It could be strenuously argued that in this crucial area at the base of the grassroots pyramid, ‘child’s play’ is an extremely difficult task and one of great importance. Balances need to be found. Children’s football needs to be fun – but serious, well-organised fun rather than frivolity. It should be more about fixture lists than about league tables. It should be a platform for the development of skills but not a platform for overbearing coaches who see themselves as scaled-down replicas of Sir Alex Ferguson or Marcello Lippi.
It should encourage a will to win but not be prematurely impregnated with adult attitudes or rewards.
The importance of child’s play was highlighted by Andy Roxburgh, by Willi Hink, director of development at the German association, and by Stig-Ove Sandnes, deputy general secretary
in Norway, where the association has laid benchmarks in grassroots develop- ment. As Andy Roxburgh pointed out, UEFA’s role is to stimulate interest, to set standards, to improve quality, to increase participation, to protect players and to offer support to the national associations which are working at the coalface in offering opportunities for the youngest members of the commu- nity to enjoy the game.
A generally accepted definition of ‘children’s football’ is that it covers the primary school age groups up to 12 – at which point, according to feedback from the pan-European gathering in Hamburg, most national associations graduate youngsters from small-sided games into competitive 11 v 11 matches. The feedback also revealed that this sometimes happens at the age of 10 (with a certain tendency for elite clubs to favour an early transition) or as
late as 13. In Norway, for example, it’s 3 v 3 in the 4-5 age bracket, 5 v 5
from6-10,5v5or7v7inthe 11-12 group, and 11 v 11 from 13.
Norwegian statistics showcase the importance of children’s football, which accounts for 64% of the country’s structured football with 17,000 teams and 170,000 players active within
the 6-12 age bracket. In the top two years of that bracket, seven of every ten boys and three out of ten girls play football – even excluding activities at football schools, tournaments and festivals.
This gives children’s football an enor- mous social potential. In this respect, there are two basic elements to child’s play: the child and the play. In foot- balling terms, it’s about developing players, technical skills, performance and fitness. But, in this formative age group, it’s also about developing an integrated citizen with social skills and a healthy lifestyle. In Germany, the motto applied to the youngest age group is ‘keep ‘em moving about’ and, at the next stage, encourage them
to adopt a sport-orientated lifestyle which will allow children to avoid phys- ical and mental obesity – the latter equally important in a society where a high percentage of wrongdoing can be traced back to sheer boredom. The interesting two-page summary

of the Laws of the Game produced in Norway for 6-12 year-olds also serves as a reminder that rule books mustn’t be too heavy or repressive.
Hence the importance of developing the fun elements and the attractions of the game during the early years and building up enough romance and commitment during the foundation years to minimise the dropout rates which can easily occur during the teenage years if the saplings are not correctly nurtured and guided.
This, of course, requires investment in ‘teacher training’. Ideally the sort of football teacher (as opposed to coach) required at this level is a friendly helper, a good organiser, a competent demonstrator, a reliable person and someone who has a contagious enthu- siasm for the game. At the same time, as Uwe Seeler and Hansi Müller emphasised, guidelines for parents must be clearly communicated and respected if the right environments are to be created.
Up to the age of eight, children’s football is all about having fun with friends, fulfilling the desire to learn and improve, promoting group cooper- ation, intensifying the fascination with the game and developing basic skills through activities which guarantee maximum ball-contact time. The 9-12 period is a foundation phase during the children’s golden age of learning. This is when sessions can focus on mastery of the ball, reading the game, coordinating skills with speed and mobility and encouragement of team identities, imagination skills and self- awareness. In other words, playing football represents a vehicle for enthu- siasm, personal relationships, satisfac- tion, self-expression and self-esteem and, at the same time, a learning curve in which challenges have to be set
and met. Children need to be gently pushed through their limits.
This is also the ideal time for values of respect and fair play to be implanted. In Norway, children are even invited to put their signatures to a fair play contract at the start of the season and every match is preceded by a UEFA Champions League-style handshake procedure. But, these days, respect for team-mates, match officials and oppo- nents takes on an added dimension. In Germany, new strategies for grassroots football are being designed to cater for a society where 32.5% of the 6-year- olds or under are from migrant back- grounds, 29.3% in the 7-9 age brack- et, and 26.7% of the 10-15s. This means that, more than ever, children’s football has the potential to become
a major integrating force based on the traditional precept that grassroots foot- ball is all-inclusive with no place for racism or any form of discrimination.
It also means that children’s football has a role to play in communities and, as another feature in this issue reveals,
professional clubs are, these days, prepared to make major contribu- tions. But the ‘amateur spirit’ remains as important as ever. The 260,000 boys and 110,000 girls who play 330,000 matches a year in Norway are backed by a team of 130,000 volunteers, whose leaders have attended 4-hour and 12-hour courses organised by the national associa- tion, while the formal grassroots football coaches have obtained their C licence after four 16-hour coach education modules. The Germans have been quick to realise that,
if football forms part of the school curriculum, teachers need to be prepared and motivated to provide quality tuition to the crucial age- groups and, once the youngsters have reached the age of 11, they have a chance to attend one of the country’s 366 training schools supervised by 29 full-time coordina- tors and 992 qualified coaches.
The time has come to throw the dictionary aside. Child’s play is definitely not ‘child’s play’.