2014-15

This is the sixth consecutive year SJFL has provided a mid-winter break for our mini-soccer teams in partnership with Shropshire FA to provide a Futsal Festival – based on Respect/Fair Play – teams don’t play for points or medals but are judged on Respect and a team from each age group U8, U9 and U10 will receive Respect medals at the league’s Presentation Day next June. These medals/awards are sponsored by Sportsjam. This year has seen a record number of 53 teams enter the Futsal festival and Kidz in Sports are producing a match programme for the 128 fixtures and will take team photos throughout the festival (their sponsorship to the event).

To view the fixtures and rules for the tournament, please click on the links below:

In addition the League was successful in securing a grant from The FA  (see letter here from Simon Walker). The league has already purchased new Futsal goals, which have been delivered to the Sports Village. We have also been supplied a superb offer from our sponsor Sportsjam for Joma Futsals (see details below).

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One of the reasons the FA Respect programme was introduced was to tackle the issue of poor behaviour from the sidelines. This Respect programme was introduced in 2008 and is aimed at helping us all work together to change the negative attitudes and abusive behaviour on the sideline and on the pitch. It’s a long-term commitment, but if we all play our part, together we can really make a difference.

The main purpose of Respect is as follows:

  • Encourage referees to stay in the game
  • Recruit and retain more referees
  • Address poor and unacceptable behaviour towards referees
  • Reduce abuse from touchlines by parents and spectators towards players
  • Take action against those committing abuse
  • Codes of Conduct – Designated Touchline Areas

Shropshire Football Association are very proactive in ensuring all clubs, players referees and spectators adopt good practice and are at the same time keen to reward those leagues and clubs who have demonstrated good practice.
During the past two seasons the Shropshire Junior Football League have won the Bronze award in 2013 and in 2013 the FA Silver award. The FA Youth Trust has provided its support for the provision of Respect and Fair Play Awards to youth clubs and teams and award the best youth male and female £250 plus an FA Respect Certificate.
The Shropshire Football Association have this season recognised those clubs who were the winners of their respective Junior and Adult leagues and in partnership with Shrewsbury Town FC Community Sports Trust.
The winners for the 2013-14 season are as follows:

  1. Shrewsbury Up & Comers Eagles under 11’s (Shropshire Junior League and also County FA winners for male junior team)
  2. Worthen Juniors Girls Club (Shropshire Girls & Women’s League and also County FA winners for female junior team)
  3. Craven Arms u8’s (South Shropshire Junior League and joint winners below with Orleton)
  4. Orleton under 8’s (South Shropshire Junior League)
  5. Child’s Ercall FC (Mercian Regional Football League)

Each club have embraced the Respect programme and also this is with the support of their League as well. The criteria involves

  • Clubs, leagues, grass roots organisations or individuals that are making a significant contribution to improving the behavioural standards in football;
  • Educating Teams, Coaches, Spectators or Players
  • Encouraging players, coaches, spectators or teams to strive for high standards of behaviour
  • Dealing with poor behaviour and Incentivising good behaviour
  • Valuing referees
  • Improving a situation of established poor behaviour
  • Sean Dipple, Shropshire FA Referee Development Officer and Respect Lead Officer said, “Our congratulations to all the winning teams and clubs who have shown that their pro-active approach in fair play and respect and the playing environment can be achieved and enjoyable. This has helped the key aspects of the Respect programme being achieved and our thanks to Jamie Edwards and his team in the Shrewsbury Town Community Sports Trust in supporting our winners today. I would also like to extend our appreciation also to the Shrewsbury Town Academy and Steve Reece, who have for a number of years supported the development of referees as a key Partner Club and this has greatly assisted in the retention and development of referees.

The presentations where made on 15th November 2014 at Shewsbury Town Football Club home game against Mansfield.

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Shropshire Junior League

Shropshire Junior Football League (SJFL) has come a long way since it started in the 1973/74 season with 25 teams in 3 divisions for U13, U14 & U16 age groups. This year SJFL celebrated 40 years of providing junior football with a Gala Awards Event.

23 Charter Standard clubs, 167 teams from U8 to U16 and over 2300 players enjoy safe and friendly football every week. Match officials are appointed to all U16 fixtures, cup matches and finals and the league uses FA Full-Time to generate fixtures with SMS text for results (U12 – U16). Shropshire Junior League attended the recent FA Youth Leagues Conference and has used this to inspire future targets, including furthering the league’s referee appointments and development programme.

SJFL were the first affiliated league in England to be accredited as a Charter Standard League by The Football Association, and have implemented a mid-season winter break for mini-soccer with a Winter Futsal Programme for the past six seasons.

SJFL and member clubs are committed to promoting inclusivity and to eliminating all forms of discrimination and SJFL was recognised for its excellent work with the FA Respect Programme, having been awarded Bronze accreditation by in 2012 and in 2013 with the first Silver accreditation to any league in the county/region.

Photo courtesy of Yarrington Limited

As another season is upon us, The FA would like to thank you for all your support and commitment to raising standards through grassroots football.

Click here to read more.

League Cup Draw 2014-15

League cup dates are:

  • R1 – 5/10/14
  • R2 – 7/12/14
  • R3 – 1/2/15
  • Finals – Sunday 17th May 2015, London Road Sports Ground

Charity Cup Draw 2014-15

Charity cup dates are:

  • R1 – 12/10/14
  • R2 – 16/11/14
  • R3 – 30/11/14
  • R4 – 8/2/15
  • R5 – 1/3/15
  • Finals – tba

Respect – New Season Resources.

‘Setting Your Stall Out’ Weekend 18th &19th October 2015

Dear League Secretary,
Respect – New Season Resources – ‘Setting Your Stall Out’ Weekend 18th &19th October 2015
 
I am writing to you in relation to the important role that you play in administering a successful and well run youth league and asking for your continued support of the FA’s Respect Programme.
We are now at the start of a seventh season of the FA’s Respect programme. Whilst many leagues were already active in this area we introduced the programme in 2008 in response to widespread concern that the game that we all love was on some occasions being distorted or ruined at all levels of football by abusive b_ehaviour. Many people looking at football at this time witnessed behaviour that bought into question their love of the sport. Referees were throwing the kit bag in the corner and retiring, parents were seeking out other sports for their children and fans were disillusioned by watching some highly paid and idolised players set a poor example. So for the last six seasons we’ve worked with our leagues and clubs at all levels of the game to educate, train, campaign, sanction and use just about any other method we can think of to keep Respect in people’s eye line and remind them that we all have a role to play in protecting the health of the game. This hasn’t always been easy. There are nearly one and a half million fixtures played each and every season but the ones that will grab the attention are the few that end up in a mass confrontation, an assaulted referee, raging touchline parents or red faced managers charging onto the field of play.
We all have so much work to do but I’m pleased to report that there are some positive signs that things have improved since 2008 –
  • On the field of play all dissent cautions are down by 20%, all dismissals by 13%, misconduct charges by 10%
  • We now have 28,000  registered referees up from circa 23,000 in 2008
  • In the top 16 leagues and divisions in this country, the total number of dissent cautions has fallen by 25% (Premier League by 21% Championship by 28%)
What this means in reality is a more positive and enjoyable environment for the game to take place in and because of this it’s much more likely that they keep coming back week after week  – whether as players, referees, parents or spectators.
To support you in this important work the FA has made available a range of new resources to support clubs and leagues communicate the Respect message. These include touchline barriers, Respect signage, armbands, sleeve badges, posters, bootlaces, codes of conduct and many other promotional items. These can be ordered – many of them free of charge – from:
What we’re hoping that you’ll do is to promote this offer to your member clubs. We’ve already emailed the secretaries of Charter Standard Clubs but if you could also bring this to their attention it would be really appreciated. Leagues can also apply for a small stock of the resources on offer.
Ideally what we’d like to do is to encourage clubs to use these resources for their fixtures on a ‘ Set Your Stall Out’ weekend on October 18/19th providing another clear reinforcement of the positive b_ehaviours you’d like to see displayed throughout the coming season.
I do hope that you feel able to assist us in helping young players experience a really positive environment in which to enjoy and learn the game.
Regards
Dermot Collins
FA Respect Manager
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Jan Butler

Jan is an incredible ambassador for Shropshire Junior Football League and grassroots football as a whole. She is the secretary of Shropshire Junior League and has been for numerous years. She is a pivotal member of the League Management Committee and has been pivotal in the league’s successes, including becoming the first FA Charter Standard League in the country, organising the league’s Annual Winter Futsal programme, Silver RESPECT Award winners, along with many other achievements. Jan is the League’s Welfare Officer and fulfils the same role for Shropshire Schools and Colleges FC. Her attitude towards putting the enjoyment and safety of children first is an example to all. Jan is happy to assist and advise any other junior leagues in the county and is a constant point of advice and support for the clubs in her league. She can be found on the pitch side of junior games or Futsal games, pretty much every weekend during the season.

Photo courtesy of Yarrington Limited

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Shrewsbury Juniors FC

Shrewsbury Juniors FC provides football for 22 teams across 3 leagues, with teams ranging from creche and under 7s right through to under 18s. The club currently has 6 girls’ teams, playing in Shropshire Girls’ League, with further new teams expected for next season.

The Club has put a major emphasis of developing its young players, and encouraging them to get involved in much more than just playing. 24 young people attended a Junior Football Leaders course, organised and paid for by the club, and have since invested their time in supporting the organisation of events, assisting younger teams with training sessions and refereeing matches.

Some of these events have included a week long football coaching school during the summer holidays, a free under 7s festival for teams from around the County and a highly successful weekend football festival for boys and girls teams aged 7-15 years old.

Shrewsbury Juniors continue to strengthen their links in the community, and continue to support local primary schools with football coaching opportunities for children. This season they have also introduced a specific goalkeepers coaching club with up to 20 children attending from a range of age groups, both girls and boys.

Photo courtesy of Yarrington Limited

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Danny Powis

Danny is an FA qualified referee and takes charge of numerous games each weekend, but is happy to turn his hand to much more in support of his club, Shrewsbury Juniors FC. Danny is a member of the club’s committee, and is particularly involved in organising the club’s events. He was actively involved in the club’s summer coaching camp, and has organised an under 7s festival hosted by the club for 24 teams from around the County. Danny also works alongside his father to organise the club’s annual tournament, with approximately 100 participating teams, and his dedication even saw him camp out overnight, to ensure the site was secured. Danny is a real asset to Shrewsbury Juniors FC, and is very modest, despite all of his efforts. Danny also sits on the new SFA Youth Council and co-opted on SJFL as youth council delegate.

Photo courtesy of Yarrington Limited

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A cheque presentation of £1600 was made to children’s charities at the league’s Presentation Day held at Greenhous Meadow Stadium in June 2014. The generous funds raised through the league’s charity cup competition will support the excellent work of Special Olympics, Hope House Children’s Hospice and Whizz Kidz raise awareness to these charities and also show how grassroots football does help in the community. The league would also like to thank Up & Comers, Shrewsbury Jnrs, Whitchurch Allport Jnrs and South Shropshire Junior League for making additional donations to the charity fund. Since the new millennium SJFL has now raised over £23000 to children’s charities and excellent achievement by any standards.

Left – right: Duncan Roberts, Ross Roberts (Special Olympics), Vanessa Thomas (Hope House Children’s Hospice), Jan Butler (Secretary SJFL) Mike Hames (Chairman SJFL), Jim Mitchell (President SJFL). Not present on the day Emma Jones from Whizz Kidz charity.

Photo courtesy of Kids in Sport.