, clubs / leagues own or maintain an increasing share (currently 25%). Assets and opportunities have been considered across each sector.

Although large (3+ pitch) strategic sites are important and make up much of the project list within the LFFPs, this does not mean that other club, league and community/voluntary sites are not important or eligible for funding. These sites are key to the Football Foundation's Grass Pitch Programme to deliver 20,000 good quality pitches.

For more information click here.

PitchPower

The PitchPower app is the gateway to any grass pitch improvement funding. It is the tool that will allow clubs and organisations to complete pitch inspections and access funds.

If you haven't signed up and completed a PitchPower pitch inspection, you will need to do this before you can apply for the Grass Pitch Maintenance Fund.

Learn more by clicking here.

There are currently 18 key grass pitch sites in Jersey, of which 12 are single pitch club sites. Consultation indicates that 11 sites require investment to support the growth of football on the Island. This balances the needs of some of Jersey's multi-pitch sites and some single pitch sites. The improvement in the quality of grass pitches is a priority for clubs and they should work together to achieve economies of scale in the maintenance of them. It recommended that all pitches are assessed to ascertain their condition prior to projects progressing.

11 priority projects for potential investment are identified.

These can provide a number of different benefits. While the primary function is normally the provision of changing rooms to accommodate match-play and training (for players and officials), there can be equal value in facilities such as community and education rooms, catering facilities and spectator toilets.

Each project will take a progressive approach to pavilions and clubhouses (beyond the provision of changing rooms) and be open to new opportunities to engage the whole community. That means, creating environments that are welcoming to players, spectators, volunteers, officials and all sections of the community.

Such assets should support other investment priorities (e.g. 3G FTPs and grass pitches) and be located at sites that will have the greatest impact on local communities. To ensure this, focus is given to sites with three or more full-size pitch equivalents. However, as pitch quality is the number one priority for players this is prioritised before investment in changing room pavilions /clubhouses.

Clearly, facilities need to be well managed and maintained to keep them in a good state of repair. Consideration will be given to reviewing the best operator solution for key sites and the installation of revenue generating features such as catering facilities and community rooms. To achieve this, business plan support will be given to each priority project as it progresses to an application to the Football Foundation.

Of the 18 key grass pitch sites in Jersey, six have been identified for changing room investment to support the development of football on the Island. This comprises five sites which require a refurbished pavilion and one which required a new changing facility.

Six priority projects for potential investment are identified:

Good facilities are important to all small sided football players, but it is important to understand the different formats of the small-sided game and the various facility types they relate to.

Research suggests that small-sided players in teams and leagues, and in recreational sessions, prefer a 3G surface type because it replicates a good standard natural turf pitch. These facilities have already been covered in the 3G FTP section of this LFFP.

Indoor environments currently accommodate 20% of football participation and are also popular with players in teams and leagues and recreational sessions . Indoor sports halls are most popular, along with some community halls and indoor 3G centres. Environments need to be engaging, have clear line-marking and the correct size goalposts.

Informal players require facilities that are open and free to access as this enables play opportunities that are often spontaneous. In these circumstances multi-use games areas (MUGAs) can be effective in areas of high urban population and limited green space. Such facilities can be modern, bright, creative and engaging. While this plan will identify suitable locations for such facilities, the design and specifics of the facility type can be agreed at a later stage with Football Foundation staff when projects are ready to progress to pre-application stage.

Parks and open green spaces are also important to informal play and require goalposts and zones that are free from litter and dog fouling.

Local consultation indicates that, at present, no indoor facilities require improvement to develop small sided football. It should be noted, however, that should the feasibility study recommendations be taken forward, both Les Quennevais LC and Le Rocquier School will incorporate large indoor sports halls and could, given this, have the capacity to accommodate futsal. Neither of the proposed sports hall projects will require Football Foundation funding.

No potential opportunity for investment in MUGAs is identified at present. As noted earlier, the full sized 3G FTP at Springfield Stadium may be replaced with a small recreational facility to accommodate existing and growing demand in St Helier. This should not require Foundation support.

Local consultation indicates that, at present, no parks or open green spaces require improvement to develop small sided football.

A range of local agencies and larger (usually 10 plus team) local football clubs were invited to participate in the LFFP consultation. Those that contributed are listed below:

• Jersey FA
• Jersey Sport
• Trinity FC
• St Peters FC
• Grouville FC
• St Ouen FC