FA Heading Guidelines

As I am sure some of you would of seen in the press today, there has been a new heading guideline introduced into youth football by the FA. I attended a meeting tonight and although it has been highlighted in the news as a ban, it is a recommendation following on going investigations into heading a ball and the FIELD study which was published in October 2019. Despite not proving excessive heading of a football can lead to a degenerative neurological disease in later life there seems to be concerns, enough for the FA to introduce these guidelines to clubs up and down the country.

Heading is part of this wonderful game but in my experiences in youth football, it is very rare to see children heading the ball in U6-U11 matches, let alone coaches implementing it within training sessions. Our club and our coaches always put the safety and well being of the children in the forefront of our development and believe these recommendations to be a responsible development to grassroots coaching giving the information currently available.

All our coaches have been provided with these recommendations and if you would like anymore information on them please visit the FA website, thefa.com or contact the below committee members who can talk to you on the subject.

Club Welfare Officer - Chris George (07879291339)
Coaches/Parents Rep - Tom Lawlor (07501012055)