Chief Executive of the Kent FA, Paul Dolan, has called for more non league clubs to use 3G pitches.

In the first of a series of interviews to be published this week, we’ve been talking with the Kent FA’s Chief Executive Paul Dolan about all things football across the County, and in part one, we look at why some clubs are struggling off the pitch… and what we can all do to help!

“It’s fairly simple in my opinion,” Paul told us, “3G pitches have to be the way forward!  Just look what’s happening at Maidstone United FC and the community hub that they have created that caters for mini-soccer, boys and girls youth football and local adult football.”

“Then you have their first team who never get a home game postponed anymore and compare that to other teams even at their level.”

“I think they recently had an away game at Weston-Super-Mare rained off meaning that the players, officials and importantly the supporters have a midweek trip to the Somerset coast which isn’t ideal for anyone.”

“That said, if the fixture had been at home, then there would have been no chance of a postponement, as obviously you wouldn’t have a game called off by a waterlogged pitch on the 3G surface.”

“It makes absolute sense to me that if these pitches are being used in World Cup qualifiers as well as Champions League matches, it’s only right that they’re used in both Non-League football and local grassroots football.”

“We seem to have the same debate in this country ever single winter about football and pitches and games being cancelled and the knock on effects – income for clubs; backlog of fixtures that head into March and April as clubs start to play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – that’s not right, but can all be eradicated by having 3G pitches.”

“My one son is playing mini-soccer at the moment, and recently had a spell where they played one game in eight weeks as the grass pitches were constantly waterlogged!”

“We do need a lot more 3G pitches around the county but the issue is, and will be for a while yet, the cost. They do cost thousands of pounds as people know, but if more Non-League clubs such as Maidstone United and Ashford United are able to get one, then it’s good for them as a business, but it can also be good for the local community when  it can then be used during the week and at weekends as a football hub.”

“You’ve not then got a pitch that can only be used twice a week.”

When asked what the Kent FA could do to help, Paul explained, “A lot of people view County FAs– not just here in Kent but elsewhere too – as the body that just issues fines and bans.”

“But one of our key areas here in Kent is to attract investment into the game. I’m delighted that we’ve attracted nearly £10 million of investment into football, pitches and facilities since 2012 (£30 million since 2000 on 16 3G pitches, 56 grass pitches, 31 changing rooms) which is obviously a lot of money.”

“But sadly it only scratches the surface of what’s needed and we really do need a complete overhaul of pitches and facilities right across the County.”

“Another issue is that 80% of local football pitches are owned by the public sector and local authorities. Sadly with the budget cuts that local authorities are facing at the moment, the first thing that seems to suffer is sport and leisure.”

“That’s one of the things that we’re trying to fight at the moment – we’re looking at protecting what we’ve got, but also enhancing where we can.”

“So one of our key goals amongst the clubs who want to develop new facilities is to help them with applications to the Football Foundation; help them write their business plan, their football development plan so that they can go and get the funding to build the pitches.”

“At the moment, I’m delighted to say that across the county it seems to be working very well as we’ve got a good selection of 3G pitches across club school sites that are used at weekends now, which I believe has to be a step forward. But we drastically need more!”

But what about those that have stopped playing out beautiful game?  Paul told us, “If you ask why people are dropping out of adult 11 v 11 football at the moment, one of the main reasons that people will come back with is the facilities.”

“They tell us that facilities are poor, and the pitches aren’t good. The issue that we’ve got now is that people are playing more small sided games during the week on 3G pitches, so that when they get to the 11 a side games at the weekend, they compare the grass pitch to the 3G pitch that they’ve played on during the week and there is no comparison!”

“Yes there are traditionalists that will say that it’s not grass and there are some people who’ll claim that the bounce isn’t true, but can you say any different to a “natural” grass pitch that has spent time under water and is muddy.”

“For me, 3G pitches are the way forward. It’s no surprise that 3G pitches are the focus for The FA for grassroots football going forward. They’re looking to get more 3G pitches across the country because it will help participation and player development in the grassroots game which is after all the base – the foundation – of the Pyramid that all football in this country is based on.”

“Our role at the County FA here in Kent is to develop and grow the base of that Pyramid that will then successfully lead up the chain right to the top of the Pyramid which is a successful English national team.”

“And then there’s the cost of local football which is always something that is debated at the local level! The public see millions and millions of pounds coming into the game at the very top level and think that football’s cash rich and can look after itself!”

“When you come down to the grassroots game, it’s a completely different story and that’s very, very sad! It’s run by volunteers with a lot of clubs literally surviving week to week as they try to progress.”

“I mentioned earlier as to why we’re losing so many 11 v 11 teams and one reason and I said is facilities. The other reason that you have to take into account is the cost of playing grassroots football right across the country. not just here in Kent.”

“One thing that we’re really pleased and I think rightly proud of is that we have one of the lowest club affiliation fees in the whole country. To be affiliated to the Kent FA costs nowhere near as much as it does in some other counties.”

“And our aim is to always try and keep them as low as we can which is a real positive in our view. Obviously during the course of a season, clubs may get fined for different things and that can’t be controlled as the Leagues and their clubs have to take responsibility for their players discipline – certainly how they behave and the way they administer the way they play.”

“But that one off cost to the County FA at the start of the season is very low. Obviously the other costs is the cost of pitches that come into it, and one of the thing that we’re trying to do at the moment is to lobby local authorities in order to protect grassroots football by working with them to ensure they don’t raise the costs of playing grassroots football.”

“So when they have the budget cuts that we talked about earlier, they don’t try and recoup some of their lost monies by putting the pitch fees up to a level where the clubs can’t afford to play. We’re really trying to lobby at a high level with local authority Leaders and Chairs, to ensure that they recognise that grassroots football is a valuable local service played by vast amounts of local people and should be protected and shouldn’t be seen as an income generator  – it should be seen as a service that’s really valuable and that’s protected.”

“And that’s one area that we’re really trying to do as much as we can across the county in order to protect grassroots football.”

“It isn’t all under our role as the governing body, but we do go out and are incredibly proactive. After all, we are effectively an association of members and we want to fight for our clubs, our leagues and our referees to get the best that we possibly can!”

“We have fantastic members who are all striving to improve grassroots football all the way from mini-soccer to youth football to adult football to disability football.”

“Our role at the Kent FA is to govern, develop, promote and protect the game across the county and we know that we’re never going to get everything we want, all of the time, but we are privileged to be part of the industry and we will continue to fight for and ensure that grassroots football in the County is successful and popular.”

Part two of our exclusive series will focus on the actual playing of football in Kent…